Victory Day

5/9/11 

In the afternoon yesterday we decided to go to a big park that was in the tourist guide I got.  We took the soccer ball we just pumped up thinking it was a park like in the US.  However, it was actually more like our American Botanical Gardens or something that you just walk through, have picnics and look at the pretty plants. There were people there picking flowers and herbs.  It is a holiday today called Victory Day.  This is the day they gained Victory over the Germans in 1945. 

There was a marching band, and military dress men/women marching, lots of people, families and flowers laid at the statues of various men.  We walked to the Black Sea.  It is so beautiful. I really could have lingered there longer, but Brandon was ready to keep moving.  I did manage to snap a few pictures.   After it turned dark there was a huge fireworks display that we were able to watch from our apartment balcony.  As annoying as it is for our paperwork to be held up since everything is closed down for this holiday, I am happy I had the privilege to experience Victory Day in Ukraine.

We had lunch back at the same restaurant that we've eaten at every day since we've arrived in Odessa.  It's a little weird here because they will have things in their menu, but they don't actually have it.  For example, I ordered chocolate cake, but they didn't have it.  I ordered cheesecake with chocolate syrup, but they didn't have it. He ordered a certain salad, they didn't have it.  I ordered Borscht, they didn't have it.  I ordered chicken with pesto noodles, they didn't have that.  It's frustrating because my Russian vocabulary is very limited and I’m already a picky eater.  So needless to say, I'm starved.  Brandon ordered pizza with chicken on it.  I ordered cheese lasagna and the waitress didn’t tell me that they didn't have the lasagna either.   Brandon had polished off all the pizza (except 2 slices) and I was still waiting for my lasagna.  I was like "Izvineetya, Gdyeh moi lasagna?" (Excuse me, where is my lasagna?)  That's when she told me they were all out of it.  Well, why didn't she tell me so I could order something else?  2 pieces of thin crust pizza is not enough to make me full especially with all this exercise.

That park was probably 2 mile walk.  So there and back was 4 miles.  After lunch he wanted to play futbol, so we went down in that parking lot area for that.  It's only 7:30pm here and I am just BEAT.  I can't wait to be home.  I am so ready to eat when I’m hungry and drive my car when I’m ready to go.  This lack of independence really cramps my style.