Ukraine Adoption Journey #2 Trip #2 day #9 Nov 5


Today we were able to sleep in, it was nice. Except that I woke up to find that the anti-abortion law didn't pass. After breakfast and showers we went to the center to get some DVD’s in Russian. The psychologist told us that Vasya (like most children who live in orphanages) has trouble making decisions since they are usually just told what to do. I told him to get quite a few movies because that is all he will be able to understand for a while once we get home. There were thousands of DVDs there. He couldn’t make a decision. So I started choosing, I got 144 episodes of Sponge bob, lots of Scooby-Doo and then we found the really good ones. They put 12 to 14 movies on one disk, for example one disk has: Narnia, Prince Caspian (or something, I don’t recognize the movie and it is written in Russian on the case), Madagascar 1 & 2 (yes it just came out at the theatre and they already have it on DVD here), The Wild 1 & 2, and Harry Potter 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5, all for less than five dollars. We got about ten disks. If anyone wants to watch Police Academy (in Russian) we have them all. I don’t think Sasha will be watching those.
After we bought the DVDs we headed to McDonald’s. I tried to talk Vasya into pizza but he always wants McDonald’s. Then we went to Dave and Cindie’s. It felt good to vent with someone who is stuck here too. Then Vasya headed back to no.4 to play soccer and I went to see Sasha. Vasya doesn’t like to go there because the teachers yell at him, even when he is with me. I don’t understand that, but I am not making Vasya go there. The bus I take to Sasha’s from the center goes by the university. It is like riding in a sardine can. Just when you think that one more person won’t fit in, 5 more push their way in the doors. The lucky few get seats; I should have brought Matthew back with me because they always gave me a seat when I had him. This time I stood the whole time with a backpack full of DVDs and two big bottles of sprite. The bus also stops for everybody- not just at certain spots. So it goes about ten feet then stops for someone else who was too lazy to run up to the bus the last time it stopped. I think it took 1.5 hours today to get there-I might have been able to walk there faster. When I got to no.9 the kids all told me that Sasha was inside, he was getting his haircut again. They just cut it last week. So many things here don’t make sense to me. I hadn’t seen Sasha for three or four days. He has been sick with a cold. The teachers made him stay in bed for most of the day. All the kids in his group had been sick; Sasha was the last to get it. I was able to call Jeff’s cell and very quickly tell him to skype my cell. He called me back and he was able to talk to Sasha for a bit. This works a lot better with Sasha than Vasya. I think Vasya is starting to understand but just can’t answer back. The same goes for me and Russian, I am getting now able to understand bits and pieces of what people say, but I am unable to say much back. Anyway Sasha was very happy to talk to Jeff. I also told Sasha that we would be picking him up on Friday-I hope that we get it done; Vanya needs to come back to Odessa in order for that to happen. I will be renting an apartment in the center when we get him. I am hoping to get the one directly next to Cindy and Dave and the Pushes from Omaha are on the opposite side of them. Dave and Cindy have the girls with them and Anya speaks English well enough to help me out with Vasya-it won’t be as good as Michelle’s help but at least she can help and she is such a sweetheart. This apartment is located directly behind McDonald’s. Sasha is ready to go and so am I. If all goes well on next Thursday at two we will have the meeting, hopefully be able to get the document quickly, take it to the passport office, get the passports and stamps and get on a train to Kiev. I doubt we will be able to get everything done at the embassy in one day, we were able to do so with Matthew but there is more work with older kids. So we will most likely finish up on Monday then get a (few) planes home by the end of the next week. Just in time for my cousin Kelly’s wedding. I think the boys (all three) will start school after Thanksgiving. So if someone is at the school please tell Brusseau and the headstart teacher that Matthew, Jack and Sasha will soon become Elk Point-Jefferson Huskies. I hope the school and the boys are ready.
Oh, I just remembered something interesting (at least to me). I brought two pairs of swishy pants for each boy, plus a pair of jeans for Sasha because the have an adjustable waist. I brought 10/12 for Sasha and 14’s for Vasya. Vasya’s were too long, so he is now wearing Sasha’s pants. I will need to go get a couple more pairs for them maybe tomorrow. I think we are going to have a difficult time finding pants for Vasya. He isn’t very tall but his waist is bigger than 10/12 size, I think the swishies fit because they have elastic and a drawstring. That must be why all his pants at no.4 were either swishies or the cuffs were rolled. Tonight I took him to the store while we waited for the pizzas. He got shampoo, body wash, and deodorant plus some snacks-crab, some kind of nuts, and some candy. Vasya has a major sweet tooth, Sasha likes candy but would rather had crab or peanuts, and Matthew also has a sweet tooth but also really likes cheese, yogurt and ice cream.
I can’t seem to figure out what people eat for breakfast here, they have cereal but Vasya doesn’t want it. I ask him if he wants eggs-nope. Today he had bread with summer sausage; I guess it is better than candy. Tory Norby he may give you a run for your money with eating (at least when you were younger), Since 6 pm (it is 9 now) he has eaten several pieces of pizza, a bag of nuts, a kinder egg—chocolate thing, and it now eating a banana, and I have a feeling he will be in soon to ask if he can finish off the cherry ice cream (the one you left in the fridge Jeff).

I just spoke with Vanya, he will be here Friday to help me get Sasha out of no.9 and to help us move to the apartment. Tomorrow I will go and talk to the people about the apartment (they speak English).

I can’t wait to get home, I miss Jeff and Matthew and everybody else. I hear rumor that Matthew is sleeping on my pillow, I hope I can get it back. I still need to post pictures of Matthew’s birthday party that we had before I came back and pictures from Vasya's going away party.