We have officially made it through a weekend together with no problems. At least none that I can understand. Zarina continues to talk to me as if I have a clue. The other two know better. This morning we had a translator for a couple of hours and none of the kids would talk to her. It seems they are shy around strangers. I am taking that as a good thing. They are doing great at staying with me and not straying when we go out. Crossing streets in this crazy-driver country still makes me nervous though. They hadn’t a clue what the traffic light was all about. Of course, the drivers don’t seem to know either! The escalator still amazes all three of them when we go to the mall to eat. It is funny to see me try to order food for all of us. I had hoped that they would tell the waitress what they wanted. Instead they try to tell me so I can tell her. At any rate they are eating whatever we get. Rinat may be a match for the other teenage eaters in our house. These girls will eat our others under the table at least in the vegetable department.
This morning we went to the zoo. It was interesting to see the collection of animals. There were some I had never seen before. Sholpan and Rinat rode on camels and had their photo made. Zarina wasn’t going to get close enough to even touch one! It was as close to crying as I have seen her. We all enjoyed getting out for a while. Life in a hotel leaves a little to be desired. Thankfully, the kids are not wild. The translator commented this morning how well behaved they were. She said she usually just works with babies, but the few older kids she has seen come out of the orphanages reminded her more of monkeys. We purchased Scooby Doo and Willie Wonka in Russian at the mall and spent the afternoon watching those. It is now time to head back out and see what kind of food we can discover. Tomorrow we will go to the SOS clinic for their visa checkups and finally to the embassy on Tuesday afternoon. If all goes well we will be on an early morning flight home on Wednesday.
Great pics--and great to hear things are goig well. Did the zoo have a camel big enough for Mattew to ride?
ReplyDeleteWe can't wait for your safe return, and to meet our newest Thompson friends. Take care.
Every day Abby asks where rinat and sholpan and Zarina are....the concept of halfway around the globe is difficult to explain. She wants you home NOW...as does everyone else. But we wait patiently!
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