Trip 2 Day 12 Thursday May 27

Although we didn’t know it until we arrived it was “Last Bell” at the orphanage today. This is a ceremony signifying the last day of school and all the kids were dressed in their best clothes. Many of the girls had big white bows attached to their pigtails. We waited out front for a while with our usual group of followers. My buddy Vlade managed to delete all the videos off my Flip camera so I was happy I uploaded them to the computer last night. The nurse hauled Julianna off to take some medicine and she was very unhappy about that. She doesn’t know what it’s for but they tell her she has to take it to go to America. Maybe we can figure it out when Nastya gets back here Monday.




We crowded into the large room for the ceremony. There were a few speeches interspersed with song and dance routines. Julianna and Kosta (who I’ve been calling dancing boy) had a great extended dance routine. They handed out “diplomas” to the ninth graders and there were a lot of tears following the ceremony. This is the end of the line for them here. We tried to find out when they would be leaving and where they would go but Julianna doesn’t seem to know.






Afterward we went up to the bedroom area and we had Julianna put some gifts together for friends and teachers from stuff we brought. It’s always awkward handing out gifts because there’s never enough for everybody but I guess they’re used to it. Sveta started crying heavily during this time. I found out later she wanted to go and see her family but they wouldn’t let her. We believe Sveta and her brother were taken from the family due to alcoholism.



One of the teachers we gifted suggested we take Julianna with us back to the hotel for a visit. We’re still a little paranoid so we checked with Nastya and she thought it would be OK. We brought Sveta along as well to try and cheer her up. We worked on a puzzle and did some crafts in the room for a while then headed for the candy store. Julianna picked out an assortment of her favorite candies for Jacob, Justine & Joseph. A little later this turned into an assortment for Ted, Diane & Jillian. Sorrry! We’ll restock before we leave.



From here we walked to our restaurant. Julianna told us her mom worked there but not anymore because she died. It was fun to watch them study the menu and order. They had salad with imitation crab and chicken in it, pork with french fries and cappuccino. Julianna seems to like all food and meat in particular. I can’t wait to bring her to Costco.



We said our goodbyes and Pasha returned the girls to the orphanage. We accomplished our goal of making Sveta feel better but it may have been a mistake to take her with us. Julianna called us later and she was very despondent. She said “Valya no my friend”. I managed to figure out that Valya was upset that we’ve been lavishing all this attention on Sveta so she told Julianna they weren’t friends any longer. It doesn’t sound serious but we found out later that Valya cut herself as a result. We will do some damage control tomorrow.