Separate from the room in our apartment with the bath is the restroom, sometimes called a water closet here – a term we hadn’t seen or heard in years.

If there is a designation – and there usually is not – you may see “WC” on the door to the restroom. For instance, it is so designated at the McDonalds in Sumy. Where there are two such rooms you may see an upright triangle between a small circle and a small square suggesting a woman’s dress, or an inverted triangle arrangement indicating a man’s broad shoulder. These, of course, may be seen at home too. Last night in the city complex at Krolovets I was looking for such a room and was pointed toward a door that looked like it had an upright triangle adjacent to it. So I proceeded to the next door which had no indicator. Vladimir insisted, nyet, it was indeed the first door that I wanted, to the right of which at closer inspection was an upright rectangle which must have meant this was a unisex WC, of which I had heard. At an even closer view in this darkening hall it became evident that I had been looking at the black toggle switch that operates the light in the restroom.

We have had few problems with the light in our apartment’s 2-feet by 4-feet WC. WE concluded at first that the bulb was fine and that it was another electrical problem that we could not readily solve. The thought of using the room for the primary purpose for which it is intended, or for the other primary purpose(s) for which we use it of solitude and/or reading, brought to my mind an observation made by Groucho Marx: “Outside of a dog, man’s best friend is a book; inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” The bulb is fine and only needs occasional extra-firm tightening.

We went to the school this morning to watch the boys play soccer in a tournament among the Sumy region/province boarding schools (orphanages). The tournament last weekend was among the Sumy city schools, regular or boarding.

Nothing was happening and opening ceremonies were yet to begin, so we went downtown to a notary to assign power of attorney in Russia to Vladimir. When we returned to the school we found that Stan’s team had just begun playing. Toli would not be playing and was clearly disappointed. This was for the older boys. It was six-on-six on a small field and twenty-minute games. Stan did not play in the first game. He would play in their next game. We received repeated reports that this next game would be up following the game we were watching. He played in the last game of the day. It had been a sunny day, so we were hot and exhausted at waiting – not to mention famished at skipping lunch. Stan played will and his team won again

We took the children to the store for ice cream bars and soon left for the apartment to clean the boys up. We then crossed the street to the Chelentano Italian restaurant where we all had lasagna, salads and juices. While we were eating Susan took advantage of having a translator with us and had Natalie explain to the children the priority hierarchy of homework, chores and play. She also wanted them to understand that we know that at times they will be frustrated at the struggles with communication, that we will have special teachers for them this summer to teach them English before they enter school in the fall, and that we will be very patient and do all we can to help them learn English.

We then rode the bus to within a couple of miles of the school where the driver asked us all to get off. We boarded another bus immediately which took us a little closer to the school. We walked the children the rest of the way, hugged each one for each of their new siblings at home, and bid them good-night.

When we entered our apartment we found Vladimir and Natalie arranging with the Dodges an out-and-back trip to Kiev on Saturday. Their girls’ passports were ready and they could have their medical exams tomorrow and gain some valuable time. Furthermore, one of the teachers at the orphanage was going to be vacating her apartment near the school from Saturday through Thursday and going with her family to a village home for the holiday next week. Susan and I could move in there with our children for lower rent and return to this apartment when the Dodges leave on Thursday.
We stopped by the school to get directions and saw Dasha and Toli who jumped in glee for the opportunity to move in with us and move out of the school. We visited the apartment. It exemplified the conditions in which a teacher making $80 a month would live. It was livable but austere. We could do it and would find some adventure in seeing how people here live. It was seemingly our only opportunity to accommodate the five of us at this time. Vladimir, however, was concerned and felt it was substandard for us. As we were driving back to this apartment he pulled off to the side of the road and called our current landlord to see if he could make something work for us. He had a two-room apartment that would accommodate four people, but he could move a fold-out upholstered chair that converts into a bed into the apartment if we would pay the delivery costs. We agreed and were relieved. The new apartment is near this one. So we will be familiar with the area and have necessary businesses nearby. It would not necessitate another move while here; we could stay in it until we finally go to Kiev.

Our determination is to be together as a family and to put the children in a situation where they will have increased opportunity to try to communicate more in English, without crutches, in preparation for life at home in the US.