Since I didn't post any pictures of the court date. Ashley did well though it was nearing all she could stand. Amber was a bit deer in the headlights. It was all really quick... I didn't think it could be quicker than our last one. This judge was no nonsense and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a single unnecessary word spoken in the entire proceeding. I'm told that most judges don't like their pictures taken and she didn't stick around for one.
Today we went shopping for DVDs and a DVD player. I only found two players that support US voltage also and fortunately they were the cheapest at $35. We got about fifteen Russian DVDs... Hopefully Amber will like them. It is kind of hard to pick out movies for a 14 year old who is between liking twilight and barbie. They all look legal but it is really hard to tell over here. I will replace the plug on the player when we get home and we will use it as a way for Amber to just relax after all the school and home work is done on the weekend... Something she can listen to without having to work to understand it. Most can be listened to in English or russian and mix/match with English or Russian subtitles.
We also picked up one of those magic pots... Though it turns out the cheap one we got isn't all that magic. Takes nearly as long as the gas stove to boil water. So they all aren't created equal by the magic pot fairy. When we went to the market we found some English books that help teach the alphabet and reading but explain it in Russian. Most things including Rosetta stone and what she will get in school are primary language agnostic... So we grabbed both lesson books they had and may look for more on amazon.
Tonight we went to the local carnival... The rides looked safer than the ones that show up in our home town. It was fun... Maybe go again tomorrow after the circus.
Today the temperature suddenly dropped and it got windy. In virginia I would be looking for the thunderstorm... Not sure what was up here but it was a relief. The last couple of days have been warm and humid... And me without shorts. In zap you can see the industrial areas spewing out smoke and pollution that hangs over the city... To make matters worse, the air settles in the evening and everyone and their uncle seems to want to create a random bonfire in the nearest field. We even saw people carrying wood and a rock to sit on from their apartment tonight to the embankment next to the main road... Before we left the market they had a good fire going.
Found a close restaurant today with a reasonable variety of food. I liked the pizza but it was close to a meat pie in taste and Melissa did not like the dill they used all over it. Our favorite place to eat is over by the open market but I doubt we will walk the 4.5km to get there at night.
Lastly... I really like the yogurt over hear. Not the stuff they put chocolate on that makes me feel ill, the normal yogurt... Even finding three of the containers having blue mold in them hasn't dissuaded me from eating the others. I also love the fruit juice... Pineapple in particular.
Our boys are from Zap, but the orphanage they were in was in Matviivka, so our court was in the Volnyansk jurisdiction. Your court pictures look a lot like the room we were in... I know they all look very similar, but I thought maybe you were also in the Volnyansk jurisdiction? It's hard to believe I was there just a week ago! Seems like much longer. Glad to hear things are moving along for you! God bless.
ReplyDeleteYes... With the blue cage on the right that our translator said I wasn't supposed to joke about putting our bio daughter in it if she misbehaves :)
ReplyDeleteDon't know if you are still in Zap or not, but there is a restaurant by the Intourist Hotel called Pow Wow. Can't remember the Russian spelling, but that's how it sounds, spelled out in English. Nothing out of this world, but good food and cool sculptures made from eating utensils. There is one that I can't for the life of me remember the name for sure, but it's something like Politburo's? It's an old Soviet themed restaurant that has pretty decent food. It's down toward the McDonalds. Other than that, my meals were pretty boring, but very tasty. Veggies from the ever plentiful stands. I actually kind of miss the place... The little stands on the roadsides actually have pretty good food, too. As for the blue cage? Wishing we had one right now that we could at least threaten to use:)
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