A Day in the Life...

There was a heavy snowstorm across the whole country of Bulgaria yesterday and today. The heaviest snowfall hit here in Lom overnight, and during my jet lag induced sleepless vigil from 1 to 5 AM, I was concerned that we would get snowed in today and wouldn't get to see Yanka at all. I don't know what the official numbers were, but I scraped at least 4 inches of snow off the car this morning. I noticed a pretty good flow of traffic on the main road up the hill from the hotel, but the road out from the hotel, and especially the parking area looked questionable. When I went out to check on the conditions and to clean off the car, I decided to try driving up the hill just to see how it went. Turned out that there was no problem getting out at all, and the town of Lom had done an excellent job of clearing and sanding the surface streets. I drove back to the parking area, picked up Carolyn and Maggie, and off we went.

We had decided after the success of yesterday to try to simulate as best we could a "normal" day (as if such a thing really existed) such as Yanka will experience when she comes home. Carolyn mapped out a morning of work and school activities, and we worked through the schedule. It worked great, and it solved the problem of the tedium involved in trying to entertain an active 7 year-old for hours on end.

We started the day with a trip to the grocery store to shop with mommy for breakfast and for something to make for lunch. We ended up with a loaf of bread, some jam, and a plastic spoon to make jam sandwiches for lunch (peanut butter is a rare foreign delicacy available only in the finest stores in the big cities :-) ), and some croissants for breakfast. Yanka loved shopping; it was probably her first time ever. We got to the hotel, and after a minute or two to play in the snow, the ladies headed upstairs to start breakfast while I moved the car to a better spot and walked around taking pictures of the snow. When I got to the hotel room, breakfast had been set out, so we prayed and got ready to eat. Yanka came over and opened my croissant for me, then shook my orange juice and opened it for me as well. Someone has trained this child well :-). After breakfast, she helped Carolyn clean up and then helped her assemble little gift bags for us to give as hostess-type gifts to the caregivers in the orphanage. Once that task was done, Carolyn read Go Dog Go to her off my iPhone. It proved a little long, but she stuck with most of it. Next, Yanka and I took out the trash. She then had "school" time with Carolyn. We had brought a little activity book where you use a set of plastic stencils to trace various clothing components onto a doll picture - paper doll style - and a set of markers and accessory stickers to color with. Carolyn used it as an opportunity to start teaching the English names of the colors.

After school, it was lunch time. Yanka and Carolyn set out the bread, and Yanka spread the jam and assembled the sandwiches, which she proudly delivered to each of us. Add a bottle of water and we had a very lovingly prepared and excellent lunch. Yanka helped clean up the table and put away the food, and it was off to the orphanage for nap time.

After her nap and the drive back to the hotel, I read Go Dog Go to her again. About three quarters of the way through, she lost interest and started flipping the pages faster than I could read them. She then helped Carolyn assemble a few more gift bags. Finally we broke out the play-doh and all had a good time making stuff. A little time was spent looking out at the river, then back to the orphanage for the night. In all, it was an excellent day; probably the best we've had.

Tomorrow is our last day with her. It is going to be tough to say goodbye.