Day 15 – Talk to the Animals...

Being that it is the weekend again we were only allowed one visit today with V. Once again our trusty driver picked us up right on time for our 10:00 a.m. visit.

The gates of the orphanage were open and in we drove. We walked into the orphanage and were met as usual by a security guard. Sometimes there are 2 but most of time there is one gentleman sitting in the chair right inside the front door. If this were a weekday, we would turn left into a hallway where all the offices are located. The first one on the left is where we ‘talk’ to a very nice lady who takes out a ledger, writes the date, V’s name, our names, the time and then hands it to us to sign. But since it’s the weekend, she is not there. So I gave the security guard a small smile and said V’s name. He quickly starts talking to us, none of which we understand. He eventually takes us down that hallway to the last office on the right. Inside is a woman we have seen before, not sure who she is but we have seen her before. She also very quickly starts talking to us, none of which we understand. She gets a piece of paper and draws a clock showing 1:00 p.m. Evidently V is not there and we should come back at 1:00 p.m. Got it, off we go back to the flat. Since we were in and out right away, our driver knew something was wrong. We did manage to tell him that we needed him again at 1:00.

We arrived at the orphanage at 1:10 to find the gates to the drive closed and locked. No surprise, they were like that last weekend as well. We proceeded through the walking gate and into the orphanage. This time we were ushered into the green room and V was brought in. He was dressed very nicely in a nice cream and black wool sweater and black dress pants. Out came the PC and the internet card and we fired it up. V is getting pretty good at that by now. We told him he looked quite handsome and asked him where he was earlier in the day. He said he was with the other children walking. Evidently they get to leave the orphanage and walk the streets on Saturday mornings. We asked him what he saw when he was walking and he said “Cars”. He listed off the friends he was with and what kind of cars they saw. He was pretty excited about all the cars; we could tell last summer that he was crazy about cars.

We brought another pear, some juice and another small sucker for V. He and dad played checkers against the computer, we played some Go Fish and then I brought out the colored pencils and 2 coloring books. We colored for quite a while. All too soon, it was time to head back to the flat.

All I can say is it’s a good thing we are leaving here soon. Most days I am petrified they are going to kick us out. You see there is a bird at the orphanage.

And my lovely husband has this uncanny ability to sit anywhere in the woods and be able to call in just about any animal. And yes, you guessed it...That handy little talent applies to birds as well. He can get them singing and chirping like you’ve never heard. Needless to say, Robert got that bird so riled up that one of the staff came in and was trying to quiet him down. This is not the first time Robert has had that bird going either. V thinks it’s very funny. He joins right in and whistles at the birds as well. I’m seriously afraid they’re going to kick us out and tell us not to come back! Now that wouldn’t be funny at all!