Masha and I had a plan. We were going to have Ricky do school with the kids. We would go to the mall to get her a dress for her sister's wedding.
We called the taxi. He took us to a restaurant instead of a mall. We requested a mall. He said there was a new one on the other side of town. Off we went. We were early. We walked to the street market to look for flowers. They had only funeral flowers. Then we walked in the market, just to get out of the cold.
Back to the mall. It opens, it is really new and many of the stores are still empty. We covered all the stores looking for a dress. Most dresses are too short and not appropriate for church, much less a wedding. Most stores have maybe 5 dresses. By this I literally mean 5 dresses. This is not in each size, just 5. We did find a a couple of stores with maybe 40 dresses. This store did have up to 4 of a dress in different sizes. The mall had been searched and we decided to eat at Burger Club there (Canadian).
We knew it would be hard to spot stores from a taxi so we began walking. We were at the opposite side of Central Street from the orphanage. We went in lots of doors. You never knew what kind of stores would be inside. Most of the time there would be about 6 small stores. Each specific to mens, collectibles, children's, undergarments or purses and shoes. We walked all the way to city center. My feet were starting to feel it. No luck at the underground mall either. We kept walking.
We were called and told to be 30 min later to orphanage. We stopped to let our feet rest and had a cappuccino. We walked the rest of the way to the orphanage. We met the kids. Spent a few minutes with the other children and walking again? No way.
I had told Ricky to start without us. He took the kids to get their pictures done. Our kids wanted to leave and we wanted to speak to a few of the other kids. They were finished, with pictures, as we were leaving the orphanage. Masha called us a taxi. Best $1.50 I spent all day.
We did find movies for the kids in the mall, some in Ukr/Rus/Eng. We bought several for future gifts. Most stores have people watching for shop lifters. They were alarmed that I had 4 movies in my hands. He tried to speak to me. I gave my "I'm American" line and he laughed. So then he starts pointing out good movies to me.
I bought some books for them to read. It is hard to choose books, because I am not able to scan over them. We found one book with the Ukr alphabet to help my children with the sounds.
Yes, we ended up with hours of looking and no dress or wedding photo album. Yes, I did buy stuff and she did not. Yes, we did come back and make the kids dinner and hang out as much as we could here. Glad to sit and rest. The oldest played the High School musical game, birthday present, it plugs into the tv. The younger 2 went with the other younger 2 to play soccer outside. The littlest loves to change clothes when she arrives. Then she finds it necessary to walk around the neighborhood so that all can see she is wearing nice, new, clothes. Sometimes we just walk. Other times we thrill her with a stop in the candy store for a handful of her pick. She is quick to share with the other 2. Not yet so quick to share with the other 4. Time.
Ricky asked if I wanted to walk back with them. I told him it was not possible. My feet hurt too bad. I think Masha's too. Again, he walked them back and I did dishes.
I came up with the idea of her getting a dress online from the U.S. We looked for a long time. Reality was that in the first few minutes we had seen more acceptable dresses than looking all day. Now comes the task of narrowing down the choices. I'm just thrilled she has the options! We have covered all 3 malls here and found no great dresses.
The best part of the day: The oldest rushing up to me and giving me kisses and hugs as I arrived. (The littlest always follows after her. She must get a hug too.)
