Yet another sickie

Today David wasn't feeling so good with a stuffy head and runny nose, so he decided to stay home and rest, and sent me off into the big, scary world by myself. He's been bugging me to go out by myself, and giving me a hard time, like he thinks I'm not brave enough. I have a truly inadequate sense of direction, so I did have a few misgivings, but armed with phone numbers and extra money, in case I got myself lost, I did head out solo to visit the kids.

I got a late start, and then I zoned out during the subway ride, and missed my subway stop, so I jumped off, jumped back on, jumped off at the right stop, and then took the slow bus to the orphanage. So I got there late, and figuring that our littlest angel is probably still at the hospital, I just checked in on the other two.

I think the little man missed Daddy. He was not happy to be held, and then didn't really want to play with me, either. He didn't want the ball today, but did play with the truck. He didn't like that I put the links in, and he had to take them all out, as I put them in. I blew raspberries on his back, and he would turn away slowly, with such dignity, as if to say, "I'm not impressed by this silly behavior of yours."

"You're so booring... I miss Dad!"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to play for a little while..."

When I went to see the big angel, she was very happy to see me, and insisted that I go out into the visitor's lounge. She looked around out there, obviously wondering where Dad was. She was happy for me to hold her tight, and carry her around and around the room, as we talked to each other, and I kissed her neck. She held onto my ponytail the whole time, and then when she got too heavy, I sat down with her on the couch, and she checked out the hairbrush I brought. I brushed her hair, which she really liked, and then she brushed my hair for awhile, which she's not very good at, since she kept getting it tangled, and brushed it all in my face. She was fine, though, for awhile, until she eventually got bored, and started getting rowdy. Just then it was time to eat, so I took her in, and she clung to me, and yelled, and pulled my hair, and the careworkers yanked her hands out of my hair (ouch!) and sat her down to eat. I knelt down next to her, and she put her arm around my neck. The most stern careworker yelled her name sharply, and boy, did she jump to put her hands back on the table! I was scolded after that, and shooed out of the room. My girl did wave bye-bye to me, until I was all the way out of the room. When I told David about my visit, he said, "Good job! You got her in trouble!" My bad. Sorry, I was too busy to take any photos of her.

The other day we were wondering how people can always tell that we're american, and our facilitator told us that we just look american. We thought that maybe we smiled more than the people in this country, and she agreed. I thought that maybe it was because David has long hair, and a moustache, which aren't really seen here. She agreed, and said that he also has a very american face, but that my face looked more eastern european, probably because of my Czech grandmother (I had told her about that already.) As proof of that, today when I went out by myself, I got a lot fewer stares, and two people stopped me to ask directions. Not only do I look eastern european, but I also look like I have a good sense of direction!