Children/Grandchildren: |
None, but I have neighbor children (some are not children anymore) that are from the Ukraine, and I More…have become very close to them. Dimitriy- age 22, Alex- age 17, Vitaliy and Vera (twins)- age 20, Yaroslav- age 20 (now serving in Iraq in the army) Plus several more. See them every day. The Ukrainian culture is different from ours. The parents do not usually spend a lot of time with individual children as they do things as a family. They are dedicated Christians and Church is very important to them. I have been blessed to spend time with them on an individual basis. We have gone to the beach, mountains, tubed down the Green River, snow skiing and boarding, played soccer, played golf, gone bowling, gone to car shows, out to eat all the time, school concerts and functions and many more activities. I have enjoyed them very much and only wish their parents could be in my place at times. I have known them for 10 years and it has been interesting watching them grow up, teaching them to drive, taking them to get their dirver's licenses, taking them to church with me, etc. One event that is important to them is weddings (I have been to several). They make it an all day affair with a long wedding ceremony 1 to 2 hours and then a banquet with a lot of food where they sing (different groups of their friends), play games, give gifts, give speeches and more. Usually the wedding party is over around midnight. A lot of the activities are done in Russian so I miss some of the jokes and talks. I have learned a little Russian but would like to learn more. They speak Ukrainian and Russia. Most all of them speak Russian but not all speak Ukrainian, however the languages are very similiar. When they first arrived, Ruslan was about the only one who spoke any English, so I helped with the translation when needed. I have been present at functions where I was the only American. I guess I am closest to Yaroslav and he picked up English very quickly. He took English in school but did not do very well, but soon after coming to the US, he said he could teach the language. Of course they have an eastern European accent. We have a large community of Ukrainians in Spartanburg. They are great people. |