Party Time

As tends to be the nature of the adoption process in Ukraine, I was unsure as to when Gotcha day would occur.  According to our coordinator the day could occur anytime between Thursday and Sunday.  So, to make sure Julia had a chance to celebrate with her friends, I decided to get the Cakes and Coke together for a Thursday party.  I thought I was doing good.  I picked two chocolate cakes.  One called a Prague and the second was a Chocolate and something torte.  There were people behind me getting impatient so I skipped finishing the translation and snagged the second cake.  I should have finished the translation.  The last word?  Well it was cappuccino.  Not exactly a kids first choice in cake flavors...  My wife was right.  I should have completed my Russian lessons like I told myself I would.  Thankfully the young woman that runs the shop across the street pulled my backside from the fire and ordered up a chocolate cake with a flower on top.

How's this for an emergency cake?

The cake had a meringue frosting and was chocolate mixed with creme throughout.  What can I say?  That young woman rocks.  I highly recommend the little yellow shop across the street to anyone who happens to stay in this apartment.  They are some of the nicest people I've met in Simferopol outside of the school and Yivginny's car.   The Prague cake had me worried but it turned out to be very similar to a German chocolate cake.  The major difference was that fig preserves were used in place of the coconut.  It also received 14 forks up from the kids :-)  

Speaking of the kids, they took the party very seriously.  Some boys were in suits and some girls wore dresses.  We served up the first cake and about a thousand cookies.  The teachers asked the kids to say something about Julia.  Every child around the table stood up and  wished Julia well.  The well wishing went on for a good thirty minutes.  Not one of them touched a crumb.  Color me impressed sitting there in my t-shirt and jeans...

Once the well wishing was done the cakes and cookies disappeared.  That took about ten minutes...
Then it was picture taking time.  Most of the pictures are on the camera which is with Julia.  I wanted her to be able to take pictures and record videos of her friends so I'll just have to wait until Kiev to post those pics.

The kids also wanted to practice their english on the chalk board.  The boys worked hard at it but ultimately L got up and blew them all out of the water with perfect penmanship.  I left on a great note.  Knowing full well that in five to ten minutes the sugar high would hit and someone else was going to have to peel these kids off the ceiling.  I'm sure I'll get paid back some way later on in life but for now I'll take it!






Oh did I mention something about Kiev and leaving?  Well I won't be able to post much in the near future because we'll be traveling.

TOMORROW IS GOTCHA DAY!!!  

L is one of Julia's good friends.  Shy with a huge heart