It is time to leave our interesting apartment in Lviv. It is fun to “play house” in a different place each week.
After a 35-minute uphill walk to the train station, we were good and sweaty. I noted a never seen before icon indicating chairs. I told Rob that we should check it out as the station had only standing room.
We saw a large room full of empty chairs. Our “greeter” told us that we needed to pay to sit down. There was no hesitation as Rob bought two hours for two for a total of $5. It was so worth it. Chairs with charging plugins and windows opened to a cool breeze.
It was about time to catch our train. I decided that I should go to the bathroom. I took some cash. There was an attendant who took my money and allowed me to take toilet paper from the community dispenser. I took an ample amount for the job and waited in line with several other toilet paper holders. At last! A woman emerged from the stall. Wait! She must have stolen the toilet because there was none.
Confused, I entered this small space and saw a hole in the ground. I squatted down being mindful to ensure that my pants were pulled down far enough and that my sunglasses wouldn’t slide off my head.
I did my business as well as could be expected, “flushed”, and exited as I rolled my eyes to the next waiting toilet paper holder. She seemed unfazed and even took her large suitcase in the stall. EEW.
I returned to see Rob lounging in our deluxe seating spaces and announced, “I think that they should have paid ME to go into that bathroom.”
Rob and I dragged our belongings up the stairs to the train platform. I have three bags: a day pack carrying what I need for the day, a rolling backpack with clothes that I need for the week, and a heavy bag containing medicines that I need for the year.
When there was an announcement on the platform at the train station, we didn’t need to speak the language to feel the collective sigh and groans of our fellow passengers. Our train was delayed.
Once on the train, we were entertained on monitors with lots of DIY ideas ranging from house decor, hair styling, carpentry, pottery, food preparation, and numerous arts and crafts.
The Internet on the train was inconsistent so we caught up on our reading. I had signed up for 40 days of prayer for missionaries sent by Pioneers International and needed to catch up.
A pioneer is someone who preaches Christ where His name is not known. A settler comes after the pioneer to disciple followers of Jesus Christ who then send out more pioneers of their own and so on. Multiplying churches, not sterile churches, are needed for the task remaining…for the good news to reach every tribe, tongue and nations. With travel, Internet and computer translating capabilities, this could be achieved in the next 30 years. How exciting!
As a descendant of Daniel Boone, I think that my heart has a pioneering spirit.
Once we arrive in Kiev, we need to get from the train station to the hotel. Rob said to get an Uber as I have the App. My Internet was still not working well. I thought that maybe we should just take a taxi. Rob had read to watch out for outrageous taxi prices at the train station. My Uber connection came up and indicating that the price should cost $5. A cabbie quoted $20. Rob said No Way and we walked away. Our Uber driver was on the way!!
He texted, “My English is bad.”
I responded, “Our Ukrainian is worse.”
We arrived around 1 a.m. and started to unpack. All of a sudden, a stream of water came leaking out from the ceiling. It seemed like someone above us had a tub that was overflowing. We had to change rooms. It was now 2 a.m. and we melted into comfortable bed linens. We even had a Pillow Menu. All of a sudden the TV came on. Hmmmm. We turned it off and Zzzzzz.
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