Day One was pretty boring. I'm not going to lie. It's going to be a long 2 weeks. What in the world?! As I am typing this, the writing suddenly centered all on its own. Whatever. It's so hit and miss here, just like everything else.
Although today was very boring, I was able to maintain good spirits and make it through the entire day. I couldn't fall asleep until after 2 and then was wide awake by 6. Hopefully that doesn't continue or else this long time will be even longer:) Unfortunately, the cost to get to and from the camp is really high, so I won't be able to go visit. 2,000 grivna. To help pass time, I am thinking about making some fliers and offering free day care while I'm here.
FYI the boys we adopted are almost 14 and just turned 7. The almost 14 year old is the one with the girlfriend and the attitude:)
And now, for todays random events/thoughts:
*Everyone stares at me everywhere I go. Everyone. This is my theory. I am wearing a pair of capri jeans. I have only seen men wear capris here. I think that perhaps the Ukrainian people think that I am a cross dresser. Also, because I do not have my thyroid medicine, I am very dizzy and probably appear to be a little tipsy. I think they all think that I am a drunk cross dresser.
*Pigeons here are crazy. They are like the bold sea gulls of Utah. They don't even fly away when you walk through a group of them. Yesterday, while I was walking, one nearly flew into my head. It touched my hair. I am actually so bored that I was thinking it was too bad it didn't hit me, it would have made for an exciting blog post.
*Ukrainian yogurt is good. Kerry, I found the yogurt that you like. I actually prefer the kind with the flakes instead of the little balls though. It's really just texture preference, they taste the same.
*I wish I had one of those things that you hook to your body that measures all the steps that you take. It is very likely that I will clock enough miles to have walked all the way to the U.S. by the time I leave here.
*Thank heavens for my little red headed babushka neighbor. She is always happy to see me. She's the only one in the entire country of Ukraine.
*Brought large garbage sacks from home so that I could walk around and pick up garbage, but I haven't yet because I worry a little about looking homeless. I'm not sure how I feel about being pegged as a homeless, drunk, cross dresser. Normally I pay little attention to how people view me, but that's pushing the limit.
*I feel comfortable jay walking. At first all I could hear over and over in my head was something our Kyiv translator told me, "two kinds of pedestrians, dead or fast." Now, I just feel like I'm in New York.
*I am so bored that I bought a puzzle yesterday. It was embarrassing. There were these two young employees flirting with each other on the puzzle isle so I just kept walking. They never left, so I ended up having to go back and pick out a puzzle in front of them. They were laughing at me which made me laugh. I have turned into the old lady that does puzzles. I don't even like doing puzzles. I bought one that was 1000 pieces. It was the largest one they had.
*I'm considering going back to the orphanage to find the kitten that I saw there on the very first day we arrived. Then I could be the homeless, drunk, cross-dressing cat lady. Either that or I will start feeding the pigeons.
*My skype camera/microphone does not work. My dear friend Kim still skyped with me for an hour yesterday. I would type and she would talk. Her kids thought she was nuts. To them it looked like she was staring at a blank computer screen, talking. For some reason I can't get ahold of her now...
*The random picture of the pair of eyes in my apartment is looking less and less creepy and more and more like someone I could have a conversation with.
*I am totally caught up on my laundry here, which is no surprise given that I only brought three shirts again and have only worn one.
Good thing you are finding humor in all this. During our 10 days, I would often take walks along the beach, vacant beach...with all the broken glass. I started making friends with some of the kids who lived in the apartment we lived in. They could speak a little English and like trying to hold a conversation with us. They also liked testing my math skills. I even tried walking through town one day, that was scary. If I had gotten lost, there would have been no way for me to find my way back home...I'd probably still be there now. Our situation was a little different. We stayed in the same town as the orphanage. All the kids, even the non-orphans, were on Easter break. We had a dedicated taxi driver who lived in the same town. Our translator refused to stay in this town because it was, I guess, icky for her. We got to see our son most every day and probably violated his curfew way too often. We went to the town where the translator lived most every time we had our son. Sometimes we stayed home, and it was just like you describe your time with your older boy. "I don't wnat to go there. I don't want to do that. I want to play mean with the other kids. I want to be in charge of the remote. I want Coke for meals every day." The frustrating part was having to go over the same things again and again. But, he is developing positive character traits. Oh, our other son is 13 almost 14, too. It's a scary time, no matter which side of the Atlantic you are on.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you found the yogurt.. The fruit ones are good too. It does sound boring. Thank heavens I had Kim there. Our time went by so fast it felt! Secondhand store shopping is fun. That would get very boring. I'll have to watch for you on skype.
ReplyDeleteYou are so funny. I love the random thoughts!
ReplyDeleteOh. My. Goodness. I LOVED your random thoughts. I'm sorry to hear your Skype isn't working well. I was looking forward to talking with you. Ah well. :)
ReplyDeleteMy 10 days FLEW by, but I had Masha there with me. AND, I had not only Ira, but her friend with us too for most of the time. We took them out and did fun things with them around the city. You might want to see if you can take the boys. I had to sign a paper saying I was responsible for them, but it was no big deal.