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Day 7 Day 7 (Saturday May 3, 2003) – The Mother of All Shopping Sprees
We speed through
the pot-holed streets, darting in between traffic to get to our destination. The holes in the streets are cavernous and trickier
still to navigate with the puddles from the rain hiding the trenches. You can feel the bruises building in your body as
the car’s shocks scream at the abuse. The
air smells like a damp rag over your face, hard to catch your breath. Our steely-eyed driver is fearless behind the wheel
and is single-minded in the task at hand – Roza must get Leilani to another sale. An excerpt from Joe’s next book, “The
Deal We Almost Missed”. You can pre-order
from Amazon.com.
Today was a pretty
slow day. Due to a limited staff at the
orphanage, they didn’t want us to come until one o’clock but we could stay
straight through until 4:00 pm. So we ate a late breakfast and Roza picked us up at
12:30. Gallina had some paperwork for us to sign (dealing
with the court petition) and after we finished, she bid us adieu. Alia was still sleeping when we got there, so we
didn’t get to see her until 2:00. She was a pistol again today and a joy to be
around. Pam showed her and Karsten blowing
bubbles techniques and we spent the day playing (God, what the heck has happened to me?!).
After our
visitation, we hit the big mall on the outskirts of town.
It’s a large new building and I’ll have to get the name of it for
those looking to do a little shopping in the future. We’ve
mainly been interested in buying a lightweight inexpensive umbrella stroller (for Alia
when we have her after court and for the seven hour layover in Frankfurt on the way back). We were also looking for a few souvenirs. We struck out on the former, but the girls hit a
grand slam on the latter. Leilani was able to
get a silk tablecloth for $45 (c’mon it WAS a deal) at one store and Pam and Leilani
bought out another store with tons of souvenirs. I
think we put the woman’s first born through college on this venture. I was looking for a store to purchase a donkey to
carry out all of this bounty, but no luck. (Plus
I think Pam & Leilani have their fill with me as their resident smelly animal.)
After the ladies
exhausted me with all this shopping, we headed home and had decided to eat leftovers. Our plans went somewhat awry when Leilani turned
the water on to find brown globules coming out of the faucet with the “water”. Change of plans.
We headed over to a Russian restaurant near our apartment that we saw had
English explanations in their menu. Well as we
have come to find out here, when just about any restaurant here has English in the menu,
it really doesn’t explain the whole dish. And
of course no one there spoke English, so we kinda took some chances (actually I’m the
only one taking chances). Leilani went with
the dumplings (which were quite tasty) and Pam had the beef stroganoff. I on the other hand went for the chicken
???????????, or something like that, (that’s not your monitoring going on the blink
by the way, that’s Russian). Actually I
had a little hint; the item above was the same name ??????????? and its English
explanation was “mutton, potatoes, peas”. So
I just figured it would be chicken instead of the mutton.
Right? We did our standard
“pointing to the menu to order” routine and the waitress just nodded when I
ordered this dish. Another waitress came back
to the table and starting explaining something to me in Russian. I gave my standard intelligent reply. “English?”
She shook her head and brought me a menu.
We figured they were out of what I ordered and I’d have to figure
something new out. After watching over me
while I exasperatingly looked for another dish, she blurted out more Russian. I took her body language to mean, “Just go
with this other dish, blah blah blah”. I
nodded and off she went. Leilani & Pam’s
meal came out and they dug into their meals. I
was still waiting for mine. Leilani & Pam
finished their dinner, and I was still waiting. The
waitress cleared Leilani and Pam’s dishes and yup you guessed it I was still waiting. By this point I was starting to think, could it be
that she really suggested in Russian, “Hey you Buddha Belly, why not just skip a meal
for once, huh?” Well before I could share
this insightful little tidbit, she comes in with this huge (and I mean huge) dish filled
with chicken, potatoes, peppers, and onions in a red sauce.
I’m still not sure what she said. Since
there were no peas, I don’t know if it was what I ordered, another suggestion, if it
was what I ordered and she was trying to tell me they were out of peas, if she was simply
trying to tell me that it would take very long to prepare, or if she were just saying,
“You sure want to eat this much? No
wonder you have Buddha Belly.” Whatever
it was that she said, it was delicious. And
there was so much leftover that I think we can make a whole other meal out of this (that
is if our water ever clears up). Luckily, we
were joyous to return to our humble abode to find the return of clear non-globule water.
