Big Papa

1. The kids taking a walk around the neighborhood

2. Getting a train ticket for Colleen

3. Who knew balloons were so fun?

4. Dasha took this photo of the 3 of us on the carousel

5. Dasha and Ana on the see-saw

6&7. Pretty much the whole group on the see-saw
8. Ana was very pleased with her "bag containing a balloon".

[Robin]
The kids call Phil "Bolshoi Papa" -- it’s pretty hysterical. We brought yet another round of balloons for the kids to their great delight. Phil is really a trooper, he has to blow all of them up and tie them because I am unable to fulfill either of these playground requirements.
The kids are so ready to have any kind of fun. At one point tonight we had just about every kid in Ana’s play group on the see-saw and got some great pictures of the kids.

[Phil]
Yeah, the balloons are always a hit, but they also cause great strife among the children. I guess anything that is in limited supply would, but it’s so much worse when you see your valued object explode in front of you and YOU ARE THE CAUSE OF IT. They always run over to me "Bolshoi Papa, give me another balloon. Mine popped." Note the passive tense. Vanya must learn not to jump on his balloon. These are the cruel lessons of the playground yard.

[Robin]
I got a real scolding this afternoon when I pushed the seesaw down on top of one of the little boys’ balloons and burst it. There were a lot of tears, accompanied by a fiery round of recriminations. Luckily Big Papa came to the rescue with yet another yellow balloon.
Ana was sporting a very cute little plastic headband this morning and she seemed to be quite taken with her look. She also received new shoes—black ones with Velcro closures
I’d say it was a fairly calm day today. Kostya, our facilitator here in Kramatorsk, went to deliver the new paperwork to Ana’s social worker and the judge, and we are under the assumption that all went well, because we haven’t heard anything from him since this morning. We also got news that our file was accepted and approved by the federal body (the SDA), and that produced a huge sigh of relief from both Phil and me. Now we just await the Tuesday court date.
Today we also got to have lunch with Colleen at the pizza place and she filled us in on her adventures. I’ll let Phil tell you about them…

[Phil]
Let’s just say that she had to share a deluxe sleeper (2 berths per room) with a well-meaning but quite drunk Ukrainian-Canadian who ended up passed out in his black bikini briefs (in his berth). We went with her to the train station this afternoon to see if we could help her get tonight’s train to Kiev (Robin will explain why she’s going there). It was 2:30 in the afternoon and the ticket agent said the only train to Kiev leaves in 2 hours. I asked Colleen if that was okay, and she basically had to accept. Then I asked if she could have a deluxe. The ticket lady said that they were all sold out. Then both Colleen and Robin started telling me to ask her things like "Can she be on a wait list? What if someone cancels? Can she have a cabin with only women?" Meanwhile, I was still thinking about how to say "berth" in Russian. Finally I told the ticket lady, "Please talk to our Ukrainian friend," and we dialed Konstantin’s number, explained the situation, and transferred the cell phone to the ticket lady through the money carousel. Konstantin couldn’t do anything either, so Colleen had to accept a ticket for a regular cabin. We rushed back to her place in a taxi and wished her well on her journey. We were reading and relaxing in our hotel room around 4:45 PM when we got an alarming text message from Colleen. She said that she was stuck in a cabin with 3 drunk, scary men. She then called me from the train and put the conductress on the line to see if I could get her berth assignment switched. The conductress was no help at all, and said that "there’s nothing to be afraid of." There probably isn’t, but it doesn’t make the trip any more pleasant, I’m sure.

[Robin]
I really admire Colleen. She’s got some guts to travel alone. I’m not sure I would have had the strength to make the trip unless I could have bought all the berths in the cabin just to not be in the same overnight car with some unknown people. (Again money here makes life so much easier). Right now we were just text messaging her to see if she is okay. She messaged back saying she was, but wasn’t planning on sleeping. Yikes.
Colleen is trying to adopt two kids, one handicapped girl in an orphanage outside of Kiev and a little girl here where Ana is located. She is all alone here because her husband had to leave to go back to work (after being here a month already). This may end up being our situation (i.e. I have to leave Phil), but we are trying to be positive and not take on any new worries now.

[Phil]
Agreed. In other news, I’m almost finished with my biography of Jessica Savitch (don’t ask), so we’re going to try to find a decent book store tomorrow. We’re also considering buying a bottom-of-the-line DVD player for our room, because there’s only so much Fashion TV one can take, even of our favorite show, the unfortunately named "F People"…

[Robin]
I am just about finished with yet another book—Pomegranate Soup. Actually, I’m not sure that’s the name, but it’s close. This one is about three sisters from Iran who emigrate to Ireland and open a restaurant. Each chapter begins with a new recipe. Reading it is making me even more hungry for some ethnic food. Last night I had pancakes with sour cream, cheese, chicken and mushrooms. It tasted great, but I swear my waistline and appetite are screaming for spicy Indian food.

[Phil]
Yeah, I asked at the front desk if there was any kind of ethnic restaurant around, and they basically said no (except the empty Chinese restaurant, where we may end up tonight).
Okay, that’s all for now. It should be a quiet few days with Kostya back in his hometown with his family and every document duly submitted for our hearing on Tuesday. We’ll try to go out and explore the city, so that at least we’ll have something to blog about.