Operation American Junk Food

After several days of badgering Tonya and Joe finally relented and gave Wendy an address to mail a care package. After all their grumbling about the food you think they would have given her one eagerly, but it took badgering. I think Wendy summed it up perfectly:
"Cost of little debbie cakes: $1.99, cost to ship little debbie cakes internationally: considerably more than that,
Adding bundles of joy to our family by hook or by crook: PRICELESS!!!!"

Below is today's update from Tonya and Joe:

We had good visits with the children. Today we had our first day with the children without our interpreter (Ramon). We saw the boys this morning and they basically just ran around and played. When we met with Oksana this afternoon I think everyone was nervous. Oksana was smart and had brought a friend along, Ulana, who new just a tad bit more English than Oksana. So all in all we got by pretty well. We were able to practice some English with Oksana and Joe and I practiced our Ukrainian. There are a few things we are getting pretty good at. Ramon said that several of the people we have met are happy that we have learned some Ukrainian. How could we not - it is a matter of needing to get by (ie. Eat!)

For example: apple juice ya-bluch-ne seek

We met a couple from Madrid today visiting a three year old, here at the same orphanage, and his six year old brother in an orphanage 80 kilometers away. Apparently the brothers have never met each other. Very nice couple. They knew just enough English and we knew just enough Spanish. We did not ask but this must be their first referral because they have only been here since March 20th. I am sure we will see them again because they are visiting here in the mornings and at the other orphanage in the afternoon. They also made a comment about how long the papwework takes here compared to at the other orphanage. I did not mention that we were hoping our paperwork would be done faster.

I think that no matter what country you come from you get the same information about what to bring. They had exactly the same things we did - coloring book and crayons, balloons, bubbles, stickers, etc. Funny-

I think I said in an earlier e-mail that we had sent half of our orphanage donation with Ramon yesterday, but the Director would not accept it. That's fine with me as long as the paperwork still gets done by Friday!

Hope this was a good update for today. We are getting ready to go eat dinner. Hope eveyone has a good day.


Random Observations -
- gold teeth are not just for rappers - we have seen some people with a mouth full. They are probably a status sign.
- people here seem to be hopeful that their country will get better soon
- I did not think I was a picky eater but I have found that I am not an adventurous (?) eater
- we like that almost everyone here who has their own house with even a little land has their own garden (even if the garden is small). Lots of people have been out working one theirs the last couple of days.

Tonz and Yo