Sunday May 27, 2007

 

 

Yes, it's another Sunday in the south! The sun is shining, the wind a howlin and if you don't find some shade you'll be melting 'fore long. The "Fuzzies" are still fuzzin and the dust will still sting you all over—but all considered it could be MUCH worse. We have 24/7 water and A/C—that's SO much more than we expected.

 

There was a ton of activity this morning at the market by the hotel. This afternoon it's a ghost town—a car drives by every few minutes. A couple of sweaty people slink by now and then. Mostly it's just the dogs out trying to liberate the meaty scraps from the garbage cans.

 

The church on the main square is being rebuilt and is closed. We did not find another church anywhere so Pentecost was celebrated with Daniil in the playground. There is a Catholic church in Kramatorsk. We will try to get there next week—maybe with Daniil.

 

Fun news today! We found out today that we are pretty much free to take him anywhere we'd like during our 2 hours. Today we went to the local 7-11 (well, actually more like a tin hut with beer, pop and some snacks). Daniil was in awe of the store and was SO excited to get his very own water ("biz gas"). We also grabbed a 3 tea cookies and headed back to the orphanage to dine in the shade on our favorite bench. I do not think he has ever not had to share. He was very protective of his bottle, but did offer it up to us a couple of time after we had finished ours. Significant visible "backwash" made us decide to decline his offer. But it was sweet of him.

 

Daniil seems to be more tired in the afternoon. Maybe it's from the heat, maybe just worn out from the day. He is also much "floppier" (a low tone DS thing) and can get a bit grumpy if he does not get his way. "tuta" is "here" and "tuta" is where he expects us to take him in the afternoon--That could be the teeter totter, or the monkey bars or our favorite bench to explore what is in the "backpack of fun". But it better be now-- tuta!!

 

The "nice" orphanage worker  is teaching him to say "I love you" he surprised us with that this morning—so precious he is!

 

 

More tomorrow!

 

PEACE

 

Jim and Mary