CALORIE CONSUMPTION

We are staying in a hotel about 2 blocks from the main shopping mall (and also supermarket) for Artemosk. It's a very nice supermarket about 1/3 to 1/4 the size of Stephen's King Soopers back in Highlands Ranch. (And, yes, if you ask Stephen, he will tell you that the King Soopers is his.) The selection is always pretty good. And, as you can see from the photo below, the fish is fresh.



We tend to buy more than the average Ukrainian couple in the supermarket (DUH!!), so the security guards take turns kind of following us around. Theft in a supermarket is quite high, so all supermarkets employ security guards to watch for people stealing food.

The real food shopping (and every other kind of shopping) occurs right behind the supermarket. It is a very large open air market, with many small permanent shops (usually about 12x12) and plenty of room for people wanting to display their wares in the hopes of finding buyers. In the photo below, you can see the entrance to the open air market just to the right of the supermarket. The next photo below shows a closer view of the entrance to the open air market.





Once inside, you can find just about anything you want. We've been buying a bunch of clothes and toys for Katrina and many things for the hotel room... trash cans, extra bedding, pillows, etc. You can also find plenty of fresh meat there, as you'll see in a few of the photos below.











Of course, our primary focus is Katrina. She really loves to be held, although she's not particularly fond of sitting in your lap while she does something like draw. Today, we explored eating with a spoon (at which she is already really good) and having a plate full of food that she could eat whenever she wanted. It's very interesting to watch her. In our first few days, she literally inhaled her food and tried to have both hands full of cookies, Cheerios, etc. Now, she's beginning to understand that food is not in short supply when she's with us. She's even been willing to pick up Cheerios and give them to both of us, which is a positive step forward and away from alwys having a feeling of hunger.