Day 25- Arriving back in Oktyrka - Wednesday Oct. 12

So back to Oktyrka we went. We got everything that was still in our room packed up and paid for the room. We confirmed that the hotel had our big room reserved for us starting Saturday. The gal at the desk called a taxi to take us to the bus station. We had made this trip once before with Yarik and were fairly familiar with the procedure. I was brave enough to try to ask for the two tickets to Oktyrka in Russian. So proud to say, that I was successful and we were rewarded with our two tickets for the bus to Oktyrka. We found the bus, which was set to leave in 5 minutes, so we had arrived just in time. There was even space to stow our carry-ons in the back. This bus ride was not nearly as bad as the last one! It was still bumpy and there was not much space, but I did not fly out of my seat at all. I actually was even able to read a book, which made the time pass more quickly.
From the bus we had called Ksenia with news of our success and had her arrange for taxi Sergei to pick us up at the bus station. As we pulled in, we could see him there waiting. He helped us get our bags and load us into his car. First we went to the hotel and got checked into our room. The room was bigger than the one we left that morning, but not huge. It would be fine for us for a few days.
Next Sergei stopped at a little market, so we could get some food for lunch. We purchased some water, meat, cheese, and rolls to make sandwiches once we got there. We had hoped they would have some pre-made, but we were not so lucky.

Sergei playing with the younger boys

Once again we made the bumpy trip back the awful road to the orphanage. But I was oh so glad to see the familiar sights. We pulled up outside the gate where taxi Sergei would sit and wait as we visited with our Sergei. We went in to find him, unsure of where he might be. The sport field is usually the best place to check first and as we got closer we noticed him playing there with some younger boys. It was nice to not have to try to track him down. He came over and greeted us, but was anxious to get back to the soccer fun. We said we would watch while we ate our lunch. Once we had eaten, we joined the boys to kick the ball around a bit. Then Sergei got called to class.We hoped he would be out soon to rejoin us, but it took a while in which time it started to rain. We had moved from the sport field to the benches near the class building, so as the rain started in earnest, we moved to the shelter of the gazebo. We watched for Sergei to come out of the building. After some time, he returned and we waved from the gazebo. He joined us there and we played some games.

Sergei winning at Uno

First Uno, which Darren was getting really bored with, especially, since Sergei and I were winning most of the hands. Then we got out the checker board and Sergei and I played a round of that. Ukrainian rules are different than American. So I had the advantage and won the game. I need to learn the Ukrainian rules so we can try it his way, and give him an advantage. Next we tried the chess. He was unsure of all the rules of that so Darren was his partner. I am no strategist and totally lost in a short time. Darren helped Sergei take advantage of my mistakes.
We were getting chilly as the rain and temperatures were falling. So we asked if he wanted to watch a movie. He was happy for the chance. We went to his sleeping area and put in the Dawn Treader Narnia movie that we had started on an earlier visit. We forwarded to the part where we had left off and were able to watch through to the end. We still had time to watch a short episode of The Batman cartoon. He liked that as well. It was really nice to be able to spend the time with him today on his own. Once again, the dreaded departure loomed. We walked back outside and gave our hugs. We told him we would come back tomorrow and asked what time would be best, he said 3, so we planned for that. I had also remember to bring his phone and he kept that, so we could call if needed.
Back to Oktyrka, we asked Sergei to stop at the hotel for us to take our backpacks in and then go to the Montpizier restaurant for dinner. We took note of how to get from the hotel to the restaurant, so we could walk back after dinner. Dinner took a while, but it was good. I had the avocado - pine nut salad. Darren had borscht. Then for my main course I ordered the Italian style chicken and vegetables. It had a lot of hot red peppers on it. Not too spicy to eat, but more spicy than I prefer. I was glad I had ordered rice with it to cool it off a little. Darren had ordered chicken livers with mushrooms, so I was not interested in trading, although I think he would have liked mine much better than I did. We paid and walked back to the hotel.

Since we had decent internet again, Darren tried to call his customer. He did not get through at first so we did a Facebook video call with Ellie. She was doing fine. She said it was actually getting easier as time went on without us. Darren suggested he could stay longer. I think if it were not for TJ being homesick, I would have agreed, but TJ really needs his dad! After talking to Ellie, Darren got through to his customer and worked a while. I read a book and then went to sleep.

