Aaron, Adam, Cornell and I went to pick up Judy at her
office. She made us wait for about 15
minutes. Adam said it was because she
was showing us that she was the boss. The
drive to the boys’ village was about 30 minutes from Miskolc. Along the way, Adam and Judy were
talking. He said she was letting us know
what would happen, but she seemed to be saying more than we were being
told. She would talk forever and Adam
would say like 2 sentences. The plan was
to see the boys for 2 hours and then leave for a couple hours so they could eat
lunch and take their nap. We would come
back to see them for 30-minutes to an hour.
They did not want to overwhelm the boys. We were told that the foster parents had done
a good job of preparing the boys for our visit, but neither one of us had much
hope that they would show any interest in us, and might even possibly be
scared.
We arrived at their home and it was very well-kept and a
nice home. The foster father met us
outside and took us into the house. It
looked just like the videos and was very clean and well-kept. The boys are living there with the foster
parents, their 2 year old daughter and 2 other foster children. They came up to meet us but then quickly
stepped back. The foster parents told us
to go into the boys’ room where they would be more comfortable. The 4 of us went in the room with Adam and
Judy, and MAN, did the boys come alive!
They wanted to show us all their toys, which were mainly cars, blocks,
toddler-size Legos, and stuffed animals.
They even had an Alf toy – when was the last time you saw an Alf stuffed
animal or even thought of that TV show?
While we were trying to play with them, Judy and Adam were
telling us about their schedules and anything else we might need to know. Adam said that the foster mom told him that
the boys had been going to school and telling everyone that they were going to
have new parents and they would get to go on a big plane to America. They have been very excited! I’m sure we’ve had some of the same feelings
-very excited but when the day comes to leave, there will be plenty of anxiety.
When we were leaving, the foster parents and Judy kept
asking us what we thought and if everything was ok; basically, they wanted to
know if we were happy with the boys.
We had a good visit with them and even Drew talked to us a
lot, though we had no idea what he was saying.
We had been told that Drew was very shy.
We came back to Miskolc to have lunch and rest for a little bit. As usual, Aaron had no appetite and I was
starving. I decided to visit the local
grocery store, but first I needed to exchange some money. I went to the local bank and it took over 30
minutes to wait in line and get the money exchanged. I went to the little grocery store and bought
some cheese, crackers, package of salami, gum, 2 oranges and a Sprite for less
than $5. Things seem to be very inexpensive
here compared to the UK and France.
When I got back to the hotel, Aaron said he was about to
Skype with Gus before Gus left for school.
We got to talk with him briefly and see his handsome new haircut before
he left for school. I took a little cat
nap because I only had about 2 hours of sleep last night.
We went back to see the boys and when we got there, the
foster mom told Adam that the boys had been too excited to take naps. I thought “oh boy, this could be interesting!” The boys sure where happy to see us and took
us straight back to their room and wanted to pick up playing right where we
left off. Aaron played cars and trucks with
Sam. Drew wanted me to play on an
overturned box with him. He would slap
his hands on it like a drum and I would mimic his movements. If he quit, so did I. If he put his hands out or to the side, so
did I. Every once in a while, he would
get this little twinkle in his eye and put his hands up. I knew he wanted me to tickle him and then he
would laugh. After a while, the foster
mom brought them each a yogurt cup and said (through Adam) that they each
needed to have a cup of yogurt either mid-morning or in the afternoon.
Sure enough, the boys were like little American boys who
missed their naps and they were more rambunctious. I also thought they might be testing us. Adam had told us that the foster parents let
them do whatever they want and don’t really discipline them. It’s hard to get in the habit of say “nem”
instead of “no”. Drew kept saying the
same thing to me over and over and when I would look to Adam for translation,
he would say “don’t worry about it, just play with him”. After we left, Adam told me that Drew kept asking
me why I talked like that – meaning that he couldn’t understand what I was
saying. I laugh even now because the
feeling was mutual J. At about 4:30, I looked over and Sam was
sitting on the couch with his eyes half open, and I made the comment that he
looked very tired. Adam immediately said
“Yes, we must go. It’s been a big day
for them.”
We came back to the Hotel Pannonia and had about an hour
before we met George for dinner. He
asked what we wanted and I mentioned some traditional Hungarian food. He took us to Calypso, just a couple blocks from the hotel. I had goulash (in Hungary this is like a beef
stew) and Aaron had cream of garlic soup.
The waiter brought a small dish of dried peppers (paprika). Aaron sprinkled some on his soup and George
said “No, that’s too much. It’s too
hot. Take them out.” Aaron convinced him that it was ok but I did
see him wipe his brow a few times while he was eating the soup. Then Aaron and I decided to share a Greek
salad, schnitzel and mashed potatoes. It
was very good, but we were stuffed at the end.
Then the waiter came by to surprise us with traditional chocolate crepes. He poured brandy over them and lit them on
fire. They were very good!
Now we are back in the room and it’s time for
bed. We are seeing the boys longer
tomorrow and I’m sure it will be a busy day.
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