A Memerable Weekend

This weekend was another busy weekend in which Lawrence (Colleen’s husband) took us on another tour of downtown Donetsk, including both the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches, a rather impressive Soviet Union memorial, the future Olympic stadium that’s under construction, beautiful parks, an open market (where I lost me watch – go figure), and one of the two only replica’s of the Zarrs cannon…

When we visited the Orthodox Church, we happened to go on a religious holiday, and a service was underway. The church itself was packed, and from the moment we walked in, it inspired a deep feeling of awe and reverence. The smell of incense, the choir singing from the rafters and the sound reverberating in the domed top and wafting back down into the crowd, the chanting of the priest, and the candles softly illuminating the intricately painted walls and gold-plated icons and saints delicately placed along the walls. Even though I had no idea what was being said, the environment itself brought community to all present, and you could feel the presence of God there. We went back again on Sunday, although I couldn’t take pictures because the service was underway… that, and I felt like I would be violating some unstated law by taking pictures in a time and place like that. I did, however, get some pictures of the Greek Orthodox Church that is still being constructed.

Sunday was very memorable, and for more than one reason. First thing in the morning, Rachel tapped me on the shoulder and quietly let me know it was almost 7am – I groaned and rolled back towards the wall. 5 minutes later, when I decided that yes, I should get up, I rolled around, and there, right in front of my eyes, on the floor below my bed lay a series of small pieces of paper all lined up, spelling out very clearly
H-A-P-P-Y B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y C-H-E-L-S-E-A-!
I couldn’t help smiling.

I decided to dress up for the day, and, after getting up and eating a breakfast of cereal and yogurt, we left on our voyage back to the Orthodox Church. Unfortunately, some of the girls were feeling sick from the food we had eaten the other day, and stayed back at the school. Afterwards, Josh showed up in Lennon Square with Hannah (Amy was still sick), and we all headed down to Liverpool for lunch. Just for clarification – there is a small part of town with a hotel, and a few restaurants, a food mart, and a bar that are all dedicated to the Beatles. We were under the impression that the restaurant we were going to was buffet style, but I think we went to the wrong entrance, ending up instead in a high-class fancy restaurant. 0.o We walked down a lighted stairway with a railing entwined with musical instruments into a dimly lit hallway with booths on each side – each in their own little cylinder room cut out of the wall. It was like looking into a porthole into the booths – each decorated with murals depicting a different Beatles’ album. There were also other tables in smaller rooms with cloth-draped walls and Internet access. I don’t know if I can really get the feeling of the place down without showing you, but unfortunately, the lighting was not very camera friendly… Needless to say – it was REALLY nice. I ordered a salmon/asparagus ‘pie’ with spinach sauce that was absolutely AMAZING, with a dessert of cheesecake. Everything was gourmet and served beautifully, and all I can say is WOW. I’ve never been somewhere that nice, and probably never will again. It is definitely a memory I will cherish.

The whole day was very relaxing, if tiring as well. It took a lot of walking and trolley busses to get there, but it was the first time in two weeks that we’ve had time planned to just unwind and have fun. When we got back, and I arrived on the second floor where my room is, there stood my team, who had rushed ahead of me, and produced a lovely bouquet out of no-where, which was the perfect end to a perfect day. I still can’t figure out when or how they got it.