Day 24 - Another disappointing day - Tuesday Oct. 11

So knowing we would not be having court anytime soon, we wanted to get out to see Sergei again. We had not been there since last Friday and did not have a way to call him. So we were missing him. We also had to switch rooms that morning, so we were hopeful to get everything into a new room in time to get to the train station to catch the 10:08am train. We had all our stuff ready and took it to the front desk. She said they were almost ready to let us in. We paid for the room we had been using and waited a few more minutes. Then they let us carry the suitcases to the new room. The receptionist called a taxi for us and he arrived quickly. We had him take us to the train station and we rushed to the ticket window. It was just a few minutes before 10am. We had our friends write out the request for 2 train tickets to Kirkivka, so we did not have to try to ask for them.
We gave the lady the note and she pointed to a sign and said something in Ukrainian. Of course, the sign was in Ukrainian and we could tell the 10:08 and the Kirkivka, but had no idea what the details were. We called Anika and let her speak to the cashier. Then Anika told us that the train was not going all the way to Kirkivka. Another lady came and talked to Anika on the phone again and Anika told us that there was a connection that we could take when the train had gone as far as it could go, but we did not want to try to run the risk of getting lost and not having a translator around.
With our heads down, we walked all the way back to the hotel. I prayed most of the way. We chatted a bit about some different options and how we could get back to Sergei without the 2 hour bus ride each way and expensive taxi everyday, but were not sure what we should do. Along the way we stopped at a toy store to see if we could find a different game to play besides Uno, which was making Darren crazy. We found a chess/checkers/backgammon game and bought it to take with us the next time we went to the orphanage, which we hoped would be tomorrow.
When we got back to the room, we were both pretty disheartened and Darren took a nap while I worked on catching up with my blog entries. I found that I had made a mistake in our Day count, and also had completely missed a day, so corrected part of the messed up count. Then we got our call from Yarik and he came over. In the meantime we prayed and brainstormed. Our new room had no ethernet and the wifi kept dropping. We had two small single beds, a shower that leaked and no space to eat. We even had to request a refrigerator be moved to the room for our food.  We had really gotten spoiled by the big room in the basement.We came up with a new plan. We would see if the hotel in Oktyrka with the good wifi had a room available. We called Ksenia to see if she could find out. She called back and had made reservations for us for Wednesday through Friday. We would take a taxi or bus and stay out and visit Sergei the next three days and then come back to Sumy when the big room was open again. We called the Open Arms gals and asked if we could leave our big suitcase and extra stuff at their place while we were gone so we could travel lighter and take the bus. They were willing. But would not be ready for us to come over until around 7pm. That was good for us, so we could get something to eat.
I suggested the hotel restaurant, Darren chose the grocery store. We went and got stuff for mashed potatoes, and Kutletis, and some salads for Darren and Yarik. I came back and made a salad with the cucumber and tomatoes that were already cut. The room was small, so we had a lot of rearranging to do to be able to have a place to eat. We all were full and had happy tummies. Darren worked on the computer a bit, or at least tried. Yarik and I did an English lesson. Yarik was not really into the lesson. After a short time, he tried to get out of it and wanted to call Anika to see if they were ready. It was after 7, but she said she would call. I had him do the lesson a little longer and then we did call, because for us to get out there and get Yarik back to town in time to get to his school on time, we did have to hurry a bit. They said it would be fine to come and they called the taxi for us. We loaded our big suitcase and some stuff in a grocery bag and went over. Yarik had to call Anika to give the driver instructions again. We found their place and got our stuff up the 10 flights, okay 2-9 we used the elevator. They were actually planning a trip to Kiev to pick up some team members for their retreat, so we weren't getting in their way too much. We gave hugs and Melissa led us back out to the bus stop. We took the number 4 back to McDonald's and Yarik stayed on to get back to school.
We were both tired, so we got to sleep at a decent time.

