February 19

Teenagers are said to be between childhood and adulthood, right?  You be the judge—our  daughter had a leftover cheeseburger and fries for breakfast.  Superbarf me. 

This is where we wait to meet.

Today we met Anya!  We will go to an apartment she shares with two other Ukrainian young women working for Campus Crusade for Christ.  First we must shop for ingredients.
 

The fish clerk heard us speaking English and took it upon himself to help us find our items.  He was very gracious but we didn't buy any of his fish or any of their entrails—I've been super-b'd already once today.

We had only planned a recipe for dessert.  (Fourth grade teacher humor:  Justin, why do you always eat your dessert first?  Because, Mrs. Langewisch, we might have a fire alarm!  J)  Lacking a better idea, we made spaghetti, a first for three of the ladies.

I am outnumbered.

I think I saw this kitchen layout at IKEA once.

And it was very good.

Another first … cutout cookies.

Because we cannot pronounce her name correctly, and just because, Valya is contemplating all the possible names she might have.  On Valentina's Day, the day she will soon relinquish as her personal holiday (I would think it would be a good excuse to skip school), she performed for the Internat, all dressed up in 1890s finery.  Anya said she was the star of the program!  We'll add some pictures later, but here she's giving a reprise for us: 

L to r: Paulina, Anya, Olga, Valya & their first Americansky cookies.

Finished, yummy products!

We had asked to go out from 11:00 – 6:00, and Dad had her home only 15 minutes late.  We had a GREAT time JJJ!!!