Well, it's 8:05pm Thursday here (12:05pm there) and we are amazed at how late it is. For once, it seems like it should be earlier....I guess that means today passed a little quicker than most! We started off the morning with a morning visit to the orphanage. Our translator/facilitator was not getting into town until later today, so we just had our driver pick us up and take us on out for a visit. We had a great visit with Philip (the oldest) today. Ryan did not come into the room...there were lots of kids outside in the snow today, so we think he must have been outside. But, without our translator we just don't know. We don't think anything was wrong since the director was all smiles. Anyway, Jackson had a wonderful time playing with his brother! We took a seek and find book (thanks, Dana) and both boys loved helping each other find the items on their pages. I still haven't been able to get Philip to say any English words, other than our names. We'll keep working on that. He even pointed to a picture of Carol we had on the camera and called her baboushka (sp.). It was really cute. We took a snack for them today. They always love that. Philip promised to give Ryan his Fruit by the Foot we took him(thanks again, Dana) since he wasn't in there. Lots of hugs were given all around!
After we left the orphanage, we went to pick Andrew up from the bus station. We saw a lot of interesting people there while waiting on him. One man was so impaired he couldn't walk. It was about 12 noon. It made us sad! We got Andrew and went to the Potato House. We all got pork spare ribs and baked potatoes mixed with mushrooms, cheese, and sour cream. Jackson got a chicken burrito....not like we are used to, but still good. It was all delicious, actually! I made mention in the picture that the locals consider this fast food.....we didn't understand that at all. It was obviously nothing like American fast food. But, I was especially excited because I was able to actually get some Coca-Light there. I know all my Diet Coke junkie girls understand my obsession with that! After lunch, we went to get some money changed over and had a chance to visit the statue of Lenin in the town square. Joseph Schell had researched Zhitomir for us and said all the hip travelers are visiting the Lenin statue. We immediately asked our driver to take us there. Actually, when we asked our translator to find out from our driver where it was, he was confused. Our pronunciation of Lenin was just like Lennon, as in John. He laughed and quickly corrected me....it's Le'-neen with the accent on Le! No charge for today's lesson on how to correctly pronounce an evil Communist dictator's name! Then we had to sign some more paperwork with Andrew. After that we have just hung out at home. We have the option of going to the orphanage both morning and evening, but the orphanage is about a 30-40 minute drive from Zhitomir. The driver was only negotiated with for 1 visit a day, so we really try to make the MOST of that 1 visit. So far, this has worked well and it always seems like both boys are excited to see us. I have forgotten to mention that the drive to the orphanage town is beautiful. On the way we pass a large lake/river that is almost always frozen. We have seen people ice fishing, playing with their dog, and riding their bikes on the frozen water. I think they know what they are doing, but it scares me to death! Plus, the town where the orphanage is located is very small. Almost every day we have seen a horse-drawn buggy going to or from town with various supplies. Don't forget it's somewhere between -10 and -2 degrees (that's negative 10 to negative 2 degrees) Celcius and these men are just out driving their buggies around! Well, I will go....love you all!