I know we sound like a broken record, but it was another good day here in Slo'vyansk, Ukraine! We were up and out early to the Rynok (open air market) in search of bubbles to play with Daniil---found em—25 cents! Then we are off to the trolly-bus for the ride to the orphanage for our visit. Visits are getting more predicable as we figure each other out!
Treat for Daniil
Treat for Stimpy (as long as Daniil does not eat it all)
Broom-ball and just visiting for a couple of hours.
Mary parades him around the grounds singing, "you are my sunshine"
Time to go in
We went to the "mega-mart" after our visit (more like the size of an IGA back home) and got some cooked chicken breasts for lunch and other groceries to hold us over through the weekend—We spent $30USD (they take credit cards) and that should be more than enough for our 2 meals a day in the hotel til court on Monday.
**** A note about credit in Ukraine. Just recently, "everyday Ukrainians" can get credit. This has opened the chance to buy a world of consumer goods. There is an appliance store on almost every corner of our little city. Building supply, remodeling, electronics and even car showrooms are all promising "easy credit". (my fave is "Credit Dumka"—insert "dummy-head" joke here) Many people we speak with don't quite understand that they will have to pay the money back. It's just "free stuff" to them. It will be interesting to see how this nation where the average worker makes (at the most) a couple hundred dollars a month find a way to actually afford their 30 inch plasma TV.
We also spent more time than we expected at the Internet café today. We hoped to get in and get some stuff downloaded to my "thumb-y drive", update the blog and be on our way, but we ran into the disabled fellow that we helped last week to find his friend in Portland. He has been searching since then to try to find this fellow's email (we found the mailing addy and phone number but no email). We did several email searches to try to help him but came up empty. Thankfully one of the girls we met at English club was there to help us explain that it's often harder to find email addys in the US than street addresses. If he is there next time, we'll offer to call and see if we can get the email.
Our afternoon ride to the orphanage was the most crowded so far on the trolley-bus. I pushed as hard as I could to get up the steps and Mary was able to sneak on right before the doors closed--- butts, legs, arms and privates are smashed against you—THEN the (always hefty) ticket taker lady somehow manages to get through to get your 60 kopek. AMAZING!
We forgot our snacks today so I ducked out to get some "salt cheese", a 2 litre of Coke (they are out of .5 litres) and plastic vodka shot glasses (try to explain that one to the Orphanage Director) so we can avoid Daniil's prolific "backwash".
After a waay too quick visit, we headed down to catch our #7 trolley-bus--- . We were thinking about trying a new café tonight for dinner, but I was covered with grime from our playtime and the place we were looking at looked a bit more upscale than that, so we went back to the "Chernehivska café" where they proudly marched out my ballcap that I had left a couple of days ago (I was wondering where it went.) Wet go a couple of beverages, some pistachios and borsht and watched a 50 something guy in a tan suit wine and dine his table then step into his H2 Hummer and speed off. Hummmmmmm.
We will sadly miss our morning visit with Daniil tomorrow as we will meet our Peace Corps friend and she will take us to the Cave Monastery. We hope to have some pictures and stories to share with you tomorrow.
Peace!
Jim and Mary
"Hey" to the Crew at Work---Congrats on a good ratings trend—I just saw a bit of the data but it looked good---Duker—Congrats on ANOTHER #1 month!!! YAY!!!
--
Marty Thompson
President
www.MartyThompson.com
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