Behind the Scenes - Day 4

We have seen many beautiful and magnificent buildings in the city that we are currently staying in (leaving here on Saturday to go to the orphanage region), but it is definitely not all glitz and glamour here! We were spoiled by "regular" toilets until today (as you can see in Mom's post below). And yes, you should ALWAYS carry a handy supply of tp! And work on those leg muscles if you are headed over this way! Between squatting over the Turkish toilets, climbing the hilly cobblestone streets, and lugging your suitcases and groceries up several flights of stairs, you'll be getting a great workout! No wonder these ladies can wear skinny jeans and stilettos!
Lots of stray dogs around - just don't pet!
Here are some more photos of our apartment, too - outside the entrance,up the stairs, and our little balcony. And since we left to go out early this morning, I figured out the mystery of the cat pee smell wafting under our inside door - the entry door was propped open, and there was a big bowl of food and water inside the entryway. Linda H. - did you follow me to ******?! :-)
We had our official appointment today at the government agency (the officials are very nice!), and tomorrow (Friday) we will pick up our paperwork that allows us to go see our little guy at the orphanage next week - yay! I do have to admit that I wore my seatbelt today - our driver got stuck in traffic before picking us up and we had 10 minutes to get to our appointment across town (the traffic here is almost as bad as Chicagoland - but the driving is wild, wild, wild!). Even though it is considered offensive to a driver, when we turned a corner and met another car headed for us in our lane - seat belt time!
I do miss the good ol' USA, and our Boys, and water that doesn't need to be boiled to brush your teeth or wash your dishes, and a shower nozzle that is mounted on the wall, and being able to read and understand labels, and being able to wash more than 1 single bedsheet in the washing machine, and soft toilet paper, and not being scared for your life while riding in a car - but it is all worth it. Plus, Eugene (who is a very careful driver, by the way!) has been taking very good care of us. We will miss him when we leave this weekend for the orphanage region - and his English speaking abilities!
Talk to you soon!