Day 23 - Bad News - Monday Oct. 10

So after tough good-byes the day before, we spent the morning being lazy. We knew we had to move rooms the next day, but since we hoped to be either in court, or visiting Sergei, we wanted to try to move this morning. We started getting organized and I went to the desk to see if we could move a day early. Unfortunately, she said there were no other rooms available, so we would have to wait. We needed to exchange more cash to be able to pay for the room the next day, so we went to find a bank that would change our money. We had no real plans for the day, so we thought we would explore some new areas. We went the opposite way of our normal bank and found some other banks that did not have as good of an exchange rate. Finally we found one that was not too bad. I went in and they said they did not have Grivna to exchange. So we walked some more, the next bank we went to wanted my passport to make a copy, then she could not figure out my address and did not speak enough English to ask me. She found someone else in the bank to ask. I pointed to the Pennsylvania on my passport and that was good enough. She started filling out a bunch of paperwork and finally after filling out 2 forms and having me sign them, she gave me the money. Then I signed another receipt and got my copy. I don't think we will go back to that one again.
Darren wanted to exchange his share, so we went back towards our regular bank. In the meantime, Ksenia called and said that she was at Yarik's school and had to talk to us. She said she would meet us downtown. Of course, while Darren was in the bank exchanging the money, she called to let us know she was there. When he came out we called again and found out exactly where she was to meet her. We walked around the block to where she was and she gave us the bad news.
The judge had scheduled us for Thursday, but before Ksenia could let us know about that, the judge called her back to say that her daughter needed surgery and she was canceling everything for that week and would not hold our court until the following Tuesday. So our date was set for Oct. 18th at 2pm. We were so disappointed. Darren had already changed his flight once to the 17th, and now he would have to change it again. It would also mean that I could not take the boys out of their schools until a week later, and postpone our return home another week as well. It was very tough news to take. We asked if we could get another judge, but that would take even more time. There was just nothing we could do. We both just wanted to cry. We really did not know what else to do but go back to the hotel and feel sorry for ourselves.
We did not get much time to have our pity party, because Yarik called a few minutes later and was on his way with his friends. We gave him the news. He was a bit sad, but really pretty much unphased. We on the other hand were struggling to keep our spirits up for these kids who so badly needed love. We were also struggling, because today was Ellie's senior soccer game and we would miss the ceremony that honored the seniors on the teams. But God had other plans for us that day, so we played Uno and made plans to take the kids out for pizza. We realized, that these kids had never had parents to support them at some special ceremony. Even Yarik had missed having us at his very important 9th grade graduation. They needed us here at this time, so we did our best to care for them. Darren had some questions for Anika, so he had called earlier to talk to her. She was in a planning meeting with the team and promised to call back. Yarik called her and found out that they were all at McDonald's and we decided to go meet them there so the kids could see Melissa and Annie who had just arrived back in country that weekend.

Katya, Vitally, and Yarik at McDonald's

Darren and Katya at McD's

They had a sweet reunion, and the girls were so happy to see Yarik happy with his new mom and dad. We were happy to finally meet the rest of the girls who had helped connect us with our new sons. Everyone chatted and caught up on stuff. One of the girls saw a kid out the window and tried to flag him down to invite him to a retreat they were planning. They missed him, but were able to reach him on the cell phone. He was waiting at the bus stop outside, so the team all ran out, leaving their laptop and purses behind and rushed to find him. We waited for them and made plans to go for pizza with Yarik and his friends.

Vitally and Yarik at McD's

they finally came back and were so excited that they had made contact and that the boy thought he would be able to attend the retreat. They had to get back to do some work at their apartment and we said good byes and took our crew to the pizza place.
We figured out our orders and Yarik and Vitaly ordered for us all. When the food arrived, Yarik ended up with a seafood pizza." Mister, I don't like fish", had ordered the fish pizza. He really has no idea how to order at restaurants. He has ordered several dishes that he has not liked. This was the worst. Fortunately, Darren was willing to trade with him. I wanted to try a piece and traded a piece with Darren. I did not like it as much as I hoped, and I do like seafood.
After pizza we took the kids to the grocery store to choose some ice cream. We also got a few supplies for breakfast. Katya had to be back earlier than Yarik, so she parted ways at the grocery store. The two guys came back to the hotel with us. At the hotel we looked at photos on Facebook and Vitally added me as his friend. He told me about his sister dating an American with plans for the two of them to get married in the winter.


Once again it was time for the guys to get back to school. We said our good-byes and they left while we tried to get our stuff ready to move in the morning. Another tough day had come to an end and we were both completely shot! We wanted to watch a comedy, but I couldn't really stay awake. Darren watched What about Bob and I saw a few scenes and fell asleep.

