Second Day in Shumen

We started the day off with breakfast in the hotel garden.  They have a nice outdoor garden that they use as their dining area in the summer months.  The weather has been beautiful, so we've enjoyed spending some time out there.  They do play Kelly Clarkson's first CD over and over again, but I suppose it's nice to have a little background music.  This is a very small hotel (with maybe only 12 rooms), so it's never very busy out there.  Sometimes we may see other people, but often it's just the three of us.

After breakfast we went over to the orphanage to spend a couple of hours visiting with the little guy.  We took him some bread today since they told us that he loves bread, so he was pretty happy about that.  During the visit he ate the bread and the container of Gerber puffs and yogurt melts that we took along for him.  He did not cry at all during the visit today and he came right to us.  I do tend to think that he recognizes us as the people who bring the snacks.  He seemed a little calmer today.  We played inside for a bit because they said it was too cold to go outside right away.  He enjoyed playing with the little plastic rings that we took with us.  After he got tired of those, we went outside and played on the swing for a while.  One of the orphanage workers approached us while we were sitting in the gazebo having a snack.  She was picking cherry plums.  Apparently these tress are native to Europe and Asia.  The fruit looks like a cherry, but doesn't really taste like a cherry.  We were told they used the fruit to make a syrup drink for the children.  She filled up a bag with several different varieties of the fruit to bring back to the hotel.  We have green ones, pink ones and red ones.

We dropped off some things at the hotel and took a taxi up the mountain to see the 1300 Years Monument.  It is a massive stone monument that is a tribute to 1300 years of Bulgarian history.  It was very interesting, and we were also able to view the city from the top of the mountain.  I'll post more pictures on FaceBook when we get home.  The internet connection here is very poor, and I can normally only stay connected for a few minutes at time.

Our afternoon visit was only for one hour.  We spent the entire visit in the social worker's office.  H seems much more comfortable around us.  He played with (chewed on) some rubber blocks that we took for him and came over to my purse when he got bored with them.  He dug around until he found the Elmo snack box and brought it over to me.  He stood in front of me until I opened it for him, and he stood and ate the entire container.  He is able to pick the pieces up and feed himself.  He sure does love the Gerber puffs and yogurt melts.  He has some medical concerns and is very delayed (maybe a 9-12 month level).

For dinner we went to a traditional Bulgarian restaurant and it was absolutely amazing.  It is very close to the hotel (down a REALLY steep hill), but it's definitely worth it.  We plan to visit the location again later this week.