fun and sun and sand and little kids and sunburn

(Apologies to those of you who got an earlier version of this yesterday, but I'm saving time once again by taking the basic text and editing/updating it. So I recommend reading it again because there's more to it this time.)

The Black Sea is wonderful. I've spent a great deal of time over the last few days at the sea, either just being out in the sun or playing in the water with the Yukhemets kids. I have learned the word for jellyfish (there are a lot of them here, which the boys like to use to freak out Vlada and I by threatening to throw them at us) and have taught the kids the English word.

I'm staying with a young couple who make a living renting rooms here. (They say that the only professions around here are landlord, accountant, and salesperson!) They're Christians (his dad's the pastor here) and also some sort of cousins to Nadia. (Me to Nadia: "Are all evangelical Christians in Ukraine related to you?" Nadia: "We do have a big extended family...")

I'm definitely a bit sunburned, especially my back. SPF 30 is good, but it has its limits. Nadia and Vlada use some sort of cream, but it didn't appear to be sunblock. I've discovered that Ukrainians have a thing about getting very very tan. They think it's healthy for you.

Which leads to one of the more surprising cultural things I've noticed: 98% of females here wear bikinis, regardless of age, shape, or weight. This includes Nadia and Vlada (Liza and Snizhanna just run around in bikini bottoms, as do most small girls). I understand that it's part of the culture here, but it surprised me that the evangelical Christians also wear bikinis. I'm not saying that it's horrible or anything, just that women in the churches here tend to dress fairly conservatively--they're well-covered-up, with little to no jewelry or makeup, so I assumed that they'd be like conservative evangelical Christians in the US, where women generally wear one-piece suits (and I remember wearing t-shirts over our suits at some church functions growing up). Several Yukhemets kids have asked me where my swimsuit is (I have a tanktop and shorts combo made out of swimsuit material), and they give me weird looks when I say I'm already wearing it!

I'm really glad I'm here, and even more so that I'm with the Yukhemetses (although also glad that I'm not sharing an apartment with them...they have 12 people in the apartment sleeping on a bed, a couch, two chairs, and the floor, plus two out in the van...actually, according to Nadia, they aren't particularly sleeping). I go "way out" in the water with the older kids (but on the children's beach, "way out" is still only chest-deep, if that!), pull the little kids around on their floaties, and am the prime recipient of Valera's "Watch me, Miss Sally!"

Valera and I today, playing in the water:
Valera: Why do all the kids in my class like you so much?
Me: I don't know. Why do you?
Valera: Because we're always doing stuff together.

I thought that was really sweet. Of course, he also enjoys dunking me in the water.

I've quite easily resisted the temptation to do much souvenir shopping, as it's a lot of junk, and easily breakable junk at that, but I did get myself a brown-with-white-polkadots headband and a shell that says "Skadovsk 2007" in Cyrillic letters. I liked a crocheted scarf/shawl thing (cream-colored with pretty flowers), but then I saw it had sparkly beads sewn in. Not so much my thing.