Primitive Ukraine

Well today was quite an adventure. I don't think any of us slept very well, but Whale had an accident in the middle of the night and I checked email. (Can you say computer addict?) Anyway, we went back to sleep around 3:30 am and when we woke up at 8 am the electricity was off. Well, we kind of panicked a bit and then wasted enough time freaking out a bit that we missed the water cut off time. They turn it off every morning at 9 am so if you don't shower before that you are out of luck until after 4 pm then off again at 10 pm. Don't know why they do it, but they do. So anyway, I made DH and I some toast and Whale has some cereal. We were so exhausted from that effort that we laid back down and slept until noonish or so. We put clean clothes over our filth (we figured we smelled like most men over here so we would be fine) and then headed down to find a pay phone to call M. What we found was the outdoor Market. Whoo hoo, fun for me. I was able to get 2 pair of cute little shoes for T and a couple of pair of tights. I think for both pair of shoes and the tights we spend about $20. We got 1 kilo of rice for about $.75. The price of food just amazes me. Anyway, whale said his belly hurt so we came back to the apartment, oh yeah no electricity no elevator, UP 7 flights of stairs and all he did was toot. OMG is he trying to kill me? Anyway, we figured we needed to find a way to call M, our cell phone was out of minutes so we couldn't use that and the phone in the apartment is cordless so we couldn't use that either. Off we went down toward the busy part of town, quite a little jaunt if I say so myself. We found several pay phones, but they use phone cards instead of money. Out of luck, so we decided we would eat at the very nice restaurant we ate at yesterday. Of course we didn't have M with us so we broke out the handy dandy Russian dictionary and we kind of got what we wanted. I have to say, Solyanka is not my favorite soup. I know that it is made very different depending on who is making it, but this had chopped liver in it and that was enough for me to hate it. The broth of it was tasty though. Although we thought we ordered orange Fanta, we got orange juice, it was ok we all liked it. Well, then the nice little trip UP the hill back to the apartment to get T's toys to take to the orphanage. When we got back DH took the stairs and Whale and I waited at the bottom, hahaha! We walked to the orphanage and here is the good part. . . . .
We went in an picked her up. She was ok coming with us and she loves to go outside. We showed her the new toy we bought and she kind of liked it, but her favorite thing so far is the little DK First words book that we got from a kids meal at Chick Filet. She carries that thing around with her everywhere. Oh yes, my little niece also picked out a cute stuffed kitty that she really likes to carry around by the neck. Anyway, a couple of the groupas (yes, I meant to put an a on the end, that is what they call them in the orphanage) came out and we didn't want to keep them from the playground area so we went for a little walk and we found a much bigger slide hidden out back of the orphanage and Whale of course loved it. T was a little nervous at first and wanted my hand to get up. She slid down and laughed, A REAL LAUGH! She started getting more and more brave and then she started copying her brother. Well, he was going down head first on his belly. She started practically diving down this slide and was belly laughing the whole time. The two kids were going up and down together and whale would climb up first and put his hand out to help her up and she started reaching out for him. **sniff sniff** it was cute. Well, the last time they went down, they both went together head first on their bellies, at the bottom they were just kind of stopped and she reached over and touched his face. (tears in the eyes moment here) I actually got a picture of it, kind of blurry, but it is so cute. I loved hearing her laugh, so guess what we will be doing tomorrow? You guessed it the slide. We really are not expecting anything to happen adoption wise until at least Tuesday so we have time to spend with her and we are thinking of going to Donestk this weekend. We are going to meet with M tomorrow sometime to discuss it. Ok, we walked back to the apartment and still no electricity, so UP 7 flights again. I read for about 20 minutes and then decided we should do something about dinner. I cut up and onion and some potatoes and made fried potatoes. They were pretty good except toward the end I was doing it by candle light. We ate by candle light and just as we were finishing dinner the lights came on. YAY!!!! I started up the computer and the phone rang, it was M, I told her we had been trying to reach her all day. She ask are you serious? What is wrong? I told her the electricity went out and had been out all day, guess what she said?
"Oh yeah that happens sometimes and people get really angry about it. But there is nothing we can do about it." Then she said almost chuckling "Now you have experienced the true Ukrainian life" Yep funny M. I guess the city controls the electricity as well as the water. Thank goodness for the good ole USA, but then at the same time we have life VERY VERY easy and most do not realize how good life really is. So tonight when you flick that switch or take a shower whenever you want to, just realize that is not a possibility for all people in the world, and for the next 3 weeks, that means us :( Sorry I saw a soapbox and couldn't resist jumping on it.

Anyway, we are trying to decide if the stuff in the refridgerator(sp??) is bad or not, the freezer stuff seems to be fine. The ice cream was a bit mushy, but otherwise ok. I think all we are going to toss it the milk and we will be ok. Alright, enough for tonight, can't wait to see what tomorrow holds for us. We have had a wonderful time here in Ukraine. If whale wasn't so spoiled it would even be better. I do see that this boy has been given way too much and babied wayyyyyy too much, things will definitely change when we get home. Those who know me, keep your comments to yourself. I am really cracking down this time. He won't get a toy everytime I step foot in a store........... maybe only everyother time :)
Really, bye for now.