There wasn’t much going on with the visit so I sat just outside the room and worked on the computer. I soon had a group of younger kids around watching me so I gave them the Ipod touch to keep them entertained. One girl wasn’t sharing very well so I eventually took it from her and passed it to a boy who was waiting. Apparently this irritated her because she gave the boy a good wallop. I’m not sure he noticed.
I think Julianna wanted to get us out of the bedroom area so we finished the visit outside kicking the soccer ball around. Diane suggested to Julianna that we not come for a second visit today because it seems to be making things more difficult for her. She said she had a lot to do anyway so it would be ok. It’s Dennees 16th birthday tomorrow so she wanted to go shopping for a gift and also go swimming.
Alona R walked over to the hotel again and Julianna, Sveta and Valya showed up a short time later to show us the gold chain they had bought for Dennees. We had some nice interaction amongst the girls with Alona helping with the interpreting and also answering some of their questions about America. Valya is starting to relax around us and we can tell she’s a real character. She graduated this year and supposedly is going on to some type of performing arts school with Kosta (dancing boy). We didn’t know they had any options so this was good to hear.
Alona’s folks showed up a little later and we headed to their place with a stop on the way to pick some fresh vegetables and strawberries. Once again they went to work preparing a great meal. The salads they make are especially delicious. They also know I like beer so Granny and I usually share a bottle. During the meal Uncle Wowza showed up with his whole family including the dog so it was nice to see them again. The little guy Vladic has an infectious laugh that seems to break out for extended periods of time for no apparent reason. When they were leaving to return to Chernigiv he refused to go so I was afraid Wowza was going to yank his ears off again. He finally left but returned a short time later by himself. I’m not sure how he worked that but I was glad to see him.
G & G left for a while to tend the animals so we were able to clean up from dinner. When they returned they wanted to play Uno. It was quite a scene with poor Alona trying to explain the game to them, Vladic bouncing all over the place laughing like a mad clown and Jillian freaking out every time she saw a mosquito. Diane and I were pretty much laughing the whole time at the general craziness.
It was getting late so we said our goodbyes to Alona and Vladic and left with G & G to return to the hotel. As we exited the building Grandpa came up turning the steering wheel and laughing like Vladic. The only problem was the steering wheel was no longer attached to the LADA. Fortunately, they both thought this was hilarious. The next challenge was to move the car out of the way and put it in their shed. Gramps and I were trying to turn the front tires by hand while Granny and Jillian pushed. The only problem was there was absolutely no communication between the motor (Granny and Jillian) and the steering team so that was pretty comical too. They would give a mighty push and I would jump in front and push the other way to avoid ramming the shed as Grandpa was trying to extract his arm from the wheel well.
With no other options we set off on the long walk home. They insisted on going with us and brought along their yappy little dog to terrorize other pedestrians. It was actually a pretty nice walk and by now I had a serious case of the giggles. I was thinking that this was a fitting end to our time here in Schors and I couldn’t wait to write about it. The good news is that Alona’s guardians are generous, good hearted, hard working people and we’re glad we got a chance to know them.
Tomorrow will be another eventful day. It should be our “Gotcha Day”, the day we take Julianna from the orphanage forever.
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