November 7, 2005

It is a miracle we made it to our appointment on time. Sasha picked us up an hour and a half early. But it was rush hour. Normally he is a good driver, but today he was following a guy in a lane that is meant for traffic going the other way. It was a bit nerve-racking. Although when we were in Donetsk our taxi driver drove on the tram tracks between to trams.

We weren't given much of a selection to chose from at the NAC. All but one toddler had a sibling between 11-14. I am not ready for a teenager. So we are going to Odessa tomorrow night on the train to see a boy. He turned two on October 25. We were told he is healthy and normal, except he has what they call "hard ear." It must be missing something in translation because I have never heard of it. They told us he may be hard of hearing, but it might be correctable. Also one eye is slightly crossed, but I couldn't see it in the picture. He has a light red birthmark on his forehead. He has light brown hair and it walking. He was a normal birth weight and height, which is a good sign.

After we left the NAC we went to a book store/coffee house we heard of this weekend. It is called the Babboon. The buy, sell, and trade books, especially English books. We bought three books each, that should keep us busy for a while.

Odessa is near the Black Sea and a tends to be warmer. Odessa was used as a retreat for soldiers and is a popular tourist destination. I am looking forward to seeing the region. We do not know yet if the orphanage is in Odessa the city or not because the region is also named Odessa.

Yesterday we went sight seeing again. We finally made it to the Museum of Microthings. This man does artwork on small things. One was a chess game on the head of a pin. Another one was he made a small golden rose and put it inside a piece of human hair he had drilled out. We had to look through microscopes to see them. We also went to the open air museum. They have different types of homes from different time periods. Also old churches and windmills. Lastly we went to the monument for the 100,000 Jews who were shot and thrown into a pit by Nazis. It was very sad.