Our First Days in Perm

The children were still asleep when we arrived, so we enjoyed our time together and unpacked the suitcase full of baby items for Abigail. What a huge blessing for Jon and Carrie, from the Grace Bible Church family.



When Caleb got up, he soon realized we were the same Granna and Johanna that were in the photo in his room. Seeing Abigail for the first time was especially sweet. She is a peaceful, quiet little girl. We are enjoying being here with them all.



After breakfast, we visited some more, between cat naps. It was hard to stay awake, but I chose not to lay down and went to bed early Thurs. night. In the afternoon Carrie, Johanna and I took the kids out in a double stroller, going to the rinok, or outdoor market, where we bought some fresh garden veggies from the local "grandmothers." We walked around to get bright light exposure to help with adjusting to the new time zone. I would describe much of the area as bleak, and after all the landscaped yards in Charlotte, very unkempt. Many people were out walking babies or going home or to the market after getting off the bus. Carrie told me not to look the people in their eyes or greet them, as this is not a part of their culture. That was rather sad for me because I like to smile and speak to people wherever I go.



On Friday afternoon we went for another walk and to a couple of stores. One store would not allow us to take the stroller in part of the store, so Carrie looked around as I stayed with the kids. We then went to the SemYa (family) supermarket. There we had to put our bags, purses and sweaters into a locker before we started picking out our groceries. They had security people everywhere, watching shoppers like hawks. That always makes me feel like I have to prove I am not going to shoplift. On top of that, most everything was labeled in Russian, of all things! I saw what looked like steelcut oats, but couldn't tell for sure, so we didn't buy them. We did buy some vanilla ice cream that was packaged in a long, narrow plastic wrapping. Also commonly sold here are juice boxes, but they are 1 and 2 liters in size!



Our first night, I slept great, even better than at home. Other than a couple of days with periods of drowsiness in the afternoon, I've not had any trouble adjusting to the new time zone. I attribute that to following the plan made for me that I ordered from http://www.stopjetlag.com/. I am so thankful to the Lord for enabling me to find that website. Carrie and others here are so surprised about how well I've done.