Euro 2012

We are in Donetsk, Ukraine. We've been visiting with one of our friends, Joe, and he has truly shown us the sights of his city!

When we arrived in town on Tuesday, he was about to host a youth pizza party. I just love how everyone takes off their shoes before entering the house or apartment; it keeps folks from tracking dirt in. I especially love it when it is raining or slushy outside!! Does everyone here in Ukraine wear black shoes?

The purpose of the pizza party was to gather the folks who had been contacted during an evangelization in one of the university dorms nearby, to get to know them, and to see if they are interested in joining an English conversation class or a bible study. I was greatly impressed! There were a total of 17 students, which is quite a good turnout for something of this sort.

Even though the reason we come to visit our personnel is not to sightsee, sometimes we are able to get out in the city to see some of their most famous sights. Of course, we talk as we walk ...

Euro 2012 is being held in 4 cities in Poland and 4 cities in Ukraine during the month of June. It is a "football" championship (soccer, of course) between 16 national teams: Ukraine, Poland, Sweden, France, England, Spain, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Croatia, Denmark, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Czech Republic and Russia. Donetsk is one of the cities in (Lyviv, Kharkov, and Kiev are the other 3 cities in Ukraine) hosting the games and is busy dressing up the city to get it ready for all the tourists that will descend.

While we were out seeing the city, we stopped by the car wash to clean off 2-3 months of sludge and soot. Glenn and I can carry on conversations anywhere we are, but this is one of the most unusual, I believe!

Rinat Akhmetov is reportedly the richest man in Ukraine and 39th richest in the world, according to Forbes Magazine. He comes from Donetsk and has been very generous toward his home city. He built this stadium for the city's football (soccer) team, Shakhtar Donetsk, of which he is very proud. He is also supporting lots of orphanages in the country. We drove around part of the perimeter of his house ... which is huge. The yard is, that is. The property is so large that the house is built waaay back out of sight so no one knows how large the house is and the walls around it are about 15 feet tall!

Donetsk has a lot of mines around the city and there is a park in the center of town dedicated to iron works. The Metal Iron Park has many, many iron statues throughout.

Glenn and Joe, cool dudes.

There is a gazebo in the park made out of iron where people put padlocks with their names on the walls to signify their eternal love for one another. Love padlocks started appearing in the early 2000s across Europe but no one is certain of their origin. I've previously shown a picture of a bridge in Kiev with love locks on it. If you recall, Glenn and I saw a lady with a hacksaw trying to cut the lock off! Guess that one turned out badly, eh?

The first day we were in town it was too cold to be outside so Joe drove us around to sightsee from the car. It was too cold for us, but Ukrainians love to stroll in the freezing snow! We saw many, many parents pushing strollers through the parks and streets. They believe the children need the "fresh air".

Saw a grandmother making a snowman with her grandchildren. The snow was perfectly moist for building snowmen and snowballs! What a neat grandmother. I want to make snowmen with Jazmine in New Jersey and sandcastles with Alec in Senegal.

On Thursday, the temperature started rising, getting up to a balmy 32 degrees, so the snow started melting. There were a lot of city workers out clearing the snow and sweeping water off the sidewalks so that in case it refroze, it wouldn't become icy. Love the broom!

Making progress! Between the workers and the sun, the sidewalks will be clean and clear very soon.




Some pretty nasty icicles!

Another statue of Lenin. I think there is one in every city in Ukraine! Notice the 27 story building behind it?

They were even cleaning the windows on this hotel that is being built for the Euro 2012!

The use of balloons to decorate and attract attention like this is something I've not seen anywhere else before. We must have passed 4 or 5 other stores with colorful balloon decorations outside!

Another thing I was surprised to see were so many gorgeous fur coats!!! Remember last week I showed a picture of me trying on a white fur hat in Belarus? I decided not to get one because, well, why spend so much money on something that makes me look so dorky?!? Well, now I want a fur coat! In a way, I hope I look dorky in them too so that I won't keep wanting one. I don't know how the Ukrainian women can afford the fur coats. I can't afford them but they sure are pretty!

We had a great visit with Joe and the others over the past two weeks but it will be good to be home for two weeks! Home, sweet home!