We are on our Own!

Sorry it has been so long between posts. "Y" left last Thursday evening and we have been on our own since then. It took us a while to find the internet. It has been very interesting not having anyone to translate. Some people are very nice but others are not so nice. We went to a supermarket yesterday to buy lots of groceries so we don't have to go out everyday and try to communicate what we want. The cashier was definitely not going for Miss Congeniality. Dan started putting the groceries on the belt that moves everything along and she started to bark out something at him. Of course, he didn't understand so she said the same thing again only louder. Why is it people think if you don't understand a language it will be easier if you say it even louder:) Anyway, we got through that and had a good laugh afterwards. I have to admit it does get discouraging when you get a negative response but that is all part of the experience. Even though it is stressfull I think everyone should experience it... not sure why but I am thinking it builds character!!

We are still enjoying our apartment and believe it or not, I have actually take the stairs several times. There are 2 flights per floor, 9 stairs per flight x 9 floors = a heck of a lot of stairs. We always use the stairs going down but I have only attempted going up about 3 times. It takes Dan and Syd too long to revive me :) We had to take the stairs the other day because someone left a beer bottle with something other than beer in it sitting in the elevator and it had spilled. Give the choice, stairs are good.

We continue to see "R" every day, twice a day. We have had a couple of visits where we left feeling a bit discouraged. He gets really wound up (of course he is excited and he is on his own turf) and we have even more trouble communicating with him. On one visit he was mad at us when we left because we didn't play in the sandbox. I think he thought that if he did what we wanted for part of the time, we would play in the sandbox after but our time ran out. He wouldn't give us a hug goodbye but when we went back everything was good and the big bear hugs were back. Dan, aka Pappa, gets a kiss on both cheeks also. It is really cute to see. Dan, "R" and the director of the orphanage are in Kiev today for the Canadian Immigration medical. We should have our court date