Grocery day

January 29- Thursday
Breakfast was interesting. We were very low on food so we vowed to go to the grocery store today.
At the orphanage we played with the younger girls. A2, if you can get past the acting out to stand out thing, is really very tenderhearted and patient. And smart, she is one quick cookie! She wrapped the ends of two of the balloons together and was so pleased with herself that she wrapped all of them together. It took her a while to do it, but she did it. Then after going through all that hard work, she very kindly allowed Elijah to play with them with her. She also put the Mermaid puzzle together twice. She really wants to keep that puzzle. We take it home with us each day so it doesn’t get the pieces lost (doesn’t work, by the way, Elijah lost a piece at home ) and she really wants to keep it with her. I was going to donate it to the orphanage right before we left but now I’m not so sure.
R “helped” to put the puzzle together as well, which was counter productive. She would stick any old pieces together- sometimes with a little extra force- and clap very animatedly whenever she did. She would even take pieces that I put together apart so she could get them to fit in her little group. It was very funny to watch.
We played a lot with the legos—actually they are Duplos—the larger ones. It is interesting to me that whenever we have played with them they- all the kids- always build the same thing; buildings. Sometimes big, sometimes little but always solid, straight-walled and with little imaginative play. So, I was surprised today that R was using her square building for a bed for her doll. Maybe we just don’t see half of what goes on. We are only there for 2 hours at a time.
I guess we were there for snack time as the girls each came out with half an apple and A2 brought one out for Elijah. There definitely doesn’t seem to be a shortage of food there. I have been trying to figure out what to buy to donate to our group. I haven’t been able to think of any one thing that they don’t have. They seem to have plenty of paper, coloring books, crayons, colored pencils, stickers, legos, dolls, stuffed animals, fruit, food in general, toys in general and clothing.
While we were there some ladies came in and all the kids went into the kitchen with them. Keith thinks they were doing some sort of review. But all the kids were given a little bag of goodies; lots of candy, an apple, some sweet bread. A2 again made sure that Elijah had one.
For our lunch break, after we sent Luba off to the train station to send the girls’ immunization cards to our facilitator to turn in to the SDA, we then debated on whether to take a bus to go to the larger grocery store or walk to the closer, smaller grocery store. We decided on the latter so we made the 10 minute trek (in mostly mud) to the close one. We were low on diapers and shampoo and a few other essentials so our bill was the most we have ever spent for groceries here; 400 grivna, about $50 USD (diapers were a fourth of that) Hopefully, it all lasts a while.
Because we are cheap, we used bags that we had gotten earlier and we only had two. So we were quite a sight (not that we aren’t anyway ). Elijah sitting on Keith’s shoulders (that always gets the most attention), Keith also carrying a bulging bag of food. And me carrying another bulging bag plus a huge bottle of water. We had to keep stopping to give our hands a break. Luckily, our bags didn’t break—we weren’t so sure they wouldn’t. We figured it out and next time we’ll just buy bags and spend the extra pennies… er, kopeks. I can’t imagine shopping for a big family here, even going every day.
We decided it was worth being a little late for the girls to get Elijah a nap after we got back from our fun shopping trip. We had an hour. Of course it took 45 minutes of that hour for him to go to sleep. So, we let him sleep 45 minutes and then woke him up, vowing to get him to bed early. He wasn’t too happy about that.
We decided to take the computer every other day and today was an off day. So we took both puzzles (Mermaid- 60 pieces, and Cinderella-104 pieces), and the bag of hair things to entertain them.
A1 saw the hair things first, but K grabbed them away from her and claimed them for her own. A small war ensued during which they each (the older 3, R didn’t seem very interested) got some pieces, K got the most, she’s strongest and fastest- but A1 got the bag and a few hair pieces and A2 got a few pieces as well. I’m sure that is orphanage behavior, having to fight for something you want, but that is going to be one of the first things we work on when we get home. We are trying not to make that sort of behavior profitable, not so easy to do. So, right now I’m searching strategies to combat that. Anyone have any ideas?
It had been snowing off and on all day, but the small-flaked kind that never really seems to stick. But during the hour and a half we were in the orphanage it managed to get cold enough and dark enough to get a light dusting over most of the ground. We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings. It has been bitingly cold today. We vowed to buy Keith some gloves (as well as a belt—he’s losing weight with all this walking) and Elijah a scarf if we ever make it to the market. I just might have to put on the long johns that I brought.
Elijah is getting a little bit of a cough and sounds pretty congested.
Our facilitator will check tomorrow to see if the SDA has our paperwork done. If not then hopefully Monday so we can still have court on Tuesday.