Every morning Olia has to go to her friend Katelyn's house before school because we have to leave early for court.  Katelyn's mom has been nice enough to let Olia come there before the bus arrives.  I usually have such a hard time getting Olia up in the morning.  Now she jumps out of bed and gets ready in half the time.  She wants to get to Katelyn's as soon as possible so that they have time to jump rope together before school! Yesterday after school she went to another neighbor's house after school.  When Dan and I showed up to pick her up, she told us she wanted to stay there! She had already completed her homework and she and her friend Kelley were having snacks and playing.  Today my brother-in-law picked Olia up after school and took her to his house. He said that she did her homework as soon as she got there.  He thought we had her trained that way!  That never happens here!  She always wants to eat and relax after school. 

  Olia now has a favorite radio station.  Ever since she rode in my niece Erica's car, she now wants to listen to the same radio station.  It's funny how quickly a child can become Americanized and pick up all the preteen behaviors. 

   Last night Olia told me about her great-grandmother and their next door neighbor.  Apparently her GG and the next door neighbor had a huge fight in the middle of the road.  Olia said it was over a recipe book and lots of people stood around listening to the argument.  Her GG and neighbor never became friendly again.  One day Olia and her GG went to town and when they came back, all of their chickens except for one were missing.  Her GG said she knew that the neighbor had let them out of the chicken coop.  Olia said she was quite upset.  SHe called the police, but apparently they had no interest in finding out who took the chickens.

   Olia's friend Vera from her internat has found out where her younger sibling is.  Her parents hired someone to do a birth family search and he found out that Vera's younger sister was adopted to a nice family in Italy.  Vera now feels a bit happier because she knows her sister is happy.  It is sad that they are in different countries and will speak different languages.  Vera's mom sent us a picture of a little boy and a teacher from the internat.  And she sent us the email address!