Market Day

This morning, we drank our turkish coffee brewed here (we brought a french press made of plastic, thank goodness!), had oatmeal with butter, sunflower paste, and warm milk, and chopped up all of our vegetables. We threw the veggies in the pot to boil, took bird baths (hairwashing is not an everyday thing here), put laundry in the little machine, turned off the stove top and walked to the market. Mr_S is not a market man. Crowds, trinket stuff, raw stinky meats, bargaining, small tightly cluttered spaces, etc. is just not his style. Miss_A was all about finding tights, glittery hair barretts, and shoes for Little Chix, and she got the first two of these purchased. (Find a man who can be captivated by two hours of little-girl shoe shopping.) We almost got lost, but found our way back to a recognizable place just like homing pigeons.

We then went back to the super-duper gimongous shoe store that we visited the other day (was that yesterday or the day before?), and located the pair of shiny glittery flats that Mr_S previously picked out. We hope these shoes will be available in Little Chix's size next week, when we can take her to the store after court. The shoes are on sale and we hope they stay that way for another week.

The market has EVERYTHING! What is fascinating, is that without any relative reference to how much stuff costs relative to income levels and other discretionary and nondiscretionary items that people want and need, it is even more interesting. That is, prices here are not really that low for clothes, in our opinion, but some food items are super reasonable (like 5 little onions for 25 cents!). If people here make less than what the average American makes, then clothes and shoes are really highly priced, we think. Amazing how judgments and relativism frames our thinking and how we make sense of our world.

We broke down and ate lunch at McDonalds. Yes, we know. We promised we would not do this, but the temptation of french fries drew us in. We asked for a menu and pointed. We thought we were each getting a meal deal, but it ends up we didn't. Oh well. The fries are better in America, but it was McDonalds and we asked for it.

Then, we decided to do the European thing and stop off for an afternoon coffee and cake. Coffee peps us up for Hannah-time! The pick-me-up was nice. A cappuchino is $2USD and is delicious! Walking back to the apt., we saw the coolest wheelchair! This older lady was trucking in it! We wished we could have taken a photo of it - the ergonomics were fantastic! She pumped hand levers back and forth to make the wheels turn (piston operated?). She negotiated all of the bumpy sidewalks and narrow spaces like a pro!  We also saw some thigh-high zebra boots on a young lady that must have had 10 inch heels! She wasn't moving as fast as her wheelchair comrade!

At the Children's Home, we met Little Chix's friend Anna Marie! What a sweetie! She didn't want to dance with us, and was so shy yet so sweet! We asked Little Chix to work with us on English for the first hour before we all broke into sweat-a-robics doing Hannah-time (or as we'd prefer, MC Hammer-time, if not for variety alone). She was good about English lessons, and we reviewed words describing foods, mostly. It was cool, because she could tell us what foods she liked and didn't like. She is normal, we can say that. Fruits are cool, and vegetables aren't. We'll have to work on veggies. Who doesn't?

Papa translated all of the words to "Best of Both Worlds" into Russian so Little Chix would know what she was singing. She liked that. The ipad is a lifesaver! What would we have done if that wasn't purchased from a student who needed beer money before spring break a couple of days before we left for Ukraine? Wow - the technology is really helpful to have (music, games, translations, etc.)

Tonight, we will experience Ground Hog Day, again (reference the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/). That is, we will play a few hours of the Tudors' showtime series on DVD (thanks Blockbuster, for going out of business) and discuss the history of the Anglican and Catholic church, Henry the 8th, and the "what ifs" of reactions, responses and big egos on how the world functions today. Most people here are Orthodox. We'd like to know more of how the Orthodox faith started and its history. After what our good friends would call "an evening of high cheek bone theatre" (I love that phrase!), we tuck ourselves in for hibernation (12 hour nights! -- OK, not every night, but it has happened here -- amazing to sleep that long!)

In reflection on today's integration with what seemed like thousands of market shoppers, we noticed: there are absolutely no people of color here. No people from Africa or with darker skin or Asian in appearance. That is what is missing. Diversity! It is very homogenous where we are. We wonder why there is not more diversity? What is it about here that is not intriguing for a variety of people to be here?


It is April Fool's Day today! Little Chix typed into the translator this afternoon:  "Holiday April - Do Not Believe Too Much." We didn't play any tricks. We just hugged her!