Monday -- Day 8

The countdown is still on!

The kids left for 'moray', the ocean or Black Sea today. I believe they are going to be gone for a month. It was a happy occasion, but sad for us and some of our little friends who knew we wouldn't see them and they wouldn't see us again. We had a couple of our little friends follow us to the bus stop. Hugs were given all around when the marshrutka came. It will be very quiet at the orphanage when we visit tomorrow. There will only be our daughter, another girl who has court with her new adoptive parents on Wednesday and a handful of the 8 class. We've been told there wasn't enough money for tickets for the older class, so they will go on a trip after the other children get back. Of course, this may not be exactly the whole truth. Sometimes we only get portions of it at a time.

We've become pretty proficient at riding the bus around here. We've been riding either the bus or marshrutka, whichever comes first and has room, home from the orphanage for a few weeks now. Not every day at first, but just about every day last week. We have learned that the bus comes at 1pm, which is the perfect time for us and it is usually almost empty. All the marshrutkas tend to be full. The bus is cheaper by 25kopecs, but people seem to prefer the marshrutkas. I don't know why. They don't hold as many people. I've seen a marshrutka filled to the brim with people standing up.

Today was the first day we rode the bus to the orphanage. It went smoothly. We have been watching the route numbers and have the routes we need figured out. We take one route number to and from the orphanage and another number down from a certain stop down to our apartment. We have to cross the street to take the second bus. The only problem we have is that the route to our apartment is extremely busy. All the buses and marshrutkas are very full. We usually watch 5 or 6 route 101 vehicles pass by before we find one that has some seats. We were very blessed all the way around to find seats in all four of the vehicles we took. Sometimes we have to stand on the bus to the apartment.

I want to put something else in before I forget. Outside cafes are very popular here in the summer. We didn't see any in the winter and they seem to put them any place they can fit. One area looked a little more permanent, but there are no tables in the winter. One good thing is that the disco areas are outside under the tent. No more vibrating walls in our apartment:0 You can still hear the music until about 11pm, but apparently we've gotten used to it. The more permanent area I mentioned earlier, serves food. A limited menu, but we can get 'boot-ir-brahts', salads, drink, etc. We eat lunch there frequently. They serve you a glass with your bottled drink. We were sitting there one day, when Karina told us her glass broke. Come to find out, she had the side in her mouth and bit on it! It's a wonder she didn't cut her mouth all up. We had to pay eight greevna for the glass. I told her she wouldn't get her daily ice cream because the money went for the glass she broke. She is having just a little regression behavior wise because of being around all the kids at the orphanage. We are hoping she will get better now that only a few children will be there.