We have been blessed with two special daughters and two sons from Eastern Europe. We welcome you to follow our journey as a family of five, waiting to travel and pick up #6, with the ins and outs of family, education, farm life, and love!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Great Chocolate Walk

Today, we didn't have boys to visit.  Instead, we set out in search of chocolate.  Our friend Nate took us to a large Rost supermarket (Poct in Russian letters) that had a great selection of chocolate.  We really wanted to find that store again.  Small problem, Nate took us in his car.  And today we were going by Metro and by foot.
We looked at the Rost bag, which had the adresses/Metro stops they were close to, so Doug felt quite sure we could find the store.  When you get to your metro stop, there are two ways to get out.  Each way out, then has two ways to go.  It takes a bit of learning, guesswork, or "oh, let's try this way" to figure out which way to go out and where you will come up at.  Once you arrive above ground, you need to look around at your surroundings and get your bearings about you before venturing off.  So we arrived at our Metro stop, came up to ground level, and looked around.  The large outdoor market was to our left and the Billa market up the road ahead of us.  But where was the Rost in relation to where we were?
So we decided to head up the road, remembering that Nate had told us his apartment was close to the outdoor market and the Rost store we were looking for, we knew where we were in relation to our old apartment.  And I saw a church...one I (thought) had seen when we were leaving the Rost the other day.  We walked into the Billa and checked out their selection of chocolate.  Impressive, but not near what the Rost had.  Back out of the Billa.  And then, in that AHA moment, a sign...not one from God, but a street sign that said "Poct 800m" with an arrow.  So we began our walk.
Doug got out his handy little converter on his phone.  800 meters is approximately 1/2 mile.


We made a daring crossing in a street with 4 lanes of speeding traffic.  Sure, there was a crosswalk sign and lines on the street, but no light that stopped the traffic.  And there were no brave Ukrainians today to follow.  We were it.  We made a quick jog (yes, I'm sure that screamed foreigners, but who wants to be road kill on week 6?) across the street to the Rost.

And then, enter the wonderful supermarket mecca.  This place is huge!  There are 4 aisles of alcohol, 2 chocolate, an entire meat section, deli, cakes, juice, soda. And don't forget the scented toilet paper! It's maybe twice the size of a Kroger! 


We gathered a variety of Ukraine chocolates and my favorite chocolate  as well as snagging several bags of hazelnut M&Ms to bring back to Ohio with us when we return to say thank you to those who helped us in our journey.

Tonight we were invited to a Bible study by a couple we have heard about from Laurie and Bryan.  It was good to fellowship and spend time together digesting the Word.  Brenda made yummy Greek pizza and homemade oatmeal cookies.  We even came home with doggie bags! :)

For all of those wondering, no word on court today.  I think our facilitator pretty much knows court will be on Thursday, we just don't know what time.  She took a train today to another nearby region to be with the Hintz family who had court to adopt Sterling.  Sterling's picture has been hanging on my refrigerator for over a year.  Our family was his "prayer Warrior."  We prayed for a family to come for him....and today, Sterling gained his forever family! 
We plan to head to Eli's orphanage tomorrow morning, even if we go and find out he is not there.  Then, we are going out to see Max in the afternoon.  We need to talk with him about his extended stay after court.
Prayers for a firm court time, that we can purchase express train tickets to Kiev for Thursday evening, and plane tickets to leave Kiev early Friday morning!

2 comments:

Nate Medlong said...

I'm glad you found ROST! proud of your and Doug's navigation skills.

Hinz57 said...

I love outings like this! And you were quite brave crossing that street! I want to go to THAT supermarket! We dont have one of those LOL. Just a Billa and a local EkoMart (they have a chocolatier inside of the store though...) Your chocolates look way better than what we can get. (aside from Milka and Roshen - Roshen is locked up at our market behind a locked case!) Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers! Tatyana is all yours we don't get her back until the 18th! Much love from the Hinzes (which now includes Sterling!)