This week--what do we have planned??

Well, just so you kind of know a bit of our schedule for this week...we have a few things happening in addition to our normal school day.

Today: John went to get a router for our computer and Lena's so we can both be online at the same time. (I forget these needs/conveniences---when we only had one computer in the house before coming here.)
When he gets back we go to Lenta( the store like Walmart/Sam's cross)...it might be bigger than a Sams---they sell motorcycles too!!! This takes about 2-3 hours total and we make the trek on a tramvi(long i)...that's how you say tram in Russian. Today, I am taking a suitcase(small, of course) with me--it's not too unusual to see people toting these around b/c they have no car. We are realizing how much food we generally eat---b/c we are running out of food often:). We are working on "snack" ideas. Thankfully, we have a small store about a few blocks away that we frequent for milk, cheese, bread, fruit...when we run out. It's a tad bit more expensive so we try to get most at Lenta. The family homes really want to teach the kids how to live on a small budget.

Today or Tomorrow: Lena will meet with the counselor from the dormitory we will visit to get permission to visit in the weeks to come. The dormitory that we will go visit is where orphans stay after graduating from the orphanage. They stay here while they go to school/university. We have been told it's not a very desirable place to stay...one more reason we might add a few more girls to our humble abode in the coming weeks.

Friday Night: Meeting with the family home counselors---here oo menya(this is how you say at "my place" in Russian).

Saturday at 3---kids from a nearby orphanage(10 of them or less) will come over with some food they purchased from a market that day and cook with us. These will be girls from ages 7-15. That will be fun! This particular orphanage that is bringing the girls actually has caring counselors and they try to prepare them somewhat for life after graduation---something that is rare in the orphanages.

Sunday--visit another Russian church called Harvest.