And the transition continues

I left you all last telling you that we would be going shopping... (Thursday, August 4) Sargis picked us up for our shopping trip right at 9am. We asked him to take us to Carrefour- their version of a Walmart or Target type shopping experience. We needed a mix of groceries and some household goods. So were recommended to start there. Most shops and restaurants don't open until 10 am which we didn't think about when deciding on a time. Audrianna woke up with a funky tummy and wasn't feeling herself. I thought it had more to do with her empty tummy since she is having a hard time eating things. She ate some toast (no butter because it tastes funny to her). That didn't seem to help. Then thought maybe she needed to use the bathroom. So we ended up stopping at a little cafe. She was able to use the bathroom and the boys played at the little park close to the cafe. Sardis was so great helping to keep the boys occupied while I helped Audrianna. She wasn't coming around so she laid on the couches outside. We ordered chocolate and strawberry milkshakes. Audrianna didn't like it because it was too runny. It also didn't set well with her tummy. The boys were fine with it. It was a little more watery than what we are used to but it wasn't horrible. :) Audrianna and I left again to use the bathroom, when we returned one of the waitresses had noticed her not feeling well and left a piece of candy of menthol. We thought that was very thoughtful. Sardis was just telling me that Armenians have 3 important things in life: God, parents, and children. Sargis says that the children can get away with most things because they are children- let's hope this helps with the transition of our boys. :) Audrianna came around quickly after the menthol and we continued on to the mall. I can't remember the name of the mall we went to, but it had ZARA!! I think it may have been Yerevan Mall actually. Anyway, I may need to return for a mommy shopping trip soon. We made our first official exchange of USD to Drams. It was interesting, I've never seen anyone inspect my money as much as the bank teller did this time. Robbie had the currency exchange app open and we were ready to make sure the exchange was correct. (We may be a little skeptical right now.) It was so nice to finally get some Drams so we can pay for groceries at our local market which happens to be a two minute walk. Sargis was able to drive us around and show us a few of the local favorites. We saw the statue of Mother of Armenia, the Republic Square, downtown, they have a huge gorge running through the city. It reminds me of the Snake River especially when you go over the bridge heading in to Twin Falls. There are three major bridges that cross the gorge and take you into the city. There are a lot of old buildings that look very run down. Construction of buildings that started years ago but never finished due to the bad economics that have passed through the last decade or two for them. You can tell the city doesn't have a lot of money too. Some parks/areas will have green grass and beautiful flowers and other parts weeds and tall grasses cover the area. The city is over one million three hundred people and about 70% of the people of Armenia live in Yerevan. Downtown Yerevan seems to be kept up fairly well. The cafe was super cozy and the park near it was also very kid friendly. The house came furnished, but we were looking for things that fit more of our comfort style. We've been told you really don't know what they will have until you look and find it. So we are trying to get out and look around for things that we may need- like peanut butter and toys for the boys! Carrefour seemed very similar to the Walmart in the States. It had household goods on one side and groceries on the other. I was surprised to not find plastic style of hangers. They had some things we were looking for like bath towels and comforters, but we weren't sure if they could be of better quality or different prices so we held off on the comforters. I couldn't stand using the tiny towels that we were given any longer though. It was fun to just walk around and see what there was available. We found some Italian spices and noodles so we can make spaghetti, a 'fajita kit' with tortillas, some cereal for the kids, fruits and veggies and the most delicious watermelon! We will need to go back again soon, but just needed to start somewhere. As we wrapped up that trip, it was past 1:00 pm here and the kids were starving. Audrianna has been having the hardest time adjusting to the food so we let her pick what we should eat and she really wanted the KFC. Which happens to be one of the three chains that Yerevan has here. There is a Pizza Hut, the KFC and a Burger King. I was pretty skeptical about what it would taste like, but we were all very pleased. We just got some chicken strips and some fries. It tasted AMAZING! I think it actually helped all of us. Sargis is the driver for the school and has been helping us with getting things through this transition of living here. He is an excellent driver and super helpful! BUT, holy moly are they crazy drivers. I thought living in Spain the drivers were crazy- nope! There are typically 2 or 3 lanes of traffic on each side. The drivers exchange in and out often, no signals, no waiting patiently for the driver ahead of you-nope none of that waiting non sense. They honk to signal they are coming and that seems to be helpful. They weave in and out getting extremely close to other vehicles. Sargis took us a different route home so that we could drive along the river at the bottom of the gorge and cars don't care that there is little room to get by. They also park on the side of the road and so you are avoiding the oncoming car and the car parked on the side. There may have been a few times where I closed my eyes. :) It is at the same rate super fun to see in action. When we got home we were all exhausted. We then laid down and all slept for a good 6 hours. Not the intention we had with the little nap we were going to take. I think we were all super tired and mixed up still on time zones. It was almost 7 by that time so we wanted to get up and go outside before it got too dark. We took a walk around the neighborhood, to the little market, found a cute little playground for the kids, then ventured back to make dinner. The wind is pretty crazy at night time too. With the wind coming off the mountains, night time it picks up around 6 and seems to be done around midnight. It howls! Supposedly it is stops in the winter time. Another thing no one mentioned before our arrival. :) So we knew we were going to have to stay up late with the kids, but didn't know that they would be wide awake still at midnight. I think we finally got them to bed by 1 am. And with a big surprise, Preston was up at 4 am again. Leading us to believe that we really had a problem! Robbie and I keep discussing different game plans on getting the kids transitioned to the new time zone. Today is limit the naps as much as possible. We will see how that goes. I will continue on with Friday on the next post! Love and miss you all!