Saturday, American Andrey took us to the Kherson Orphanage. We were on the family floor and we got to play with 10-12 kids. It was so amazing. First of all, when they saw Andrey they were beside themselves with joy. They could not get close enough to him and were hanging all over him. Andrey is an amazing person himself. He takes his days off and goes to the orphanages each week. How many 19 or 20 year old young men do that? He is a great Christian doing God's work. Before we went, Andrey told us it is a good idea to bring some fruit for the kids, so that is what we did. The nanny for the day will cut it up and give it to the kids.
We started our time playing a Ukrainian game. We all stood in a circle with our hands not holding but in a position so the person on your left can take their right hand and clap over to their left hand, which your right hand is in and they clap it. The kids sing a song and at the end they say a number (we only know up to 19). We then clap around the circle until that number is reached and the person next to the one saying the number tries to get their hand out of the way of the clap. If the clapper misses they are out. If the clapper gets the next person's hand that person is out. Are you confused yet? Needless to say both Bill and I were not very good at the game. The kids say the number so quickly that we don't really hear it. Lots of laughs.
We then played thumb war. Everyone knows what that one is. I showed them how to do the leg war. Bill and I were doing it, and Bill had a hold of my pants pocket and guess what? He ripped a big hole in my pants! Thank goodness I had some long johns on underneath. One of the girls offered to take my pants and sew them, but I wanted her to stay and play so I declined, and I figured I could sew them later. All the kids had fun playing leg war. We even went up against the little ones and it was so much fun letting them win and rolling us over.
The girls spent a lot of time teaching me clapping games and the boys had a blast wrestling and hanging on Bill. I was surprised that Bill could walk. With all the playing around we were all getting hot and if any of you know Bill well, he sweats. Doma and Victoria thought it was so funny watching Bill comb his wet hair. Bill flicked his comb at them and that became a game of wiping Bills sweat onto who ever they could. Then they went to the bathroom and wet down their hair like Bills and came back modeling and showing that they look like Bill. They kept smoothing their hair back with their hands and laughing. It was fun watching them make fun of us.
As we (the old people) were tired, I got my iPad out and of course it was a big hit. One of the girls kept saying "present" and then laughing. She even sat on it as we were leaving, trying to hide it. We let them know we would bring it again. We are going to find some small games, toy cars etc... that we can bring each week to entertain them. If anyone has any ideas about fun games for kids 6-12 let us know.
One thing we learned about the family floor is if you want to adopt a particular child, you have to adopt the whole family. I think that makes it harder for the kids to get adopted. There was a girl six years old, that is such a sweetie, we thought of Jamie and Tiffany over here looking for that age. Then we found out about the whole family thing. If anyone out there wants a couple of siblings, let us know. We will find them for you.
We still have not been able to start the greenhouse. It is amazing to be here and see the sun shining, but the ground, including the streets and sidewalks, are all covered in ice. The sunshine does not melt things like in Colorado. This week we are excited. It is supposed to snow, which means it will be warmer.
Saturday is our day off from cooking and running boys around, but on our way to town (we live in the country) all the boys needed to get their hair cut. We did not have the van because Alex and Andrey were traveling for a night. We crammed 7 people into a tiny car, equivalent to a Toyota Corolla. I was in the front passenger seat with it all the way up. I felt like my head was in the windshield. But the boys in the back were on top of each other. Of course we did not think to take a picture. Oh well. There were a lot of laughs on the way to town.
I forgot to say that American Andrey's friend (maybe girlfriend) Natasha was at the orphanage with us also, she is a very nice girl. When we left the orphanage Andrey and Natasha took us to the bazaar again to try and find Bill a fur coat. We got some of the weirdest looks from people. Men do not buy full length fur coats. We ended up not buying anything.
After we dropped Andrey and Natasha off at a pizza place, Bill and I were off to be alone. We thought about it and realized that we are together all the time, but the only time we are alone is when we are sleeping. We walked along a walking mall (like the 16th street mall, but much shorter). We were looking for a place to eat and we found a sushi place. Hallelujah. It was so good, although we had a hard time ordering some skewers. On my iPad I have some words that I can press in english and the russian words come up. I pushed all of them and the waitress shook her head no. So we just pointed and got what we got. Then I started thinking and remembered some beef jerkey looking stuff at the grocery store that turned out to be horse meat. So I said to Bill, "what if it is horse"? He said "we will never know, so we might as well enjoy it". After a little moaning and groaning on my part I ate it, and it was good - but tough. I just had to not think of our horses at home.
After that we drove around a bit. Kherson is so much bigger than I realized at first. It just keeps going. We then went to the city center to walk around, but that does not last very long. It's just too cold. We ended up at a coffee shop to warm up and they had a mini bar. Wow!! At Joshua house the boys are taught that drinking is a sin, so Bill and I refrain from any kind of drinking. So it was nice to have a couple of drinks. We ended up staying there about three hours playing backgammon on my iPad. It was nice to feel a little normalcy. We did get some stares because I am a bit loud when I win a game; especially against Bill. One thing that was funny.... Bill ordered a shot of rum and a Coke. Well the rum came and it was a full rocks glass full. We just sat there and laughed. Bill was unable to finish it.
It was now time for dinner. Andrey told us about a pizza place that was the best. He took Felix there when he was here. We found it and had a fantastic meal again. I had a chicken salad and Bill had pizza. We got a waiter that spoke a bit of English, which is very nice. After dinner we went home and to bed. What a wonderful day.
Things we cannot find:
Pepperoni (lots of sausage)
A steak house
Soft toilet paper
Hot sauce
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