Day #8

Today was very eventful. I had quite the busy day and I enjoyed myself. I left the apartment at about 10 this morning and started walking toward what I thought was the hospital. It ended up only being about a five minute walk from the apartment. I remembered it being longer last year. So, anyway, I have this little Russian/English translation handbook and I ask a boy that is in front of the building if this was the hospital. "Dah," he replies. Bravo for me! I found it. So I go in and ask a lady that is guarding the office door if she speaks English. Of course she doesn't, I already knew the answer but thought I might get lucky...She ushers me back to some offices and tells me to talk to another lady.

This lady's name is Dana. She starts asking me all these questions in Russian and finally gives up and finds a translation program on her computer that she asks me what I am needing there. We type back and forth to each other on the computer. I told her I just wanted to see the inside of a Ukrainian hospital and where the nurses work. I explained to her that I am a nurse in America and that I was only doing this for my own benefit. I was curious. She finally got through to me that this particular hospital if for young children that have infections and are under quarantine. I am not allowed to go to their rooms. But, she said, I will call another hospital and see if you can go there. She calls over to the other hospital and they said it would be okay for me to go around and see. Dana called me a taxi and gave the driver instructions on where and what to do with me. I put Dana's phone number in my phone just in case I got lost.

The driver took me to the other hospital, which ended up being very near the notary and social workers offices. This hospital is a maternity and infant hospital. Perfect! That is what I do and that would be fascinating. The driver, his name was Eric, went to a couple offices and finally found the person that was expecting me. I am invited into her office and she just grins at me and says, "What are your questions and why are you here?" I explain to her that I came just for myself, that I was a nurse and I wanted to see a Ukrainian hospital. I thought with her line of questioning that she wasn't going to let me go. She asked if I was with the press, she wanted to know what hospital I worked for in the United States. She asked if I had children and was able to explain that I will soon have five. A nurse came into her office and she told her to take me around.

First we saw doctor's offices and she showed me a room where they teach how to breastfeed. They even had a crocheted breast to use as an example. Interesting.

Then she took me to the hospital part of the grounds. Here she took me to a midwife that made me gown up and took me to what was their equivilant of the Newborn ICU and a maternity ward. This was extremely interesting. Their equipment was actually quite upto date. I was impressed. I took a lot of pictures and will give details with those.

After the hospital visit she showed me back to the front door. I walked from there to the main street that goes right down the middle of this side of Dniprozherzinsk. I contemplated going back to the apartment, but decided that I would use this time to try and find a Ukrainian keyboard for the Hunter's and us. I walked for about 20 minutes and found a store just down from Potato House that sold computers and other electronics and they had several keyboards to choose from. They had two that were 75 gryvna and I bought both of them. That is about $10...perfect!

After finding these I start walking to the orphanage and take pictures of the city along the way. I took some pictures that I hoped would give some of the families coming some bearings when they get here. It probably won't help a ton because pictures are so much different from seeing the real thing with your own eyes.

I got to the orphanage and found Masha's teacher who said she wasn't feeling well so she had gone to Babushka's. I thought that was strange because she and I had decided the night before that I would meet her at the orphanage at 3 and we would walk to my apartment. From there she was going to show me what buses to take to get to Babushka's. I called her phone and as it turns out she was waiting for me and was at the school (somewhere???). She told me she had walked to my apartment three times, rang the doorbell numerous times and I wasn't home! What's up with that??? That is a lot of walking, by the way. I just laughed and she said, "To you it's funny, to me it's not funny!" I just laugh again and she laughs too. We head to my apartment and from there take some buses to her grandma's house.

At babushka's we make a list of all the ingredients we will need to make the three dishes tomorrow. We leave and grocery shop on our way back home. That's my day, in short! It was nice to keep busy.

Her grandma attends church on Saturdays. So we are meeting her grandma tomorrow for church, then we will make our dishes. I'm excited!

Oh, and we bought that Easter cake that Wendy made reference to. It's called Poska. We are going to eat it tonight as part of our Easter celebration. Tomorrow, all the food making, is my gift to them for Easter. I bought all the food and they teach me how to turn it into yummy dishes! Pretty good deal.