I read the guest
book. I couldn’t possibly pose an answer
to all of them (the response has been overwhelming), so I’ll just pass out a few
comments/retorts:
·
Meaghan – Yes,
Alia will know that GIRLS RULE!
·
Paul – thanks….I’ll
call you in the wee hours of the morning when Alia gets up
·
Alia – we’re
here baby, and we aint goin’ nowhere without ya
·
Jackie – it’s
been tough, but Leilani hasn’t done any re-decorating (yet!)
·
Nic – Leopard
sounds good and we’ll get her home as soon as possible for you to hold
·
To all the guys
asking – Roza is taken!
·
Scream – we
left you behind but not in spirit, we brought pix
·
Patti – get a
grip girl and control those emotions (who you think you are? Alia?)
·
Grandmom Pearl – you’re
in, she’s got five now
·
Pop Pop &
Grandma Annette – guess we can’t stop you
·
Chris, Al, Steve,
etc. – thanks for my Eagles fix, any breaking news…send it
·
To all those
considering the same path – Quote Nike…Just Do it!
·
Danielle – How
could we forget. And of course you’re her
cousin
·
Nanny –
thanks, but Alia is way too cute to look anything like me
·
Mom Mom Judy –
we’re already eating out of her hands
·
Pop Joe – from
Alia, “keep them checks a-comin’ Pop. Love
you.”
·
Gram Jewel –
she needs to be drip dried from all our kissin’, but one more from you.
·
Jay & Al –
thanks for the King of the Elves rules.
·
Nicky Boy –
thanks yes, her nose isn’t big & flat. And
no, her feet are fine.
·
Al our webmaster
– you da man! BTW, like the daily changes
to our faux picture.
·
Finally, Dennis
– Thanks for asking. I only had 2 slices. Really. I
swear. And I had nothing to do with the space
capsule being 300 miles off target!
Good night/day and be careful out there.
Click on the Thumnails to Enlarge the Picture
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I'm ready for my close-up Mr. Demille |
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As you can see, we finally figured out the washing
machine (with help from Roza & Gallina of course). Since it's been so cold and damp
out, we moved the laundry hanger into the "family room". Leilani's reading her
book while awaiting Roza in the morning. Your web Author is absent from his makeshift desk
to take this picture. |
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Here's some shots of the orphanage. (1) our view coming
from the street everyday of the outside of the building. The outside of the building is
not in such great condition, but the inside is taken care of well. Remember this is a poor
country and they are doing the best with what they have. (2) Part of the playground for
the kids. (3) The requisite picture of the sign announcing you are entering Baby House 3.
(4) & (5) Murals painted on the walls of the stairwell going up to the visitation
area. |
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A close-up of our new bud Aliya Fisher. Quite fetching
in her hooded ensemble. |
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Karsten performing the Kazakh squat. It's interesting
to see many men just squatting like this in any attire (yes, business suits as well) on
the streets. I guess it's relaxing. |
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I've waited all this time in the orphanage, and these
two are the best they could come up with? And what's up with the hole in the hair of the
big guy anyway? |
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"Hey Ma & Pa Fisher, when you two taking me
home already!!??" |
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The extremely attentive Karsten watching the creation
of bubbles. |
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"Tiny Bubbles
In the Wine
makes me happy
makes me feel fine" |
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Who's the cutest of them all? |
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Oh, an astounding upset. The Royal Kazakh Princess pins
the Queen of Samoa for the victory and to gain sole title of the WWF Female belt. Reruns
of this match will be shown on the GLOOW broadcast (so Dan will be able to tell everyone
how the whole match went). |
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Here's Alia with two of her caretakers. You can see by
her reaction to them that she truly is loved by these women and she loves them back. We'll
forever be greatful to all of these wonderful ladies. |
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"Don't cry for me Ar-gen-ti-na
The truth is I Never left you."
Leilani teaching Alia songs from her favorite movie/play Evita. |
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Look Alia! There's Gram Jewel doing another of her Yard
sales. She made so much at her last sale, that she bought her plane ticket to be the first
to see Alia. I think she's currently selling some stuff here so she can pay for her ticket
back. |
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OooooooKay! We saw this truck in front of us and had to
take a pic of his bumper stickers. I have a good idea on the meaning of the symbol to the
right, but I'm kinda unsure about what he's trying to convey with the one to the left. |
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Next Day