TUESDAY: On Tuesday we picked up Anya at the orphanage at around 3:00PM, we were walking the weather has been beautiful about 65 degrees. When we arrived at the orphanage Anya’s friend Leena was sitting up in the front window, and she yelled out “Anya, Mama” and then some more in Russian I could not understand. Shortly thereafter Anya came down the stairs, wearing one of her new outfits we got at the Market place the day before. The jeans are way too tight and too small, but this is the fashion we are told, we are picking our battles this will not be one of them. I figure a few months in America and all the food she will consume, she really won’t fit in them long enough to matter. Today Nadiya was not with us, she was doing paperwork for us. It was good for us to be with just Anya as she seemed to open up more and attempt to talk to us in English some. Before we left the orphanage Matt decided we should ask when Anya needs to be back for the evening, since the night before we had no idea. Turns out asking was a bad idea, as Ludmilla was gone and this started mass panic and confusion among those left in charge. Kseniya had no idea so she asks Tanya the vice-director, who also does not know, she tries to contact Ludmilla, no luck, Kseniya says they normally do not ever let the kids leave the grounds, this we know but do not like, we decide because Anya is older maybe this was fine with Ludmilla. Tanya then wants to know if we will be with Nadiya, I assure her we will meet up with her, and she finally agrees that I can take Anya only after writing an application to do so. So I hand write this “Application to the Director of the Orphanage” I write I am asking to take Anya Ablitsova on such date for a walk until 7PM and will be responsible for her life and health. I must sign and date it and Kseniya must translate this to Russian, very official. All because Matt had to ask. I would have been fine with just guessing at what time to have her home and doing just as we did the night before. Anyway it was done we could go, but now I had to make sure Anya stayed alive, or I would have to pay for this because I had signed, Matt was quick to remind me as Anya is crossing the street into oncoming trolley traffic, that he did not sign! We walked from the orphanage to the big fountain park near our apartment. This is a very popular place, always full of people all hours of the day and night. At night the fountain lights up and changes colors, it is pretty. Anya took the camera at this point and took some pictures of things she wants to remember. We have seen some very odd photos of things the last few days, (you will see a sample of these photos in the updated album) it is all about her saying goodbye and desperately wanting to hold onto the memories of things that are familiar. It has been interesting to watch her process these things, I can only imagine all the feelings she must be having. After the park got boring, and her and Papa used the English-Russian dictionary to look up Boring in Russian and label him as such. We put in a call to Nadiya at Anya’s request, she asks her to come meet us for dinner, Nadiya denies this request, Anya begs, whines and then accepts it. Nadiya knows Anya has got to learn to communicate with us on her own, and feels we should have times where she gets to practice this before we leave for America, Nadiya is right. We walk up the street a ways to a cafeteria type place where you can see the food you will be ordering, we have found this is the best route if we are without translator or place that has English menus. Along with the visual and Anya using the dictionary we are able to order things we know are to our liking. She was very helpful and made sure we were getting the things we wanted. Anya is always very concerned about my happiness, I have noticed, always asking me if I am OK, am I cold, am I hot, am I happy? It is sweet in a way but in the back of my mind I wonder if this comes from survival with a mother who was abusive if she was feeling Not OK, and Anya is acting out these fears with me, needing to ensure my happiness to ensure her safety, just sad thoughts to have. I hope one day she will know I am always Ok and she is always safe. Dinner was good and we had some more laughs as Anya and Matt practice speaking each other’s languages, she is comforted by Matt who does know a little Russian and is not afraid to make a fool out of himself with the pronunciation, Anya really likes this. I see her connecting more to Matt today rather than just clinging to me as she has the past few days, this is a good change, and the balance is nice. After leaving the restaurant we continue to walk back to our apartment. The whole way Matt and Anya take turns sounding out the signs, Matt does the signs in Cyrillic and Anya corrects him or affirms him, and Anya reads the signs in English, Matt corrects her or affirms her also. It is very cute like watching to preschool age kids learning to read. Back at the apartment we look at pictures on the computer of our last few days and eat ice cream. Anya goes thru the bag of gifts /donations we brought to decide what she will give to which friends and caregivers. We have decided to leave this process entirely up to her, as we would not know who was special to her. About 7:00 we call a taxi and drive with Anya to check in at the orphanage then to her apartment. Matt walks her up to her place with the bag of gifts, and she comes back down to give me a hug and tell me “Tomorrow”. Matt and I take the taxi home it was a good day.