Where you at (even more forcefully)?

I'm not posting again until you guys fulfill your end of the deal and get the comment count up there.  I can name at least a dozen folks who've commented before but haven't chimed in yet.  There are no exemptions from this!

For my own peace of mind, before I embark on this trip, I need to know something about who reads this blog.

Leave a comment with:

• Name (real or pseudonym that I can know you by)
• Location
• Your website or blog (if applicable)
• The single best trip you've ever undertaken

This is non-negotiable!  Everyone who reads this post must comment with one or all of the above items.

Donetsk was Hughes-ovka

Wow, that doesn't roll of the tongue quite like Istanbul and Constantinople, does it?  Hard to believe that you could fine a pair of city names that are harder to get into a song than the 2 that 'They Might be Giants' chose.

This is Donetsk:

I started looking into the city of Donetsk today because there is one potentially fatal flaw in our planned trip...  We only have about 40 minutes after the final whistle blows in the Shakhtar-Tottenham game to travel about 4 miles back the train station for our departure.  I was checking out the map and discovered there are some amazingly interesting things about this city.

• Shakhtar play in a stadium with 2 different names.  It is either called Locomotiv Stadium or Olympic Stadium.  Even weirder, they don't actually play in Shakhtar Stadium which is just a few miles from there - the other team in Donetsk does!  This is like the NY Mets playing at a place called Yankee Stadium.
• The city of Donetsk was founded by a Welsh guy!  His name was Hughes and it was originally called 'Yuzovka' for that reason.  It was renamed 'Stalina' in 1923, derived from the word for steel - the city's major industry.  It's only been called Donetsk since 1961 when it was "De-Stalinfied.'
• It used to be the capital of it's own Soviet Republic.
• It was the site of a Nazi concentration camp in which 92,000 people where killed, mostly Slavs.
• I have compared Shakhtar to the Steelers before and lo and behold, Pittsburgh is one of Donetsk's sister cities.
• In 1970 the city was called the world's cleanest industrial city by UNESCO.
• It is the home of world record pole vaulter Sergey Bubka - quite possibly the most dominant athlete in the history of sports.  Bubka broke the world record (usually his own) 35 times in his career and has held it unchallenged at 6.14 meters since his retirement in 2001.  No other athlete has yet been able to even reach 6.10 so his record is likely safe for the foreseeable future.

How about all that for a list of truly interesting facts!

Visiting 'the girls'

In an earlier post we introduced you to two very special girls, Sasha and Natasha and their cousin Sergey.

They live in a small village called Ivanovna but go to school in Bagerova, where we saw them today.  It was great to see the girls with hair after we needed to shave their heads in the summer due to lice.  I honestly can't tell the difference between them but the mischievous looking one on the right ran up and gave us hugs as soon as they saw us - which is always a good feeling.

We saw their cousin, little Sergey too but he's a bit camera averse and not nearly so photogenic as the girls.

This is Sarah now....

 Earlier in the year, I got a chance to see the girls.  Once a week we take fruit and snacks to about 25 kids at the school, and these girls and Sergey are included in that.  I know a lot of you from Camp 3 grew attached to these kids so I wanted to give you an update.

Tanya told me that the teachers are amazed at the change they've seen in the girls.  Last year, they were extremely shy, had poor hygiene, and did not know how to play with the other kids.  They were thought of as "weird" because they would hide and did not know how to interact with others.  This year is completely different.  They are now the popular ones in school.  When I got there they seemed very confident in themselves, giving us lots of hugs and pulling me everywhere to find the room I was supposed to be in.  They have big smiles and seem very happy.  The difference?  They went to summer camp.

I got to see Sergey too.  I wish I could say that he was doing just as well.  It's hard to say exactly what's going on inside because he's so shy and doesn't like to make eye contact.  Keep praying for him.  I know his home life is very difficult including violence from his mom's boyfriend.  The most we saw him smile was certainly at camp.  I can't wait for him to come again!  

Friends

The other night we had the treat of having Roman, Oksana and Rita over for dinner.  They got us hooked up with a Christian-owned place around to the corner that has these sweet massage beds so it only seemed fair that we reciprocate with a little homemade American food.

Here's our group shot on the couch that doubles as Cam's bed.

New header

I switched the header graphic from a simple and amateurish one with a good shot of the remains of the Turkish fortress of Еникале (Yenikalea) to another picture that I took of Fortress Kerch last spring.

It should be obvious that a higher degree of skill went into the editing of this photo for me so make a comment let Sergey know how you like his work.  Also tell me what you think of the new photo choice.