Another chilly day in (the girls' region)

It was cold and rainy again today, but the weather is supposed to start picking up in the next couple of days. We had a good day today, and not much to report other than laundry is done. :)

I've shared a bit about our travels, but I haven't shared much about our adventures. Yesterday was a very adventurous day! Early on, we were coming back from a walk and Mark broke our hotel key off in the lock. Now you have to understand that it's not as simple as walking down and telling the front desk. We've got to get our translator on the phone, who has to talk to the front desk, who sends someone up, who has to call someone else....and we were told there might be a "small charge" for fixing the lock. Yep, all of 18 grivna (yeah, a little over $2). I'll take that little charge any day of the week!

Lately, my mom and I have been doing the grocery shopping for dinner at night. I go by default as I have the most (and it's not very much) Russian, and then Mom usually comes since she has the boys in the afternoon during our visits with the girls and she needs a (well-deserved) break. Last night, when we got to the deli they had pre-cooked pizzas available for purchase...so I got 7 (they were small, about saucer-size). They had chicken, and cheese, and bacon, and...mayonnaise! I thought they were fine, but apparently I'm the only one who likes mayonnaise on my pizza. :) :) They did not send me grocery shopping for dinner tonight. LOL We went out to a pizza place instead, and I was instructed to ask if they had mayonnaise on their pizza (I didn't ask, but it didn't).

We walked back from the orphanage once, and it wasn't bad but it's been pretty cold and it makes for a very long walk. So we decided it's worth the 11 grivna each way to get a taxi. We call our facilitator and she calls a taxi for us, then calls us back to let us know what car to look for. Today when we got in the taxi, we handed the address to the guy and he gave a dismissive grunt. He seemed a little put out to be hauling two foreigners around. Then he couldn't find the orphanage, and we had to show him where to go. :) :) He was laughing by the end of the ride and a good time was had by all.

Our hotel overlooks a soccer (football) stadium, so last night Mark and the boys got to watch the end of a local match from our hotel. The home team lost, 2 to 1, but it was pretty exciting as it was tied almost until the end of the game. The boys loved it and have gone around talking about the green and white team all day.

Dramamine works wonders on Zhenya--as in, it's the only thing we've ever found that can make him stop talking. However, there is a small drawback. Apparently Zhenya has a word allotment per day, and when he doesn't use it up in one day it gets transferred to the next day. The child did not stop talking for a solid 14 hours. It was amazing.

Our visit today with the girls went really well. Eve is starting to interact a lot more, and we're beginning to wonder if she's not just really delayed. She is the highest-functioning child in her groupa, so she has not had a lot of peer interaction or age-appropriate stimulation. She was "talking" and asking Mark questions today which was a really good sign. We got some good video of her running and also going down a slide. The concerning behaviors we've observed the past couple of days seem to be diminishing and hopefully that will continue with increased interaction.

Eve playing with Papa

Dana playing with Mama

Eve mimicking Papa's silly faces