Here at last

Greetings from Khabarovsk. We arrived safely on Saturday night, checked in, walked a long way to dinner (pizza and bilinies – a.k.a. crepes or Swedish pancakes) and a long way home. With the help of eye masks and ear plugs we slept. The parties outside kept Jamie up more than they did me. At about 7 am the parties stopped and the church bells started.

It is Easter here: Christ is Risen! We have not yet gone to church, though we may later. Apparently services go all day and people come and go as they can. I brought my shawl to cover my head when we go.

We got up early (7:00ish) showered (great water pressure) and had breakfast. Porridge for me (not quite as good as Scottish, but that is a high standard to meet) and Jamie had an omelet. No comment on the omelet. Then we went to market and what fun we had there.

Most of the vendors are Asian and seemed very eager to practice their English on us. Usually they didn't work up their nerve till we had passed, so our market stroll was punctuated with "Herlo how are you today" tossed at our backs. I'd turn and answer and they would beam at us. There is something really fun about exchanging real smiles with people from whom we are otherwise so very distanced. We bought a few things, a cap, a scarf, some fruit -- only the sort you peal -- and best of all, found a cobbler to mend my shoe. He used a hand-crank machine to stitch the offending piece back on and charged me 100 rubles for it, which I think is about 4 dollars.

We are disappointed to learn that we won’t visit the orphanage until Wednesday. I am feeling very sad about this, but am trying to be flexible. This, as you may know, is not easy for me.

Tomorrow we get picked up at 12:30 for blood draws and a visit to the psychiatrist. I feel as if I am in a novel.

I’m going to start a new post, labeled questions and answers. If you are dying to know something I have not mentioned, ask it there.

Best,

Suzanne

edited to add that the blog program has labeled this as Saturday, but it is indeed Sunday here.

edited for random acts of spelling

edited to add pics