Saturday April 11, 2009

Friday…….4/10/09


After the morning visit we both walked across the street from our apartment and went to the mini-supermarket. We ended up spending 116 rph or $14.06 on some more supplies such as juice boxes, bananas, chocolate, bread, butter and spaghetti…you know, the essentials. We almost bought some spaghetti sauce but could not figure out which one would be the least hazardous to our health…we shall just have the spaghetti with butter as a side dish…come on over!!
Before we went into the store we decided to walk around outside to look at the small outdoor market area. I had walked around there twice before by myself and saw a variety of items for sale from a plate full of sardines to silk flowers. I also discovered a small family of puppies living in an abandoned vendor stand. The second time I saw them I saw one of them eating ‘some kind of rodent.’ Before leaving the apartment I cut up some left over sausages that we had purchased a couple of days ago…when no one was looking I quickly gave them the sausages…I took a picture of two of them playing….I will post it soon. We have seen so many stray puppies and kitties…we wish we could take them all home with us along with Nicholas…
As we were returning to our apartment our cell phone rang. I answered and the voice on the other end said, “HI, this is Natalie from Michigan!” And guess what? It was one of our new friends. David and Natalie are one of the two other couples from the U.S They are also adopting a little boy and he is in the same group as Nicholas, so we have seen them nearly everyday. We also found out that Natalie graduated from Texas Tech (Get Your Guns Up) The other couple is from Virginia and they just had their court date and have decided to fly home during the ten day waiting period.
Anyhow….Natalie said she and David would like to have lunch or dinner with us on Saturday. When we saw them this afternoon we decided to make it lunch. She also mentioned a big outdoor market area we could walk to after lunch. Hopefully we will be able to find some souvenirs to remind us of Zaporizhzhia. It will be nice to spend some time with another couple going through the same adventures as us.


Now let’s turn back the clock a little bit….
The first day we arrived in Zaporizhzhia (Friday, April 3rd) was the also the first day we met Nicholas in person. Once we left the Children’s Home we all went to dinner. Natasha, Svetlana and Aleks wanted to let us try some authentic Russian food. We went to restaurant that was decorated with many items from the Soviet Union days. We took some pictures and will post them soon! When we asked the name of the restaurant our translator had a difficult time finding the English equivalent. After a few moments she came up with two possible names: 1. The Proletariat 2. The Bolshevik
Regardless of the name, the food was excellent.
We were able to read the menu since they gave us an English version. We then told Natasha what we wanted and she ordered for us. We learned early on that when you order a meal in a restaurant you must order everything at once…everything…drinks, appetizers, salads, entrees, side dishes and dessert! Not sure why it is done this way, it just is. :-) Also every item is separate so you have to literally create your own meal. If you order a steak, that’s all you’ll get….it’s not like home where it would come with a salad and baked potato. You must order everything you want to eat….then when the bill arrives it is about a foot and half long!
We had a salad as an appetizer…by the way…a salad here does not mean lettuce with stuff on top of it, but rather all the stuff without the lettuce! We had a salad that consisted of two kinds of tomatoes, large pieces of mozzarella and a light pesto sauce…it was very tasty…very fresh tasting tomatoes. Lisa then had Chicken Kiev (one of her favorite dishes) along with some baked potatoes with mushrooms. I had a pork shish kabob and some roasted potatoes. I was also able to try some of Natasha’s entrée which was breaded chicken stuffed with apricots with a cherry sauce…
The meal was ochin harasho (very good!)
For dessert Lisa and I split a hot fudge sundae and the others had cake…I tasted one the cake. It was excellent. We plan on going back there once we get some good news so we can celebrate in style. (We also need to go back there so Natasha can have some more cake…she talked about it for several days)
More later! Richard and Lisa