Therapy in the form of an evening out

Steve again. Our morning visit was a lot like the past couple of mornings. I walked Aidan down to the playroom and Terri already had Liam when I got there. The boys had a good time, they seem to be getting into a comfortable routine with us. Aidan fell asleep again—it is funny how quickly he can go from playing to sleeping. He sweats like a little piggy when he sleeps and we continue to get scolded for returning him to his group sweaty. We even tried wiping him down with tissues before he left.

After our morning visit we were told we needed to go back to the apartment because the translator had to go to drop off some papers at the court. I suspect that it was because a whole group of us foreigners finally convinced them to let us stay out a little later on a school night and actually go to dinner. So I guess there had to be a trade off.

When I went to get Aidan in the afternoon he was just getting up from a nap. He had sheet marks on his face and was very disoriented and even a bit grumpy. He takes after his mama after a nap! Not only that, but the caregivers must have gotten the hint with the sweat and Aidan was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts! When we arrived at the playroom I was surprised to see a full house. In addition to Terri and Liam there was another American, Susan (Arlington, VA) in the room with her new daughter Anna (she had just returned for her second trip). Candy, the South African lady we had met at lunch the other day, was in there talking as well. Aidan did not seem pleased with this development, having to share a room with others. Between his indignation and continual grogginess he remained quiet and shy. Go figure. Candy’s husband Steve came in briefly as well as two other Americans, Pam (Boston, MA) and her mother (also here for the second trip) and we all coordinated our evening out. Much to our amusement and slight annoyance we found out we would be allowed to stay out until 7PM. When everyone left the room we had a little time to entertain the boys. Aidan actually handed Liam one of the blocks at one point and we praised him for his sharing. Liam was in a good mood (see photo), and Aidan remained slow to fully wake up but he played with us. At the end of the visit we got lots of hugs from Aidan and lavished many goodbye kisses on Liam.

We left the baby house and attempted to go two different Chinese restaurants but found out both were having private parties or something like that. We were an amusing caravan of foreigners. Anya spent part of the trip picking on Bulat about his driving—you would think these two are married. Bulat was briefly pulled over by the police, not for his driving, but because he wasn’t wearing his seat belt. For a moment I thought we would be in a subtitled episode of Cops. After being released on just a warning we ended up going to a pub/restaurant called the Black Bull—a fact I knew without having the need for a translator because oddly enough the sign was in English. So there we were, seven Americans (The Woods were there, too) and two South Africans out for a much-needed late afternoon/early evening outing. Our drivers and translators left us once we ordered our food and were situated with a round of drinks and said they would come back later. We had a good time of small talk, talking about our children and anything else that came to mind. Most of the men polished off some Belgian beer and the women had Spanish red wine and Italian Chianti. The food was pretty good at the Black Bull much to my surprise as it was more of a bar than a restaurant. Terri became our impromptu interpreter for the evening when we needed more food/beverage. She did a pretty good job. We all had a blast, momentarily forgetting any of our problems. At 7PM the translators arrived and our party was broken up—I am sure we would all have stayed much longer otherwise. Then it was back to the apartment with at least a temporary break in our routine.