Day 18 - A visit to Sergei - Wed Oct. 5

Vagif and Darren figuring out a plan

The Open Arms gals gave us the scoop on getting to Pravdinska using a train instead of the bus. We were really excited about trying out the train and having Vagif there to help us navigate made it much more likely we would succeed. We got up early that morning, well around 8am, early for Vagif....and got ready for our adventure. Anika had given Vagif instructions on how to get the bus tickets to Kirkivka which was closer to the orphanage than Oktyrka. We went and bought tickets for our trip there and tickets to return on a later train. We caught the train that left at 10:08am and arrived around 11:50am. It was soo much more comfortable than the bus!!! It was still a long trip, but at a much cheaper price and no bumps that catapulted me out of the seat.
We arrived at Kirkivka and Vagif called the number for the taxi that Anika had recommended. He was actually there waiting, but we did not realize it, so Vagif called again and asked what car to look for. He was sitting across the tracks, so we crossed over and took the much quicker trip to the orphanage.
When we arrived we were not sure where to find Sergei. We heard some kids on the sports field and went down to ask if they knew where he was.Vagif talked to the teacher there, and he sent Zhennya to help me find him. Zhennya checked his class schedule and we went to his classroom. The teacher dismissed him from class and we went back to Dad and Vagif. We talked for a bit in the gazebo and then decided to walk down to the river for a bit.

Me and my guys at the river

It was another beautiful day and we enjoyed being outside. We got some photos and then went back to the sport field. We did not have a soccer ball, so we tried the floppy frisbee a bit, but the wind was pretty uncooperative. We played a bit of Uno and then decided to walk to the store for a snack. Vagif and Sergei seemed to get along well. Vagif noted that his orphanage had been a lot nicer that this one. Although his was in a city and not out in the country. We went back to the sport field and watched some kids play soccer. After a while we decided to use a picnic table to play Uno until it was time for us to leave again.
Leaving him there is so hard. Especially when we still do not know a timeline to have court and bring him with us. But we promised to come back on Friday and that will have to do for now.

Sergei at the sport field

Vagif had arranged for the taxi to return in time for us to catch the 5:20pm train back to Sumy. We road back to the train station and waited for the train. The morning train was a small electric train. The evening train was a larger one with sleeper cars. Our assigned seats were not together and we found some open ones that were closer to each other. We still could not really talk as we had our backs facing each other. I was pretty tired on the trip back, but watched a little boy who was more restless than I as he walked up and down the aisle, back to his mom, over to the window, used his handkerchief to cough or sneeze.He looked about 4 years old, and his mom seemed ready to be done with the trip as well. It was almost another 2 hours until we all got off back in Sumy: a long ride for us and likely a longer ride for a four year old boy!
Back in Sumy, Yarik called to say he would meet us at McDonalds. We got a taxi from the train station back to McDonalds and snuck up behind him. Yarik had eaten but the three of us were very hungry. Yarik had brought his friend Vitaly with him, so we all went back to the hotel room and Darren, Vagif and I ate sandwiches and instant potatoes there. The guys visited and spoke to each other in Ukrainian. We tried to guess some of their conversation and they tried to include us a little bit. It was good to see the 3 of them interacting.
Yarik got his shower and shortly after he and Vitaly went back to school.

Yarik and Vitaly

Darren had to work some, and Vagif was playing games on his phone. We did a little English lesson for a while, and Vagif helped me with Russian for a bit. He decided he does not have enough patience to be a Russian teacher. I was tired and went to sleep. The guys stayed up a while later.