Privit. Hello.

Since Lara left, I have spent my days in bed trying to get over a cold. I visited Alex in the morning yesterday for a few hours, but did not go back in the afternoon. It seems as if I am on the upswing of recovery from this bug, so hope to feel well enough to go visit him this afternoon. With this slow internet connection and antiquated computer that is available to me here, I was able to upload some new photos with captions to the photo log at the right.

Alex is doing well. It is supposed to be a warm and sunny today, so Alex and I can go outside. It has been raining steadily, off and on, for over a week. Yesterday was cloudy, but the rain broke early in the morning. We are on a good weather trend for the next few days. Alex and I had our first disagreement yesterday. He wanted to blow bubbles but would not let me hold the container. I let him hold it, but he spilled it all over himself so I took it away. He threw a tantrum. Strangely, I look at this as a good sign. He's catching up to his two year old age quickly (good development). He ate an entire banana and yogurt in one sitting and drank his juice box. We are trying to get calories into him. All the kids who are being adopted seem to devour everything you put in front of them. They do not develop picky eaters at the baby house. They eat what is served. I think we tend to select only what they like to eat in the U.S., but they do not have that luxury with 130 children to feed. He is getting better at using the equipment in the yard and is readily climbing with more confidence (Lara move everything in the house 5 feet off the floor!).

There is a steady stream of families here adopting. There was an American family that recently left so we are the only Americans in the bunch. New families arrive, some do not choose to adopt the child they visit. Of those that have chosen to adopt their referrals, one is Spanish, one is Swiss, and three are Italian. I have struck up a good relationship with the Spanish couple. Very nice, fun and personable people. They are from the Atlantic coast of Spain and know some English so we tend to hang out together when the kids are playing together. They live near the water so we have something in common with Lara and I living on Lake Sarah.

If you have not seen the photo of our bathroom/laundry room, you should check it out. As reported, I broke the mirror off the wall while in the bathroom last week. The landlady came yesterday and replaced it. Nothing unusual about it, but she knew I was sick and brought me 6 liters of water and ibuprofen. Apparently, our coordinator had talked to her and she wanted to help. I knew I needed more ibuprofen, but had failed to translate it correctly when I stopped at the pharmacy (Aptica) downstairs. She and her husband own the apartment and are a very nice couple. She seems to manage the customer interface and money, while he is the handyman. I only wish I could talk to him. He obviously has a kindred love for tools! Through our pointing and grunting we also are now understanding that the shower needs to be re-caulked. The water runs out all over the tile floor when the shower is running. They did not know this was occurring and were appreciative. In the end, we found a few words that translated. This included "silicone" which got the ball rolling. Thank god for small miracles.

The other small miracle was that I was able to negotiate a hair cut. It had gotten to the point where I could sport a pony tail and with the warm weather coming, I wanted it short. After discovering a new pedestrian street not far from the apartment, I came across a shop that was cutting hair. I stuck my head in for a closer inspection. There were about 9 seats lined up on one side with a wall made up of a mirror. There were men, women and children getting hair cuts. This did not look like a "barber shop", but I had the good fortune to run across the Ukrainian version of SuperCuts only retro style. The walls were covered in dark brown simulated marble tile that was right out of the 50's. Everything else looked standard issue, so I figured "what the heck". I have a few more weeks before returning to the U.S. and 4 more weeks before I return to work. Therefore if it was bad, nobody would ever see me again here, and I could recover my high fashion style (right) once I get back to America. So I walked in and stood there staring until someone stepped up and greeted me. All the stations with fashionable stylists were busy, except the one with the babushka sitting in her chair and waiting for a customer. She said something and motioned me to sit down (authoritatively). She asked me what I wanted and I grunted and signed my way to an understanding that I wanted a short haircut like the guy two seats down the row. Then she dove in. I am used to getting a number three shearing around the bottom at the hairline and then blended into the top where it is longer. She free handed a perfect number three at the bottom (no guard) then began to cut her way to the top. Pretty much the same techniques used back home, but she took her time and was much more careful. One thing she did not like about my hair was that she was convinced it was too thick. She went at it with a thinning shear like a hedge trimmer possessed! Nobody ever thinned my hair like that, so I held the chair firm and prayed for the best. Then she trimmed up the side burns in perfect alignment to one another. Then she pulled out the strait razor and started shaving the back of my neck and used it to cut off any remaining fly-a-ways. After some moose, gel, and something else (?), she blew my hair dry and styled it differently than my normal. 45 minutes later, I really liked the cut and what she did to it. I want to take her home with me. All that for six U.S. dollars. Deal of the century.