John's RamblingS

Well, Charlene is trusting me to write again. I have a lot to say before I start writing, but when I start my minds gets fuzzy. :) I hope it is just being here and not that last birthday catching up with me.

First, let me say that Maxim is really COOL!! We are getting really attached to him. And it definitely seems that he is getting attached to us. When we visited him today Charlene was sitting in a chair and could not see him as he came into the room. He saw that I could see him, and he gave me a sign to be quiet. He sneaked up and surprised Charlene. He got a big kick out of doing that. The little rascal has a good sense of humor. And he gives great hugs to us. Of course we give them back to him.

We played some games today, plus Maxim did some fun work sheets that actually give us a better idea of his working level. So far he seems to like all the things we get him to do. But his favorite things to do are to play Memory, Connect Four, do dot to dots, color and take pictures. Seriously, he seems to have real talent. :) Charlene is too polite to point out that it may be that I have little talent with the camera. :( Whatever we do, our time with Maxim goes by too fast. I will be glad when this is all over and we ALL get to go H-O-M-E!! Home really is where the heart is.

Oh my! Saw something today that is very unusual for here. We saw Sunshine. By my count today has been only the fourth day of sunshine shince we got here. But the weather is changing. Went for some water bottles earlier and it was either raining or sleeting a little. See, playing the song "Sunshine on my Shoulder" did some good today.

Got to tell you about the ducks. We went with another American couple to a nice shopping mall (or building), Ukrainia. When we went in there was red carpet on the floor coming down the stairs to a large fountain in the center of the entrance. There were even ropes set up to keep back the crowd. And there was a lot of people gathered. So of course the four of us waited to see what was going to go on. SURPRISE - young men in Tuxes led out a group of ducks. Just plain grey-like typical ducks. They herded the ducks into a large fountain and being ducks, they swam around in the fountain for a few minutes. The crowd and kids clapped and cheered, then the ducks were herded away. (I got some pictures.) And that was it. We think it was to celebrate a weather or calendar date for after their Christmas. Never seen so much pomp and cere

mony given to ducks. They weren't even white, pretty ducks but just ordinary old gray ducks. Whatever it was for, the kids and everyone in the crowd loved the ducks.

What else should I include? That I got us lost? No! About getting caught taking pictures in a church? No. How to lose a passport? No. I know! How much fun it is to have a young one to shop for again. No, really. It is so nice to have the chance to shop in toys again. And see his eyes light up. He really has nothing to call his own. When we get him from the orphanage, he even has to leave the clothes he has worn. Amazing the things we take for granted.

You know something I am looking forward to??? Getting a drink of water out of the tap. Simple I know. But what a pain to have to buy bottled water. Not to mention not having a car. See, said I wouldn't mention that. Something else I look forward to is using the phone without worrying about how many minutes are on it. Newspapers! Other people using English! I can go on but you get the idea. I miss home and the people there.

I guess, though, that with fewer distractions around it is easier for Charlene to keep me out of trouble. But when you get the chance, ask her about what happened at church. Enough said.

This apartment promised internet and we thought it would be unlimited like the others. Guess what. It isn't. So we are trying to use our on-line time wisely. I guess we either need to use an Internet cafe or see about getting more time on our account here.

I think I am restless. Charlene is too. And we are tired of all the walking or waiting for a bus. For some reason the first Bus # 18 passed us right by today and then we had to wait about 45 minutes to catch one later. Thank goodness it was on our return and not going to the orphanage.

I do have one worry. I think I am becoming addicted to espresso. I had actually almost given up coffee, but since it is a choice here between bottled wated, soft drinks, coffee or juice - I am on a caffiene high. I do not really care much for the juices. And I am lactose intolerant- at my age.
The program Skype.com is very nice. It is great to talk and see those back home. But the video part is very slow and unreliable if you have the old fashioned dial-up. It has been nice to see those at home, and them to see us.

We still want to go to the circus. But we are putting that off until we have Maxim. I am sure he would enjoy it. But Charlene and I are going to try to go to a couple of museums later this week.

A suggestion to anyone who plans to come here, buy a cheap MP3 and fill it with lots of music. Also bring yourself movies. If I had thought to do it, I would have recorded the morning news shows so that in the morning I would think I was home. And be sure to have pictures of home and people. Nice to look at them. And if you like Kool-aid, be sure to bring it. I have not found any for sale here. Glad we brought some.

I guess I have typed out enough. See, being a Special Education teacher means I can spin it out. But Charlene says it is just natural talent. LOL

To everyone, take care of each other, keep on reading and responding to our blog, and those of you still to come, be sure the money you bring is clean and new. It is hard to exchange any old money.

Well, my brain is getting tired of coming up with cute things to say about Ukraine. Time to recharge. More ramblings another day.