Who would have thought...

that Elmo Springtime Elixir would be such an excellent drain opener! One thing about our apartment that has made it extra special is the significant time it takes for the kitchen sink to drain. One of our first purchases here was some sort of chemical to unclog the drain which worked somewhat, but never really got things going. But, since we’ve poured the elixir down the drain, things have never worked better! Plus, it was cheaper than the chemical stuff and probably a lot kinder to the environment, even if it wasn’t so friendly to our taste buds.

Yesterday we weren’t in the mood to cook so we thought we try out another restaurant in our area that was recommended, nicknamed the Pancake House. It appears to be a sister company to Pizza Blues and we were happy to see that they also had an English menu. We’ve thought about going out on a limb and going to any restaurant or café and just pointing to a random item on the menu and seeing what we get, but to be honest, we’re just not that brave. The food was very good, but one thing we’ve learned is that food arrives as it is ready. This means that the people at your table may all eat at different times, depending on the time it takes to prepare the meal. Tammy’s meal came in record time, and Rod’s arrives 30 minutes later. It worked out okay because we shared both meals and we were happy to sit in the air conditioned restaurant for awhile. It takes some getting used to menu descriptions that have been translated. There are some pretty funny translations that could turn you off of food if you weren’t creative. Another thing that is interesting in all of the restaurants that we have visited is that you order at the till and then the food and drinks are delivered to your table. Again, we don’t know if it is that way in all restaurants or if we just happen to have picked the only three that serve meals that way.

Max has learned a few new things this week. He surprised himself with his ability to blow razzberries and now his caregivers say he spends a lot of time doing this and we think they are under the impression we taught him this. Nope, but it is darned funny! Today, he also started to give kisses when asked. Rod gave him a kiss and then Tammy said, “Where’s mommy’s kiss?” to which Max turned right around and planted a big sloppy one on her lips. I don’t know who was more surprised. We are definitely counting the days until he comes to stay with us (8 more by the way) and we know the last stage of waiting to get home will be the hardest for a variety of reasons.

As we’ve mentioned, more new families have arrived this week to start the adoption process. It’s always nice to meet new people and Tammy was very excited to find someone who was looking to swap books. She didn’t budget nearly enough suitcase space for reading material and was at the point of having to limit the amount she read each day to make her books last. No worries now, as she’s found someone in the same predicament and with a similar taste in reading.

This week we will start getting some things together for when Max comes here and will do some shopping for gifts to give the caregivers and baby house. It isn’t expected of us, but these people have a really hard job and have done wonderful things with the kids here, sometimes with very limited resources. They have also been very kind to us and have gone out of their way to accommodate our visiting schedule, even if it messed up their daily routine a little. If there is anything we can do to make their days easier, it will be our pleasure. Even though we are eager to get Max and get home, we will truly miss these special ladies who are a very important part of our family. Of all the times we wish we could speak Russian fluently, it is when we are trying to tell the caregivers just how much we appreciate their work and their kind hearts.

So wish us luck as we venture out to continue nesting in our home away from home and go on one more taste test adventure to try out kefir, a dairy drink that we know Max has every day at the baby house. We’ll let you know how it goes (if it goes, that is).