Part 2
This has easily been our best day so far.
We made a call to our translator telling him about our behavior problems from yesterday and he said he would make a call to their care giver (warden). Today they were perfect little angels, morning and afternoon.
After having pizza at our favorite (only) restaurant we came up the idea of trying to find a baseball and bat (kids size). Amazingly they had a set at a toy store. I think we paid a whopping $1.20 for it. We brought it and it was a huge hit. Alex and I played the entire 90 min. After about 20 swings he was nailing the thing, a natural I guess. We picked up a miniature barbie for Nikki that had "accessories" just like the big girls here in town and Nikki played with that almost the entire time. I didn't look too close but I am sure it came with 8 inch spiked heals, 12 inch points in front and skin tight jeans.
Whew, finally a quiet, non psycho day with the kids. If all the days ahead are like this one then we will be cruising the rest of the way.
For those of you who have been following the intense filled drama of the "Orphanage Sopranos" it is clear that Tony (a.k.a. Mishka) is extorting candy from the kids. Alex and Nikki both walked up to him and gave him a candy that we gave them. We actually think this is a great idea. There is no way Tony will harm the kids when they are back inside the joint. If he does then he knows his candy days will quickly come to an end. Tony did not become the Don because he is stupid. So this may work out to our advantage. If Tony is happy then we are all happy. Unfortunately for Tony he had a little accident while we were playing ball. He was racing around the orphanage in his like 7th bike it seems, a large road bike probably my size. He looked like a squirrel on top of that thing. Well, he was flying around the corner and we were all watching him and he misjudged "something" and ended up landing hard on his you no whats on the top bar. If that were me I would be howling in pain but these orphanage kids are something else. They just don't cry no matter what. He made this kind of grunting noise and then after a couple seconds got back on that bike and kept on peddling. He may be only 8 years old or so but he is one tough 8 years old. Mental note, don't anger Tony he may be indestructable.
Also a side note from our visit to the fitness club. When we walked up there were two 750I BMW's and a brand new Chrysler M300. It appears that Judy and I were working out with the Creme D'Le Creme of Nikopol, the upper crust of society so to speak. We paid $1.20 each to work out for one hour. Our restaurant experience is basically this. One large ham, cheese and tomato pizza, 2 cokes, 2 coffees for the grand total of 32 Grivna or $7. We tip 15% and this is considered excessive. We are told that in the afternoon people usually tip 1 grivna or 20 cents per person at the table. No waitress will get to pay for college at those prices. Except that they don't have to, it's 100% free.
Groceries usually cost us between $15 and $30 depending on what we buy. Today we bought enough food for 2 to 3 days and it dost $30. This includes our daily orphanage contribution that we make to Alex's and Nikki's group (11 kids) of apples, bananas and candy. The kids in their group are really really cute. There is this one poor little girl who has obvious signs of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) She is about 1.5 feet tall and weights next to nothing. She was 600 grams at birth which I think is around 1.5 pounds, four months premature. She is amazingly enough 5 years old and she looks like she is 1 or 2. She just loves Judy. Always comes up to her and sits on her lap. Its really sad to know how this girl will most likely end up unless somebody takes her under their wing. There are so many beautiful kids here. And we were told that some of them are not adoptable because if a parent or relative of any kind makes at least "one" visit in 6 months then the child cannot be put up for adoption. Very very sad.
Alex and Nikki were raised by their grandmother until she died 2 years ago. They were then brought to the orphanage in 2004 when the court decided that their mother was deemed to be unfit to be a parent.
I won't go into the details but their mother was into partying pretty much.
But, both kids seem to be incredibly healthy. We are so lucky to have these two after seeing what is available for adoption. Our first girl that we were shown had a cleft palet (hole in upper roof of mouth but face was fine). Our doctor friend Kurt, also adopting here said that she would most likely face several surgeries. I hope she gets adopted. We actually said we wanted to go and see her but we found out later that her health was worse than reported. And so we are here with Nikki and Alex. Good for us and good for them. Like my cousin always likes to say, it's like these two just won the Ukrainian Lottery.
Bye for now Judy and I say goodbye and thanks for the comments.
Cliff
We made a call to our translator telling him about our behavior problems from yesterday and he said he would make a call to their care giver (warden). Today they were perfect little angels, morning and afternoon.
