Weekend Orphanage Visits

I spent my first night in Orekhovo-Zuyevo.  This hotel allows me to go back and forth to the orphanage very quickly, it's only a five minute cab ride away and the hotel and orphanage call the cab for me.  Today I was able to see the little man twice.  This morning he was playful and he seems to be adjusting to the attention he is receiving; I think he's actually starting to like it. 

Orekhovo-Zuyevo is not like Moscow in that there are very few English speaking people here.  All of the conversations I have usually end up with me and my Russian counterpart saying I don't understand.  Today in-between my visits to the orphanage, I had to exchange money to pay my hotel bill.  I tried to talk to the woman at the front desk without success.  I have a thing called a Russian Language Map, it is a laminated document with common words and phrases in English and in Russian.  Today it came in very handy, what I wanted was for someone to actually take me to the exchange and that's exactly what I got.  I pointed to the phrase on my map asking where is the money exchange and asked for directions.  When she couldn't tell me she got her counterpart to walk me over.  I then made him come inside with me in case someone tried to speak to me.  Success!

This afternoon I went back to the orphanage.  Normally when I arrive, the orphanage doctor tells the little mans care takers that I am there and then they get him ready and bring him out.  This afternoon when I got to the orphanage, the orphanage doctor wanted to make sure I would be able to see him when she is not there so she took me by the hand and led me upstairs to the playroom for his group.  I understood what she was doing even though I couldn't understand what she was saying to me.  She told the caretakers that I would be coming up to get him when she was not there.  As I approached the playroom I could see the kids sitting around tables finishing their snacks.  The little man saw the director then leaned over and saw me, when he saw me he put a big smile on his face, it was a real indication that he starting to bond with me and it made me feel great!  The director even commented on his smile.  Then I went back downstairs to wait for him.  Lost in all of this communication to the care takers was the fact that I was waiting for him downstairs.  After a while I went back upstairs and they were very surprised to see me, they took the little man to get him changed and indicated that I should sit down in the playroom to wait for him.  This is unprecedented access, you usually see the place where you spend time with your child and no where else in the orphanage.  I would love to get a picture of the playroom but I don't think I'll be able to.  I sat on the couch and all of the other children in his group came over, they were told that I was the little man's Mama.  Several of them started calling me Mama.  When the little man came in and sat on my lap he was not happy at all with the other children being near me and the Mama talk, his reaction was surprising to me. 

We went downstairs and spent a couple of hours together this afternoon.  He was very quiet when we met in March, now he is becoming much more verbal with each visit.  He talks to others as they walk by and he says things to me which I don't understand.  Another way I got him to talk, unintentionally, was to take something away from him, he was not happy and he let me know it. 

This morning when I got up it was snowing.  After the snow stopped, it rained off and on all day.  I walked around outside between visits and the rain. 

Here's some pictures from my brief walk today.

This is my hotel.

This is a catherdal that I went into.

The name of the cathederal for those of you who can read Russian.

Homes across the street from the hotel.

Posted at 10:42 PM Moscow time.