We packed Vladik's suitcase last night.
Even *I* was impressed with how much stuff I crammed in there! I have one more load of laundry to do tonight- mostly the stuff he wore over the weekend, but I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to put it. I got the suitcase in under the maximum weight of 50#.. but in order to do so, Vladik's backpack is SO FULL! I would guess that together, the suitcase and backpack weigh nearly as much as he does. (But from the facebook postings of other host parents... I'm not the only one!)
Joe asked a couple of days ago if he could come with me to take Vladik to the airport.
I told him yes, but that he needed to understand that it wasn't going to be a quick trip... that we would be gone much of the day. And then his ulterior motives surfaced...
"Mom, if I come with you, can I play my DS?"
"Well, sure, some."
"Can I play it ALL DAY?"
As soon as I said "no" to that, he wasn't interested in coming with me anymore.
Thus far, Vladik has been very stoic about preparing to leave. No emotions, no tears, no.. nothing.
I wish I knew what he was thinking and feeling.... though I can guess.
On the other hand, it may be easier for me that I don't know. If he knew more English, he'd be able to tell me EXACTLY what he's feeling.
Would that make it harder to say goodbye?
Probably.
Maybe it's better not knowing.
At Vladik's request, we're going bowling tonight and having ice cream for supper.
I think we'll take him to Cold Stone.
I've attached 3 links.
The first is for New Horizons, the organization through which we hosted Vladik.
http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/
http://vimeo.com/21728731
The 3rd link is about street kids in Ukraine. I'll warn you ahead of time, that there is some bad language in it- but it's subtitled.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/apr/05/ukraine-lost-children-video
I hope these videos effect you as they did me.
Even *I* was impressed with how much stuff I crammed in there! I have one more load of laundry to do tonight- mostly the stuff he wore over the weekend, but I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to put it. I got the suitcase in under the maximum weight of 50#.. but in order to do so, Vladik's backpack is SO FULL! I would guess that together, the suitcase and backpack weigh nearly as much as he does. (But from the facebook postings of other host parents... I'm not the only one!)
Joe asked a couple of days ago if he could come with me to take Vladik to the airport.
I told him yes, but that he needed to understand that it wasn't going to be a quick trip... that we would be gone much of the day. And then his ulterior motives surfaced...
"Mom, if I come with you, can I play my DS?"
"Well, sure, some."
"Can I play it ALL DAY?"
As soon as I said "no" to that, he wasn't interested in coming with me anymore.
Thus far, Vladik has been very stoic about preparing to leave. No emotions, no tears, no.. nothing.
I wish I knew what he was thinking and feeling.... though I can guess.
On the other hand, it may be easier for me that I don't know. If he knew more English, he'd be able to tell me EXACTLY what he's feeling.
Would that make it harder to say goodbye?
Probably.
Maybe it's better not knowing.
At Vladik's request, we're going bowling tonight and having ice cream for supper.
I think we'll take him to Cold Stone.
I've attached 3 links.
The first is for New Horizons, the organization through which we hosted Vladik.
http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/
The 2nd is a video about human trafficking in Russia- which is an eastern neighbor to Ukraine.
This happens all over the world, not just Eastern Europe.
But the girls "graduating" from orphanages (somewhere around age 16) are more at risk... in particular, girls from Ukrainian orphanages.
http://vimeo.com/21728731
The 3rd link is about street kids in Ukraine. I'll warn you ahead of time, that there is some bad language in it- but it's subtitled.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/apr/05/ukraine-lost-children-video
I hope these videos effect you as they did me.
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