Boo. (and - For Those of You Coming After Us...Part 3)

We got to the orphanage today, and when I went to go get Carter, one of the nannies just said 'ugh - nyet.' and walked away.  So we waited by the door like we usually do.  And waited.  And waited.  Finally she came back, and motioned to us that he was eating, and we should wait on the couch.

We waited on the couch.  And waited.  And waited.  Finally, she came out with a piece of paper that said

"37.  Schlep."

Okay...so he has a fever (37 degrees celsius) and he's sleeping.

"Go" she said, and walked back to the groupa.

Wait a minute...37 degrees celsius is 98.6 degrees farenheit.  Okay, then.

We decided to call Yulia, and figure out what's wrong with him.  We also wanted to see if Yulia would call tomorrow morning before we make the 45 minute journey to the orphanage, to see if we can visit.

Yulia talked to this nanny using our cellphone, and it turns out that Carter has a cough.

No way.  Can't believe it ;)

She said he also has a 'fever' and they thought it would be best for him to stay with his groupa for the night.

So tomorrow, Yulia said we should skip our morning visit and she will call them at noon to see if we can still go to our afternoon visit.

What a total bummer.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Since we have no photos of Carter to show you, I thought I'd do a 'For Those Of You Coming After Us' post :)

This Apple Juice is awesome!  It's even better than at home.  More like apple cider - but clear like juice.

This is sour cream.  Don't buy anything else - you just might not know what you're getting :)

We call these perogies  or 'pot stickers' at home.  But you buy them in the frozen section.  There are several different kinds - we've tried the potato and sausage/beef.  We've also seen mushroom.  It's easy to tell the filling by the picture on the front.  Anyhow - these are a good, quick dinner.  We boil them on the stovetop, and add a little butter and salt.  I like a little sour cream on mine.  

For those of you coming to this city and this orphanage, you'll have to take the metro to get to the orphanage.  It's really not bad at all, once you know where you're going!  This will give you an idea of our typical metro ride :) Well...at least the first 20 seconds of it :)




You'll get on at Kreschatyik (near Independence Square) and get off on the end of the line at Lisova.  The cyrillic word looks like 'ricoba' which makes us think of 'ricola' :)  There are 7 stops in between - so you can count the stops at first, until you're comfortable with knowing where you're at on the line.  It's the red line - the lowest underground.  You'll take a long - long - looooooong escalator to get there.  It moves super fast - and even then, it's a full 2 minute ride.  Fun, though!

A few things we've realized...

+You're probably planning on bringing dvd's to watch.  Great idea.  The TV's here are NOT guaranteed to have any english channels.  Our first apartment had 8 or 9 english stations.  This one has 2.  But when grabbing dvd's...grab all that you'll think you'll want, and then add 5 more.  Seriously - especially in your first days here, there's not much to do.  We went through several movies and wished we had a bigger selection.

+Even if you don't eat oatmeal at home, bring some along here.  We've eaten a package of instant oatmeal each morning for breakfast.  It fills us up until lunch, which is necessary when we're trekkin' it to the orphanage and have no time to stop and get something.

+Don't overpack.  I've read it a hundred-million times on blogs.  But seriously - you will wear the same things over and over.  Especially if you're coming during winter-coat season.  You just need a few tshirts and a few long sleeve shirts.  There are washers here (bring small travel sized detergent packs, or buy detergent here - whichever you wish.  You will probably be able to find detergent here.)

+An ethernet cable is a must.  Our first apt. had excellent wi-fi.  This one - not so much.  We brought a 25 ft. cable...just in case we wanted to sit on the couch, but the 'box' was somewhere else :)

+A european power adapter is necessary, in case you didn't already know that (you probably did).  As long as you have range of 110v to 240v you shouldn't need a converter.  Might want to bring one anyway, though.

That's all for now - more to come, I'm sure!!

One Thing I Know For Sure: Hope we get to visit our boy tomorrow!!!