April 26, 2008

Alyona, Julie & Nick

Shopping with Alyona

Today we picked Alyona up after she was done with school.  Yes, Kaz kids go to school Monday through Saturday.  We did not go to the orphanage in Pulodino today to see Victor and Kristina as we needed to take Alyona shopping for clothes.  We will be able to get Victor and Kristina clothes on our own, but at 16 we thought Alyona would want to have some say in it.  All the clothes the kids wear belong to the orphanage and stay once the child is adopted.

We started out with a trip to the bookstore to get a Russian/English translation book for Alyona to start learning English.  We also picked up some alphabet charts to work with Kristina and Victor.  We finished up with some coloring books, crayons and a puzzle.

This was a very interesting day for me as shopping in Kaz is very different than shopping in the USA.  There are stores with clothes but they are less expensive at “the market”.  The market is in a large building with fruits, vegetables and other food stands on the bottom floor and clothes and shoe stores on the top floors.  The stores have enough room for about 5 people in them and most of the clothes are hung on every space of the walls and on racks on the floors.  I found it very interesting that when you ask to try something they take it off the hanger and give it to you.  There are no questions about the size.  That is because all the women are thin and wear about the same size.  They did have some different sizes they could bring out, but there was not a lot of choice in sizes.

The styles are quite different than in Florida.  For one thing, of course, they have cold weather for a large part of the year.  They also have a lot more embellishments on their clothes.  We were looking for every day clothes and an outfit Alyona could wear on the day we go to court.  She was able to find a shirt and a dress (casual though, not for court) that she liked.  We could not find the right pants so will have to go again another day.  We still need to get shoes and more clothes.

After we hit up all the stores we went to the bottom floor and purchased bananas, pears, and candy to bring the children tomorrow.  We decided to go to “The Pancake House” and get a bite to eat.  What they call pancakes we would call crepes.  I had the cinnamon apple, Nick had banana, and Alyona had chocolate with nuts.  Mariya had a chocolate malt.  The pancakes were fabulous!  They were a perfect snack.  I do not think Alyona liked hers as she did not each much.  She had been thinking about ice cream all day so we told her to go ahead and order ice cream also.  She didn’t want to eat alone so Nick and I ordered one to share also.  The ice cream was also very good.  Alyona said they almost never get ice cream in the orphanage so it was a nice treat.

It was time to bring Alyona back to the orphanage and Nick and I back to the apartment.  Once we returned we walked up to the grocery store to get a few items and call it a day.  A little while later the doorbell rang.  It was Mariya with a special delivery for us.  Tomorrow is Easter Sunday in Kaz and they always make eggs and these special decorative cakes.  While we were out today Mariya’s mom made cakes and her sister decorated eggs.  They were still warm so she brought them over for us to enjoy.  And I certainly did enjoy it!

The Hrenko Family

Adoption Journey to Kazakhstan

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Nick, Alyona, & Julie

Nick, Alyona, & Julie