Day 40 ~ Working and Walking

11. August

When I woke up Olga and I were really tired still, my alarm wasn’t going off because I later figured out that the Daniel at work had changed the time so at night it said AM and PM in the morning. Haha, well Olga finished her cake and it looked totally different, but delicious!

When I got to work there were two ladies giving a presentation on Alexander Pushkin, a famous Russian poet. Apparently before I arrived they had costumes on and also played some games and asked questions that had to do with some of the characters in Pushkin’s writings. When I got there they were getting ready to show a small DVD with some small cartoon stories. The kids were asked questions about it and then it was all over.

Kids were as active as usual on the playground today! Daniel was very demanding of my attention, he wanted me to push him a lot on the swings and we even sat and colored together. Haha, he asks me to pick him up and carry him around, and when I do so he tries to kiss me. He’s sweet. I guess when you have a telephone you really can make an impression to a five year old.

I played kickball and catch with Veka and Allosha. I love when they bring out the ball, it’s my favorite! Oh another activity I haven’t done in forever and it shows, jump rope! Alla and Lera and one of the staff, also Alla, and Francesca was jump roping so I joined them. Haha, it was fun, and apparently I’ve lost the technique for properly jump roping, oh well, it was enjoyable. It was all great fun!

During lunch with Steve he talked to me about all the games they play at his work to pass the time, he explained some of them to me. We listened to some music and also bought some ice cream! It was good and had a mint sauce over it! Oh, I had a piece of Olga’s cake, she had a small container she made for the two of us, it didn’t have all the frosting on it like the bigger one, but it was great. It was lemon and honey cake from what I could gather. It was amazing.

I spent the remaining time before work reading my book. I haven’t casual read for fun in a while, I am glad I’ve found some time to do so

Work in the afternoon was interesting. I did a puzzle with Anna and then basically arts and crafts the rest of the time. Eventually some people showed up and I figured out it was Allsoha’s family, his mother, uncle, grandmother and father.
His mother looked fairly young, the grandmother looked like she spends most of her time drinking, you could tell by the look of her eyes. The uncle looked like he was in a daze and the father came in separately from the rest of the others, was drunk with a beer bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He mumbled something and then turned back and went to sit on the streetcurb.

From what I could see Allosha’s mother was squatted in front of him and talking to him, she was crying, and Allosha was just looking around, not really interested in any of them being there. It was a really interesting situation, and it was a little awkward they all just showed up, and stood around. I am surprised with all of the other children they didn’t go inside, although at one time they did go under one of the verandas. The grandmother acted like she was seeing him for the first time in a long time, trying to act all affectionate, Allosha still didn’t seem like he was interested. From what I could see he wasn’t upset or anything, but didn’t respond. I don’t know, the whole situation was interesting, but it made me think of the families that these children are coming from.

Reminded me of what Lena told me the other day, that most of the families are drunks that have no jobs. I started thinking that this explains a lot of why the children act the ways they do. Veka wants attention, the others kick, and hit each other a lot, some don’t listen well at all, and overall thinking of what background they come from, it’s easy to understand.

It makes me feel as if it’s unfair for me to say I like one child more than the other based on their actions because I honestly don’t know where they’re coming from, and don’t know what exactly makes them act the way they are. My job is to just accept them for who they are and show them that I care, don’t be judgmental and too upset when they misbehave, or whine.

It certainly was interesting to see the interaction between Allosha and his family. It made me feel sad for these situations. I remember Lena telling me last week that Allosha is a very good little boy. For the most part he’s very laid back, doesn’t cry or cause too much trouble.

When I got home from work I went over the store to buy some more yogurt and a card, and then Olga got home we had to take Beesha for a walk. Beesha and Shira are becoming a lot more affectionate with me, come up to me more and sit on my lap or by my feet. They’re both adorable, I wonder if they can sense I am leaving soon. Whenever Olga comes home from work Beesha is ecstatic and jumps all over her and barks like crazy. When she leaves in the morning he usually just goes and lies down on her bedroom floor. A couple times he’s actually gotten really sad and howls.
It was funny, when we were walking, Olga was getting tired and wanted to go back inside. Beesha clearly didn’t want to, he wouldn’t come to her, and just sat in the grass looking at her with a no I don’t want to look on his face. Haha, so she looked at me and was like Beesha doesn’t want to go home, let’s keep walking. It’s funny how much control Beesha has. I asked Olga how long she stayed up last night making her cake, she said she went to bed at two and got six hours of sleep!

I noticed tonight more than ever how many babies there were around. It seemed every couple was out walking with their babies, but my goodness they’re all adorable!
When we got home we relaxed and went to bed early! We lead quite exciting lives I know!
Love, Sasha