Good Morning...it is actually morning for both me and those of you in the states. However, it is the leisurely, drinking my coffee time of morning for me and you guys, well you should be asleep.
It is Thursday, tonight will be the first of the Easter services at Grace Place. Weird, they work on the Orthodox calendar here so Easter is next week in Ukraine. Funny to think that I am going to "miss" Easter so to speak. To date I have missed the Super Bowl, Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day, Lily's birthday, opening day of Baseball, and ski season (although from the sounds of it, it wasn't very good anyway). Not to mention the state swim meet and a good chunk of track season. Really a whole season...gone. BUT...a new season is in store for the Degnan's.
We made it back to Kiev late last night, finally getting to bed around 1am. Done with all the trains, buses, and random apartments. Done with the pizza and all late night barking dogs. Done with the random governmental buildings with dilapidated walls, worn floors, bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling by dangerous cords, halls full of strange, unmarked doors with people shuffling in and out as if in a daze. One medical check in Ukraine, then just the U.S. Embassy which is anything but dilapidated. It is new, clean and beautiful, oh and it has real American bathrooms.
Yesterday, Annabelle got her first taste of a squat pot. She was traumatized, said she felt like she needed to go shower afterward. Ah, the adventures of world travel.
All day yesterday I was feeling that little scratch in the back of my throat and that, oh I just don't feel right kinda feeling. Yip, it has taken 2 months but it seems I caught a bug. Maybe it is just the release after all the "doing," I knew I couldn't get sick before because there is no telling the judge, "sorry, can't do court today, I don't feel good." But now, all there is to do is wait so why not? Nothing bad, just a sore throat and congestion.
Both of the girls are still asleep, Karen is at work so it is me and the computer for a little while. The view from Karens window has changed yet again. This time there are actually little flowering buds starting to pop out on the tree. And the yard area down below, well the snow is completely gone all that remains now is mud. But with the bright sun shining today, even that could be gone soon. Replaced are the heavy coats with lighter and more colorful ones. The hats are gone except for the old ladies and the little ones. They are both still bundled tightly. Birds have returned, I can see then and hear them. I even saw a gentleman walking his dogs this morning. Not an entirely odd sight, however these dogs were beautiful collies. Most of the dogs I have seen that were actually pets and not wild, were being walked by men and most were the of the more manly variety. Not well groomed, beautiful collies.
Anyway, today will be our first day as just the 3 of us. Up till now we have had a translator with us. Now we gotta start figuring this communication thing out. Google translate, here we come. Our first mission, well after breakfast and figuring out what is what, will be going to the market to get food. This will be my first attempt at shopping, really shopping, no Jamie, no Sasha. I will let you know how that works out. I am sure something funny will come of it. Beyond that, we are gonna lie low. Maybe watch a movie, play a game...
Daria is very curious, really about everything. She wants to touch, look at, open everything. And she is very helpful, she helped me make Annabelle's bed last night. She is not withdrawn, doesn't seem to want to be off by herself, yet she isn't clingy either. The only thing I worry about right now is making sure that she stays with me when we are out and about. Seems she has a sense of adventure and isn't afraid to lead the way. But when I can't communicate with her, that worries me a bit. That and thinking that keeping her in her seat on the airplane might be a challenge. The train for 6 hours was hard enough, she would stand up in her seat and fiddle with the lights, talk to Olga. I can't say as I blame her, it is hard for me to sit for an hour but we are gonna have to talk about appropriate behavior. She is certainly not out of control by any means...just needs a little guidance.
Her concept of ownership is not there. At the orphanage, these kids have nothing of their own. In fact, the few things that Daria did have from her trips to Spain, she insisted on leaving. So much so that her teachers had to nearly force her to take her photo albums that the family had made for her. To her, she wanted to leave everything behind for the others. But in the meantime, it will be a transition getting her to understand that everyone has things that are just theirs. And while I want everyone to share, you have to ask, not just take. The hard part is that right now, she has nothing that is just hers. That will get easier as we learn to communicate.
Before we left Nikopol her aunt set her up with a Russian Facebook page, not sure what to do with that yet. For now, we will let it be. There is plenty of time to work all that out at home. I want her to be able to stay connected with them but I don't like it when it is something that I can't monitor.
Today we sit, and hang out...and try to work out a system to communicate. Hand gestures and pointing...hum! Tomorrow we hope for news on what the rest of the timeline might look like.
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