Lost in Translation

I'm just going to apologize up front if this is too long.. but seeing as we only make to the internet cafe every couple days... it is the best I can do. So... Here we go :)



Lost in Translation is the name of some movie I think--I believe it won awards? Probably we should have seen it...because lately, well we've been living it. For example, Oksana, as most Ukrainians, I suppose takes things very literally. This proves to be a problem for the average American because most of us embelish things and of course exaggerate. If this is a problem for most "exaggerating Americans" lets call it an ordeal for me :) Not that I am dramatic at all! Gosh Geeeez.



We were downtown shopping around and just enjoying the day--the weather here is fabulous--sunny but not humid, windy but not knock you down windy--just great...well except when you are on a bus with no windows and lots of people who just don't see bathing as a necessity--then, well then it is H-O-T! I digress... So Oksana was finished but we wanted to walk around aimlessly, because we've grown to be very good at it :) So she says to call her when we are ready or she'll call when she and "Brent" leave (he has the car remember).



We shop and walk and explore....then shop and walk and explore some more (and by shopping I mean window shopping, so redo the picture in your head of Andrew loaded down like and ox with shopping bags because well, that is not accurate). Oksana calls about an hour later and says Brent has to go and if we want to stay it will be awhile until he can pick us up. No problem we say. So she says to call her when we are ready. So...that's what we do--but boy did it get "lost in translation." Not just like oops I lost my keys in my bag lost, more like I'm in Ukraine on a street I don't know with people who don't speak my language lost. We are using this as our confession because even while trying to clear up this little ordeal we feel the explanation was also...yep, you guessed it: lost.



We call Oksana at least 3 hours later because even though we are not buying anything we are enjoying our time. Not only is the translation fuzzy but so is our connection. We do a jovial little game called "no you call...no you call" and I won (yippeee). Here's the conversation (you tell me how you think it sounds, remember, I'm a little sensitive sometimes (hehe):

Oksana: "Aloha (not like Hawaiin aloha--sounds like halll-o-ah)"

Kristen: "Hi Oksana, it's Kristen (duh who else would be calling her speaking English--that's probably what she thought). We're ready."

Insert awkard pause..................................................

Oksana: "You are ready?"

Kristen: "Yes, if that's ok and you are. We are ready."

Oksana: 'insert pause'....Ok it will be 15 minutes. 10-15 minutes.

Kristen: "Ok that's fine. Whenever, we are pretty laid back, no hurry." (of course later I think that laid back isn't really going to translate anyway.. so my mistake there).



Seems like a normal conversation, a little awkward but nothing too bad...right?

Wrong.

When she gets there--by foot and bus, not with Brent, by car, we think... hmm that's strange. To make a short story long it turns out that Brent was still busy so instead of telling us that she took the bus and walked. Omgosh--we stink. When we realize this we say oh no--you didn't have to do that. To which she replies "Well, you didn't say that. You said you were ready to go."

Big gulps. (She didn't say it rude of course--just very matter of fact). So we apologize profusely and try to clear it up... I think she got it but maybe not because we felt bad about it for at least 2 days. So there you have our most traumatic 'translation' story. The others are minor but still amusing.

For example, sometimes we ask a question and either she doesn't understand or didn't hear us... not sure.. but her answer starts out strong then just trails off. Andrew and I will exchange glances and just shrug. It's amazing how you get used to feeling confused. Blind trust may be a fruit of the spirit...





BACK TO YURI STORIES......



So back to what you really want, stories about Yuri... We went to visit him yesterday. That in and of itself could be a story. It's about an hour and a half to Jonquoy where his school is. We take the bus as often as we can because its looooaaads cheaper than by car with Brent--although with Brent it does go faster. The bus is the funny part, funny smells, funny people, funny not knowing what is going on on the soap opera they have playing :)

But it is fun as well. The bus getting there is nicer than the bus home. I guess they don't have a big bus to get back home. However, niether have air conditioning and for some reason the windows won't open. Andrew, who as you probably know, rarely if ever complains (except when he is hungry and fighting being grumpy--it's true--the man is a grump when he is hungry) actually had a negative remark about the lack of air in the bus. Know I know it's probably not 'blog worthy' but since it is such a rare occasion for him to complain I find it necessary to record it for all to see. Ladies and gentleman here is what he said, somewhat annoyed: "gosh did it ever occur to them that if you don't have air conditioning the windows should at least work? Ugh, I mean people die from this stuff." And that was it after that he went back to reading. I smiled because finally he made a complaint--I mean for the first 45 minutes I thought I was alone in noticing that everyone was smelling and melting!



Oksana and her husband took Yuri an old bike becuase we were telling him about his back in America and he was Elated! It was very thoughtful of them. So Andrew taught him to ride--it was so great. Picture Andrew running behind the bike trying to keep ahold of the seat while Yuri wobbled and peddled and giggled. Then me with the camera running beside/behind yelling "yeah! yuri!" I have the video and tons of pictures--it was great!
I haven't had a baby of my own yet but I would relate it to the feeling of watching your child take their first steps---yep, we're that proud. Riding bikes is a big deal in the Bradley Household :) It's amazing that someone his age has never had the chance to ride a bike given that it is a common mode of transportation here. So with that you can see how very excited he was to ride. Before we were able to take it out of the car( it was in the back of the hatch and you couldn't really see it) I kid you not he must have sat there peeking at it and pointing saying Mom, Dad and grinning ear to ear for at least 20 minutes.

Needless to say he wobbled a lot at first but all in all his first experience riding went very well. We are convinced that by the time we get back tomorrow he'll be a pro--or at least a lot better. We can't wait!