Extreme Day

Sunday, 3 June

For the first time since we landed in Ukraine, I uttered the words “I’m cold.” Outside.

The day dawned with the promise of sun and heat; I dressed as usual in lightweight capris and a camisole, knowing that we would be outside most of the day; I gave up carrying the contingency sweatshirt weeks ago. But clouds began to form late in the morning.

We picked Masha up at 11:20, and sat on a park bench outside the orphanage to share with her the plans for the next couple of weeks so she would know what to expect. We explained that a week from tomorrow, we would leave the orphanage and travel to the capital of the region, and then on to Kiev. We told her that she would be able to write letters and call her friends, but that she needed to spend some with them this week.

We also explained about the baby shower that we had before we came to Ukraine, and that there were some special gifts for her that we had brought with us, and that she would receive when she gets home. We wanted her to understand that these gifts were special, welcoming her to our family, and also that she wouldn’t be receiving gifts like this every day.

We could sense that Masha had reached her limit for this conversation; she acknowledged that she understood everything, and that she had no questions. We are learning that she is not afraid of being honest with us about her feelings, though…when Kseniya asked if she as excited about coming to the US, she said “no, not really.” She realizes that she is going to be leaving everything she knows, and moving into a culture that is totally different, where she doesn’t know what’s appropriate or expected behavior and she doesn’t understand or speak the language, and she realizes that it’s not going to be like last summer’s holiday where we were always doing something fun. But she still knows that she wants to come with us and be part of our family.

While this isn’t the storybook scene that we had imagined, the three of us holding hands and skipping onto the plane, it’s honest. It’s true. It’s the reality of messy and conflicting human emotions that each of us experience, but that we often try to hide. My heart goes out to her as she works through everything that’s going on inside her. I love her more for her openness.

After the talk, we went to a bookstore to let her choose some Russian books that she would like to bring back to America, and then we went to a pizzeria for lunch. At one point, I commented that we wanted her to be happy, and she replied “I can’t be happy all the time.” We found this to be a very mature and honest evaluation of life.

The happiness came, though, when we hopped in the car and headed to Extreme Park. Masha lit up, choosing rides and buying tickets. She began using more English, explaining which of us was to ride which rides with her, and telling us that she wanted to do next. Each time she headed for the ticket booth, she would point at herself and say “I…” and then move two fingers in a running motion and made a little sound effect. We then supplied the word “run.” Rather than just nodding and running off, she repeated “I run,” and then took off to buy tickets. After a couple of these, she remembered and spontaneously announced, “I run.” Making progress!!!!

About an hour into our time at Extreme Park, the dark clouds rolled in, and we started hearing rumbling. A little thunder and lightning do not seem to trouble the ride operators at Extreme Park. So, as a cold breeze started whipping around my bare shoulders, raising goosebumps the size of small mountains on my arms, Mark and Masha continued to ride.

Mark tried and tried to get Masha to ride the Space Gun to no avail. In order to make a point, Mark decided to ride it by himself. Masha bought a ticket for him, and he climbed up the stairs while Masha and I watched and said “No Way!!!” He then sat strapped into the seat for a solid ten minutes while the operator waited for more riders with a very bored look on her face. Each time it looked like she was ready to start it, another person would come running up.

Finally, the ride started up, and Mark realized that he had not watched the pattern of this ride before he boarded it. It swung back and forth twice, then two full circles…all fine and expected. Then it swung to the top and stopped at the peak, leaving Mark hanging upside down, a thousand feet in the air (ok, more like 75), for what seemed like forever. Masha would have been screaming her head off.

Sasha finally arrived, and I ran to the car to warm up as Masha rode the swings one final time. They hopped in the car a few minutes later, and we returned to the orphanage while Masha was still in a good mood. We hugged her goodbye, and headed back to the apartment as the skies opened up and dumped a cold rain over the city.

We picked up our laptop, headed back for some internet time, and then to the grocery store, and a quiet dinner at the apartment. Evenings go slowly and quickly all at once…we are very glad that we brought a LOT of movies, books, and music. Shopping and making dinner takes some time, but we have also had opportunity to more time than usual together. We are feeling a little disconnected from the outside world; as I write, we have Mark’s iPod playing NPR podcasts that he downloaded before we left….it will be nice to get back home and watch Meet The Press!