Sunday, December 19, 2004
Day 5 and Day 6
Day 5
Today was a down day for us. We spent some time on the internet checking e-mail and trying to update our web site. We got some groceries at the market nearby. We took a walk and got to observe how tough some people have it here. People were standing side by side along the sidewalk with a few things on the ground in front of them. Most of them were trying to sell vegetables or homemade mixtures of vegetables. Some were selling pickles, fruit, and unwrapped meat. Most of these people looked old enough to be our parents and they would stand on the sidewalk most of the day trying to sell their food items. We have seen many dogs roaming the streets. The buildings here and the grounds nearby are not maintained. Our building has several entrances and apparently we went in the wrong entrance on the way back from the market. Our translator is not with us this weekend so we are on our own. We took the elevator to the 5th floor but the apartment numbers were all in the 100's. Our apartment number was 285. We got back on the elevator and somewhere along the way, the elevator stopped and the doors would not open. Cindy could feel herself getting stressed. We finally were able to make our way down to the lobby and thankfully the doors opened and we tried to speak with the lady in the lobby. She didn't understand a word we were saying but could tell we were not finding our apartment. Finally I wrote down the number of our apartment and she walked outside with
me and showed me that we went into the wrong entrance. It was a relief to finally find our apartment...ha.
Day 6
It has been snowing all day today but it is not accumulating at all. We have had another quiet day. We just stayed at the apartment all morning. We did laundry in the bathtub and hung it all over the radiators to dry and on a bungy cord. We came to the internet cafe which is a short walk from the apartment. We've been reading and enjoying watching movies on the laptop. Nothing much new to report. We are still hopeful to have another appointment on Tuesday at the NAC.
Today was a down day for us. We spent some time on the internet checking e-mail and trying to update our web site. We got some groceries at the market nearby. We took a walk and got to observe how tough some people have it here. People were standing side by side along the sidewalk with a few things on the ground in front of them. Most of them were trying to sell vegetables or homemade mixtures of vegetables. Some were selling pickles, fruit, and unwrapped meat. Most of these people looked old enough to be our parents and they would stand on the sidewalk most of the day trying to sell their food items. We have seen many dogs roaming the streets. The buildings here and the grounds nearby are not maintained. Our building has several entrances and apparently we went in the wrong entrance on the way back from the market. Our translator is not with us this weekend so we are on our own. We took the elevator to the 5th floor but the apartment numbers were all in the 100's. Our apartment number was 285. We got back on the elevator and somewhere along the way, the elevator stopped and the doors would not open. Cindy could feel herself getting stressed. We finally were able to make our way down to the lobby and thankfully the doors opened and we tried to speak with the lady in the lobby. She didn't understand a word we were saying but could tell we were not finding our apartment. Finally I wrote down the number of our apartment and she walked outside with
me and showed me that we went into the wrong entrance. It was a relief to finally find our apartment...ha.
Day 6
It has been snowing all day today but it is not accumulating at all. We have had another quiet day. We just stayed at the apartment all morning. We did laundry in the bathtub and hung it all over the radiators to dry and on a bungy cord. We came to the internet cafe which is a short walk from the apartment. We've been reading and enjoying watching movies on the laptop. Nothing much new to report. We are still hopeful to have another appointment on Tuesday at the NAC.
