Misha’s Building

Sorry for not blogging yesterday, the “Bazaar”/Huge Open Air Market only comes on Thursdays and we needed the day to find clothing, coats, shoes, undergarments, jamies, etc. to get the kids home in. None of the stores here sell these items and we had one chance – beyond taking naked kids from the Orphanage! We were planning on returning home during our wait and I have Mari’s bed piled with stuff for Trip #2 – including all of their clothes! I will write a Market blog for you next week, but this is Friday and we won’t be able to get back to you until Monday as the Computer Center will be closed.

The little green building at the far back corner of the Orphanage grounds is Misha’s building. We also call it the “Baby House” even though the children are all over 2. The children sleep, eat, have “classes”, and play here. The building, and the playground outside, is their entire world. Sometimes, some of the older children (mainly girls) will knock on the door, when they are out of classes and the children are up from naps, and ask if they can play with the small children. It gives the caretaker, always only one on duty, a break! The caretakers are wonderful women: Jonna (also teaches the children art and has painted murals from Ukrainian fairy tales all around the dining room – see photo through the kitchen window), Luda (teaches the children music – the “General” as we like to call her), and Luba (their teacher in the morning for history of Ukraine, alphabet, etc.). They are all very loving in their own way and the children call them all “Mama”!

The building has hot water 2 hours in the morning and from 7-9 at night. We come and play and bring food and drinks/prepare/clean up after afternoon snack and then play outside if the weather permits. We purchased a blue plastic drain rack to help the dishes get dry. John is wonderful and always takes care of the dishes – just like his Dad! Not sure how clean the cold water gets the dishes/silverware and this just adds to the germs that are passed from child to child while they are surviving in 57’ temperatures in the building. Almost every child has a runny nose and no Kleenex – hands and sleeves will do! The kids all have three layers on while in the building. When they go outside, even on warm days (we have had one or two lately where the sun has blessed us with an appearance), they are bundled in two coats and a hat! A sweater that was on Misha one day is on Aloosha the next day – and where Misha wiped his nose is the next spot for Aloosha! A true germ factory! The first thing we do when we get to the hotel is to wash up really well, hot – hot water and lots of soap!

One of the saddest moments I have had while here, the middle new brother came up to me after snack time and said “Mama, I am cold”. They/we are not allowed to wear shoes inside and most the building is either painted concrete floors or linoleum. The cold just permeates the place from the floor on up. There are a few large rugs in the play area and the bedroom. I put the little guy’s hands on the skin of my stomach to help warm him quickly and just held him. It broke my heart that these kids have so little, and then to be cold on top of it! The next day, John and I looked at portable large radiators at the Sony Store (stores are called Magazines). We purchased two along with extension cords – one for the cavernous bedroom and one for the dining room. We were going to get one for the playroom when the caregivers approached us and asked us instead to buy them a new compact vacuum cleaner – theirs had quit working (we figured out the universal inhaling while holding your hand to your lips and then not inhaling!). Who needs language to communicate? I tried to see if they wanted John to look at the broken one first, he is very handy, but we couldn’t communicate this (he is going to look at it this weekend anyway). We bought a new one day and you would’ve thought we showed up with electricity! It was during the time when one Luba was leaving and Luda was coming … they are amazed and very excited and very thankful! The first thing Luba did was vacuum the entire rug in the playroom. All the kids were in on the excitement and running around with the attachments – which I very meanly had to collect and place in the laundry room so that they weren’t lost or destroyed! Although our Facilitator has given the Director a donation, it is nice to impact their world in an immediate way and one that we can see their appreciation.

The other photos are of the kids playing with the pink play tunnels we bought that pop up and down and store easily – they turned them into “tube people” and proceeded to knock each other down. They play very rough and this is one thing we will have to watch with Misha when he gets home. We also brought pirate eye patches, hats, and earrings for Pirate Day – they lasted a little while. You have to know what a pirate is and where he wears his eye patch to figure things out! Target had a great portable 101 Dalmatians Play House that we brought over … now John knows what was in those four 50.7 lb (23 KG) suitcases – ladies, fight for your .7 lb per bag with your airline – it is worth it to bring more stuff over for the kids! The fish, “River fish” the ladies explained, used to eating bread crumbs and not needing their tank cleaned, live in a huge tank in the corner. Two hamsters live in their cage nearby. One day they were getting their cage cleaned, so I snapped their photo in a bucket.

One day after snack, John played the “Tower of Terror” Game. It started because they have swing set structures outside, but no swings. John put Misha on a chair in the dining room and was swinging him forward and backwards using John’s legs. Then he pulled the chair up and slowly let the chair down again. Misha was giggling up a storm and I warned John that if he started this carnival ride, he was going to have 7 customers in line! By the time they were done with “Papa”, he was exhausted! The kids eat John up as they don’t usually see men – especially a loving man if their father was otherwise!

The area where they brush teeth and wash up before meals is also in the dining room. I wondered where the new toothpaste was that we picked up in Kyiv – not by their brushes … and Jonna showed me a little pocket up on the opposite wall – full of the toothpaste that we brought! Apparently Misha eats the toothpaste if they leave it down – “All the children” I asked motioning eating toothpaste? “No, just Misha”! We have a toothpaste eater! Reminded me of the old commercial for Life Cereal – ok, I am dating myself here and you younger generation won’t understand – “Let’s see if Mikey will eat it”, “No, not Mikey, he’d eat anything!”, “But he likes it”!

Thank you for all of the comments and well wishes. We are going nuts here with boredom and from BBC World News it looks as if things are “going to hell in a hand basket” as my Grandma would say back home!

Lots of love from Twyla, John, Mari, and Mikey (The Toothpasteinator)