Nastia Fields and Anya Garrett

We saw your girls today! A few groups of kids returned from the camp for 2 days and they were in that group! We have posted pictures of them. We had not asked permission to take their pictures so I hid behind Graham and snapped away. Anya gave me big hugs and says thank-you Mama and Papa for her gift. I told her the Matthews had another one for her and not to give up hope that her Mama and Papa are working very hard to get here. I guessed you may be here by November. Nastia Fields played happily on the playground with her friends while Anya flirted with the boys. Joe ended up playing soccer with 5 boys Kolya's age and got his butt kicked! Kolya was giving him directions on what to do and to cover his man! That being said, Joe did score 3 goals and had an assist. He also would have played much, much better if the "field" did not consist of broken up rock and mud. And if he had the proper shorts and shirt. And if he was 30 years younger....

A note about this "camp." It is not American camp, it is a second orphanage along the beach. Kind of like a summer home. The kids go there for a while then return back to the city for 2 days then go back. I have seen Kolya get his hair trimmed and a woman with a stethascope summon him and other kids into a room. He did get a bath on Saturday but it did not take long to undo what the bath had done. The soccer game was a muddy mess. I wonder if his toe nails will ever come clean. The kids either wear flip flops or soccer shoes as regular shoes. It is amazing how well they play soccer with flip flops on! It may just be us, but any one of the kids on the field today could play rings around the kids their age in the States.

The girls who game out to play while we were there brought badminton raquets and birdies. Elizabeth was roundly trounced by a 6 year old. So if you are looking for gifts to bring, badminton supplies might work.

The Matthews are currently on a train from Kyiv to Mariupol. Their ride takes 15 hours as they are coming directly here. We went into Donetsk and it took 12 hours then drove to Mariupol. We were thinking about sharing an apartment which was Joyce's idea, then she called and said it may not work out as we are moving into a one BR apt on Wednesday close to the orphanage to eliminate the driver costs. Apparently Joyce does not sleep at night and if she does, it is not until 3 or 4 am. I would be sleeping on the couch in the only other room and that would not make for happy roommates.

We did not blog yesterday as we saw Kolya for only an hour because the orphanage did not have electricity after the thunderstorm. Ludmilla called the workers and limited all the visiting hours to one hour per child. I guess the workers took the food to their own apartments to heat it up then brought it back to the kids.

Edward told us yesterday that our driver (refer to his picture) would like to invite us to his summer home for a BBQ. We are flattered and are waiting for him to set the date, maybe next weekend. I figure we are paying for his children's college, new houses and probably a Lexus for his wife, so why not! He did take us to a wonderful Armenian restaurant that is owned by a friend of his and we had wonderful pork chops and salads. The boys ordered beers so I ordered my standard vodka and Coca Cola Lite. They did not have cola lite or dark beer as Joe likes so the driver and Edward ran out of the restaurant, jumped in the van and went to the nearest grocery store! We were embaressed and told Edward that I can drink regular coke and Joe can choke down a Pilsner if he has to :-). Edward then said you ask for Coca Cola Lites every ten minutes so I bought you 10 bottles. If I wasn't embarrassed before, I was now. It is either bottled water or Coca Cola Lite here and cold Coca Cola lite is not easy to find. It is a good thing both the driver and Edward have a good sense of humor!

At the end of our afternoon visit with Kolya today, he was trying to tell us something. Our interpreter had gone off with the driver to research apartments for the Matthews so we were left with trying to understand what he was saying. We did get Ukrainian dance, but that was about it. So we called Edward on the phone and asked him to talk with Kolya. It turned out the Canadian couple who we have seen at the orphanage the past few days were finally taking their kids home. It is a tradition at the orpanage that they have a party for the deaparting child. We were invited to the party, as there would be entertainment by the kids. And Kolya was part of the entertainment. He and his friend Meesha, along with 2 of the girls, did a traditional Ukrainian dance in traditional Ukrainian clothing. We did not take pictures of the entertainment because we were not sure of the protocol, but we did get a picture of Kolya in his garb, which has been posted.

Time to close now, Joe cooked the most wonderful meal, more wonderful then we could have gotten in the most expensive resteraunt in Paris. And we all now have to digest it. Except Elizabeth of course, since she does not eat meat. By the way, do not expect to find Kraft Macaroni and Cheese dinners over here. We have been to several different grocery stores and not one of them had it. And they looked puzzled when we try to explain the concept of powdered cheese sauce. So remember to bring your own.