Our 2nd & 3rd visits

Our 2nd visit with the kids went pretty well.  We had the initial crying with them when they came into the room but after a few short minutes they were fine.  It was raining out so going outside was not an option & we had to make due inside.  Angelina warmed up to Dennis very well and Anthony warmed up to me.  Such a change from our first meetings back in November.  She seemed like she was going to be the harder of the two yet she has warmed up to us very well.  Dennis was saying Momma and point to me, Poppa and point to himself and then point to her and say Angelina and she got that really quickly.  Anthony was also calling us by name when prompted.  Angelina was giving kisses and was very playful with Dennis and Anthony was rather shy.  He is cautious with Dennis, always peeking out of the corner of his eye watching what is going on and then looks down quickly when Dennis makes eye contact with him.  It is kind of adorable!

Our 3rd visit on Saturday morning we needed to find the kids outside with there group and when we did and the caregivers told them we were here they both smiled and ran to us together - I didn't have the camera ready for that and missed a magical moment.  They went with us pretty easily with Anthony still being very cautious.  I went to pick him up and he cried.............Angelina actually motions for Poppa to pick her up - she is already working him to be a daddy's girl.  We brought bubbles with us and they both enjoyed them - again Angelina picked it up quickly and of course wanted to hold the bottle and make bubbles with Poppa.  Anthony was his cautious self but got the idea and was having fun with us as well - still peeking out to check out what Poppa was doing but wanted nothing to do with really going near him - he will go near Poppa to give him the ball or get a cookie but with hesitation.  Angelina was all about hugs to Poppa and having him carry her around.  Anthony was happy to hold my hand and walk.  As we walked around at certain times we would run into the caregivers walking with other children & both Angelina and Anthony were saying go away we are with Momma & Poppa (this being translated to us by our coordinator) and it was quite funny especially Anthony he would wave his hand and speak saying something and then say Momma.  Angelina again was all about Poppa and actually was reluctant to walk with me or let me hold her or let me play with her - she would give me the ball but still was really only interested in her Poppa.  We did bubbles again and after they both spilled the bubbles I started giving Anthony twigs and pebbles to fill his bottle, Angelina quickly wanted in on the action and of course neither would let the bottles go and walked shaking them to make noise.  Now the very interesting part of our visit today was when it was time for us to bring them inside, Anthony walked right to the door and motioned for me to let him put his bottle in our bag.( I was surprised by this thinking he'd want to keep it).  Angelina was having a meltdown as she did not want to go inside.  Anthony came back out the door and spoke to his sister which translated to her to not cry we are going inside now.........she was not happy and continued to cry all the way up to her room, I feel sorry for ever tries to take that bottle from her!  My how  things have changed.  At first it was crying when they saw us and now crying for us not to leave................... PROGRESS!!!

So some things to note.  The orphanage is almost identical to the one in Kaz.  The building itself is the exact same layout and the funny thing about that is the twins group's room is exactly the same room that Nicholas' group was in both buildings.  The orphanage is well kept and clean.  No strong food smells or anything like in Kaz but the grounds outside are not well kept like in Kaz.  The weeds are so overgrown and almost as tall as the kids themselves and although they have more kid stuff outside then Kaz but again everything is overgrown with weeds.

We have seen many other kids and they are adorable..................yesterday when we dropped them off after our visit the little ones were all in undershirts and underwear with socks and sandals - summer garb.  The condition of the undergarments were so old....it was heartbreaking to me and it makes me sad that this is all that these children have. 

The restaurant in the hotel has an English menu - thank goodness although we don't need to worry about that for breakfast - breakfast is included with the room and you don't get to pick what you want to eat they bring it over the breajfast.  Yesterdays was good - hot porridge with bread and salami and a small pancake with sour cream and it was very tasty.  Today it was porridge again, salami and bread and 2 sunny side up eggs with what looked like a hot dog but I'm sure it was some type of sausage.  So I am eating pretty light in the morning. Dinner last night was good - I had a chicken dish with french fries but for an appetizer I ordered calamari and it was tasty - I'm sure that will be the staple for me at dinner.  Funny they have no pasta or pizza on the menu (in Kaz I ate pizza most every night).  I'm thinking we will at least one night venture out to eat but it doesn't seem to be much around restaurant wise and not having anyone with us makes us a little less reluctant to travel around.  The coordinator with us everyday really doesn't understand English very well and when we do ask her things most of the time she doesn't respond so we are feeling a bit lost.  The main person who we feel should be here with us is not arriving until Thursday morning - the day of court so I'm guessing our court prep is not going to be very intense since we won't have much time for prepping beforehand.

Here are some photos from our first visit