Friday, January 22, 2010

End of first full week in Kras




I had a busy day today. Left the hotel at 7am for the orphanage and got to spend 3 hours with Hannah (she still goes by Raisa). It was a lot of fun because we got to be in with the other kids when the caregivers put on a puppet show--they did the story of the three pigs so even though it was in Russian, I knew what was going on the whole time. Hannah sat on my lap through the whole show. The other kids didn't seem quite as interested in me today--maybe the puppet show had them distracted enough.

When I got back to the hotel, I went to Wendi and Trevor's apartment and we met up with Tim Loomens--He is a really cool guy that lives here in Krasnoyarsk but is originally from Wisconsin. He took us to the central market which was pretty awesome. It kind of reminded me of a flea market in Arizona and then the inside part was a huge food market. They had much better fruit than the grocery stores. They also had tables of raw meat in large pieces. As you walked by the women would hold up a big piece and try to talk you into buying it. They would just chop off a piece if you wanted part. The meat was just lying out in the open and the women selling it were all using their bare hands to handle it--then they would just wipe their hands on the front of their apron and go onto the next piece for the next customer. It was really something but supposedly the best meat in town. Wendi and Trevor did buy some.

After the market Tim had to get home but we went out to eat again--to Mama Roma's which was very good again. Wendi wasn't feeling good--earache and sore throat and wanted antibiotics so we went to a pharmacy and I used my Russian to buy her some antibiotics (you don't need a prescription here). I did really well and ended up with a Z-pack for her. It was kind of weird. The drugs were really inexpensive also.

When we got back to their apartment in the evening, Tim came back to visit and we just had a good time sitting around visiting. tomorrow we are going to his place so I get to meet his wife and kids--should be really fun.

We must be getting used to below zero temps all the time because it didn't seem so bad today.

4 comments:

Three Northern Stars said...

I love following your story Mary. Keep those post coming.

Alysa said...

I could look at that beautiful little face all day! Hanna is simply stunning! So glad you were able to spend more time with her.

Lou Ann said...

What a great day - Hannah, meat carcases & a visit with a new friend. Ain't life grand!

lisa said...

Hanna is getting even prettier by the day...must be the great mama influence!