
Forming a family through international adoption.
I got up and hit the internet cafe this morning around 9:30 to email the folks. Afterwards Loonya drove me to the orphanage to visit Roman. It costs me $30 per visit due to the distance from Simferopol. The director got Roman out of class to spend time with me. We spent time in the car having English lessons then took a break. We walked around the orphanage grounds and I met some of Roman's friends. They are cute kids. He seems to be close to Andre. Andre is a cute red-headed boy with freckles.
Roman went to have his lunch so I just hung out with Loonya till he returned. His friends came back with him. I finally got to see him interact with his classmates. The boys like to rough house and the girls were more reserved. Their teacher, Valentina, came by after about an hour and tried to get me to buy the class their own small TV. I guess they think I'm made of money. We should have waited till the very end to leave the orphanage donations. If I can manage to access my bank account without having my ATM card, then I will consider it. If not, I can make some kind of donation later via a missions group.
I had coffee with the teacher. She filled a jar full of bottled water then dropped a heating coil in it. I guess the orphanage can't afford a hotpot. So I had coffee and stale bread. The boys then grabbed me to show me Roman's sleeping area. A blonde headed boy named Kola was trying to get me to give him my watch. They kept showing me clothing with english words on it so I could read it to them. Loonya called the boys "little monsters". I think they are cute.
We left the orphanage about 5:00. I stopped by the internet cafe to check mail then walked home. Loonya was going to go visit a friend of his and would meet me at the apartment later. It was about 7:00 when I started to walk home. I stopped at a corner in the center of town which was laid out like the old fashion circle. I bought some peanuts from a woman there. 5 rph buys what would be a large jar in the US. Well.... There was an older man talking to the woman when I showed up. He was late 50s and dressed well but drunk as a skunk. I pulled out the 5 grivena pointed to the peanuts then the bill so she would know how much I wanted to buy. Then I said "Choochoo Ruski" so she'd get the hint. So then this old guy starts hitting on me in Russian. I keep saying "nyet" (no). When I started to leave he started to follow. So I pointed to him, then the ground and said "Stovy" (stay) and pointed to me and down the street. He said "nyet" and guestered for me to go and he would follow. The older woman who was selling the nuts thought this was all rather funny. So I pointed to her, then to him and made a guester that they should get together. She then started saying "NYET!". hehehe. I was having trouble getting this guy to leave me alone. He started trying to kiss my hand and I was saying "nyet nyet nyet nyet nyet". People walking by got a good show. So finally I told him "STOVY!", then I ducked into the underground passage that people use to cross the street. When you get down the stairs it branches into 2 directions. So I headed across the street... on the other side it has another fork in the passage. I surfaced across the street and ducked behind a sign to check and see if he was following. I managed to lose him, so I headed home. Its a good thing that he wasn't violent or I would have knocked him on his hinnie and probably been put in jail. Of the cities I've been in, Kiev was the safest one walking at night back to my apartment.
So I got home and about 30 min later Loonya shows up. I told him about it and he thought it was funny. Men! He cooked me some dumplings for dinner and we spent the night watching dubbed American movies.