Well we arrived safe and sound. We dropped our bags at our host homes and headed straight to the Chausy Orphanage where we met Dave Shaw and enjoyed a lunch with the Director of the orphanage, Vitalli. Right away Dave put us to work and sent a few of us out to do a little shopping for the Orphanage. We went to 3 locations and bought supplies from the drug store, dishes etc from a small store (we call it “Belarussian Tire”) and school supplies from a department store we call Wal-Mart! Shopping is a very different experience here.

This is a picture in the drug store, everything is either in cabinets or behind the counter so that you cannot touch anything. You must ask for help even if you want to look at a bottle of shampoo! Notice the cabinets behind Margaret Campbell and Natasha (our interpreter).

Here is a picture taken at (Wal-Mart) the guys are looking at something called a “Chugoon”. It is a pot (they come in all sizes) and the fit though the hole in the top of a petchka (a woodstove used in heating the house). They cook a type of stew, or just about anything else in them. Neil Matheson took a whole set home in various sizes and made a giant windchime out of them!

I am currently using the computer at the orphanage and it is slow (dial-up) and the keyboard is horrible, so I will try to post again in a couple of days.

Eric