Trip 2, Day 9

We visited the orphanage this morning. Things are getting better. He's feeling better, and he only cried a few times this time. He even laughed with Doug a few times! Yeah!

We attended church yesterday with our American friends. It was at a Russian Baptist Church--not to be confused with the Southern Baptists back home. It was all in Russian, but our friends translated it for us. They even had a few songs that we were familiar with! Since we were visitors, they gave us the New Testament Bible--it looks like a little Gideon Bible but in Russian! It will be an experience that we won't forget. They then took us to the market area. That was a sight to see. It was like a giant flea market except it was full of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, and fresh chickens and beef. They even have home canned vegetables for sale that the booth owners made themselves. No, they don't use Kerr or Mason jars. It was basically any ole empty jar with a lid. At the beef area, they actually cut the meat in front of you that morning. The giant axes were still out from the day's "kill." Customers go along, touch and finger the meat, and then put their gloves back on. The workers handle to raw meat with their bare hands, hand you your change with the same hands, and move on to the next customer. Needless to say, we didn't buy any of that--but we did opt for oranges and baked walnuts with the help of our "interpreters!" I have a picture of us at one of the meat counters, but I can't upload if today...maybe tomorrow.

I washed a load of clothes yesterday. I was out of undies--Doug said he wasn't and I didn't want to know why not....We think there are a lot of minerals in the water. A lot! There isn't a dryer here, so that doesn't help. But literally, my underwear can stand up on its own. Our clothes feel like they've been turned to sandpaper. Doug's shirt sleeves are so stiff the sleeves stick out. My white socks aren't so white any more. After just one washing, they are a dingy yellow white color. It's so bad that we have resigned ourselves to keeping our dirty stuff around just a bit longer because it's still soft! :) In fact, Doug is bit perturbed with me now because I washed some socks of his that were "just getting broken in."


How many wheels on the sidewalk does it take to park your car? One or two?