Day 3

Sunday, May 6,  2012

 Today we mostly rested. We slept in a little. Tim went downstairs to breakfast and found a plate already prepared for him. There were about 5 small pieces of cheese (possibly mozzarella or provolone), 2-3 slices of American cheese, 3 slices of cucumber, 1 egg (the kind on a little stand and not cooked as long as we would have cooked it), 4 small pieces of ham, and a wedge of tomato sliced.  Like a good American, he saw some bread, and made himself a sandwich. He also got a banana to round it off.  I, on the other hand, just opted for some snacks we had in the room. Actually, my curling iron wouldn't work (I hope I didn't kill it), and I was trying to figure out how to look human again.

 Later, we headed out for a walk down "main street" and stopped by the Italian ice cream place we saw yesterday. Naturally, it was very good!  Next we walked to the other end of the street to a park and sat awhile just people-watching and talking. Finally we came back to our room and had a good ol' Sunday nap. For supper, we walked back up the street to McDonald's. Yes, they have Mickey D's, KFC, Subway, Burger King, and (I think) Wendy's. We of course had to then sample the OTHER Italian ice cream place. Here, I was proud of myself,  I overheard the man before us asking if one of the flavors was raspberry. The lady had a little trouble with that word, but another worker verified that it was.  I decided that was the one I wanted too, so I actually read the Bulgarian label for it and pronounced it correctly.  Woohoo for me!  I know, it's the little things that make me happy. 

 As we walked around today, it's funny to see so much English in store windows and on signs. Most of the store workers speak at least enough English to help you out.   The money system is easy. All of the bills have their number value on them just like ours, but the coins also have numbers and are based on a hundred like ours as well.  So the smallest coin has a 1 on the front (or one side). It takes 100 of these to make one leva (the type of bill).   Just imagine if our penny had a big 1 on one side; the nickel, a big 5; a dime , a big 10; and so on.  How easy would that be to teach kids?!

 It was also funny to see familiar stores like Clinique/Este Lauder, an Apple store, Samsung, Levi's, etc.  There was even a building for rent with a Century 21 sign on it. 

 The sights that were new to me are probably common in any big city, even in America:  street performers, beggars, people everywhere without any regard for personal space.  I miss our more or less polite folks back home.   I guess I've never been face to face with street poverty, but to see people begging or digging through trash cans is not something I've been trained not to see.  I see it, and it bothers me. Yes, I have taken the advice of others and pretended not to see or hear, but as a Christian that is so hard to do.  The other thing that is difficult is that these extremely poor people are Roma. Roma people are basically ignored and/or despised here.  Our new kids are Roma. Is this the life they would have had if their mother had not taken them to the orphanage. I saw a little girl going through the crowd.  She was about the same age as my daughter.  I guess she was begging, and once she must have been ignored because she made an ugly face at the people eating at an outside cafe.  I thought how sad that she has been taught that this is her only way to make it though life. I saw her again today with a lady. Her mother?  The lady looked like she was giving her instructions. Again I compared her to my kids.  "Is this the life they would have had if they'd had a family?"  Perhaps their mother really did realize that an orphanage was the best way for them to escape the road that would have been ahead of them.   All I could think was, "How fast can I get my kiddos home?"

 Tomorrow we move to a smaller town near our kids' orphanages. I'm anxious to see how a smaller town compares to Sofia.  Might be better for this smaller-town girl.  We will meet with the directors before we meet the kids. Please pray that they are nice and like us.  Pray also that our visits will be with both kids at once and not one at a time. Even though they are in different orphanages in different villages, they are only a mile or two apart.