Day 14

While the day began grey and cloudy, the afternoon cleared for some sunshine and a little warmer weather (~50s). Kelley is finally back to 100-percent. We went to see Charles in the morning and they had us play outside for most of our time. It was a change of pace from the Play room and Music room, but it was a little chilly this morning. And then for the last 15 minutes we went inside to warm up before Chas had to go back with Oksana. We did learn that he eats lunch around 11:00 and then takes a nap at 12:00.
Then it was back to the apartment for some lunch, reading and a light game of gin rummy. The tally is currently eight games to six, in favor of me (Jay). Don’t worry, Kelley is counting. She was actually up one game the other night, but my superior card playing skills came into play and after letting her ego get a little boost I took charge of the game again.
The sky began to clear as we were getting ready for this afternoon’s visit. It should have been grey and cold though, since I knew that we would be facing Irina (the other caregiver at the orphanage) whom I am persona non grata with right now. Yes, it is time for a little story…
Yesterday morning, when Kelley visited after being sick, Irina brought a prescription from the doctor for Kelley. She also included another list of medicines that they wanted for the orphanage. We thanked her for the prescription for Kelley and the list of meds for the children, and probably left her with the impression that we would be bringing them back that afternoon. Well, as Paul Harvey would say here’s “the rest of the story.” When we left I called Svitlana to let her know that they had asked for us to buy meds, since our “donations” are a bargaining chip for her and she has told us that we would give any donations after our court date. Little did I know that Svitlana would immediately hang up the phone with me and call the orphanage to voice her opinion. Thus, the next time (this afternoon) that we met up with Irina it was not as pleasant as it has been in the past.
All of that behind, we had another afternoon outside with Charles and the KGB couple. It was a little warmer and we had a pretty good time. We chose to go back in about 10 minutes before our time was up and let him warm up a bit. The KGB man got upset when Kelley put her coat on the floor and he had Irina tell me to pick it up? I think it was covering up the little camera he had hidden in the sole of his shoe. No really, I thought I heard something running when I bent down to pick up her coat. It is getting harder to leave him there at night and we are looking forward to when he can curl up in his bed in North Carolina.
Rashid then gave us a lesson in Russian on our drive back to Lenin Square. Kelley is going to try it out in the morning when he picks up. After dropping us at Lenin Square, we began to walk around to get some air. Jeanie called and gave us the latest on football and the boys. Then we started our way back to the apartment. Thankfully we came upon a restaurant that we wanted to try, and when faced with the option of rice back in the apartment… we quickly went in and sat down.
We had a really good dinner and it was a very nice restaurant. (Kelley here now) It is so nice to be able to go in to eat and have 4 beers, soup, I had pancakes and mash potatoes and Jay had a steak with veggies and total with tip was $25. And I didn’t have to do dishes! We hit the mini market and Jay grabbed his gallon of beer and I got some candy and we headed back. Now we sit and type, post and play gin rummy until bed time.
Howell, we haven’t laughed that hard since we got here! I always wonder if Litton’s name came up like that on other people’s computers. I am laughing now! And Litton, the brother formerly known as Bubby and otherwise known as ******, asked the same question as you…..Charles does speaks Ukrainian and no English, but we were told to only speak English to him now. We call him Charles (Chas) and try not to speak any Ukrainian (which isn’t hard for me!) The language barrier is not as bad as it could be, but does hinder us a little. Especially when we are with the KGB couple and they are talking in Ukrainian and he understands what they are saying and we are speaking American gibberish. We look forward to talking to you (Jay is feeling a little left out, wants to know how big the bucks are this year). He is having withdrawals!!!! He will be heading your way as soon as he gets back……he has a kitchen pass. :)
That is about it from here. Dad, Jo and Dawn we heard you on the other end of the phone yesterday, don’t give up so easily! Call us when you get a chance. And yes, Dawn, it is cold and grey here.
Who ever sees the kids next, please give them a hug and kiss from us and tell them we love and miss them.
Love to you all…..