I am entertaining people all over this town. I’m serious, people are laughing everywhere I go! Since they don’t understand what I say, I can only assume they’re laughing “at” me and not “with” me! Ah well, at least I can give them something to smile about.
Wednesday we hung out in the room for the morning and ate sandwiches. Brian and I play a lot of cribbage. I soooooo wish we could teach V*ktor how to play, but it‘s hard enough to learn when you know the language. I think we need to get English down before going into such a complicated game. We headed off to the orphanage same-bat-time same-bat-channel and met up with him. He sent us to the playroom while he had to go get weighed (he said they do it monthly - pretty normal). One of the caregivers who loves to dote on C came in and gave an apple to C. Brian was trying to control his gag-reflex since it was not your typical “perfect” apple we see in the stores. The lady stayed in the room, so I figured she was waiting on C to eat it. She had motioned that she washed it, so I took a bite to get it started and let C gum on it a little bit. After she left, Brian said, “I can’t believe you ate that!” It actually tasted pretty good! Then, V*ktor came in and said that we could to to the white hotel again. Actually, first he came in and said “they said no” but the giant grin on his face told us he was kidding. We spent the afternoon teaching him zuma, eating snacks and hanging out together.
While Brian had his meetings, C and I ventured out to the restaurant that I soooo enjoyed last week. This week, the potato pancakes were on the verge of burnt and veeeery greasy. I couldn’t believe they actually served them. Guess they figured I wouldn’t complain. I didn’t know how even if I wanted to! So, I enjoyed the borscht, choked down a few of the pancakes, and fed the rest to C (she seemed to love them for whatever reason). Then, back to the room where she was wide awake until like 11:30 at night. We skyped with cousin E who is getting ready for Disney vacation! C finally went to sleep and made it the whole night in the crib!
Thursday began with a do-it-yourself mission. I am ever so grateful for my awesome friend M loaning me her stroller when mine was left at home. Really, we couldn’t have survived without it. Carrying C everywhere is just not possible with this much walking. I am quite freakishly tall, though, so I have to hunch over some when pushing it. I thought maybe there would be a quick solution to such a problem, so I did what I would do at home. I googled. Turns out, a few zip ties and 2 12” pieces of wood were recommended and voila…. Okay, so I’m in a foreign country, I don’t see a Home Depot anywhere, and I’m not really sure that the term “zip tie” would even translate. I headed down to the town’s open air market. I had seen an “auto parts” section and figured that was a good place to start. I kept doing charades with the man trying to tell him I was looking for something about 12” long and sturdy. He kept trying to ask me what it was for. Though neither of us understood a word, for some reason we kept talking to go along with our charades. I saw a 12” metal something-or-other with a handle that fit perfectly! By this time, he had figured out what I wanted to use it for and kept trying to tell me that it was for a chainsaw. Didn’t care that it was for a chain saw, it will work for my purpose! I couldn’t even get out of him what it would cost, and I figured that maybe there might be a better option anyway. He sent a lady off to get something, but she returned with flexible handle grips. So, I told him I was going back to the hotel for the stroller. While I was there, I google-imaged a “zip tie” and then took the tablet with me. Back at the market, I tried to illustrate how I envisioned the metal rod and handle working. I also showed him the zip tie photo. By this point, I think he thought I was a little nuts, but he very sweetly took me across the street to an actual hardware store. I NEVER would have found this store. I can’t read the signs anyways, and it sits back from the road. Lo-and-behold, first thing inside the door were some wooden hammer handles. Perfect! He explained what I wanted to do, and the 4-5 men in there got started trying to come up with solutions. It was a bit frustrating, but mostly funny! I KNEW what I wanted to do. I knew what I needed. I just wanted to get the parts. They tried taking the stroller apart to put an extra extension handle on there. I tried explaining that it wouldn’t fold up that way. One guy, through charades, even suggested cutting off the handles and then adding longer ones. I couldn’t possibly explain that it belonged to someone else and I couldn’t do that. So, I just said no without explanation why. He seemed to give up helping at that point. Then, I showed the hardware store guy the picture of the zip ties and finally got them to put one of the hammer handles on with the zip ties. I’ll admit, it wasn’t pretty, but I was perfectly pleased with it. He just kept shaking his head and the men kept talking - I can only imagine what they were saying “Crazy American lady! Why doesn’t she just buy another stroller?” Because it’s not necessary. This one works fine! After more head-shaking and obvious displeasure with my choice, I finally convinced him to put the other handle on. They do still turn a bit, but that can be very easily fixed with duct tape. It’s a great solution! For 11 grivna ($1.38) I have handle extensions! The true irony of this is that though the stroller has lasted through almost 6 weeks on the Ukrainian pothole slalom course (3 weeks with M and 3 with us), the very day I extended the handles…. A wheel fell off!! It is very easily fixed, so Brian has a do-it-yourself mission to the hardware store tomorrow morning. Hmmm, wonder if the guys at the hardware store will realize he knows me? J
After I fixed the stroller, we ate some sandwiches, played cribbage, and Brian worked for a bit while I fed C and got her ready. In true Stancil fashion, I had totally procrastinated getting V*ktor’s Valentines gift. So, as Brian and C headed off to the orphanage, I ran to a few stores entertaining people along the way… I mean, uh, getting his gift. Last summer, A bought him a watch for his birthday, but someone stole it off his wrist while he slept. The thieves here are “good” at what they do. He only had one pair of socks when we got here, so we bought him 2 more pair. They’re already gone. He has been asking us for another watch, but we didn’t want it to get stolen so we told him once we get home. Well, they don’t have balloons as I intended to get, and the watches were about $7. So, I went ahead and got him a watch. Maybe he’ll still have it in 3 weeks. I got C a little pink princess wand, and I stopped at a store for peanuts, bananas, an orange, and V*ktor’s favorite candy. I met up with Brian, V, and C at the orphanage gates and we went to the white hotel again. We ordered and gave him his Valentines gift. He was really excited about the watch. The best thing was the look on his face when he realized that I had paid attention last week when he casually pointed to his favorite candy. He couldn’t believe I remembered. It was so sweet. We skyped with Grandma, A, and B while A was getting ready for school. It was so good to see and hear them! I know they’re having fun with Grandma and Grandpa, but they also miss us (as we, of course, miss them). It will be good to have Brian home next week.
On the way back to the hotel was the unfortunate stroller incident of the runaway wheel. While we were talking to B on skype, she saw C’s wand and asked if we got her one, too. Uh… Yes, yes we did. Haha - so I ran back to that store to get B a wand, too. Then, C and I had to leave for Brian’s meeting. No stroller meant moby-time. Honestly, I like the moby. It isn’t too bad. It’s just that the potholes and ice around here scare me that I’m going to fall. I feel a little safer having her in a stroller. We walked to the closest restaurant. Crabby-lady was at the hotel restaurant and I’d rather eat here when Mariana is working. I texted Aleksey what I wanted, and he texted it back in Ukrainian. So, I ordered by showing the lady my phone. It was pretty dead for Valentines Day. At home you couldn’t go into a restaurant without waiting at least a good hour! They had a little kids’ section with a slide and some toys. C played a little with the blocks there. Oh my goodness - I had to majorly contain my thoughts of germs. Ewwwwwww- I didn’t have antibacterial gel because I only grabbed the nursing cover and tablet for this jaunt since I was carrying her. I tried to put all the food in her mouth for her, but pretty sure that plan was a major fail. Her germy little hands made it in there despite my attempts. After all that walking today, I was exhausted, so we came back to the room and I have been sitting ever since!
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