It's been a busy couple days here in Tver! Yesterday Mom and I got up early and visited another grocery store. We're enjoying picking up a fresh loaf of bread every day for lunch. We have some cheese, some cucumbers and tomatoes, radishes and fruit--makes for a very nice meal! After lunch Alexey and Luba picked us up and it was time to go to the orphange. The theme on this trip seems to be travel delays, however, and the orphanage trip was no exception! We ran into not one, not two, but three separate traffic jams on the way there (this in a country where most people don't have cars!!!) We finally made it to the orphanage at around 4 pm, though, and got to spend a delightful 45 minutes with Alivia.
She was in a terrific mood--cheerful and just as pretty as I remembered. We sang Happy Birthday to her and she returned the favor, singing to us a little bit. The song didn't have any words and the melody was quite interesting, but it was obvious what she was trying to do. It was very cute! Unfortunately the visit was very brief and it was interupted quite a bit by the doctor and various care takers who needed to share information with me, so it felt very rushed. I would have loved to spend a lot more time there.
On our way back we encountered another traffic jam before we managed to get out of Vishney Volochek, but we were able to get back on the road eventually and made it back to Tver by about 6 pm. On the way we had quite the experience, though. Mom and I both needed to use the bathroom, so we asked Alexey to stop at a gas station. He stopped at a small roadside cafe instead. I waited outside while Mom went in and I remember hearing her say "Oh my lord," or something like that and I figured it must be pretty dirty. When she came out and it was my turn, I found out the real reason. The "toilet" was literally just a hole in the ground with a constant trickle of water that ran down to keep it flowing. There were two slightly raised tiles on either side of the hole for you to stand on and there was a small shelf on the wall where the roll of toilet tissue sat. It was quite the "experience"!
After we returned to the hotel we met up with another family who was here on their first trip and had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant. After dinner I went for a walk with the couple to show them where the big shopping mall and a couple good, but inexpensive restaurants are located. Mom and I both went to bed early--it had been a long day!
This morning I had a couple doctors visits to take care of--the psychiatrist and the narcologist (drug abuse doctor.) It was amazingly inexpensive--only 200 rubles (a little less than $8) for the psychiatrist and 320 rubles (about $12) for the narcologist. All the other doctors (I had to get approved by 8 doctors in all) were a combined total of 200 rubles. I'm glad I was assigned to Tver and not to Moscow! I've heard that in Moscow the medical exams cost about $1500!
After we finished with the doctors, Luba took Mom and I out shopping for souvenirs and things for the baby. We bought a cute little stroller which proved very useful for transporting all the other things we also bought back to the hotel. We stopped at another grocery store (I think we've been to 4 different ones now!) and picked up a few jars of baby food for Alivia and some fresh fruit and veggies for us. I also picked up a couple interesting bags of potato chips. One is crab flavored (it's actually very good!) and the other is caviar flavored (we haven't tasted that one yet.) There are so many interesting new tastes to try here!
Tomorrow morning is court and then we hope to drive to Vishney Volochek to pick up Alivia. It will be so wonderful to finally have her with us! As soon as we get back and I get a chance to slip down to the computer I'll post some pictures. She's such a little cutie! I can't wait to be able to share her with all my friends!
~ Jeana
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