Today Malvina wrote her letter agreeing to be adopted -- twice actually. Tamara, the orphanage director signed the first one, but Oleg said it's the city inspector who needs to approve it now, so Malvina got out of school a second time to write another letter. Just for the record, she had two opportunities to change her mind. I asked Vera if she seemed hesitant to write it. She said Malvina's so happy for herself but so sad for her friend, Julia, who no one wants to adopt. I'm not sure when she turns 16, but she's a darling girl, and I'll post some pictures of her. (And just to reassure my family, eight is enough.)
I went to the orphanage at 5:30 to give Malvina time to finish her homework, but she had so much to do, she worked right through dinner until 8:00 when I left. I'm all about being responsible and hard-working, but this is ridiculous. The other kids felt sorry for me and asked me to come eat dinner with them at the orphanage. I was impressed with the meal -- really buttery mashed potatoes, a tender breaded chicken cutlet, bread and butter, tea and juice -- and of course a pickle. It was actually a better meal than we get at the Bistro. And it was free ---- well, sort of.
Eli got back safely from Dzhankoi, and it was great to have someone to speak English with, but my relationship with the boys is different here. They're more independent and certainly have the home court advantage. But they're also a bit less affectionate, I suppose because they're getting so much affection from their "orphanage family."
Dinner at the orphanage
Malvina doing homework. I don't think she realizes she probably won't even get a grade for all her hard work this quarter. Even if she does earn "A's," she probably won't get any physics, literature or geometry 9th grade credit because she's only in the 8th grade in Ukraine. She turns 16 in June, so I'm planning to start her in 10th grade.
It's really hard to get a good picture of Eli.
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