Sue and Jeff - Day 9 – Playtime with Anastasia!

Sue – Saturday, October 24, 2009

Day 9 – Playtime with Anastasia!

Saturday we head out around 10 am. We’ve been taking Melatonin to sleep; otherwise you are up at 4:00am, wide awake. Melatonin tells your body it is sleep time for the next 8 hours. When we return to states, we can use it as well to get to sleep there.

We were allowed to go to the orphanage to take Anastasia out for the day. She first wanted a “radio”, which we did not bring for her, even though she asked for it over the phone some weeks ago, thinking we would let her pick one out. First stop – a toy store. The didn’t have any radios. We did look around a bit, and bought a large Disney puzzle of Snow White, to share with the other kids, and some coloring books for her.

Next stop, a “Best Buy” type of store – vacuums, washing machines, phones, all electronics. We looked in the glass cabinet, and we asked her which one… she actually picked out the cheapest of the three available. I had a set of earplugs from a previous airplane trip, which I gave to her to use with the radio. Most of the headsets they had there were more expensive than the radio itself! And, V.’s words echoed in my mind.. “…the other kids will break it or steal it…” So for about $15 US dollars, we made her very happy.

Then we drove a little way to the ice skating rink. It is a large dome structure, with the ice skating inside with ice…. It has been very warm here, when it’s not raining. Around 65-75 degrees, it feels like. But our translator wears a sweater, and a coat. I had been wearing either short-sleeved blouses, then a lightweight blazer, then a medium weight fall jacket, or a long-sleeved blouse, and same jackets, and I was way too hot! So since we would be ice skating and running around outside, I just wore a ¾ sleeve lightweight sweater, with the outside fall jacket. For anyone that is coming in November/December, they are saying that it “could” snow in Nov, but it WILL be colder, so WINTER apparel is in order. If you are coming in Jan/Feb, then you NEED long johns, winter jackets, boots, head covering and gloves!! I can tell form the morning nip in the air that very soon the weather will snap in the beginning of a very long, bitter, and dreary winter. Our guide told us one day, when we were sitting outside eating pizza, with the sun shining warmly on my arm and face, that it was an “Indian Autumn”… you mean “Indian Summer”??? Yes, Indian Summer! So this warm weather is not exactly the norm, even for October.

Back to Anastasia! The ice skating is a great idea! It is 35 and 20 grivna (adult and child), for 45 minutes of ice skating time (about $4. adult, $2.50 child) They clear the ice at the “:45”, and then you go into the locker area, put on your skates, and go onto the ice when the organ music plays on the hour. I had only been on ice skates about1-2 times in the 20 years I’ve been with Jeff (doesn’t skate, nor does he want to try…), so I don’t know WHY I got elected to go on the ice with her!! I could barely keep myself up! So off we went, Momma and Anastasia, holding onto the railing, scooting around the edge of the rink like sloths. I got my legs a bit, and did not fall, but only because I cautiously went forward only enough to stay with her.

Anastasia laughed, and held onto the side for dear life!! She would get going a bit, but not let go, so she was actually pulling herself off balance, and down she’s go! After a few loops, she did find another Russian-speaking little girl that helped her. I was very happy to see that she would undertake an activity she did not excel at – at least try and flail a bit. It’s a good sign for learning! And since we’re an active family, she will be trying new things (activities, sports, foods, travels, etc..) a lot, so I am happy she will just go off and “DO IT”. Our translator told us the orphanage brings the kids here 1-2 times a year, so Anastasia had been ice skating before, just not often.

Both before and after our ice skating, we played in the children’s park nearby. Across from the ice skating dome, there is a small “village” set up, with little cottages, and a BBQ area. We were told that it is like a little café – you can eat lunch in the houses, and buy food when they cook it. Sure enough, when we came out form ice skating, there were guys cooking on the grill. Then, right past the 4-5 cottages, there is a small children’s playground area. The equipment looks like the kind I had in the 60s… wait, it IS the one I had in the 60s (okay, small joke…). The equipment is very, very old, with many layers of paint. It is the metal kind, with “go-rounds”, and climb-through tubes, and swings. So we got some cute photos of Anastasia being spun around on some of the equipment, and we laughed and tried to tickle her as she spun past us. Again, the day was warm and sunny, but the autumn colors are in full bloom, and are beautiful!