Day 22 - Ukrainian church with Vagif and Yarik - Sunday Oct. 9

So we got the boys up and ready for church in enough time to walk there. The morning was kind of dreary, with a slight mist in the air. So much for the straightening the hairdresser did yesterday. We took the umbrella just in case it got bad. We found our way back to the church no problem. They were still rehearsing, so we arrived in plenty of time. The people were friendly and chatted with the boys. We saw Ira arrive and go to the children's classroom.
Just before service we checked with Ira to see if she could translate for us again. She had to work in the children's class this week, so could not do it for us. We hoped maybe Vagif could give us the main idea, but I think it was too overwhelming for him to remember and translate specifics. Vagif did like the service and he checked with the pastor to see if he knew of a church near where Vagif lived. They exchanged contact information and I pray that God will help connect Vagif to some other Christians like this group of believers.
As this was Vagif's last day, we made him choose what we should have for lunch. He still did not give an opinion, but we knew he liked the Ukraine Hotel, so we went back there.
Again the food was really good. It took quite some time to get it, so we had fun talking and enjoyed each other's company. Darren had ordered an appetizer, but it came after Vagif had both his salad and main course. Yarik and I had only gotten our soup by then. So after the appetizer, Darren got his main dishes. Vagif finished his and Yarik and I waited for ours. The way they bring the food out is crazy. Even before Yarik and I got our main course, they had brought out Vagif's dessert. At least this time they brought it out after his main courses. The other day the dessert came first for Vagif, before anyone got their food.
We had a little bit of time before we had to take Vagif to the train station. We stopped by the grocery store to get him food for on the train. Then went back to the hotel. We uploaded some more photos and songs on his phone. Tried to figure out how to put games on his phone and felt really sad!
We called the taxi and loaded him up. His duffel bag was too small for new things we had gotten him, so I arranged a couple of shopping bags inside a larger bag with his old shoes, a sweater and his food. He was a little unhappy about the bag, because it did not look too cool, but I said, just tell them that your mom did it!
We had him ask the taxi to wait for us, and we found his train already waiting at the station. It would not leave for about 20 minutes so that gave him time to find his spot and give hugs and good-byes. I tried hard not to cry, but a few tears slipped out. Yarik took photos for us with his camera. We gave our last good hugs and he boarded the train. Yarik spotted him through the window and we waved.





 Darren made a heart with his hands and Vagif did one in return. On the up side, we hope that all will work out for him to come at Christmas, so he reminded me over and over not to be sad, that he would see us all then. It was still hard to see him off.

Back at the room the mood was melancholy. Yarik got his shower. We did a little English and then he was back on his bus for school. Darren and I talked and did our devotions. I was not in much of a mood to do anything but sleep.

Day 21 -Going to the Salon - Saturday October 8

So Vagif and I had been talking all week about going to the salon and getting highlights put in my hair, like his highlights. We finally convinced Darren that it was a good idea. We decided that today was the day, since it was Vagif's last full day with us. We weren't sure where to go, so we wanted to call Anika to see if she knew of a good place. We also had to exchange money, so we went out to find a bank. We also wanted to get Vagif a good phone that would be more reliable for us to call him. As we looked for phone shops and salons, we got in touch with Anika who would call a friend that used the salon. We checked in several shops and found the phone that Vagif wanted and was reasonably priced. This phone would even let him check his internet social sites, so we can send him messages on Facebook and he should be able to get them anytime and not just every week or so when they let him use the internet at school.
After we found the phone and exchanged some cash, we found the little cafeteria style restaurant that Anika had pointed out. We all chose our food and since it was a beautiful day, ate outside on the patio table. While we were eating, Anika called back and after a few calls, we were able to get recommendation for a walk in salon. Vagif acted as a translator, and we decided on an overall color and highlight color. She also gave me a small trim. The guys got pretty bored waiting for me, so I told Darren that he and Yarik should just take off and Vagif could stay to help me out.

Park in Sumy, where Darren and Yarik went exploring

So the two guys ended up walking around exploring. They walked to the park where Darren got Yarik a huge cotton candy. They also took some photos around the town. They had a good chance to talk one on one. I am very glad they had this time to spend together.
At least Vagif had his new phone to try out, so until the battery died he messed with that for a while. He did get bored, though. Once she had all the color in and I had to wait in another room, Vagif could sit with me and we had some time to chat. We looked at hair magazines and laughed at some ridiculous styles.We chatted about school and lots of things. Soon my waiting time was up. As she checked the color, I got worried. The highlights looked really light! But soon she rinsed me out and started to blow it dry. As it dried and she styled it, it looked much better. There really was not a huge contrast in the highlights as I had at first feared. Although it was a lot lighter than I had anticipated, it still looked pretty good.
When I got back to the hotel, the other guys had roses waiting for me. They were impressed with my new hair color. Yarik said, "Mom, you are beautiful!" He is such a charmer. We did a photo session to mark the occasion. 




