11/17/06 Settled in to the routine

We've been here three days now. We roughed it and went all day without sleeping in the middle of the day hoping we'd adjusted to the time difference. We went to sleep w/o aid, if you don't count the first 20 minutes of "Flight Plan" starring Jodie Foster. Mike is doing well sleeping tonight. I woke up at 11:45 am thinking it had been all night and it had only been an hour and a half. Don't you hate that! All considering we're doing much better on sleep than last time.

We have wireless in the room now, so it's around 3 am and I'm hiding out in the bathroom doing computer stuff. It's not too bad, I'm sitting in a chair backed against the door. I have a pillow on my lap under the computer and my feet are on the toilet. The room is about 5x5 and the pie shaped shower leaks, so you have to use the very small, thin towels to line the floor. Fortunately, it's hot enough so you don't need to use any towels to dry off. Just kidding! Actually, it's colder than last time indoors. They have a reputation for jacking the heat to about 80 degrees inside (not an exaggeration), so I didn't bring much, thinking we'd be wearing t-shirts inside. Now I'm layering all my shirts to stay warm. Weird how the luggage I decided to skimp on was long johns.

We are enjoying seeing Helena daily. We've added a meddly of songs to our routine (Twinkle Star, Sunshine, Muffin Man) so I am sure the staff is enjoying the performance. Today Helena was sleeping when we arrived. I want so much to get her from her crib myself and see her sleeping. They seem to take great pride in getting her ready for you; they whisk her up and jostle her awake while they quickly stuff her into what they think is more suitable attire. Right, so like I'm going to have someone to get her up and dress her for us when we are home? Re-reading this, I realize I need to appreciate the pride they take in their jobs. They are trying to impress us even though she had us at first glance.

Today, they encouraged us to put her in the walker and get her to be active right away. I was insistent that we HOLD her. She hasn't been held for the sake of just holding probably ever, so if she's a bit sleepy and doesn't mind being held until she's big enough to hold us, so be it! We're very fortunate she can tolerate this degree of contact. Apparently some of these kids are so unfamiliar with physical intimacy, they resist any holding.

Our routine here is very demanding and it's wearing us out. We spend about 3 hours a day doing business and the rest is devoted to sleeping, eating, checking email, deciding where to eat dinner and dvd watching. I've been doing my advanced pilates ring dvd, Mike passes on that and substitutes an activity entitled eating Toblerone. We've also done some some bible study related to the booklet we got at church recently. Please let us know if you have some prayer concerns (I'm being serious now). It's hard to fit it all in, but we somehow we manage (not serious now). Oh, and we took a walk down to the river and to the grocery today.

The other couple we know just arrived. I managed to pass a msg. to them stateside at the last minute to bring me pimento cheese in a jar and the husband relayed to me that he went to four stores looking for it before having success. I was impressed, but really it wasn't that necessary. He told me he finally asked someone at Trader Joe's and pleaded, stating "you don't understand, I'm taking this to a woman in Russia and I need this today." Now if only I could find some crackers other than Wasa crispbread as my wheat thins are running low! So that's why all the women are a size negative 2, few processed snack foods. We get stares here because we are obese by EE standards!

We enjoyed dinner with this lovely jet-lagged couple tonight and the wife got to be Michael in terms of not getting fed until everyone else ate. Mike was quite happy to NOT be the last to eat. I'm sure it will all turn around soon, as ordering a main course practically guarantees you will not eat for an hour or two but it is good to work up an appetite watching others eat.

Today it snowed and was like a White Christmas movie. It looks a lot less oppressive with all the bright snow around. We are working on getting the seatbelts from behind the seat so that we can use them. We saw two accidents on the way home from the orphanage and I think it might be worth offending the driver to protect our lives. BTW - people DO NOT wear seatbelts here, some of the cars do not even have them. They seem to take precipitation very much in stride. It looks like there is about 4 inches accumulation now and fortunately we do not go out till later this afternoon. It's a good thing, because our schedule is packed. If I can fit it in, I'll take a picture and post it along with the one of me wearing a blanket as a scarf.

I can't wait to post a picture of the baby. Maybe right before we leave the country. I'll give you a description now. She's just over 16lbs, big tummy, dark blonde hair that I think has a little curl up at the end as it's a bit longer and coming away from her head. Her eye are blue, she's very pale (low iron, sunshine). She has a brow like Mike and hairline like Mike. I kept thinking she looked like someone I knew. I finally figured it out; she's a ringer for Ekaterina Gordeeva, the skater. I've been a fan of her for 2 decades and saw her in Pentagon City with her now late husband in 1994. Some of the documentaries, biographies about her life feature pics of her as a child and that's what I see in Helena. I'm curious to see if others see it too.

Well, I think I'm going to go hit the coveted Pimento cheese and Wasa crackers and watch Mike sleep while I gear up for the breakfast buffet at 7! If I'm bold I'll wake Mike up to join me to watch the rest of "Flight Plan." I'm sure he'll appreciate that.

Hope you all are well. We appreciate the emails and the comments! Cheryl- send me an email so I can email you!
Jill