I’m going to let Jeff pick up from here… “Dos-vah-don_yah!” “Good-bye”!

Jeff:

It was really funny watching Nastiya skate – she made a best friend right there on the ice – she had another girl helping her skate almost as soon as Momma took a second to rest.

Once we left the ice rink, we asked Anastasia what she wanted for lunch. She had no real preference – I’m guessing she doesn’t make choices like that very well because she never has the opportunity to make that kind of choice. Well, what does every child love? Pizza! We headed back to the same pizza joint were we had lunch previously. Anastasia picked a seafood salad to go with her pizza. Didn’t surprise me at all – she loved seafood when she stayed with us. Her second favorite next to tomatoes!

After lunch – around 2PM – we still had two more hours to spend with Nastiya. Our driver took us back to a “Luna Park” that we had passed earlier. This was a small park with about 15 rides, mostly very simple rides – think the portable rides that show up at the small fairs in San Jose from time to time – maybe a little larger in some cases. Things like a fun house, ferris wheel, small roller coaster, plus a couple larger rides; what we used to call the hammerhead, and a pretty nice drop zone kind of ride. Nastiya really got into going on the rides. Danged if I hadn’t forgotten to charge my camera – I ran out of juice after the ice rink, so I didn’t get any of these pictures. I think Momma and Nastiya’s favorite was the bumper cars. These are NOT the bumper cars we have in the US – these were moving fast enough to give you whiplash in a head-on! I watched a couple people purposely hit head-on – the crunch was very audible. It was also interesting that the seatbelts were non-existent on most rides. Imagine – personal responsibility! (But the corollary is that we do not have seatbelts in the taxi, either – it’s been driving Sue crazy)

OK – here’s the funniest part: at one point, Nastiya grabbed Momma’s hand to take her over to the bumper cars again. They headed around a big bush one direction, and I headed around from the other direction. When I got to the other side, there was Sue – no Nastiya! I was amazed – how could Sue lose our daughter that fast?? But of course our little sweetie had found a friend. Turns out her teacher/caregiver from a previous school (boarding school?) was there with some other kids. Nastiya was over at the bench chatting her up. Very sweet – she made sure to get her number before we left the park, Jeez – it’s like a friend of mine in San Jose – wherever we go, he’s running in to somebody he knows. Looks like my daughter is going to have the same proclivity – she is absolutely a people-person.

Finally we had to take her back to the orphanage. When we got there, her friends were just coming down the main stairway near the front door. Anastasia got swept up in the tide and just disappeared – no good bye, no Paka – just gone! Sue and I both had a stunned expression on our faces, and we even joked with each other: “no goodbye?”

As soon as we walked out the door, our interpreter, who had noticed our expressions, made it a point to tell us what a good time Nastiya had and how overwhelmed she was with the day – it wasn’t that she doesn’t love us. Sue and I both laughed. We really appreciated the concern our interpreter showed, but having seen the way Anastasia is around other kids, we weren’t seriously surprised or upset. She is a ten year old child who wanted to share her prizes and adventures with her friends, so off she went!

We decided to go back to the apartment and unwind a little before dinner. A cup of tea, a little peeva (beer), and off we went for sushi in Mariupol, Ukraine! OK – so there’s no Japanese people within 500 miles of this city – so what? It turned out to be quite good. It was our first experience with a dinner in a restaurant, and we had the typical experience – kind of. I’ve had dinner in Europe many times, and it takes much longer than dinner in the US. In the US, the restaurant is interested in giving you a good experience, but they want the table for the next party! Not so much in Ukraine – we were there for about 2-/12 hours. The part that we could not understand was the drink service. One of the primary money-makers for a restaurant in the US is the drinks, alcoholic or not. Not here. We didn’t get the drinks we ordered until the meal came – about an hour after we arrived. I think we should have ordered vodka instead of sake – another table came in after us and had their bottle of vodka long before we got our sake. Anyway, good food – but be patient!

Back to the apartment. Our interpreter says she will play tour guide on Sunday, and we will see Nastiya later in the day.