Sunday, July 19, 2009

(Please note that the T-shirt worn by Alina yesterday was given to her by my friend Tamela.....not Deanna)
The shape of the Umit Baby House is like an H with two lines equal distance apart in the middle but they do not extend to the top or bottom of the H. The long sides of the H are the various rooms of the orphanage: the playrooms, the offices, the kitchen, etc. and they are two stories tall. The two lines that are equal distance apart are two hallways that connect the two long sides of the orphanage. There is a small courtyard in the front with flowers and it serves as the front entrance to the orphanage. The middle courtyard is where the pool is located along with benches, flowers, and the usual weeds in those flower beds. The back courtyard is just that….the back courtyard….nothing special there. You can walk all the way around the building. There is a paved path big enough for one car to drive on. On the outer edges of the walkway/driveway, there are smaller paved paths that lead to the shelters, gazebos, sand pit, and the brightly colored playground equipment along with tall grass/weeds, bugs, and pretty flowers. The building looks like it is falling down from the outside. The stucco that covers the brick under layer is slowly eroding with time. It may not look like much on the outside, but it is spic and span on the inside. I have to hand it to this orphanage staff. Everything has a place and is usually in its place and cleaned at least once a day…that includes the children!! I’m very impressed with how clean everything is in the orphanage. It can’t be an easy job and one I would not like to have!
The inside décor is quite old with, what looks like, original lamps hanging from the ceiling and walls. I would date this building somewhere in the early 20’s just by architecture alone not to mention the beautiful detailing inside. It has beautiful plaster scroll work at the top of the walls near the ceiling. It’s original paint scheme has been changed to suit the children’s taste but other than that, it is all original. There are wooden framed windows which are simple but absolutely gorgeous. There are official looking announcements hanging in 8 x 10 picture frames on the wall along with pictures of the orphanage staff. There is a macramé wall piece handing at the end of one of the hallways that I would snatch up in a second. It looks like it’s been hanging there for years but I would love to take it home with me. It is intricate in detail and an extremely interesting piece of art. The floors have been re-done with adhesive backed laminate with a faux pine wood look to it. There are orange steam pipes running along the base of the walls and even in front of the doorways. You have to step over them when you enter the orphanage. There is one spot in the hallway where the pipes cross the floor from one side of the hallway to the other but the kids have learned to step over it. I’m not sure about the adoptive parents. I’m sure there have been more than one person trip over those set of pipes…that includes me. The doors to the offices, kitchen, etc. have so many layers of paint on them I would hazard to even take a guess at the number. There are original knobs on most of the doors and windows. Again, everything is immaculately clean and in its proper place that best serves the staff and children. There is no modern conveniences for the staff such as nice desks, file cabinets, or maybe not even a copier (I haven’t seen one). They exist very simply and seem to get by very efficiently. Makes one think about ones own existence and if one could exist so simply back in the States.
We pull into Umit, park the chariot that brought us today, and get out. The three year old group have been playing in our gazebo and they are just leaving for their morning walk around the outside of orphanage. They see us pull up and watch us get out of the minivan. Instantly, there are 20 or so three year olds announcing my arrival, “Alina’s mama….Alina’s mama….Alina, your mother is here!”. This was done with the greatest enthusiasm a three year old could muster. It’s the cutest damn thing in the world and makes me feel very special! We were at the front of the orphanage and Alina, apparently, was with her group around the back. The cavalcade of three year olds ran all the way around the building until they found Alina to tell her that her mother had arrived. Once they found her, they pointed the way to me and my little cherub comes running with tears in her eyes. She is crying and shouting, “maaama”. I put my coveted Tarazian plastic bag down and scoop her up in my arms. She is in a full blown breakdown mode which soon subsides after I pick her up. Shirin picks up my plastic bag and we head to our gazebo. She has stopped crying by the time we reach our play area.
Once we are there, I start pulling out the toys I have brought for us to play with today. The Little Golden Books, the stacking blocks, our picture albums, and the peas-de-resistance…the new shoes that Mama bought yesterday at Tsum. There is a huge gasp as she sees them. I pull them out of the bag, hand them to her, she takes them over to show Janette and Shirin, and then she comes back to me. She seats herself in the little merry-go-round seat that is in the middle of our gazebo. She sticks her tiny little feet out toward me and I put on her first new pair of shoes she’s probably ever had. They fit but just barely. Her toes are to the end but are not cramped against it. So, Mama did good. She loves them and takes them out for a spin around the gazebo. They seem to be working just fine. I’m so glad to have those other shoes off of her. Maybe now she can learn how to walk a little better. I also brought another hand-me-down shirt today (thanks Cackie for growing out of your clothes!!) that has the word Sweet on the front of it. It fit perfectly. She was very excited to receive it as well.
