Kharkov Ukraine Day Three

Mary is posting today.

Today we visited with M, K, and R again. When we got to the orphanage the children were still eating breakfast so we waited outside for them. M and K came out with the UNO cards we left with them yesterday ready to play. R came out a few minutes later and she joined us for a few rounds of UNO.  After UNO, we played another game where one person had to guess the name of the color that the others drew out of a pile. The person who had to guess stood at the end of a line of 5 trees while the rest of the players stood at the other end of the five trees. The person who was it, asked each person one by one if their color was...for example blue. If it wasn't, the person got to step up to the next tree, if it was blue then that person had to run to the last tree without being tagged by the person that was it. If they were tagged then they were it. After that game, we asked the kids if they wanted to play a video game on the tablet. R came right over! The kids took turns playing on the tablet and we also showed them pictures of our children back home on my phone. Then it was time to go. M, K and R are great kids! M and K seem to be warming up, R is still a little reserved. We will keep trying.

James and I went to a store this afternoon and picked up a few activities and gifts for the kids for tomorrow. It was a four story building with tons of toys, clothes, and other children's accessories. The whole top floor was a children's play land! What a fun place for kids!

I wanted to add another "Because we are in Ukraine!" moment. When you go to the "grocery store" out here near our apartment you have to pay separately at each counter you go to. They are all in the same indoor store and a lot of the counters touch each other, but you still have to pay separately. Last night we bought some food and this is how it was given to us:

Everything comes in plastic bags. The bag on the right is Mashed Potatoes, the middle one is Chicken Kiev, and the one on the left is 10 eggs. Yes, eggs come unrefrigerated and in bags of 10. If you want a bag to carry home your groceries you have to buy them or bring your own, so James and I have learned to carry plastic bags with us.