Shopping day

Saturday turned out to be a shopping day. We set out just walking the streets of the Old Quarter to see what we could see, exploring a little further than Friday. People here are very nice, and seem happier and more relaxed, in general. As we saw more and more, we started to get an idea of what was available and what things could be had for. I found some nice gifts, taking care of some of my shopping duties. There are 36 streets in the Old Quarter, all named after the goods that were once sold on them. Many of the streets have changed to sell more modern goods, and have nicknames like "toy street" because they are primarily full of toy stores. It was interesting to see the smaller appliances sold here, about $200US for a refrigerator (about 3-4 ft tall) and about $300US or so for a washing machine. Electronics such as cameras and televisions are about the same as home. We did a lot of walking, and were pretty tired after 10-12 hours of exploring. Despite sleeping really hard for about 4 hours, I'm was wide awake again at midnight, and finally just decided to post since I wasn't going back to sleep.

More families from PLAN moved in to the Lucky Star (our hotel) this morning from the Somerset. They are on their 4th week, and rooms are scarce there with our travel group moving in. They're all very nice, and passed on some great advice based on their experiences so far. It seems there is a bit of nervousness about getting through the US Embassy, and a few thoughts on how and why things are challenging right now. I'm choosing not to worry about it, and will just go with the flow. I'll have my daughter tomorrow, which is all I'm concerned with and several weeks to see how things shake out.

A good part of Sunday will definitely be spent getting things all ready for Lilah:

• sterilizing bottles & pacifiers
• practice making hot water
• pack the diaper bag "survival kit"
• set up the second bed as a "baby workbench"
• getting gifts for the orphanage ready to go

It has been great to have a few days to check out the city and get comfortable, but now I'm really looking forward to meeting my daughter.

Tyler