I was lazy this morning and got up late.  So I hit the internet cafe for brunch about 11:30 and had my usual chicken salad.  I've only been eating 2 meals a day here and haven't really been hungry.  My knee is much better too,  so I'm walking more instead of taking taxis.

So after reading emails, I went back to the apartment and stopped by the grocery on the way.  I picked up a bottle of Fanta (I miss my diet coke) and Chip Ahoy cookies.   I had a craving for American junk food.  The cookies here were expensive.  I paid 18.5 rph which is $3.50 USD.  You can get a great dinner for the same price. 

About 3:00 p.m. I headed to orphanage-12 for a visit.  I always have a good time there with the kids and Lanna.  Today it was sunny but chilly.  It's been raining for about 5 days.  So we took advantage of the weather and the kids and I hit the playground for the afternoon.  Zhenia and Yura were being typical boys and showing off on the juggle gyms.  They also raced on a self-made obstacle course.  Most of the afternoon I heard, "Alice! Alice!"   They didn't know english so that was their way of saying "Alice, look at me." 

The orphanage play ground was a stretch of ground about 40' wide and maybe 150' long.  It had a serie of jungle gyms, balance beams, broken metal tables, money bars, etc.. Most of the equipment was missing parts. For instance the big jungle gym looked to be missing teeter-toters and swings. Some of the metal posts were broken and painted over.  Behind this area was 2 basket ball courts surrounded by a 10' fence.  The fence had been cut in several places like someone broke in.  The hoops were missing from 3 of the 4 goals.  The one goal with a hoop looked like someone mounted it upside down.  The backboard was longer below the hoop rather than above it.  There really wasn't enough backboard above to make a decent bank-shot.  Behind the basketball courts there was a soccer field.  Of course the goals were missing the nets.  Its like anything not nailed down gets stolen.  Bogdan was telling me that some students planted bushes along the front entrace to the orphanage (inside the orphanage walls/gates) and someone dug them up and stole them one night.

Luda and Anna were being more reserved than the boys while they played on the jungle gyms.  The other boys were off playing in the soccer field.  I was having a good time and even hung upside down from the money bars.  Lanna just shook her head at me.  She was probably thinking "Crazy American".

Later we all headed into the class room.  The kids went off to have dinner and Lanna dished up some buckwheat & sugar beet salad for me.  She also had some really good salami.  She is a great hostess and keeps trying to stuff me with food.  Bogdan joined us after a while and of course she made him eat too.   We chatted till about 7:00 p.m. with Bogdan interpreting.  Then I hitched a ride with Bogdan on the metro to get back to the apartment. 

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RAMBLING ....

I don't know if I mentioned this before but...  What we in the USA consider apartments isn't exactly the same here.  Ukrainians can own or rent apartments.  Yet even if they own them, they still call them an apartment rather than a condo.  Most are 1 bedroom, some have 2.  I'd say the average apartment probably has 1 bedroom, living, kitchen, and a bathroom.  I have yet to be in an apartment that has airconditioning.  The one I'm in right now is very clean and neat but it doesn't have a washer or microwave.  The water pipes are on the outside of the walls and they put appliances where ever they will fit.  The apartment I'm in now has the refrigerator in a hallway.

A word on salaries... Anastatia in Donetsk had told me that the average income is about $100 USD/month.  Lanna makes $60 USD/month.  The Ukraine economy is out of balance.  Housing, electronics, washer/dryers, and cars cost about what it does in the US but salaries are extremely low.  I was told that it costs a lot of money (ie bribes and legal fees) to start your own company.  So a lot of folks don't even bother trying to start their own business.  There also isn't any "health insurance" here.  Lanna's grand-daughter needed kidney surgery and it cost about $600 USD which she had to borrow from a friend.  Granted that isn't much to us to pay for major surgery.  But that is almost a year's salary to her.  Plus its scary to even though about being in the hospital here, especially after I was told that you can buy a medical degree.  You don't know if you will get a good doctor or not.