Lots of firsts today

Okay...first of all I'm pretty sure I'm going to develop some kind of cancer from visiting the internet cafe everyday. It's about 10:00pm and in the cafe is me and about 25 Armenian men chain smoking....ughhhh. I came in earlier tonight but Rita's behavior wasn't so great so I didn't get a chance to blog. Rita knew her behavior was bad so she actually let me leave her alone with Ted. It's kind of funny that it took me being the bad guy to get Rita to warm up to Ted.

Anyways we had a great day!!! B promised Rita that she would take her to the movies. It was raining so we decided today would be a good day for the movies. All B said was that the theater plays cartoons at 11:30 so we assumed we would be seeing so cheezy carton. Here it was Horton Hears a Who. I told Rita that Dave had taken me, Natalie, and Audrey to see this movie in America. (Dave is our friend who is helping us out with the kids back at home). Rita has talked to Dave on the phone a few times so she was so excited to learn that Dave had taken us to see the same movie. The funny thing was that Horton was in Russian. Not that it mattered to Ted and I if it was Armenian or Russian but poor B had to translate the whole movie to Rita. I respect anyone who is fluent in one language besides their own...BUT two....that is impressive. B had to translate back and forth from Russian to English whenever Rita wanted to tell us something. Rita loved the movie but asked B is the characters would come out of the screen. We all laughed...but hey if you have never been to a theater before how could you know. The cutest thing was at the end of the movie where the Who's are crying out to get the animals to hear them so they wouldn't think Horton was crazy......Rita tells B "if I was there I would call out too!!!" She was so serious. Next we went to eat and then to the Children's Railway. Then we came back into the city for coffee and ice cream. While we were waiting Rita's hair was getting in the way for the 100th time. I asked B if we could get her hair trimmed. I thought it would be best to have it done here with a translater verses trying to do at home and her being scared. Rita was so excited. Of course she had only had her hair cut at the O.

We went to the first salon that we came upon. B told them our request...just a trim....but Rita wanted her hair cut shorter like Natalie's. I said "No, no, Natalie is trying to grow her hair out like Rita's!!!" So Rita agreed to a trim. We had to wait a few minutes and then it was Rita's turn. She got the full treatment. We drew quite a crowd. B was talking with the owner and the other employees who came out of the woodwork. I heard one of the men say "Angelina Jolie" so I knew they were talking about me (I'm believing that they were referring to my stunning beauty but more than likely he was referring to adopting kids from all over the world). I told B to tell him that I was just like Anglelina Jolie just short a few million dollars. After Rita's cut the lady blew dry her hair straight at Rita's request. She looked sooooo beautiful. This whole time B was talking to the small crowd. Later she told me that the owner had once been a doctor and had seen many special needs kids given up at the hospital after birth and it always made him sad. He was so happy that Rita would go to a loving family where she would be treated as a "handicapped" person. When Rita hopped out of her chair the owner told B that the haircut was a gift to Rita and we didn't have to pay. I told B to Thank them and that they were all gracious. Another beautiful Armenian memory.

As we were walking back to the apartment we were looking for an inexpensive CD player because we had bought Rita 3 Armenian pop CD's. She loves music....especially pop. The cheapest CD player was $60+ . We will look more tomorrow because we thought it would be nice for her to listen to on the plane. Once back at the apartment we had made plans to meet a family from America who just arrived last night. Rita wanted to put on a clean shirt. She is so picky when she is getting dressed. B was still with us so I was telling Rita through here that I din't know how I would ever survive with 3 daughters. Andrew and Paul are happy with any T-shirt...but the girls, including Rita, are another story. When I said "3 daughters" that reminded Rita of one of the Armenian soap operas called "Three Sisters". She was so happy because the girl loves her Armenian soap operas ( F told us that he thinks the nannnies watch them at the O). Earlier in the day she had one of her soaps on and a man and a woman were kissing passionately so she wanted Ted and I to do the same (she was laughing the whole time). Of course I gave Ted a big and overly dramitic juicy kiss......Rita loved it!!!!!! She is so easy to entertain.

We visited with the other American family for a little bit. They brought their 7 year old son so that was fun for Rita. They are adopting the cutest 8 month old girl. We won't get to meet their daughter in person as they will take her from the orphanage on Wed, the same day that we leave.

I can't believe that we leave in less than 48 hours. This trip has been much like both of our China trips....very enjoyable...but sooooo ready for home.