Hi Family,
I remember being in the
MTC and hearing people say, "the days seem like weeks, but the week seem
like days," and we had a few week-long days this week, though looking back
now, it all seems to have gone by pretty quickly, The weather is certainly
becoming more "fall-ish" - with nice sunny crisp-air
days, interrupted by a cold windy/rainy day ...
and strangely getting out of the house on rainy days is more
difficult for some unknown reason. And, on days when we don't get out of the
house until late afternoon (juggling napping, eating, and weather schedules)
the day seems more difficult, so alas, there were a couple more 'difficult'
moments over the last week, but we are all well and accounted for now. All in
all, it was a great week. Ella lost her lower front tooth today - the big-girl
tooth came in behind over a month ago ... and the little one has been dangling
on ever since, but she's been very protective about not letting anyone touch or
wiggle it. Today, Benj was able to get in there and it popped right out - she
didn't even feel it. So I guess we'll have another visit from the tooth-fairy
tonight. This afternoon, after church, we started moving the furniture around
to build a fort when we found clumps of beautiful golden curls behind the
over-sized chairs. Turns out, Anne found the scissors and decided to create
bangs on herself … but she went a little short for bangs and now has stubby
clumps of hair around her forehead, and ears. Try as she might (and we feel
like she’s trying very hard with a pulled-front-tooth and shaved forehead) Anne
is still a darling little girl with a passionate personality and vivid
imagination.
Benj was able to take
the girls (Ella and Anne) to a local rugby game on Saturday. The Lviv team
washes at Bubbles, and the coach is always asking Benj to attend a game ... so
finally this week it happened. I fear, however, that Anne and Ella have
inherited my sports-watching attention span, so they didn't last too long at
the rugby match. Instead they found themselves at an over-priced local toy
store, buying discounted (and still over-priced) plush toys - kitty cats, to be
specific - to add to our ever increasing return luggage pile. Speaking of
shopping, I was thrilled to buy the girls a couple of cute clothes on sale at
Zara - a Spanish clothing brand that is very popular in Europe. I felt a little
foolish and petty that the purchase made such a positive impact on my day - and
then while I was reading in the Anne of Green Gables novel I actually laughed
out loud when a character in the book has a similar experience. I guess I'm not
the only one - shopping does make me happy. So, the last time we were at a
local indoor play-place we frequent, I noticed a small shop with children's
clothes. The area is a former outdoor bazaar that, over the last few years, has
been turned into an indoor shopping area ... but the stores are still very much
like you would find in an open-air bazaar ... one that sells faucets, next
to a swim-suit store, next to a shoe store, next to a lingerie store,
next to a children's store ... you get the mis-matched shopping experience
idea. Anyway, I was anxious to check out the kids clothes, and even more
excited when, amid the rummaging, I found a few choice items in the right sizes
(H&M kids, and Zara from years gone by, but still new with tags). You can
only imagine my shock, and dismay when I brought the items to the lady to
purchase that she insisted on charging the marked prices on the tags ... when
you would assume they'd be pennies on the dollar coming from the little 10 x 10
mis-matched store. Turns out that that's just Ukrainian business ... at first I
thought it was because I was American, but I've been assured by many a
Ukrainian since that a) kids stuff in particular, but items in general, are
just expensive in Ukraine, because they're used to paying black-market prices
for name-brand items and b) expect the unexpected when it comes to Ukrainian
commerce. The thing I don't understand, and I've
tried unsuccessfully to get a reasonable explanation for, is that you
can go to the Zara store at the mall, and buy items on sale for much cheaper
than the 'years-gone-by' items at the bazaar ... the only response
is, "that's just how it is, and why the bazaars are having a hard time
staying in business." It's like going to TJ Max and paying Neiman Marcus
prices. Of course the bazaars are having a hard time staying in business ...
the business model doesn't make any sense! Whatever. I miss Walmart and TJ Max.
