This Is The Story of How We Adopted Our Two Sons From Ukraine - page 8
Monday, November 20, 2000
Last night we attempted to do our first load of laundry. We weren't very successful. We were shown how to use the machine when we arrived here and we remembered the general idea, but some of the specifics were forgotten. We remembered how much soap, but not exactly where to put the soap. Let's just say we guessed wrong. After 1 1/2 hours of listening to this thing crank and spin - and can it spin! It sounds like an airplane getting ready for takeoff. It is almost a piercing sound. After 1 1/2 hours we open the lid (with much ado) the soap is still sitting in the little basket we put it in but looked quite soggy. So we try again. We throw the soap in with the clothes and also try a different cycle. After almost an hour we look and it is only to the point where we started our first load - meaning it still had 1 1/2 hours left. I moved the dial forward some to hurry things along. I went to bed. Orest got up and hung the clothes up when it was done. I have no idea when it finished. We started the load at 7:10 pm and I think it was 11:00 pm when it finished - 4 hours to wash one load of clothes! And we don't even know if they got washed with the soap we threw in.
This morning we had Sergei and Zhenya drop us off downtown. We left home at 8:30. Jim and Bridget stayed home. We wandered around and did some shopping. We bought some children's books and a ball. Later on, we bought a coke and shared a roll we had brought from home. We found a store that sells icons, but their stock was low. They said to come back tomorrow. We also walked past an internet cafe. Cheryl was fascinated by all the little shops and kiosks that were crammed into the pedestrian underpasses. We ended up spending a considerable amount of time in the large flea market. It was a very interesting place. Cheryl bought a pack of pampers, some socks, and a child's outfit.
Sergei picked us up at noon and drove us home. We had soup and holubtsi (cabbage rolls) for lunch, then we tossed in a load of laundry. Cheryl did some writing, then took a nap.
At 4:00 we went to the orphanage. Sergei was awake, but Kolya was sleeping. The caretaker told us not to feed them, especially bananas, because they get stomach aches. We took Sergei outside. It was pretty chilly. He didn't know how to act outside. It was like the first time we met him - his eyes were big and he was very cautious. He wouldn't make eye contact, or smile. We fed him a piece of ham and some vitamins, then we went back inside. There it was a different story, he was playful and happy.
Kolya didn't wake up until after 5:00. He was pretty groggy. We gave him a cookie to eat and washed it down with vitamins. Sergei's big thing today was walking down the hallway. Every five minutes he would grab my finger and pull me to my feet and walk me down the hallway. I never did figure out why he likes that so much. When it came time to give the kids back at 6:00, they both cried, even though it was dinner time and they could smell and hear the food being served.
When we got back to the apartment, Zhenya and Sergei were here. They asked if we were nervous about court. We said no. Zhenya said she was, but she always gets that way. They also asked if we had any questions. We asked about Kolya's AIDs test results, and asked if we could find out about the kids' habits and personalities from the caretakers. She said she would find out for us tomorrow or the next days. They also said that the Judge speaks Ukrainian and he likes Americans because he spent 2 months in America working with the Congress. So it is good for us, especially if we speak a few words of Ukrainian to him.
After they left, we ate roasted chicken for dinner. Then Cheryl wanted to do laundry and iron her clothes for court. Between the washer and iron, she managed to blow a circuit. I had to call Zhenya and she sent Sergei over to fix it. He showed us how to do it, and its a good thing, because soon after he left, it blew again. After I fixed it the second time, we had no trouble and we were all able to iron our clothes.
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