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Friday, 8 June

This morning, I found Nirvana. Or at least as close as possible in this town. Mark and I rode into town around 10:00 this morning, dropped a couple of things off with Lisa, and then started walking around. The plan: buy some CDs, get Mark’s watch fixed, pick up some small gift bags and cards for the gifts we need to give on Monday.

The plan was modified when we discovered a Western-style café… I knew I was missing my coffee—tea has adequately provided my daily caffeine fix—but I didn’t realize how much until I spotted the shiny Italian cappuccino maker. Turns out, this place is only about a block from Fred and Lisa’s apartment, and it’s actually the place that we went for ice cream with the girls on the first day.

As they didn’t have giant to-go cups, Mark and I sat at a tall bistro table and had breakfast ! I drank the best cappuccino that I had consumed in my life; the waitress thought I was a little off when I asked for another. We also had a pastry filled with ham and cheese, and Mark had a glass pineapple juice.

Have we mentioned the juices? We had heard that fruits and juice were good here, but we quickly discovered that is an understatement. They have green apple juice that tastes just like you are biting into a crisp Granny Smith apple. And everywhere you go, they offer various sizes and flavors of juice. Adults walk down the street sucking on juice boxes. So do we, now. But I digress…

From the café, we walked the couple of blocks to the main shopping area, first visiting a CD shop that Mark had spotted on one of his many reconnaissance missions. The young man running the shop spoke a little English; we managed to go through my scary list of Russian music gleaned from the video channel and select 5 CDs that we liked and thought Masha might like as well. At $5 a piece, we will probably bring her back to select a few more.

I stopped into the internet café to send a couple of emergency emails out while Mark popped across the street to get his watch fixed, then we met back up in a small souvenir shop where we found the cutest hedgehog piggybank. I couldn’t live without it, so that went into the bag. At noon, we met up with Lisa and her driver to head to the orphanage.

As I’ve mentioned before, our time with the girls is getting a pretty routine. We picked them up, went to Vivat Time for lunch, went through some English flashcards, and then headed to Crocodile Park. Since we planned to go back to the café for ice cream after the park, the girls each got 15 grivna to spend on rides (that’s a whopping $3). Tucked behind the main ride area, the girls found a little playground enclosed by an iron fence covered in vines. It cost 1 grivna to enter, but the playground was large, and quiet.

They checked out a teeter totter and a slide you could fry an egg on before settling on a row of four swings. As they flew higher and higher, we heard them start singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” in English! Lisa and I ran over and sang with them, launching into the Russian version that we learned in class. We all sang childhood songs as the girls glided back and forth on the swings, with Mark recording clips on the digital camera. The girls are really starting to open up around us.

Time finally came to leave, and the girls hit a couple of quick rides on the way out of the park. For the first time, they chose to not do the Crocodile! I’m sure that the poor crocodile lady felt sad to watch our little entourage run past without stopping. We suspect that she was counting on our support for her grandchildren’s college fund.

When we arrived at the café, the girls scarfed down their ice cream and asked for more food. Lisa had sandwiches leftover from lunch for Amina and Khrystyna, and I had an apple and some chips for Masha, and then Masha grabbed the camera to take pictures of the large fishtank in the café. She snapped a few photos, then switched to video.

Later in the evening, as we transferred the contents of the camera to the laptop and watched it all, tears of joy and laughter filled our eyes. The video clip begins with Masha introducing herself, and then walking through the café and out the doors. We giggled as she showed the car, announcing in a funny sing-song voice “Eta mya machine,” or “This is my car” and then the same for Amina and Khrystyna’s car. Then she turns toward of the café, where I’m coming out the door. “Eta Mama” as I lean toward the camera with a kissy-face. She then proceeds back inside and introduces “Papa.”

This is so special to us because, as I reported a while ago, she had been somewhat hesitating to call us “mama” and “papa.” The last couple of days, we’ve heard a couple more “ma” and “pa” from her…we’re joking that we’re Ma and Pa Kettle! We just think it’s a big step for her to see us as a natural part of her commentary!

She took quite a bit more video when we got back to the orphanage as the adults were making plans for tomorrow…there is even an interview with Vika, and then Vika took the camera and interviewed Masha. I think that Masha is destined for a career on one side or the other of a camera! We’ll try to get some of the best clips posted on YouTube after we get home…..