Another shopping
cultural event - Benj (on a bazaar) asked to buy a lady's raspberries ... all
of her raspberries. She declined and said she would only sell some of them, and
explained, "if I sold all of them to you right now, then I won't have
anymore to sell the rest of the day." True, which means you could either
pick more, sell more, and make more money ... or take the rest of the day off
to spend time with friends and family, go for a walk, etc. But that's how
business rolls in the UA - frustrating when you feel so hard-wired in a
different mentality.
Ella, Anne, and I went
to the ballet this week (they just resumed performances, took all of August
off). I think it was a Ukrainian production/story because I haven't heard of it
before and already can't remember the title (pregnancy brain) about a wheat
harvest, young love interest with an un-approving mother, and it all
ended happily-ever-after in just 1.5 hours - perfect for our viewing. 
Short,
sweet, and entertaining. Though there was one part where the curtain closed to
do a scene change and the orchestra was silent for several minutes (they should
have replayed the overture or something) and I couldn't help but think that
would never happen in a Ballet West or SF Ballet production! But then again, an
entire box would certainly cost more than the $20 we paid. 
We also went as a
family to the Lycheskiv Cemetery, which was fun to do - and though it hasn't
changed much, I'm sure, Benj hasn't been since he was a missionary 15 years
ago. There are over 400,000 people buried there - and so many of the
old tombs/shrines look like pieces of art - it's almost like an outdoor
museum.
The motto for Bubbles
this week is, "if you can't fire 'em, you shouldn't hire 'em" - which
is why we avoid working with family and church members. Well, if we had family
in UA we would work with them:) Benj had to let go of three employees and plans
to release two more this week ... mostly because they're
not competent (which seems strange considering we're doing laundry)
but more significantly because when Benj confronted these said employees about
the various events that took place, they lied about what happened. One
minor incident happened during the night shift ... and it was on the
security/surveillance tape the next morning, Benj gave the woman a chance
to explain what happened, she lied, he showed her the tape, and then she said,
"Well, that's not me" - when they are looking at the video (in color,
mind you) of her, and it is clearly her. Excellent. So, though the event itself
was not a catastrophe he felt like he had to release her from employment since
she couldn't tell the truth, and then was defiant about the evidence. Is it
this hard to get good workers everywhere, or is it a Ukrainian thing? We are
still waiting on that second industrial iron (that is now in Lviv, just the
smug-little UA man who clearly suffers from middle-aged
short-man's syndrome who said all the permissions were in order,
didn't realize they were expired AND mis-measured making it necessary to blow a
hole in an exterior wall of our building tomorrow!). Bet your buttons we will
post pictures on the Lviv blog this week.
By way of church, we are
excited that our suggestion to have the primary sing in sacrament meeting is
finally going to happen ... in two weeks (Sept. 23). We look forward to
inviting our friends to see the girls sing in church before we leave. Church is
such an interesting situation for us - it's very disorganized and impossible to
get anyone to plan anything with a little foresight. Plus,the branch is run by
the missionaries (couple serving as branch president, 8 full-time missionaries,
missionaries lead the music, play the piano, pass the sacrament, say the
prayers, etc), and while I'm sure it makes for great letters home for the
missionaries about how much they are needed in the branch - you can't help but
think the members should be trained and used to fill every possible spot ... if
you were a visitor or Ukrainian investigator (which there never are any) it
would seem like a very American organization. Plus, the job/ financial conversations
we've had with all the members (except a couple of the old grandma's) makes
member-relations awkward for the Becker-Bunch. But, I must admit that I feel we
somehow as a family have to learn to enjoy church here before our 'growing'
experience is complete. We (Benj and I) often laugh that this Ukrainian
laundromat experience has been "character-building" if
nothing else ... and we've joked that we don't really want anymore character
than what we already have:) Though we know the Lord refines us all through
experience, and though at times we feel like we are holding on by our
fingernails, we are grateful for the many life lessons and challenges we are
having. We have grown closer as a family, and been able to determine, more
succinctly what matters most to us as we raise our children, and the type of
home and community environment we want to provide.
Well, that email update
was anything but succinct! If you've come this far, thanks for making it to the
end. We love and miss you and appreciate your love, prayers and concern on our
behalf.
xo,
Meagan+
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