We are just past the midpoint for Olga's stay on this hosting trip. This is both good and bad. Olga has had a great time on her trip so far, although I believe having her brother and sister home all day every day is getting to be a bit much for her. Okay, I won't lie. It's a bit much for me, too. :) I'm not sure why the two week break over Christmas is so much more crazy than the eight week break over summer. Perhaps it's just the excitement of Christmas combined with the fact that it is hard to get outside to do things. In the summer I pretty much open the door to the backyard and let them go play. We also have a lot more outdoor activities to look forward to during the summer months like swimming, bike riding, trail walking/exploring, Six Flags, White Water, road trip to FL to see Grammy, etc...
Anyway, back to Olga. She very much enjoyed her Christmas. She received three gift cards to three different stores and had a blast spending them. She had no idea what a gift card was, but quickly learned. She was so excited to be able to buy about a million pairs of earrings at Claire's for herself and to take back to Ukraine to give to her friends as gifts. Same purchase with her Wal-Mart gift card. Her Kohl's gift card was harder to spend because she really wanted jeans and couldn't find any that she liked. But she managed to spend it on a cool new jacket, a couple of shirts and yes, more earrings! I teased her after her shopping expedition that she had enough earrings to put in a new pair every hour. She thought that was pretty funny.
Now that the excitement of Christmas has passed Olga has had some time to come to the reality that she really misses her friends and even her teachers. She wanted to call one of her teachers the other day and I had to tell her no (NHFC rules). I told her she could write a letter instead. She was excited to be able to do that until she sat down to actually write. She couldn't think of any Russian words. She can rattle off a ten minute conversation in Russian on the phone with her chaperone, but when it came to actually writing it, she couldn't do it.
I think she is also very sad about not being in Ukraine for their biggest holiday of the year: New Years Eve/Day. In Ukraine Christmas is celebrated on January 7 and it isn't really a big celebration. Their New Year celebrations are a huge deal. The students at her school always do dance performances and participate in New Year preparations. I think she is really, really missing that right now.
Olga returns to Ukraine two weeks from tomorrow and Jeff and I leave for Ukraine four weeks from today. As excited as I believe Olga will be to come to America forever I can see now that it will be bittersweet. We will make sure to leave her friends lots of postage to be able to write to Olga here in America and of course she will be able to call & write to them as well.
Happy New Year to everyone!
S~
Enjoy the time. BTW when you get to the school make sure to take a look at the photos on the wall on the main floor. There are many of pictures of Olga, some much younger on there. Try to get some "copies" with your camera... that's how we got the picture of Snezhana in camo with the gun.
ReplyDeleteShe will adjust. Being married to a Greek - I understand about different traditions. Can I make a suggestion - not sure if you have done any of this or not, if so ignore and if not interested in advise, totally understand. celebrate the different holidays with her - make a big deal about it - invite other people to them - if she has other Ukraine friends - have them over to celebrate. If you can, get her involved with other Ukraine children and let her be able to bond with them b/c of their knowledge of their traditions and history. It will make the transition a little easier. The Greek kids do it here within their community and it is a strong bond - very nice and helps them understand their culture. Just a suggestion :)))
ReplyDeleteLara~ I really love all the suggestions and I know you pretty much have to be an expert on different cultural celebrations! For this hosting trip pretty much all of the kids from her school that are in this area are younger boys. I have tried to get her involved with some of the Ukrainian girls around her age from other schools that are in this area to no avail. I have figured out that it isn't just a difference in culture between Americans and Ukrainians. It is a completely different mindset for an orphan. She is definitely not a "warm & fuzzy" kind of girl. She is pretty "offish" when you first meet her and if she has no interest in getting to know you she won't even pretend to try. When I tried to talk to her about what her New Years traditions were she told me she didn't have any and that she never stayed up past midnight to celebrate on New Years. I am pretty sure that isn't exactly the truth, but I am learning when to push and when to shut up. :) She really did love our Christmas celebration and hopefully she will start opening up about what her cultural traditions are soon.
ReplyDeleteI really do appreciate the suggestions and advice and I am sure I will need a lot more of it in the years to come! I hope you and your beautiful family (seriously...your kids are insanely gorgeous!) had a wonderful Christmas!
Love,
S~
Brian~ O and I were looking at some pics Melissa posted and Olga kept pointing out photos on the wall in the background that she was in and would show me when we got there. Can't wait!
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