25Oct Update

25Oct2008

We made a decision to vacate Yalta on Wednesday…Just so we can move into the village and be closer to the girls. We have a place right across the street from the school and the owner is a worker there. What this means is that the girls will be able to stay with us on the weekends and we’ll have much more time with them. We won’t have to commute each day from Yalta, but when there is paperwork to be done we’ll have to travel there. Not a problem and it’ll probably save money in the end. Though the Internet is rare, but we did find one here in Yalta, it may be even sparser in the village. We’ll have to explore some.

We had the girls all day today. They allowed us to take them from the school until late evening (up to 8pm if we fed them at least twice, NP). When asked where they wanted to go, they said Yalta in synchronous. When we arrived at the school, all the children were working outside cleaning the drives, whitewashing the walls and general cleaning. They make their own brooms from branches from local trees. It seems to work pretty well from what I could see.

The Taxi dropped us off along the ocean front. The younger one got Virginia’s cell phone camera and I introduced the older one to a real digital camera. They are both sharp as a tack which I think I mentioned before. I showed them once how to use the camera, how to view the pictures just taken and how to delete a photo they don’t want. Only once and they were good to go. The menus are in English but that didn’t slow them down and they’ve even found a shortcut that we didn’t know about. They are teaching me some Russian and we’re teaching them some English. Until further in the process, we’re not going to push the English until after court. (I felt strongly when I first saw their dossier and still feel the same that God meant us to have these girls. We both understand why we had all the previous problems; it’s because these girls were not ready.).

They wanted to go to McDonalds even though they had never eaten it before. Neither the translator (Irina) nor us had any intention on eating at Mc’s but the girls convinced us otherwise. I’m glad we went because I know I won’t have to worry about them with Mc’s later; they said the food at school was better then Mc’s. We’re so happy. The Mc’s is very similar to ours but there’s a slight difference which I attribute to the bun (I had a Big Mac) which was flatter with less taste. My curiosity has been satiated and I have no need to ever eat Mc’s anywhere else in the world let alone the US.

We spent the day coloring, stickers and the girls (including the big ones) doing hair and makeup. They watched a little TV and I got the Russian laptop keyboard working properly. They can spell so I have them spell the word and I enter it into a bidirectional dictionary. I oopsed and brought our Ukrainian phrase/dictionary book and left the Russian one so this is what I have.
While we played, Irina went shopping for dinner and the ladies all made dinner together while I worked on my Russian. The dinner was all local fare and was scrumptious. We had two types of sausage, mashed potatoes and three types of salad. I pigged out but wasn’t the only one. The older one takes her time and eats deliberately like all things she does. The younger one devoured her dinner and many more helpings. Virginia is one of the fastest eaters I’ve ever seen (or not seen), but the younger one is going to give her a run for her money. They eat similarly, 3-4 chews and then swallow it. I can’t see how they can even taste their food. They’re not finicky eaters though; they like meat, fruit, vegetables and even drink water.

A little more about the girls.

The older one is methodical, calculating and observant. It takes her a bit longer to try something but then it’s usually done correctly the first time. She’s not slow, just more calculating. When they were learning our last name, the younger one was going at it brute force, over and over till she got it. The older one waited and listened. When she was ready to say it, it barley had any accent pronounced perfectly (Slavic adults have a hard time with pronouncing our familial name). She’s more cautious than her sister about most things. She is our thinker; in this respect much like her Mama to be. She is a girly-girl (Annabelle’s age) X10 and is absolutely fascinated by Virginia’s nails. Sharing with others is always on the top of her list. She is also a mother hen type always trying to take care of everyone else especially her sister. No doubt she looked after her sister when things were tough at home. It appears she is already bonding with Virginia and has really taken to her; she cuddles to Virginia on a regular, unprompted basis. Reading and spelling are already grade level from next to nothing before entering the orphanage not that long ago and she likes to read. Our translator mentioned that she speaks in full, grammatically correct sentences without the usual shortcuts which impressed Irina. I suspect language will not be a problem for her.

The younger one is spontaneous, adventurous and fearless. I forgot to mention funny as she’s going to be the class clown, that’s for sure. She’s almost a complete opposite of her sister in many respects. When learning our familial name, she tries it one way, then another till she gets it. In this way, she is like her Papa to be. She’s not afraid to try and jumps in with both feet. Her accent is absolutely adorable and it’ll be a shame when she looses it. It was agreed that they would help us learn Russian which she is taking to heart with me. She is always giving me the correct pronunciation of my butchered Russian. Her name for me is Papi (Poppy in like the poppy seed) instead of Papa and I hope she never stops calling me that. Like her sister, she mostly hangs with Virginia but is not a girly-girl. (Connie, she’s older than you by one day and much the same as you, both of you should get along great.) She can read but I haven’t seen her try to write anything. She’s most always ready with a smile which is very contagious for all of us.
They are both girls and like to do girl things like shopping. I’ve already had to play the heavy and said "Nyet" to several things. They didn’t get very mad but did go to Virginia on the next want. Speaking for myself, I’m bonding quickly to these girls and I firmly believe Virginia is too. I also feel the girls are bonding to us as well. Moose (my teenage nephew), you’re going to be puddy in their hands; you are so ill prepared for their girly ways.

It’s really late but I wanted to get caught up. Tomorrow we have the girls from 10-7 again and looking forward to it. Time for me to go pass out now as I’ve had a busy day; everyone else has been out for hours now. I’ll usually pass the last few minutes of consciousness looking at a picture of the four of us, very reassuring. Now to just get them officially and that will make our decade.