Some of the kids at Sasha's house (as Matthew calls it)
Another card Sasha drew us.
Here is the boat Vasya made Matthew-the first word is supposed to be Matthew, Sasha spells it Metu.

Sasha is knocking walnuts down for the littler kids.

This is Camillo, Nadia, and their newly adopted daughter Sonya (8). I thought they said it was their anniversary, but it was Nadia's birthday. They even brought cake for the kids and we had some too. They are from Italy, they are very interesting-even if we can't understand them. He tries to talk to me in Spanish, but my spanish isn't very good and neither is his. He even gave us pictures that he took of us and Sasha. They are very nice.

Isn't this puppy cute? He is brindle in color, I just want to bring him home.
Matthew was giving us a ride to school.

Playing Futbal

This is one of the pictures Sasha gave us.
Here's Vasya with his new jacket and hat-I'm in the picture since Audrey keeps asking, I prefer not to be in the pictures since it is soooo humid my hair gets curly and flat. Yuck!

Day 29-Tuesday




We've been shopping (Again)! This time we braved a new bus route, to the center to the market. It is a bunch of venders in one area (kind of like a flea market). We got Vasya a jacket and a stockinghat (without a bus on it). In the middle of the market there are tables full of meats and fish just laying under umbrellas-how long does meat keep like that? We were even offered a free sample of some fish. We declined and got out of there fast as it has warmed up a bit and stinks. We then got back on the bus and went the rest of the way to the center. We found our old favorite Celantino's pizza. It was good, but I am not sure if is any better than the vender ourtside the grocerystore. They had remodeled Celantino's, even the bathroom. They took out the regular toilet and put in one of those hole in the ground things, I hadn't even thought about those on this trip. Matthew thought it was great! He had Jeff take a picture. Then we hopped the bus back to General Petrova (our street) and walked to Vasya's or Vazzy's as Matthew calls him. Vasya was excited to see us, he had made Matthew a paper boat. We gave him his jacket and hat. He thanked us for them and put them right on. We gave him three pieces of left-over pizza, he ate one and gave the other two to boys in his groupa to share. We watched him play soccer or futbal, he is pretty good and scored several goals. Then we headed to Sasha's, he was waiting at the fence when we got off the bus. He had another picture for us. A bunch of kids were climbing trees and getting walnuts to eat. So we watched for a while, then played hide-in-seek. Some of the kids got to eat happy meals today, I think it was for anyone who had September birthdays. Sasha wants to go to America NOW! He says so everyday. When we left and were standing acrossed the street waiting for the bus, Matthew said "Ha ha I'm on the other side of the fence and you can't me." What a stinker, poor Sasha stands at the fence peering through the holes at us like he's a criminal. Hopefully we will get him out soon. Matthew slept the entire bus ride back from the orphanage, we had our supper and ice cream and are ready for bed. Matthew has become a pro at Go-Fish, and pick-up sticks, anybody else want to play a few hundred games with him?

Sorry I couldn't get the toilet picture to rotate right, so you'll have to wait to see it.