Three Days Down

It's nearly 7:30 am here in Vladivostok on Tuesday morning, which makes it about 4:30 pm in Florida.  All the boys are still sleeping, thank goodness, and I have some Mommy time at the moment.  

I discovered yesterday that there is actually free wifi in the lobby and restaurant of the hotel.  When we asked about it during check-in, we were told that we needed to purchase the Vostoktelecom cards to be able to use the internet.  I kept seeing one of the other adoptive dads using his computer in and around the lobby so I finally asked him if he had found a way to use the wifi for free.  He handed over a card which had the password which he was given at the front desk....  I just scratched my head and thought, hmmm.  This place is frustrating.  So yesterday, I finally was able to use some of the apps on my iphone without worrying about incurring crazy roaming charges.  I already racked up a $200 charge from the telephone calls I frantically made from our first entry attempt into Moscow last week.  Chalk that lesson up to "frustrations of international travel."

Yesterday was day 3 with Maxim in our family.  We were told by several other families that everything was terrific with their new little Russian angels — until day 3.  They were of the opinion that it's when the honeymoon begins to wear off and all the parental testing begins.  I'm not sure if it was that or the fact that we had an entire day weather which alternated between drizzle and rain.  We slipped in one quick walk on the path that goes around the hotel.  The playground was full of mud puddles, so we quickly passed that zone on our walk.  We attempted to get together with other families upstairs in the hotel's White Rabbit recreation room, but were not allowed in.  We're guessing it was due to the "eau de gas" that lingered in the air.  Since the housekeeping and maintenance departments aren't as multi-lingual as their counterparts at the front desk and in the restaurant, we didn't get the whole story.  So we, meaning our family and three other adoptive families, ended up hanging out in the "play lounge" just outside the restaurant and near the front desk.  (that's when I discovered the wifi secret, so maybe it was a financial blessing in disguise)  

Evan met a Russian friend, one of the waitress' sons who is also seven years old.  They spent most of the afternoon playing games on each others DS players and kicking a small ball back and forth between them.  It was a wonderful thing for Evan as this adjustment to being a brother is getting challenging.  He needed someone else to spend some energy with for a bit and Maxim had several other little boys to play with closer to his age.  I pray that Evan will get accustomed to the huge change that has arrived in his life without too much difficulty.  We already noticed him a lot more withdrawn yesterday and he had several melt-downs when Maxim "infringed" on his playtime with his new friend.  One minute he would be furious with Max and the next minute he would be hugging and loving him.  I have a feeling it's going to be a bit of a roller coaster ride with this transition.

Maxim just woke up and asked about Papa and "Kevin"  ...  he still wavers between calling his brother Evan and Kevin, it's really cute.  When I asked him if he wanted an apple (Yahblahkah), he shook his head yes and smiled.  While I rinsed off the apple and began to cut it up, I heard him pitter patter over the the bathroom.  When he returned and saw the apple, his face dropped into a frown and he ran into the bedroom and was pouting under the sheets.  It took a minute before it dawned on me that maybe he didn't want it cut up with the seeds removed like I always do for Evan.  So I grabbed a whole apple and took it to the bedroom and asked him if that was what he wanted (Hochish yahblahkah?)  He shook his head yes and when I handed it to him he smiled.  He finally agreed to come back to the kitchen with me.  This learning curve is steep... I have to keep realizing that in the Children's home, all children's care is done as simply as possible.  They don't have the time or resources to cut up apples for all the kids.  The kids just get used to what they get.  After Maxim ate about a half-dozen bites, he ran to the kitchen and grabbed the 1/2 of an apple that wasn't cut up yet and said to me in Russian that it was for "Kevin."  He ran into the bedroom and tried to wake Evan up.  Luckily I caught him and assured him we'd save it for Evan when he woke up.  What a sweet, generous, caring child.  He wanted to be sure his brother had some apple, too. 

When Evan woke up, Maxim was trying to give him the apple (which Evan didn't want).  I asked Evan to please take it from him and say thank you because Maxim had saved it especially for him.  At this point, we can tell Evan just to play along because Maxim doesn't understand the English yet.  We did get a "Good morning" out of him though.  

Anyway... time to get the boys ready.  Our driver is coming at 10:00 to take us to the GUM... (I'll write about it later) and also grocery shopping.  Pa Kah!  (bye, bye)  Dosvidanya.