We Love Petropavlovsk

Today I thought I would share a little more about our experiences in this wonderful town of Petropavlovsk.

As I had said before, most people live in one of the apartments. You get to know your neighbors pretty well, and if we could communicate with ours I know we would be great friends! There is a lady next door that always opens her door when she hears the kids come up the stairs (ours are the loudest kids, so I know she knows it is us when we come!), and because it is four flights of stairs the kids are usually up there fast waiting for us to huff and puff our way up! She just starts talking to them and smiling. Who knows what she is saying but she is very nice.

Outside our apartment, and most I think, there are play areas for the children. It is usually deserted during the day, but around 4:00 there are lots of people coming and going, and the children are out playing, the babushka’s are sitting on the benches talking, and there is quite a lot of activity going on. Although there are a lot out and about, everyone is peaceful and quiet and it is so enjoyable to be outside and read and watch people. As I watch the people coming and going I am reminded of people I know at home. It is funny how you can see someone half way across the world and think of someone else. The Babushka’s are my favorite to watch, they all wear these scarves on their heads and most are usually in dresses. It is just as you would imagine!

Everyone walks here. There are lots of cars but I have wondered where they park their cars. Today I found out that there are these little tin shed garages, so some people have to walk ½ hour or so to get to their car! So usually you walk unless you are going far distances. Also you must be on guard while you are walking, because the cars seem to have more of the right away than the pedestrians. We had to get use to the lights also, they will flash yellow just before they turn green, instead of just before turning red, and when the do not walk sign comes on, it truly means do not walk, you have NO time left, and the cars don’t care if you are still in the road, they are going! Larry almost got hit today on a little sidewalk while at the market where mostly people were walking. He had no inclination that a car would be making its way down the narrow path. The mirror of the car actually hit him and the driver starting yelling at him, he just stood there and shrugged his shoulders.

One of the popular things to eat here is “Sheshshalee” (and I know that is not how you spell it, and I am still trying to learn how to say it!!), but basically there are these outdoor grills set up all over town, and they are shish-ka-bobs. There is chicken, pork or beef, and they eat them right off the stick like a corndog. They also put ketchup on them and we found that it is one of the favorites of the girls! Yesterday when we took the girls for the day, the orphanage was very specific in how we were to feed them. They weren’t allowed to have soda or candy and we were to make sure they rested during their nap time. We had them “rest” while watching Tom & Jerry, and we figured the ice cream was their dairy supplement, and the chips were their vegetables!!! We told them to make sure they told the caretakers that we fed them “good” food!

All joking aside though, the people here eat very healthy. Everything you get off the streets is fresh from their gardens, the tomatoes are vine ripened and wonderful!!! Same with the fresh raspberries and melons. At the orphanage they eat everything from scratch as well. For the luncheon they served us, they told us the lamb was from a donated ewe that someone brought last week! The children help with planting and tending the garden, and everything is healthy. We have been spoiled having everything so fresh! Tomorrow Sasha and Maria are going to take us to the forest to pick our own mushrooms and maybe raspberries!!!!

The children here are very well behaved. I may have mentioned this before, but I am just so amazed, especially at the orphanage. I really believe the diet and the structure have a lot to do with how the children behave and many in America would benefit in putting these practices into place. I think that is why they were so specific with us. But I think it takes more disciplined parents, and we weren’t even able to follow their guidelines for the one day we had them!! Although, I was really good to not buy them the Soda and the Cotton Candy that they begged for!!! I am learning though, and this has taught me a lot.

We got to visit the girls again today. We weren’t able to go in the morning because Maria met with our judge (by the way, she said it went well and even the judge commented on how much all the children look alike!). So we went this afternoon. The girls are always so happy to see us and come in with huge smiles on their faces. One of the favorite sports here is Football (which in America it is called Soccer). Boys are always playing it downstairs in the park. Since it is time to sign up for the Fall League in Soccer I asked the girls if they wanted to play soccer. Nastya immediately said “Da” which is “yes”, but Maria was hesitant. I asked her if she would rather do gymnastics, which brought a huge smile. She then told Nastya that soccer was for boys, so then Nastya said she didn’t want soccer. But when I told her that girls play soccer too, she went back to soccer and made a “in your face” look at Maria!!! They definitely act like sisters, but they are so different in personalities. I got special permission to have Nastya play on Nathanael’s team so she is very excited! And Maria is excited to do gymnastics; she is constantly showing me her “moves”.

