Day 13

Back in Slavyansk

Our new motel ‘Cesar’ is located a few miles from the city center. It’s in a lovely area near a park and a small lake. The road goes by a small gold domed orthodox church. Picturesque. There’s a bit of a view that allows us to see houses on a shallow hill some miles away. It’s nice. Cheaper. But too far from the orphanage. We were told our old hotel, ‘Hotel Europe,’ would be available Friday noon.

Morning came too soon. Olga (our faithful facilitator) wanted us up early to start the paper chase. We half-consciously loaded into a tiny little taxi and headed to the town center, “Lenin Square,” where the large municipal building was located. The county social worker was on the third floor. Olga told us we didn’t have to go up but could wait downstairs. A kindly security guard pointed to some chairs to keep us from loitering on the otherwise very busy premises. The building was cold. Rolan closed his eyes. I got out my dictionary in an attempt to entertain myself and use the time wisely.

Forty minutes later the necessary documents were in hand and we were off in search of some breakfast. The beloved pizza place was calling our name. Not only do they serve pizza, but breakfast crepes (called bilinis) filled with fruit of choice, a variety of salads (Ukraine has something going here, America!) baked hot dishes, and the required two varieties of borshch. They have some desserts too. It wasn’t until we had been several times that I realized there was no smoking allowed. (Not that I was smoking or anything). Now, you must realize that almost every American family that goes to Ukraine ends up frequenting a particular restaurant of their choice in the city where they are staying. You eat out often when you live in a hotel. It’s work to decipher the menu so you learn to say particular words and end up sticking with that. We like this restaurant so much that we even got a discount card!

Breakfast finished, Olga bid us farewell and went to find out how Tanya’s required medical exams were doing and to push along the paperwork. We decided to catch a bus to say hello to Sasha and Nastia and tell them we were back. Gentle Readers, you have met some genuinely public transportation-ally challenged people. The city center is in the middle of town (goes without saying) our new motel was east of city center and the orphanage is west and north a bit. You would think well educated, reasonably sensible people as Rolan and myself could get on a bus that would take us in the right direction or sort of. No. We got on the bus and after a few minutes could not recognize any of our surroundings. I finally noticed the lake and then the church and I couldn’t believe how we allowed ourselves to get that turned around. We decided to return to the hotel and do some work and then try again to visit the girls in the afternoon. I napped. Rolan worked.

After lunch we made a second attempt at getting to the orphanage. We walked back to the bus stop, caught the bus back to town and retraced our steps to the center square. With the sun out, it was easier to determine the proper direction and soon discovered the offensive street that tricked us. It curved. Ah. We were off by a block. So near and yet so far.

We played cards with the kids. Anya and Tanya came in and I begged Tanya to join us. Crazy Eights. I was amazed at Sasha’s English. Anya has already started her English lessons with them. We decided to all go for pizza! Trolley into town. Food is cheap here. We can get a medium pizza (multiple toppings), drinks, salads, a bowl or two of borshch and maybe dessert for 5 for about $20-$25. Sasha can really pack it away. They are so pleased to get unlimited food. I’m afraid they will order too much and waste it. They know one of mom’s favorite sayings is, “Nyet musor etta.” Don’t throw away food. So far they have been good about that.