Wow! Did we ever sleep good last night. Although Carol says she awoke around 2am and was awake a bit, the rest was very good for us. Breakfast was the same as yesterday. The menu is limited here but the cook takes great care to see who she is cooking for by peeping around the kitchen door. I do need to teach them how to cook eggs. Maybe I should see if it would be appropriate. :-)

The Internet cafe was a little busier around 11am but I got a chance to check company email and write three notes. There was a line again so my 10 minutes online will have to suffice. The walk to and from the cafe, 15 minutes away, was refreshing. We are enjoying bright, sunny skies with temps in the mid 60s. I suspect we'll get our dose of less brilliant weather before our departure ... 8 days away!

The Turtle, our hotel, is a very new and clean place located near the major destinations we'd be using over the coming days. A couple of pics are included below:

Pictures (mouse-over for descriptions)

We departed for the Orphanage 15 minutes late. Of course, we were surprised that the driver was late but it was our first trip without the interpreter. She must be the one demanding the accurate timing. Even so there wasn't much said on the trip as Misha knows as much English as we know Russian.

Today was Day 2 of National Mourning for the disaster in Beslan region. We learned of marches in Moscow through Red Square and still saw the flags at half staff. Even the auto dealers flags, which bore no Russian symbols, were at half staff. It is pretty significant given that the Chechyan region is so far from the K'grad region. That's why I think they view this as their 9-11 event. They are very upset with what has happened.

We stopped at the usual resting place on the way to Chernyahovsk. Carol and I had ice cream bars while Christina was not convinced to try something. She did finally taste some of the chocolate covering on my bar, but was unwilling to venture further. Hmmm. She's got a few days to consider this hold-out routine.

We arrived at the Orphanage without fanfare. The routine is pretty well known now as Carol, Christina and I walked into the fourier unannounced. It took a few moments before someone noticed; they headed to where the children were napping and shortly there emerged Alexander, clothed in a small t-shirt and his underpants. He motioned to us that he would go and dress and we encouraged him to do so. Then Zhenia came down the hall, dressed, and just as happy as yesterday. We entered the same room as we used on Monday and sat down to get aquainted; the first such instance without the interpreter. This was a really good move on everyone's part. The Director was not there nor anyone else. We finally had a chance to deal with the boys from the get-go without intervention, support and interruption. It was a welcome time.

The boys were eager to bond with us. They were interested in my camera and other possible things we brought them. This trip, however, was to start the change process for our control over their lives. We had a plan ... there were certain things we would do with them and when the responding behavior was adverse we'd change course on an instant. This plan worked out just as we had hoped. The boys were learning that we didn't say DA (yes) to everything; there were a few NYET (No), like when trying to see pictures on the camera. This turn of events for them allowed some behaviors to emerge that we'd been waiting for: small tantrums and denial of listening. Carol had prepped me well and we were able to keep one with her and the other with me until the behaviors dictated otherwise.

Our plan was to work on the attachment of Alexander to Mama. Since he's the oldest and has been in the system for five years he is and will continue to be quite a bit independent. He knows how to get things done in the Orphanage. He is quite consistent in his behavior with the Director and other adults. But he will likely tend to obey me versus Carol from the outset. This was certainly true today. We did several exercises which forced some techniques to be applied where he could observe how we will behave/respond to his behaviors. He took to these examples like a magnet. He is eager to please and once the NYET and proper technique is applied ... he followed suit. We don't for a minute think the success of today is the end of the story. It will take many examples on many days for this to sink in. It is in our hands to achieve and we look forward to fulfilling the need.

Zhenia is another story. He is very lovable most of the time but has an unattached behavior pattern that will take some time to overcome. He has a very interesting character: very meticulous, exact, clean, complete and thorough. But his attention span is about two minutes on any one area unless it involves figuring something out. Although the above attributes are readily observable, he is not consistent with his learning and activities to give us enough read on him yet. This one will take some time. But, we knew that when a child enters the system at six months and remains there, there is much work to be done. This, while yet another challenge, is part of our future.

We spent time with the boys inside, playing around the grounds, walking along the outer perimeter of the grounds and allowing them to take us to different parts of the facility. We focused on control issues this trip. This meant making sure we had their hand in ours during most all of the day. This will be very important, as you can imagine, come Wednesday, the 15th, when we have to leave on the flight to Moscow. I'd say they would grade a low C on todays behavior. We'll work on it some more tomorrow. :-)

The cook brought the boys some cookies and room temperature runny yogurt, at least that is what we would describe it as. She used our Russian translation book to locate the words that were basically 'smooth yogurt.' We were pleased at her willingness to help us in trying to understand her Russian. The boys drank a small portion of the yogurt and munched the cookies, but not too many. There were also bananas available and they each ate two. Another 'control' event was used as we fed them to their mouths; this went very well. It was just another case where we've used food to control their behavior. We've actually worked on this each visit with them. Today continued the success we've observed every day. I think we've got this one conquered actually.

By late afternoon, we'd run out of water so I asked Misha to take me to a market in Chernyahovsk. He did so. As with other large markets there are security personnel standing around observing. It must be obvious that I'm not Russian because in each instance I've been followed through the store. They are non-chalant (sp?) and haven't actually bothered me but it is apparent what they're doing, at least to me. I quickly located two 3 Liter bottles of STILL water and made my way to check out. Not having Kopeks, the minimal coin in Russia, made my time at the counter a little longer. They don't like having to issue them; they take too long to count and they expect you have some to make your change work out to even rubles. Oh well. Too bad. No hassles with this purchase.

Carol had wanted to spend a night at the orphanage to learn the routine and observe what happens during the times we're not there. I'm sure she wasn't too interested in supper since they usually have fish every night. In fact, we could smell the fish cooking already. Christina said, 'Sure does smell good!' But, I'm sure Carol will be munching on her snacks secretly hidden in her back pack.

Another surprise was the staff placing two beds in the meeting room: Alexander and Zhenia. When we returned from outside and noticed the beds, the boys took their monkeys and placed them there ... just as though they were those in the pictures we took them. This was just too cute. There is a pic available of this. They were very pleased that Mama would be staying with them and we were glad this was the first they'd heard of how it would be tonight.

We, Christina and I, left the Orphanage around 6:15pm as we watched Carol and the boys wave good-bye. This was one time I didn't have the camera ready. I really regret not having that one.

The ride back was as quiet on the conversation front as going, however, Misha played his Russian music tape all the way. Christina wasn't too fond of it. :-)

Christina and I ordered pizza to be delivered: ciao pizza. It was reported to contain spicey pepperinos so we thought we'd have some pepperoni's but this was not to be. It was basically all vegetarian but very delicious. Christina, of course, wiped all the peppers, onions, eggplant, oregano (and whatever else was there) off and ate the cheesy crust. She reported it was very good. She'll never know what a delicatessen (sp?) she missed with this dinner.

Our second day comes to a close in K'grad. Carol is at the Orphanage and I certainly wonder how that's going. It is 10pm now, they should have been in bed at least an hour but with the excitement of Mama being there, who knows. I suspect she'll look forward to a long nights rest in the hotel tomorrow night, the night before we should have the boys with us for good. Keep your fingers crossed.

Tomorrow's plan:
+ Breakfast at 0745
+ Leave for Orphanage at 0830
+ Meet with Alexander in the afternoon to discuss court proceedings