After having pizza at our favorite (only) restaurant we came up the idea of trying to find a baseball and bat (kids size). Amazingly they had a set at a toy store. I think we paid a whopping $1.20 for it. We brought it and it was a huge hit. Alex and I played the entire 90 min. After about 20 swings he was nailing the thing, a natural I guess. We picked up a miniature barbie for Nikki that had "accessories" just like the big girls here in town and Nikki played with that almost the entire time. I didn't look too close but I am sure it came with 8 inch spiked heals, 12 inch points in front and skin tight jeans.
Whew, finally a quiet, non psycho day with the kids. If all the days ahead are like this one then we will be cruising the rest of the way.
For those of you who have been following the intense filled drama of the "Orphanage Sopranos" it is clear that Tony (a.k.a. Mishka) is extorting candy from the kids. Alex and Nikki both walked up to him and gave him a candy that we gave them. We actually think this is a great idea. There is no way Tony will harm the kids when they are back inside the joint. If he does then he knows his candy days will quickly come to an end. Tony did not become the Don because he is stupid. So this may work out to our advantage. If Tony is happy then we are all happy. Unfortunately for Tony he had a little accident while we were playing ball. He was racing around the orphanage in his like 7th bike it seems, a large road bike probably my size. He looked like a squirrel on top of that thing. Well, he was flying around the corner and we were all watching him and he misjudged "something" and ended up landing hard on his you no whats on the top bar. If that were me I would be howling in pain but these orphanage kids are something else. They just don't cry no matter what. He made this kind of grunting noise and then after a couple seconds got back on that bike and kept on peddling. He may be only 8 years old or so but he is one tough 8 years old. Mental note, don't anger Tony he may be indestructable.
Also a side note from our visit to the fitness club. When we walked up there were two 750I BMW's and a brand new Chrysler M300. It appears that Judy and I were working out with the Creme D'Le Creme of Nikopol, the upper crust of society so to speak. We paid $1.20 each to work out for one hour. Our restaurant experience is basically this. One large ham, cheese and tomato pizza, 2 cokes, 2 coffees for the grand total of 32 Grivna or $7. We tip 15% and this is considered excessive. We are told that in the afternoon people usually tip 1 grivna or 20 cents per person at the table. No waitress will get to pay for college at those prices. Except that they don't have to, it's 100% free.
Groceries usually cost us between $15 and $30 depending on what we buy. Today we bought enough food for 2 to 3 days and it dost $30. This includes our daily orphanage contribution that we make to Alex's and Nikki's group (11 kids) of apples, bananas and candy. The kids in their group are really really cute. There is this one poor little girl who has obvious signs of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) She is about 1.5 feet tall and weights next to nothing. She was 600 grams at birth which I think is around 1.5 pounds, four months premature. She is amazingly enough 5 years old and she looks like she is 1 or 2. She just loves Judy. Always comes up to her and sits on her lap. Its really sad to know how this girl will most likely end up unless somebody takes her under their wing. There are so many beautiful kids here. And we were told that some of them are not adoptable because if a parent or relative of any kind makes at least "one" visit in 6 months then the child cannot be put up for adoption. Very very sad.
Alex and Nikki were raised by their grandmother until she died 2 years ago. They were then brought to the orphanage in 2004 when the court decided that their mother was deemed to be unfit to be a parent.
I won't go into the details but their mother was into partying pretty much.
But, both kids seem to be incredibly healthy. We are so lucky to have these two after seeing what is available for adoption. Our first girl that we were shown had a cleft palet (hole in upper roof of mouth but face was fine). Our doctor friend Kurt, also adopting here said that she would most likely face several surgeries. I hope she gets adopted. We actually said we wanted to go and see her but we found out later that her health was worse than reported. And so we are here with Nikki and Alex. Good for us and good for them. Like my cousin always likes to say, it's like these two just won the Ukrainian Lottery.
Bye for now Judy and I say goodbye and thanks for the comments.
Cliff
posted by Judy @ 9:28 AM
1 Comments:
At 1:36 PM,
Christine & George said…
Hi Judy and Cliff,
We are the Halls (Christine & George). We are the next AD family to travel (hopefully in May/June). I love reading your notes, I'm crying over the whole "Sopranos" saga!! It seems like things are working out well. I've chatted with Cindy by phone a few times and sounds like your digs are a little different than theirs. Glad you hooked up with the gym! Keep on posting - we love reading (and preparing).
Christine Hall, Atlanta, GA in the Good Ol USA
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