March 8- Happy Women’s Day

Detailed version:

Wow- our first “day off” since arriving. We are praying our son will remember us over the whole weekend. Hoping we won’t have to “start over” on Monday. We ran into the same couple over breakfast this am and talked with them for a couple of hours. We were really feeling for Chris and Penny- how hard it must have been to be here without any other English speaking families.

We decided to try out the flea market that N had told us about. We joined up with the Dini’s for a little bit- got to see the pics- only 9 turned out- from the camera shop. The wonderful caregivers at the orphanage had taken pictures of him with his playmates doing all sorts of things. How priceless!!

OK- I have to tell you about this flea market. I think it may be as big- maybe bigger than the one we went to in Moscow at Ismalavo. If you walk down the same street as the Italiano Restaurant, KFC and California Pizza (all right across from each other) maybe 2 blocks, you come into the market area. Forget about the Toy store for buying clothes- I wish we would have seen this first. There must be over a thousand vendors!! Everything from hats and gloves to shoes, jeans, undergarments, cosmetics, gift items, food- and we only went up and down 2 aisles- I think there must have been 10 or more- there is even an indoor “mall” type area.

This would be a great place to get lost for a few hours for anyone here trying to kill time.
Walking all the way to the end there is the food market. The fruit there looks fabulous- there is more caviar and different types of fish than I’ve ever seen before. The meats are all divided into different types of animals and you can get any part you want. That was a little interesting (read gross, disgusting, yet strangely fascinating) trying to identify parts- tongue, heart, lungs, feet etc.

There is a Chinese restaurant just to the right of the food market, past the parking lot for anyone that is really craving Chinese. We went in, but Tim is having an aversion to the cabbage smell. It is pretty prevalent in most places here for dining. So, no food review for the Chinese restaurant today from us…..

We got some honey- yummy- they were trying so hard to speak English. It was fun to try to communicate with each other. Tim and I also got some really nice leather gloves- with a furry lining. They are very light- but so very warm. We also found some cute little shoes for our son. I never knew how much fun it was to shop before. Tim and I are having a blast looking at little guy stuff. What a wonderful time to spend together. We are treasuring every moment!

On the way back we stopped at Subway. We weren’t feeling too adventurous. Subway has a numbered menu. Makes ordering so much easier! We can just hold up our hand and indicate the item number we want. Then we added Mylenke –small- to indicate the smaller size. Wonder what they think of us…..

The courtyard in front of the hotel is quite busy today. Men dressed as jesters or knights (not with armor on- just the clothing outfits) riding horses with a blanket over the back- actually, more like a silk sheet, passing out flowers to the ladies. Fun, fun, fun.

Maybe we’ll watch a movie tonight. If we can stay awake. Good times.

Tomorrow is church with N. She asked if we had any plans for the day- we said no- so I’m kind of excited to see what the day will hold tomorrow. Life is so exciting right now. We can barely stand it!! No, seriously, I’m not kidding. This is such a great adventure. I want to get the bell tower on tape. It is next door to the hotel and we hear the chimes every hour. We’ll try to get it on video so you all can hear this tune- kinda different- in a minor key. Somewhat eerie. I keep feeling like I’m on the set for a movie. It seems surreal.

Short version:

Picked up film. Went to huge flea market. Watched rest of Princess Bride. Miss our son. Happy Women’s Day!