I bought a new type of cookie yesterday at the market across the street. It’s like our sugar wafer…you know the ones you can get in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry? These are a bit larger than ours (think four of ours together to Kaz’s one). They seem to be double layered with a thin chocolate layer and a cream layer. They are very tasty. I grab two of those as I head out the door this morning along with our usual crackers and tea. After we get our new shoes and shirt on, I ask Alina if she wants her “sup”, juice in Kazak but we really mean tea. She says yeah, and that’s what she said…yeah, and so I twist the cap off for her but not all the way off. I know by now that five year olds like to do things themselves so I let her finish taking the top off. While she is taking her first sip of juice, I pull out a small piece of our new cookie. Once she is done drinking, I ask her to say cookie and please. She does so with great enthusiasm and gobbles the cookie down. Two seconds later, I’m asked for another cookie please and I hand her another small bite. It is gobbled up again very quickly. I believe Mama has scored again with the new treat today. I try to distract her from the cookie with the stacking blocks for a while. It works but only for a few minutes. It seems she loves the cookie and wants more. No problem…she can have it. But now, instead of stuffing the whole piece in her mouth, she sees that she can take the layers apart. My very curious child starts peeling away the top layers of the cookie and works her way through the cream layer then the chocolate layer, all the while smacking her lips and licking her fingers. It was a quite a sight to see. I was lovin’ every minute of it!!! It reminds me of me when I was little. What little kid doesn’t like to take things apart?
Once the new cookies (only 2) were gone, the sugar rush began!!! We were kicking the ball which she has had really no interest in since I gave it to her last weekend. We took several walks/runs along the paved walkway/driveway around the baby house…really just around the corner and back to the gazebo. She wanted to go to her group shelter and get the toys out there and play with them. I told her no and there was no fuss, no muss, and she seemed ok with it. We did find a water spicket that had been slightly turned on. There was a small stream of water running from it and, of course, we had to go over to it to investigate it. We rubbed our hands in it and Alina would gather water in her tiny little hands and rub it on her face. Her hands can’t hold much more than a tablespoon so I wasn’t complaining. I would cup my hands and gather some water in them and chase her with it. I would through it up in the air and she would laugh so hard she would lose her breath. You should see how this child runs! She scrunches her shoulders up, raises those tiny little legs as high as she can, and wobbles back and forth like a Weeble. Those tiny little hips are swaying back and forth and, now that she has shoes that fit, she can run even faster without tripping. We played chase me with the water three times until Mama got smart and turned the spicket off. I had a blast and so did my girl. One thing she REALLY got a kick out of today was that she figured out she could sit on the ball. She would put it under her tushy and very carefully sit down. I told her to bounce up and down and it and she thought that was just hilarious. She then discovered that if she bent over and leaned forward enough, her bottom would slip off the ball and land on the floor of the gazebo. This action got the biggest breath losing laugh I have ever heard from her! Shirin and I both were in tears watching her do this over and over again and laughing until she lost her breath every time! My baby has the cutest laugh ever (sorry Gili, Cackie, Owen, Cassie, Hallie, Sara Grace, Glenys, Madelyn, Margeaux, and Sofie)! It’s the best sound in the world to me!
It was time to go. No nanny came to collect Alina today but Janette asked me to take her back to her group so I did. We walked inside and up the stairs to her playroom. Her playmates were all in their undies as usual because it’s so hot in the room. They have an air conditioner that is located above the bathroom door but, in my almost two weeks here, I’ve heard it on once. Electricity is a luxury here. It’s quite sobering to think about how we take it for granted. Alina walks in, doesn’t even look back at me, and heads right for the potty. I turn around and make my hasty exit before she realizes what just happened.
Janette and Shirin are waiting for me at the gazebo when I return from giving my baby back to her caretakers. I’ve forgotten to take her hat upstairs with me so I run it back up to her room. I walked in, tapped a caretaker on the shoulder, handed her the hat, and exited as quickly as possible. Fortunately, Alina didn’t see me. I head back downstairs and we jump in the waiting minivan and depart through the gates of Umit. We drop Shirin off close to her home and I am dropped off at the hotel. I say my usual thank you and goodbye to Janette and the driver. I feel very tired today so I come up to the room and lay down on the bed with the fan blowing as fast as it can right on me. I fall asleep almost instantly for two hours!!! When I wake up, it’s almost three and I know the hotel cleaning ladies will be here soon so I make myself get up and have a late lunch. Sure enough, at 3:30, a parade of three cleaning ladies come in, wipe the bathroom down, bring me fresh towels, make my bed, clean my toilet, wipe off the window seals, and wipe the foyer floor with a rag…yes, rag…not a mop. This is all done in about five minutes. Every other day, they will bring in the quietest vacuum cleaner you’ve ever heard and sweep the carpets. That takes all of two minutes. They are fast, efficient, and pleasant as well.
That is all for today. Until tomorrow….

Love,
Kim and Alina