Ar-booz, bookmarks, and futbol

My dear Sophia

Mike has become a little obsessed with the blog, so I’m giving him a mandatory break today.

We just got back from the orphanage and again our time with Sophia (and friends) flew by.  A special thanks to everyone who provided feedback from the facebook post for ideas on activities with the kids.  We sure needed them.  As Mike mentioned yesterday, today’s plan was to have a soccer game with our driver Yevgeny, Mike and anyone else who wanted to join.  Yesterday afternoon, we had a great idea that we would also bring watermelon slices for the kids so off to the market we went.   I need to digress for a moment to tell you that the entire watermelon cost us $2.50 but we had to walk home with it.  If I had to guess, the supermarket is about 1/2 mile from our house.  Big deal, right?  Well, couple our watermelon with milk, flour, diet coke, vegetable oil, etc, our quick stop for a watermelon turned into a ½ mile hike home.   While at the market, we ran into two young American teenagers shopping for themselves.  It was funny to hear them complaining that everything on the shelves had expired.   We have coined those issues as “First World Problems (FWP)”.  The teenagers were both born in Simpferopol, but have lived in California since the age of 9.  When they asked us why we were here, we simply said that we were visiting friends.  They were shocked that we’d visit without knowing Russian.  If they only knew the whole story.  Anyways, I have to tell you, to this point, we have not looked at any expirations dates, but plan to do so in the future.  Sometimes it’s better not to know.

Back to the day…after watermelon and clean up, I had Sophia try on a pair of fancier black sandals that we bought at Target before we left.  They fit perfectly and she loved them.  In fact, later on in the visit, she asked to see them again to show her friend Anya.  Those two are inseparable.  In fact, there is a close knit group of 4 girls that are always around when we visit, but you can probably figure that out from all the pictures.  They are coming for the hosting program this year and are looking for forever families if you or anyone you know might be interested.  When they get together, they are exactly what you’d expect of a group of 4 tween girls.  

Back to the day (again)...I seem to go off on tangents.  As our small group moved away from the masses, we found a semi shaded spot where we handed out another craft to do.  It seemed a hit for about 20 mins and then we went to the playground.  Along the way, we picked up Dima.  Did I mention we also bought a soccer ball at the market?   Our ball was a basketball, soccer ball and volleyball and everyone joined in the fun.  It wasn’t for Yulia though, she was happy completing her craft on the sideline.  Up until now, our visits focused more on talking and calm activities.   It was fun to see some determination and competitive spirit among the girls as they tried to score a basket.  It goes without saying that Sophia is amazing at everything she tries. Spoken like the new Mom that I am.  However, I got a kick out of watching her friend Anya.  She would miss, stomp her foot, say something which I would loosely translate as “ugh” and laugh at herself.   That girl has spirit!

After about 30 mins, the girls got hot and went over to the stairs to relax while Mike and the boys continued to play soccer.  I joined the girls.  Three of the four girls carry cell phones.  I asked Sophia about it the other day and she told me it was so she could talk to her father.  Both Anya and Luda got calls while we were relaxing so in my very broken Russian, I asked who they are talking to.  Anya speaks with her Aunt and Luda speaks with her mother.  Enough on that subject…

CW from left: Yulia, Sophia, Anya, and Luda

Back to the day (again), Sophia then asked if she can take more pictures and video.   The rest of the visit was spent with the girls posing.

This whole experience has taught me that I know very little about a whole lot of things.