Today I also brought a book, first 500 words, with lots of pictures for the girls to get familiar with. I am hoping if they need something they can point to one of the pictures. One page is of a doctor’s office and I told them girls they would be going to the doctor and the dentist. Nastya immediately told me she didn’t need to she was perfectly fine. Another page was of a grocery store with different foods, and another of a kitchen. One is of a birthday party and I was telling Maria that we would have a birthday party for her when we got home because her birthday is September 16th! She said she had never had a birthday party before so she was very excited. I told her she may not have that many friends of her own yet, but that she had tons of cousins, and neighbors that would make a great birthday party!

I also was showing them different foods and asked them what their favorite was. Nastya told me she loved all food!! And judging from what I have observed I am pretty sure that is true. Yesterday while eating the Sheshshalee they brought a napkin full of raw onions. She just started downing them like they were candy!!!! I about died!!!!! Now I will have to buy onions!!! And when I asked her what she liked best about yesterday she said “the food!” But she did say that she had a stomach ache last night when going to bed. Many have asked how to say her name, you would say it “NAHS T (like the letter t) YA” with the emphasis on the NAHS.

Maria is my story teller. When we first met Maria her teacher at the orphanage told us that she made up wonderful stories and told the children about her dreams all the time. We are starting to get a sense of what her teacher meant. Sometimes when Maria is talking Masha will just look at me like you won’t believe this, and then tell me what she said. I think most of the time the stories are true (I think! Who knows!), but they are quite interesting and sometimes exaggerated. But they are always quite entertaining!!! Maria is also very coordinated and will be our computer whiz. She already has figured out the game boys, she saw the laptop while she was here and insisted on us showing it to her, she grasped it very well, she is great with the soccer ball, plays badminton and is very good, and she is learning very quickly. She is a very smart little girl. We are still trying to get information regarding their past but nobody seems to know anything. Maria has many stories about her Dad but never about her Mother. I was told our lawyer, Svetlana (we haven’t met her yet but Masha talks to her all the time!) has some information and will bring it when she comes for our court date on Tuesday.

We talked some more about us leaving and then coming back. They both have accepted it and are doing well. Today Maria said the prayer again, but this time Masha was here to interpret. She thanked God for us coming to visit today, and she thanked God for getting to come be part of our family. It was very sweet! We also got permission to have Masha come and visit the girls while we are gone. That will be great, and I might even have her bring the girls to Almaty and meet me there. Sometimes it is hard to get a flight from Almaty to Petro (as we know because we had to drive 4 extra hours when we first got here!), or you can’t get a flight the same day you fly in (as we know because we will be spending an extra day in Almaty when we leave!) so having her bring the girls might save me on time and money. We will see how it goes.

All in all we are starting to get sad that it is coming to a close this next week. It has been so fun to be here for us. Caleb says he wants to live here and loves it, but our little Nathanael is getting very homesick. He has been having a harder time with the adjustment and sometimes doesn’t communicate his feelings as well as Caleb does. But today I knew he was frustrated so we just talked and the thing he wanted to talk about was Tippie, our dog. I knew he missed home. He misses his dog, and he misses his friends, and he can’t wait to start school. I think I will have a hard time with them going back to school after being with them so much this trip. I know this sounds crazy but I don’t want them to have to go to school as soon as we get home!

Oh, one more story I have to share about Caleb. Yesterday at the park we had Caleb and Maria ride these little quads (50 horse power). Because Caleb has gone out many times with his cousins on quads he was very confident and felt that he could drive fast and stand up and do all sorts of things. Well that was at least until he took a corner too fast and crashed!!!! He went over the protective tires and I think scared himself, and all those watching. It also humbled him a bit and he stopped “hot dogging” it!