For dinner we got food at the supermarket and ate in the hotel. Then, a second session of Johnny English, which Yarik slept through and I nearly fell asleep and went to bed before the end.

Day 20 - Back to See Sergei - Friday October 7

Since Vagif was such a great help to get us to the orphanage on Wednesday we were pretty confident that we could get there again. We got ready that morning, ate some breakfast in our room and packed some snacks to take with us. We followed the same routine as last time to get out to the orphanage. Once there, we tried to find Sergei again, but this time it was a different teacher and he just tried to explain to Vagif where to find the schedule. We went to the main building where their schedule is posted, but it only had what period each class met, but did not say what time the classes were. Vagif asked a teacher that was close by and she told him that they would be switching classes in a few minutes. We went back out to wait for him. We saw some of his friends and they ran off to tell him we were there.

Dad and Sergei at the Gazebo

He came out to meet us and wanted to go let his next teacher know that we wanted him to come with us. When he went to the room, the other children were peeking in and closing the door. They told him that Nina, the director, was in there talking to the teacher, so we would have to wait. We went back outside for a little while and then went back in again to see if Nina was gone. She was just finishing up and came out and spoke to Vagif a bit. Then greeted me and walked off. His next class was English, so his teacher chatted with me a few minutes while she waited for the rest of the class to arrive. She told me her lesson today was on Great Britain, but that she preferred Italy and Greece. She said she had traveled to those countries and also Germany which was okay, but not her favorite. I told her we had been to Rome and Naples and had lived in Germany.
She also was very happy to tell me that Sergei was a good student in English and a very good boy. Of course, we already know that! But it is nice to hear it from his teacher. She gave him the choice to come to class or go with us. Of course, he chose to come with us. I told her I had brought an English lesson book to work with him.

Vagif on the parallel bars

Which is what we did for a while. Sergei and I worked on the first 2 English lessons and Darren and Vagif worked on some Russian lessons. Sergei did super at the English lesson. He has had a strong foundation, so it will be easy for him to learn quickly once we are in America. We ate some of the snacks we had brought. Then walked over to the sport field again. Vagif decided to do some "training" and show us his moves. This caught the attention of a couple other kids. Some of the younger ones tried to do some of Vagif's exercises. Then Vitaly Kuzmin came and did some gymnastics on the parallel bars. It was fun to watch the kids try things out. Vagif, of course, was pretty impressive with his strength. He and I decided he should come to America and be Dad's personal trainer. If only we could do that!

Vitaly on the parallel bars

We watched the kids playing soccer for awhile. Then we decided to play some Uno again. We went back over to where the table was as it was much easier to play that way than on the ground. We all had fun as there were lots of draw two's and draw four's being played on everyone. For a little while Dima joined us. Vagif was listening to his music and Darren was giving him a hard time about several of the songs. We had some really good laughs. Once again it was time for us to leave. Another tough good bye and off we went to retrace our route back home.

This time we had seats together, but there was another guy sitting by us, so we really did not talk much. Darren was pretty tired from working so late the night before and Vagif used my phone for Angry Birds. I tried to doze a little, but could not really sleep. Yarik called while we were on the train. I had Vagif tell him that we would not be back for a while.
When we got off the train, we were trying to decide what to do for dinner and if we should call a taxi or take one that was waiting. Then up walks Yarik. He had come to the train station to meet us. We tried to have Yarik call us a taxi, but never found one that was sent for us. Finally, we just agreed to take one that was sitting there. We had them drop us at the hotel and then we decided to go back downtown to the Ukraine Hotel Cafe for dinner. Yarik had already eaten, so just Darren, Vagif and I ordered dinner. Yarik had tea while we ate. It was really good food. The prices were a little high, but it was nice to have a good meal that was not pizza or sandwiches at the hotel. Plus having Vagif take us on the train was much cheaper than using the bus and taxi to visit Sergei so we had saved enough money to splurge a little.
After dinner it was back to the hotel where Yarik could stay the night as he did not have class on Saturday. This time Darren did not have to work, so we decided to watch a movie. The guys wanted one in Russian, so we found "Joe English" to watch online. It was clean and we could get most of the jokes even if Darren and I could not understand what they were saying. After that, we wanted to watch a movie in English and we chose "Second Hand Lions" that Darren had copied to our laptop. Vagif had seen it and did not last long watching with us. Yarik watched the whole thing and it was getting very late, so it did not take us long to fall asleep after that one.

