Cream Cheese!

Just two Ukrainian Elsas :)

Before I flew home from my first trip to Russia, I called my parents and told them to make sure I had bagels and cream cheese in my fridge.  No seriously.  What I really needed was skin grafts (but what do Drs know?!) and all I cared about was my breakfast routine.

I really like routines.  Which makes it odd that I love to travel.  But, I really love coming home too :)  So today at Bosheviki (yes, after the revolutionists who are spinning in their graves to know that a Walmart type store catering to the middle class and lots of completely unnecessary luxury items like more than one kind of breakfast cereal now not only exists but was named for them and has their portraits on the walls, yes, I am kicking myself for not getting a picture and promise to get one next time, now where on earth was I going when I started this runaway train of thought?!)

Cream cheese!  Right there in the middle of the aisle! And not just any cream cheese, Philadelphia cream cheese! In English! My brain did not have to think, it just read it, so happily!  By the way, if Ukraine has Candid Camera, they should video us reading Cyrillic.  I had this fun problem in Russia too.  Since I read Russian at about a 2nd grade level, I often sound out words, only to realize they are actually words I know very well.  For example, "Hote Doge"  About 3 seconds to click in my brain that it was in fact, just hot dog.  But I assume I don't know it so I work too hard.  Same thing with "Tee Gee Aye Fraydaze"  Yes.  The very well known restaurant that I can definitely read in English.

Tired.

So put your hands up!

Anyway, I have my cream cheese, so there must be bagels somewhere, right? No.  That would make sense.  We asked the lady at the bakery, who of course thought we were crazy.  She couldn't understand why there would be a hole in the middle of our roll.  She wanted to know if we put cheese in it.  Well sure.  But no, no cheese, just bagel.  Then she asked what we did with it. Now it was my turn to look at her like she was crazy.  Whatever people, I googled the Russian word for bagel so now I am armed and will be back, dangerous, and you better give me my bublik!

But I really do like the people here :) In fact I was going to blog about them, but need to get more pictures-they will all be thrilled-so I'll shoot for that tomorrow (get it, shoot?!) Ha!  It is seriously past my bed time.

We did of course have a good visit with little munchkin head and, to all you who brought diaper ointment, we gave them to the orphanage director today!  Over two dozen tubes!  She was very touched and I just know that will make a lot of baby bottoms very happy :)

Thank you!

The staples-Coke, Yes-Russian Cup a Noodle!  "Asian" sauce, and cream cheese with croissants-which I just discovered have caramel in them-good bye bagels!