Saturday, June 9, 2007

Today was a very good day. It’s the first day we’ve done something completely different in quite a while! One of the drivers picked up Mark, Christine, and Kseniya and then headed to my apartment to pick me up. We all headed to the orphanage where we would meet up with the girls. Kseniya was teaching us how to make borsch and so we all headed for Amstor to pick up some ingredients. Amstor has a DVD/CD store in the front section and since Mark and Christine are leaving on Tuesday, they wanted Masha to have a chance to pick out a DVD and some CDs. I told Amina and Khrystyna that they could each pick out one DVD and one CD. I also let myself pick out a DVD and CD. We ended up with Happy Feet, the box collection of Cinderella (1,2, and 3) and Maid in Manhattan in Russian. We also ended up with some great CDs. After listening to the radio stations in Russian for the last 4 weeks, I can hum along with a lot of the songs and I had some favorites that I wanted to get. We were all quite pleased with our selections. The girls had only been to Amstor twice before and both times were with us and we hadn’t taken them to the food section. They were quite overwhelmed with all the food and they wanted it all! We started off in the fruit section and the girls wanted tons and tons of fruit! I ended up buying 6 apples and 2 pears for Amina and Khrystyna. They asked about oranges, peaches, strawberries, and kiwi too, but we had already put the apples and pears in the cart! We next headed over to the deli to pick up some salads for the girls. Amina and Khrystyna told me that they didn’t really like borscht very much so I wanted to buy some salads for them. Amina and Khrystyna initially picked out the same salad and then Khrystyna changed her mind and decided on a different salad. I figured that we would get a big container of the ham salad both girls liked and a smaller container of the crab salad that only Khrystyna liked. I ordered a big container of the first one and then Masha jumped in and ordered a container of salad for herself. Khrystyna jumped in next and pointed out the salad she wanted. I told the woman that we only needed a small container of the crab salad. Khrystyna and Amina started talking to her in rapid Russian and she pulled out another big container. I didn’t want to end up with too many big containers of salad, so I told the woman we only wanted a small container. She scooped up the same type of salad we had already ordered a large container of. By the time we left we had 5 containers containing 4 different salads. I guess that is what happens when your children speak more Russian than you do! While we stuffing our cart with salad, Kseniya was stuffing our cart with meat and produce for borscht. We finally made it to the checkout counter, paid for our purchases, and headed to the car. When we got to Mark and Christine’s apartment it was decided that Mark would entertain the girls while Christine and I watched Kseniya and took notes. I was a little unsure about how I felt about borscht. Actually, I didn’t think I’d like it, but I thought I should learn to make it so I knew how to make some type of traditional Ukrainian/Russian dish. We have been told by many people here that Ukrainian borscht is much better than Russian borscht. It took us about 2 hours to make the borscht, cut up bread, and serve it. During that time, the girls looked at pictures on Mark’s laptop and watched a DVD. The girls and I also talked to Fred on the phone while the borscht was cooking. They got huge smiles on their faces when they talked to him. I can tell they’re both going to be “daddy’s girls.” When it came time to eat, I took a very small portion of borscht. I took a bite and was very pleasantly surprised. It was delicious!!!!! We had picked up a few loaves of bread at the store and the fresh bread and borscht were fabulous! It is the best meal I’ve had on this whole trip! When we finished eating, we cleared the table and washed the dishes while the girls finished their DVD. After the DVD was over, we let them have ice cream before heading back to the orphanage. I had the driver drop me off at the internet café on the way home so that I could check my e-mail. It didn’t take long to check my e-mail and I then headed back to the apartment. By the time I got home, it was 8:00. I decided to catch up on my journaling before heading to bed. It’s pretty quite here in the apartment without Fred and since phone calls to the US are pretty expensive, I try not to make too many phone calls. I talked to Fred a few times today and will be glad when I’m back home with him. I miss him already and I still have a couple of weeks to go! ☹