Two days of exploring

Day in and day out so far the pattern has been find a room, have a seat, talk a little, and open the electronics.  Not all that interesting although you do meet many of the kids that way.  On Saturday I decided to strike out and go find Julia.  I followed M up a stairway I had seen Julia come down in the past and ended up in a common room in the girls wing.  If was a nice to change the view and I was able to meet a bunch of kids I had never seen before.

Hot potato with a water balloon....

 One thing I did notice was that the kids were very creative when it came to games.  One game that wouldn't have passed the parent test was catch indoors using a water balloon.  Put enough water in the balloon to make it a bit smaller than a tennis ball and then game on!  The balloon didn't pop until it got pitched against the wall.  That must have been enough to weaken it because shortly after this picture was taken the young lady in black was wearing the balloon...  When I saw her I thought she was related to L, one of the young ladies that was hosted this summer and was adopted by her host family.  The resemblance was amazing.  If her eyes had been the same color I would have sworn I was looking at a younger version of L.  The young lady in purple was too shy to give me her name.  She just watched quietly while others played.  She wanted to join in but didn't have the courage to so I pulled her in.  She has a sweet smile and was very gentle with whatever you handed to her.  I noticed that the other kids were quick to take things from her whether I was there or not.  I tried to prevent it when I could but I knew any action on my part would likely have caused her more trouble with the older kids later on so I did what I could to include her and was rewarded with some surprised stares, some thank yous (Spa-sea-ba) and ultimately a beautiful smile.  I have seen her since and she's greeting me now (with that same shy smile) but still won't tell me her name.  I'll get it before I leave one way or another.  Maybe I'll just cheat and ask Julia ;-)

I wanna Ipad!!!

 Electronics are always popular and they're a guaranteed way to get the kids attention.  The problem is that the electronics get the attention and you don't really get to meet the kids.  Julia was a real trooper.  Even when she was surrounded by kids she was still willing to share and show the others how to play the games.  Towards the end of the day the other kids pushed her out but she took it in stride.  She really is a sweet person.  (This picture was early.  At the peak we had over a dozen kids around us and no chance of getting a picture.



While I did get to meet some of the kids on Saturday, I am so happy I decided to cancel a meeting and come visit today.  The temperature was close to 70 today and the kids were finally open to the idea of going outisde!  I think I was more excited then Julia was but I have to say, that today was probably one of the best days I've had at the orphanage.  It looks like someone has been putting some effort into fixing up the play equipment or, at the very least painting it. I handed the camera to the girls hoping that Julia would take it and go take some pictures of her friends.  The idea kind of worked.  A got a hold of the camera and was off to the races taking as many pictures as she could.  She didn't want her picture taken but little did she know that the photographer was getting photographed!

 

 She tried to get away from the annoying Amerikanetz but he kept finding opportunities....

 

Folks, she may have a future behind the camera.  Now if only she would let Julia turn the tables...
Here are a few more of her pics.  It would be impossible to post them all.

One high point of the day was finally meeting Sasha the Acrobat.  While I could tell that he was very good at football, he decided to stay up on the play ground and play with the younger kids.  He was playing with the same young girls that were throwing the water balloon in the earlier pictures.  He was as patient as a father waiting for them to kick the ball or playfully keep the ball while they were trying to get it away.  he really does have a big heart.  When I walked up to talk to him he was stand offish until I showed him that he was famous and even had his own webpage :

                                                  Meet Sasha the Acrobat


I'm fairly certain that he thought I was nuts sitting there fiddling with the phone trying to get the page to load but once it did his face lit up, he said something about Amerikanetz and he decided to show me some of the moves he's known for.  One of his moves was to lift himself up on top of the monkey bars.  I thought I could do that and told Julia I thought I could.  I was wrong...  I'm older and fatter than I thought ;-)  Well at least they got a good laugh out of it.  Julia managed to catch some video of Sasha and the boys horsing around after the girls left.  Sasha was hanging from the monkey bars and playing goalie.  The only way the ball got past him was if it was kicked over him.  This young man is incredibly strong.

 

Tomorrow I'll be swapping in a new set of batteries and handing the camera off to Julia for the night.  I'm looking forward to the results and hoping I have a camera on Wednesday!