Ukraine Day 5 – Sergei's Birthday!!!!!
We were not able to go to the school until 3 today, so we could enjoy a leisurely morning. However, not too leisurely, because we were anxious to switch to a new hotel where there would be a real toilet and private shower. We got our suitcases ready for taxi Sergei to pick us up at 11:00am. He arrived and helped us load our stuff into his car. We drove to the new hotel and found our room. We got really excited because the exterior and entry of the hotel was really nice. However, when we got to our room, it was not quite as nice. We were to share a room with separate bedrooms with Tonya and her sister-in-law. There were two separate bedrooms, but they were both very small and there was only a large closet in the second bedroom for any storage of our luggage. The bathroom was okay, at least it was private. There was a real toilet and bathtub with a hand held shower. I was happy to be able to wash in private.
We settled in to the room and I got my shower. Yeah! In the meantime, taxi Sergei brought Tonya and her sister-in-law to the room as well. They had gone from a much nicer hotel to this one. They had wifi before, but we could not get wifi here. After my shower, I walked to a cafe with Tonya and her sister-in-law while Darren rested in the hotel room. We got a quick internet fix and a little to eat. Then Ksenia called and said she could help Tonya exchange some money. After we went to the bank, Ksenia took us to the grocery store to get a birthday cake for Sergei. I also was looking for finger nail polish remover. I did not see any at first and Ksenia asked if they had some. The clerk said no, but as I turned to leave I saw a small container of polish remover pads. We decided that they must think that it is not the same thing. I bought them anyway. I also bought some juice, Coke, plates, forks, etc. to go with the chocolate cake. Then we went back to the hotel to get ready to go with Sergei back to the orphanage. I was so excited to have a cake for him.
We arrived at the orphanage along with Tonya and Tressa, but did not know where our boys were. She said they usually hung out at the gazebo near the office building and the kids would come and find them. So we did that and soon we saw our boys come to us. I am so thankful that we were able to share his birthday with him. We showed him the cake and gave him his birthday gift of a camera and some chocolate candy. Then we spent quite a while trying to figure out the best place to eat the cake and find some friends to join us. We ran into dead ends and locked doors. Eventually, we went to his room and found 2 of his friends to have the cake and soda. The rest of the goodies he locked in the storage room by his bedroom. Then Sergei and I played a game of checkers...or kind of a game of checkers using chess pieces. It was an intense game and I made some dumb moves and he beat me! Darren was happy about that, because he thinks I always win. Soon someone came and told Sergei he had to go outside. So we made our way back to the sport stadium as he calls the area with the sand covered rocks that they use for “futball” and the various sports equipment surrounding the field. We had brought two soccer balls with us this time and used the one to play soccer for a bit. At first we just kicked the ball around, but as a few more kids showed up they wanted to try to play a scrimmage. We chose sides and
Darren and Sergei were on one team and I was with a bunch of little guys. Although the little ones and I outnumbered them, it was pretty evenly matched. We both were able to score a few times. But Sergei dominated the game and Darren hung back at goal. At one point he had blown down the field and was ready to score again, but I grabbed him and let my little guys get the ball back to try to score. He did not mind too much my sneaky tactics, but I only did it once and the rest of the game played fair. Most of the time he blew past me, but every once in a while, I got the advantage and got the ball back to my team mates. Little by little we had more boys join us. By the time we had to get ready to leave we had a really good game going. None of us wanted to stop, but the clock was ticking and the sun setting and we had to say good bye. I know that it was only for the night, but it made me sad just the same.
We drove back to Oktyrka with Tonya and Tressa and had Sergei drop us off at the smaller cafe with wifi for dinner and internet. After dinner we walked back to the hotel to get some sleep. I have been having a hard time getting to sleep, so I read for awhile and then finally drifted off for a few hours of restless sleep.
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