Miscellaneous

I have a friend at the orphanage! Her name is Sveta and she is in her early 20s. She speaks a tiny bit of English and loves being with me because her dream is to be a translator some day in an English speaking country. She is the only occupational therapist the orphanage has and is in charge of teaching the kids to walk and all that good stuff. She'll take kids outside with me when she's not busy and she even translates for me if she can understand what I'm saying. She has made life a lot nicer there. She peppers me with questions about America. She says she wants to live in a real house, not an apartment (there are thousands and thousands of nasty apartments here that are the norm. They are absolutely appalling. People should not have to even set foot in them, yet that's where almost everyone lives.), and has me describe mountains and the country in general. She says it's amazing how America does not have orphanages like Russia and was fascinated with the foster system. "The children get to live with a family? In a house? With a mother and father?" etc. She hates the orphanages I think. She is like a little animal who seems to be everywhere all the time and is always helping the kids. She'll tell me "this is the first time so and so has ever walked." Of course she does not have time to work with all 150 children so I don't know how she doesn't get discouraged.
After we worked at the orphanage Maria, Nastia and I used to go to an adult internat (orphanage) where Julia, a graduate from our orphanage was taken when she turned 18. I was teaching her how to play the recorder (she was a very quick learner) and Maria would paint with her. One day we went there with a great couple from Canada, Mira and Anthony, (hello! I know you'll be reading this :-) and they had the great idea to take her out for a walk since Anthony could lift her and take her down the stairs since again there was no ramp!! It was her first time out of bed, I think, since the orphanage, but before we had made one turn around the building a bunch of security and doctors came to us and started to speak angrily with Nastia in Russian. They escorted us back, had us put Julia in her bed and made us leave. Nastia told us that foreigners are not allowed in unless they have the proper documentation or something, and they were mad because Anthony had a camera. These internats are very closed and secret institutions. They do not want the outside world to know how things are. Nastia talked with the director later and said under no circumstances could Maria and I ever set foot in there again.
In the midst of all this sad stuff something good happened I think! Today was a national holiday - a day of mourning for when WWII started. The orphanage was having a ceremony for a few kids who could "go" (mobile) outside and Sveta asked if I would play a sad piece on the violin. All the workers that day were there (there are different workers every day. I think they work every three days or something confusing) and they loved my music! Everybody always loves music! I went to a group after that with a mean caretaker who hates me and she actually let me take one of the kids for a recorder lesson. It's been such a lesson for me here about the international language of music. If I'm having a hard time having the workers allow me to take kids I just play music in their group while Maria plays with the kids and usually I have the workers smiling and they are much nicer in no time. This doesn't always work, of course, but for the most part it has proved most beneficial.