Day 19 - Open market with Vagif - Thur Oct. 6

Today we wanted to do some shopping in the open air market. We wanted to try to find a pair of shoes for Vagif, some plastic plates to use in the hotel, a washcloth for Darren, and maybe souvenirs for the kids. We stopped at many little booths that were selling shoes. The ones that had a pair that he liked hardly ever had a pair in his size. He tried on a pair of blue Adidas that were so so, but he wanted to look some more. We found Dad's washcloth and my plates. We finally found a gray pair of Adidas that he liked and fit him. We bought that pair that were much more reasonably priced than the ones in the mall. We wandered around a bit, looking at scarves and sweaters. We found a cool souvenir for one of the kids. Some gifts for Ellie and a small change purse to keep the coins more easily accessible. We wandered for much of the day. It is a huge open air market and I don't think we even saw half of the booths. It is also in a circle, so it is difficult to navigate. It was well after noon when we finished finding the things we needed. We were all getting hungry. We decided to go back to the hotel to stow our purchases and then come back to McDonald's to get Vagif a burger and fries.

His first McDonald's in Ukraine

We thought that Yarik would have called by now, but he did not. After McD's we went to the grocery store for water and some food for later. The Open Arms gals had graciously agreed to let us invite ourselves for dinner, so we did not need to eat in the hotel that night. We went back to the hotel for Darren to try to take a short nap before we would go to meet Anika. Yarik called and met us at the hotel. A few minutes after he arrived, Ksenia called and said we needed to go with her to the inspector's office to sign a few more papers. I thought she would be there in just a few minutes so I woke Darren. However, she did not get there until about half an hour later. We rushed in to the inspector as the office was officially closed and she was waiting for us. We signed a few papers, his medical records and something else. Then rushed back out to the taxi for Ksenia to try to catch her bus.
Back at the hotel it was almost time to leave to meet Anika. Darren was pretty tired from working the night before, so he tried again to catch a little nap. Anika had called and given Yarik instructions on how to get to the right bus stop where she would meet us. I asked if we could bring anything and she suggested some dessert and drinks if they wanted soda instead of water. After Darren got a short nap, Yarik and I went down to the supermarket to find a dessert. Vagif and Darren caught up with us shortly after. We found a flower shop to get a flower for our hostess. Then we found bus # 4 that would take us out to their stop. When the bus doors opened, we could barely see any room to fit in. Yarik went in first and squeezed into a small opening. The three of us left took the aisle and I was pretty much on the steps, hoping to not fall out the door. After a couple stops, the people filtered out and we each got seats. It was about 20 minutes to their stop. Once we got there, Anika was supposed to meet us to show us to their apartment. We waited a few minutes and then saw her coming up the sidewalk.
She had us follow her through a maze of sidewalks and buildings, squeezing through a small opening between two buildings into a courtyard. We got to her building and took the elavator to the 9th floor and then the stairs to the 10th. They had a cozy little apartment with an eclectic mix of furniture finds. Lots of couch space to entertain lonely guests. They were in the process of putting the finishing touches on our chicken pot pie and popped it in the oven. While it baked, Anika got out albums of their ministry times so we could try to find photos of our boys. We found a few scattered here and there. We hope to be able to get copies of these photos from their childhood. We are so blessed that they have these photos of the kids. Most orphans have nothing to show from their childhood. We asked Vagif and he too, said he had no photos from when he was younger. How sad for these children.
Soon our dinner was ready and we had a laugh when the serving for Vagif had several pieces of broccoli sticking out. He hated broccoli when he came and still does not like it. I traded plates with him. It was a yummy dinner and then we had our lovely cake that Yarik had chosen. Yarik tried to say that he was too full to eat any cake...I told him he had to have a piece since he picked it out. Also, it needed to be eaten soon, as it had fresh fruit on top and would not keep well. It was very good.

Vagif's spot on the couch

The night went fast and soon we had to get back to downtown so Yarik could get back to his school in time. We took the #4 bus back to McDonald's and Yarik gave us hugs and stayed on #4 to get back to his school.
Darren still had more work to do, so Vagif and I did some more English lessons. It amazes me how much English he knows just from being hosted twice. After I had filled his head with English words we were both tired and settled down to sleep. Darren again worked until late in the night.