Deciding to go into Town

After we arrived at the Hotel and discovered the Hotel Restaurant was closed, we inquired at the front desk as to what to do. The attendant at the desk told us there were two restaurants open that day in town. One was an establishment serving Russian Cuisine that was somewhere up the hill and to the right. The second restaurant was down the hill and to the left. This establishment served Chinese food. Well, it did not take us long to decide to have the authentic Russian cuisine!! I explained to the clerk behind the desk that my husband ( moy mosh) and I do not speak or read Russian ( I will add I have learned to pronounce Cyrillic, but I still don't know what most of the words mean!!). I told her this boy we were with both spoke Russian fluently, and he also read quite well. With that she proceeded to give him directions to the Russian Restaurant. Wayne and I just sat there patiently while she explained. Now at this point, I should probably tell you a small detail I omitted earlier!! When Ludmila, "D's" boarding school caregiver, was going over his file and records with me ( through an interpreter) she made a very specific point. She stated that "D" seemed to be very disoriented in his environment. He had great difficulty finding his way around by himself and was NOT good at directions. We attributed this to his current environment and constraints of living in an orphanage/boarding school, and the fact that these children are constantly supervised. In fact, "D" made this comment in the car on the way to Magadan: He told Ludmila that he was afraid to come to a big town like Magadan (OK.....BIG all depends on your frame of reference!!). He was saying that he was worried that he might become lost. He said he had already decided what he would do if that happened. "D" said he would walk around in town until he found a Policeman, and he would go up to him to say that he was "lost". We all remarked that demonstrated excellent problem solving ability. So....now back to the story. The clerk gives these elaborate instructions to the place with the Russian food, and then asks "D" if he understands. He looks back at her so innocently and states "Nyet". So then the clerk gets out paper and draws some extensive directions, and then asks the boy if he now understands. She barely gets the question out and he says quickly again "Nyet". OK, she trys one more time.....(you gotta hand it to her with having all that persistence!! This time in the explanation she uses elaborate hand gestures and motions....and she is getting louder too! Once again the boy quickly says "Nyet". This time I step in, remembering what I was told about him. Being oriented to the environment is something he is just not used to!! I now speak to the clerk and ask her which one of these two restaurants is the closest?? (Remember, it is 20 degrees below zero out there and we are walking!!!) YIKES!! The clerk tells us the closest Restaurant is the Chinese establishment. We get some brief directions and decide to brave the elements outside ourselves. So we bundle back up, and off we go into the wild blue yonder to fill our tummies!! Make that the wild WHITE yonder. I'll post pictures later, as well as tell you more about our afternoon!!