Day 19 - Open market with Vagif - Thur Oct. 6

Today we wanted to do some shopping in the open air market. We wanted to try to find a pair of shoes for Vagif, some plastic plates to use in the hotel, a washcloth for Darren, and maybe souvenirs for the kids. We stopped at many little booths that were selling shoes. The ones that had a pair that he liked hardly ever had a pair in his size. He tried on a pair of blue Adidas that were so so, but he wanted to look some more. We found Dad's washcloth and my plates. We finally found a gray pair of Adidas that he liked and fit him. We bought that pair that were much more reasonably priced than the ones in the mall. We wandered around a bit, looking at scarves and sweaters. We found a cool souvenir for one of the kids. Some gifts for Ellie and a small change purse to keep the coins more easily accessible. We wandered for much of the day. It is a huge open air market and I don't think we even saw half of the booths. It is also in a circle, so it is difficult to navigate. It was well after noon when we finished finding the things we needed. We were all getting hungry. We decided to go back to the hotel to stow our purchases and then come back to McDonald's to get Vagif a burger and fries.

His first McDonald's in Ukraine

We thought that Yarik would have called by now, but he did not. After McD's we went to the grocery store for water and some food for later. The Open Arms gals had graciously agreed to let us invite ourselves for dinner, so we did not need to eat in the hotel that night. We went back to the hotel for Darren to try to take a short nap before we would go to meet Anika. Yarik called and met us at the hotel. A few minutes after he arrived, Ksenia called and said we needed to go with her to the inspector's office to sign a few more papers. I thought she would be there in just a few minutes so I woke Darren. However, she did not get there until about half an hour later. We rushed in to the inspector as the office was officially closed and she was waiting for us. We signed a few papers, his medical records and something else. Then rushed back out to the taxi for Ksenia to try to catch her bus.
Back at the hotel it was almost time to leave to meet Anika. Darren was pretty tired from working the night before, so he tried again to catch a little nap. Anika had called and given Yarik instructions on how to get to the right bus stop where she would meet us. I asked if we could bring anything and she suggested some dessert and drinks if they wanted soda instead of water. After Darren got a short nap, Yarik and I went down to the supermarket to find a dessert. Vagif and Darren caught up with us shortly after. We found a flower shop to get a flower for our hostess. Then we found bus # 4 that would take us out to their stop. When the bus doors opened, we could barely see any room to fit in. Yarik went in first and squeezed into a small opening. The three of us left took the aisle and I was pretty much on the steps, hoping to not fall out the door. After a couple stops, the people filtered out and we each got seats. It was about 20 minutes to their stop. Once we got there, Anika was supposed to meet us to show us to their apartment. We waited a few minutes and then saw her coming up the sidewalk.
She had us follow her through a maze of sidewalks and buildings, squeezing through a small opening between two buildings into a courtyard. We got to her building and took the elavator to the 9th floor and then the stairs to the 10th. They had a cozy little apartment with an eclectic mix of furniture finds. Lots of couch space to entertain lonely guests. They were in the process of putting the finishing touches on our chicken pot pie and popped it in the oven. While it baked, Anika got out albums of their ministry times so we could try to find photos of our boys. We found a few scattered here and there. We hope to be able to get copies of these photos from their childhood. We are so blessed that they have these photos of the kids. Most orphans have nothing to show from their childhood. We asked Vagif and he too, said he had no photos from when he was younger. How sad for these children.
Soon our dinner was ready and we had a laugh when the serving for Vagif had several pieces of broccoli sticking out. He hated broccoli when he came and still does not like it. I traded plates with him. It was a yummy dinner and then we had our lovely cake that Yarik had chosen. Yarik tried to say that he was too full to eat any cake...I told him he had to have a piece since he picked it out. Also, it needed to be eaten soon, as it had fresh fruit on top and would not keep well. It was very good.

Vagif's spot on the couch

The night went fast and soon we had to get back to downtown so Yarik could get back to his school in time. We took the #4 bus back to McDonald's and Yarik gave us hugs and stayed on #4 to get back to his school.
Darren still had more work to do, so Vagif and I did some more English lessons. It amazes me how much English he knows just from being hosted twice. After I had filled his head with English words we were both tired and settled down to sleep. Darren again worked until late in the night.