Day 3

          Woke up around 9:45. It was much later than I usually wake up, but it was much earlier than I thought, considering I went to bed around 3:15 am. Once I got up, I didn’t quite know what to do. I walked to the kitchen, and the three children who were not old enough to go to school yet were eating breakfast. I made awkward eye contact with the cook and walked out. The same thing happened when I peeked in the hall that lead to the second floor. There were two ladies, and I felt kind of awkward. I wanted to talk to them, but I couldn’t because I don’t know the language. I just walked back to my room and looked at what I had packed for a time. A few minutes later, Sofi came to my room and said there is breakfast for me on the table. It was amazing, sort of. The vegetables are always amazing and the bread and meat. I had bread, and I put butter, cucumbers, meat, and cheese on it. It was very good as I remembered. The cook came in and looked at me then talked to someone in the kitchen. I thought I heard her say chai, meaning tea. But when they brought me out a warm cup of liquid, it clearly wasn’t tea. It was coffee. Milk and sparkling sugar were also brought out. I felt like I needed to drink it to be polite, but I hate coffee. I do not understand who could ever love coffee. No one could pick it up and like something like that. It is extremely bitter and, even if it was sweet, it still has a horrible taste. I dumped almost that whole cup of milk into the coffee and 5-6 heaping spoonfuls of sugar in that coffee. I chugged it down and, right after, ate a piece of bread with extra butter and meat to get that taste of nastiness out of my mouth. I did it, but next time, I will mention chai myself so I know I will get tea.
         

          After, I went to play with the kids: Denis, Ira, and another little girl; I forgot her name. They were unsure what to think of me as they did not interact with me much. They were called into the classroom to learn, and I watched them. They went over shapes, colors, numbers, and letters. I listened closely because I also wanted to learn. Denis saw that I had a reeses peanut butter cup, and eyed it the whole time. When the teacher was working with just one child, both Ira and Denis would interact with me. The other girl stayed focused on her work. They were like little monkeys, running around on the ground and climbing on tables and me. Ira kept on sliding onto my lap. I left slightly before they finished because I thought my presence seemed distracting. In the play room, both of them were still climbing on me and wanting me to swing them around. The children that go to school all get done at different times depending on their grade. The Firsts, Sofi called them, got done, and some came into the play room to say hi to Sofi. I got a couple of hugs, too. Nastya is a First, so I got to see her. Then, we ate lunch. Lunch was some sort of potato soup with chicken broth (?) and something else. There was also a plate with what looked like grits and a small meat patty. I want to say the meat patty was chicken, but for some reason, I have a feeling that it might have been liver. Probably not though. A cucumber salad was also served, and it was really good. The whole meal was good, but I am still questioning that patty. My only complaint was that I was extremely hot, and eating that soup made me hotter.

          I stopped writing here. Everyone keeps me very busy at Children’s Path, which is s good thing, but I do not have a lot of time by myself to write.

          If I remember correctly, I took a nap. The time change is still messing with me. I woke up, and the older kids were done with school. I played with them a lot. One of their favorite games is Quack Dilly Oso. It’s fun, and we can all sing along! We also played Bubblegum, another hand game. We played a lot more. Some kids were wanting to play outside, but it was really rainy. Then, it was dinner time. For dinner, we had cheese pasta with a light-colored sausage link, bread (as alwaysJ), tomatoes, and a cookie. All was very good. I sat by Sofi who knows some English. I asked her what kind the cookies were, and she did not know the English word for them. She typed it into google translate, and she told me what kind they were. She said, “they are lamb cookies, like lamb.” I looked at them, and told her I didn’t think I wanted one anymore. She did some more googling, and told me a couple of minutes later, “oat cookies; not lamb cookies.” That made a lot more sense. They tasted great! After dinner, I played with the children some more. Soon after, all the children were called in to the play room, and Nadia talked to them about their day and did a devotional with them. I don’t exactly know what was said. At first, I thought they were all in trouble, and Nadia was telling them what they did wrong. I don’t think that is the case now (writing this a day after). Then, many children raised their hands wanting to pray. Three children prayed out loud, and they all finished by saying the Lord’s prayer. The children went to bed after, and so did I. I did get a shower first. I laid in bed, and was cold, so I kept on putting more and more blankets on me throughout the night.