Happy birthday to Sasha & Vanya
Today was an OUTSTANDING day. While nothing was really out of the norm, it was a total blast. Constantine, our trustworthy taxi driver arrived right on time at 10:00. I had a lot of stuff to pack into the car today because I was bringing birthday gifts, a full cake and my usual Trader Joe's bag full of stuff. We headed off to Camp Alliance in a slightly new direction. I think he was trying to avoid some pot holes in order to preserve the cake which was sitting on my lap.
Sitting in the front seat offers an entirely new perspective of the country roads in Ukraine. Frankly, I am thrilled to graduate from the back seat where I had to focus on the horizon in order to avoid getting car sick on a daily basis. The front seat however, is not for any lightweights. The first order of business is to alleviate your fears of speed. Check--no problem. The second bit of business is to toughen up your skills at playing "chicken". I am not exaggerating when I tell you that the potholes are so bad, a small car could get lost forever. There are so many large holes that cars zig zag to avoid them. It doesn't matter what is coming towards you or how fast you are moving, you just need to avoid them and let the on comer deal with the tight squeeze.
I arrived at camp and was greeted by Vanya, one of the birthday boys. He guided me back to Sergei's dorm. When we found Sergei, he rounded up the four brothers Gena, Sasha, Vanya and Volva. Sasha & Vanya were turning 14 today. The six of us went into the dorm, put 14 candles on the cake, sang happy birthday and then I got them to make a wish. Sergei and I quickly jumped into gear and realized that we could cut the cake AND make plates out of the cardboard from the cake box. The boys all enjoyed a big honking piece of chocolate cake.
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