May 2, 2008

Alyona visits her Aunt

Mariya and Sasha got Alyona off to the train station last night without any problems.  Alyona will try to leave her Aunt’s village around lunch time so she is back before it is too late.

Nick and I headed out this morning to go to Black Jack’s.  It is probably the closest thing Petro has to a Starbucks.  The menu was not in English so we do not know what all they offer but it was a large menu.  Nick asked for coffee and they showed him an espresso size cup and Nick said “no”.  She then pulled out a larger cup and said “Aw, Americanski coffee.”  Nick said yes and then ordered a chai (what the Russian call black tea) for me.  Nick has had to drink instant coffee since we have been here so you know he was excited to get a brewed cup of coffee.  We pointed to an item in the case for a snack and we were good to go.  We headed back to the apartment when we were finished because we did not want to miss the call from Mariya that Alyona had made it back from her Aunt’s.

We just hung around the apartment as it was cold and rainy and we were waiting for Mariya to call.  We started becoming worried when we had not heard anything by 4:00.  We were trying to log on to see if we had any email messages when the doorbell finally rang and it was Mariya and Alyona.  Alyona was a little wet but she was safe and in very good spirits.  You could see the trip to her Aunt’s was what she needed.  Nick made a cup of hot tea for Alyona and we sat down to hear about her trip.

She said the visit was very good and she was very happy to see her Aunt.  They went by her grandmother’s but she was not home so Alyona did not get to see her.  She said it is a small village and if one person knows you are there everyone knows.  Alyona saw Kristina’s uncle and talked with him a little bit and he said he was sad Kristina was leaving but thought is was for the best.  I asked Alyona if she heard anything about her mother and she said the uncle said that he had run into her mother a while ago and he thinks she is working at a gas station.  It seems that her Aunt, grandmother and other relatives do not have contact with her mother.  Alyona said all the relatives said the same thing, we are sad to see you leave but we think it is best for all of you.  I think this is what Alyona needed to hear and she is now at peace with everything.

Alyona also had a small photo album with her and shared the pictures with us.  There was a picture of her mother and father on their wedding day.  There was also a recent picture of her father in a wheel chair and his son (he looked about 7 years old).  She also had pictures from a trip they took with their mother to the river when Kristina was about a year old.  Then there were pictures of all of them when they first arrived at the orphanage.  It is amazing how much they have all grown.  Alyona also brought a picture of us to show her relatives.  She said her Aunt said that Alyona and I look alike.

Alyona said she returned so late because her grandfather was going to give her a ride back but his car broke down.  Then they went to the bus station but there is no real schedule so they were told to just wait to see if a bus comes.  After waiting for a while they decided she should take a taxi back.  When she finally got back to Petro she called Mariya and she picked her up and brought her to our apartment.  We were just glad she was back, safe and in good spirits.

Nick and I rode with Alyona to return to the boarding school.  On the ride back we spoke with Mariya to see if we could get any more information.  We have been nervous to ask her anything about her mother because we did not know if it would upset her.  Mariya said she seems to be very open and thinks she would like us to ask questions and learn more about her.  She handled the question I asked about her mother very well.  Mariya told us Alyona is interested in our relationship.  She does not care what the house looks like or what we have, but will we be able to give her advice and help her when she has problems.  She is such an incredible young lady.

Alyona has school tomorrow so Mariya will pick us up at about 2:00 and we will get Alyona and head to the orphanage to see Victor and Kristina.

We only got one picture today so I am also going to include pictures of houses that are near the orphanage.

The Hrenko Family

Adoption Journey to Kazakhstan

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Julie, Alyona, & Nick

Orphanage, Poludino

Houses across from orphanage, Poludino

Playground at orphanage, Poludino