Cross Contamination

End of Day 11 (Wednesday 10-6-10)

Bill and Matt went to visit Ruslan and I stayed home with the other kids to catch up on school.  They are not really behind, but if we miss a day, or even get behind in one subject, the whole schedule gets off.  Bill decided to take the 10:00 bus instead of the 9:00 to see Ruslan.   This was a tough choice, since we only get two hours with him each day from 10 to 12.  However, this ride was MUCH shorter because the bus was less crowded and therefore stopped at less places.  So, they got there around 10:45 instead of 10:15 (making it a 45 minute ride instead of 75 to 90).  Ruslan didn't seem to realize that the visit was one hour instead of two.  Plus, to be honest, it's just really hard to keep the little guy entertained for an hour, so I don't think anyone will feel slighted.

So, one decision made. We now leave at 9am and save ourselves many crowds and time on the bus.

It's getting cold here and we are hitting some major problems with the apartment.  NO one can tell us how to turn on the heat.  Plus, we only have one blanket for the six of us.  This was the second day I let them know that we needed heat and/or blankets.  I had this stupid idea that if I just asked nicely for something as reasonable as a blanket, they would provide it with no hassle.  However, in this culture, if you don't keep asking, they just figure that you don't really want it.  I haven't posted lately because this, plus the adoption of number two, has taken up so much time.

End of Day 12 (Thursday 10-7-10)

Today Sharon and I went to see Ruslan.  There is a room in the back of the orphanage that he keeps trying to get to, but I got the feeling we weren't welcome, so I have been steering him away from it.  Yesterday, he got really upset when I led him away.  There was a woman who speaks English in the hall going to the room and she offered to interpret for me.  He told her he wanted to go in the back room and she took him. It is a BEAUTIFUL room.  Looking at it, you almost feel like you are in America.  There were 16 well behaved kids watching TV.  The show was just ending as we entered and the kids were about to play around four little tables set with puzzles, legos, a little castle etc. Ruslan wanted to play with a puzzle at one of the tables and the woman let him.  Looking around, I couldn't see how any child could be sensory deprived with such a room to play in.  There was small furniture, child size couches, tables, puzzles, every toy imaginable, a piano, a FISH TANK, etc. etc, the walls were in one piece and painted one color, the curtains were nice.  It is a beautiful room.

I talked with the English speaker while Ruslan was playing and I learned that this room is a pre-school/day care.  It is open from 8 am to 8pm and she just happened to be taking her kids there late that day.  She teaches English at a few local private schools.  Her English was very good.  About five minutes into this, a woman from the orphanage saw Ruslan and had a cow. Apparently, he was not allowed to play in that room.  The English speaking woman said that "this is the rule," and implied that there could be cross contamination if Ruslan played in there--God only knows of WHAT, since they all have played outside together several times since we started coming ( I recognized the kids), plus, call me an idiot, but I don't think that CP is contagious.

This is a photo we were given earlier of Ruslan in the off-limits pre-school room.  Apparently, it's only to be used by the able-bodied or as a convenient backdrop for photos.

This is Ruslan's bedroom.  I'm just pointing out the difference in ...stuff.

This is the room where Ruslan eats.  To be fair, there is another room off this one with toys, TV and  piano.  But, all the stuff in both rooms is so new looking and pristine, I wonder whether it actually gets used.

Anyway, that EXPLAINED A LOT--why Ruslan was so set on getting into that room, why there are parents and kids all coming in and out all the time and why the orphans are so developmentally delayed, even with all that stimulating equipment in the NEXT ROOM OVER.  I fumed about this for much of the morning.  Luckily Ruslan took it really well.  He tried to grab for the puzzle when they took him away from it, but he didn't cry or scream.  We all went back to the monochromatic living room where we usually meet (the one with the old couch, crumbling walls, one working light and no toys).   I finally asked if he could have the puzzle he was working on and a woman brought him a different one--I'm sure she tried, but it was the wrong puzzle, so he didn't want it. 
So, that was troubling.  The English speaker didn't chat much with me after that and they took Ruslan at 11:45.  Sharon and I were able to catch the 12:00 bus instead of the 12:30, which was so nice.  We got off at a "new" metro stop, just to have a look around and found a really great outdoor shopping center.  It seems like they can buy or rent one-room trailers that they place side by side to sell their wares.  This place had everything from lingerie (it's everywhere) to a pet store, to a woman selling homemade pickles.  Underneath the whole thing, going to the subway is a second shopping center.

It's getting colder here and we didn't plan to stay this late into the fall.  Therefore, I have been looking for long underwear for the kids but all the ones I found were 120 grivna or about $15 each.  These were 35 grivna or about $4.50 for really nice long underwear, so I got some for Matt.  They didn't have any in smaller sizes, so last night when we went out, I had the kids wear their pajamas under their clothes.

We planned to spend the evening at home, but we got a call about 2:00 to meet Nadya at the SDA at 5:00 to look over the other available children.  This meant that we had to get the kids fed and packed up very quickly, since it takes so long to get from place to place.  This was so traumatic and complicated after already spending the day out and about, that I'll just summarize by saying, "AAAAAHHHH!!!!!"

On the upside, I resorted to out and out harassment to get blankets.  They kept saying they would bring them TOMORROW, which was just so ridiculous, since I had started asking about this on Tuesday and it was now Thursday and we have been really cold at night (so much so that I've been covering the kids with their coats and dry towels as they slept).  As we got back from our SDA appt, a woman was at our front door with ONE blanket.  It's not much, but it's progress.