Another trip and some fun

January 25: It was very hard for me to wake up the next morning because I had not been able to go to sleep as early as I had needed to the night before due to the kids calling and wanting to talk to us. I made my way to eat breakfast and then joined Misha in the taxi. We drove to the orphanage where we picked up Zhenya and gave Sasha his birth certificate and passport so that he could go and make a notarized copy of it while we were gone. Once again, our drive made very good time and we made it to the Tax Office by about 9:30am. There wasn’t a very long line so Misha was able to quickly speak to a lady about our situation. After showing her the Court Decree, passport and other documents that she needed, she quickly made the two corrections in the database. She was very apologetic and more that willing to promise that she would call the office in Zaporozhe and tell them that the changes had been made. She also gave Misha their phone number so that we could follow up with them. We then to the taxi to Molochansk and began looking for the doctor. When we couldn’t find her at first, the Director’s secretary arrived and was able to call someone to bring the form to the office. We compared the form to Viktor’s form and found that it looked the same. After saying goodbye to Zhenya, we headed back to Berdyansk.

On our way back, Sasha called to tell us that he had completed his mission and that he and Viktor would like for us to go with them to the bank when we got back to Berdyansk. Misha and I agreed to go even though we were both ready for a nap. When the bank reopened at 2:00pm, we all walked the several blocks to the bank where the boys had their accounts. Viktor had already withdrawn the rest of his money and had most of it changed into dollars but since Sasha was only 16, he needed me to sign with him to withdraw his money and close his account. The bank manager assisted us with the process and it only took about 20 minutes. I asked the boys if they wanted to get some lunch before they went back to the orphanage and they said that they did so we decided to eat at the Cossack Cafeteria. We all enjoyed our meals and talking with Misha’s help and the boys asked me to come and play ping pong with them for a while. We walked back to the hotel and I went to the room to check on Tamara. She wasn’t feeling well so she told me to just go and be with the boys for a while and she would rest. I was starting to feel like I was getting the same cold that Tamara had been struggling with for days but I wanted to have some fun with the boys (especially since Sasha had told me that he was going to beat me).

When I got to the orphanage, Sasha showed me a book of English phrases that he had bought and I explained several that he had questions about to both of the boys. Galina came down the hall toward us and said she wanted to show me some of the items that they had received from the shipment that we had sent. I asked Viktor to take pictures because I had not brought my camera with me. We took pictures of the soccer goal, pillows, blankets, and towels. She also told me that all the clothes had been distributed to the children. After this, it was time for the ping pong challenge. First, I played Viktor a few games which ended in a 2-2 tie while Sasha played against a friend of theirs (Andre). I thought that I was ready for Sasha but I guess I must be out of practice since he beat me three straight games with each one having a larger margin of victory. I congratulated him on beating me soundly and then quickly decided that we should play doubles the rest of the time with him as my partner. It was dark when I told them that I needed to go back to the hotel. Viktor called a taxi for me and they walked with me to leave when it arrived. When I got back to the room, Tamara and I talked and I rested for a while before we went downstairs for dinner. After dinner, I went to be and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I went to sleep.