I about lost control at the grocery store today. One too many people shoved me and/or my stuff out of their way. "Excuse me" or "sorry" are phrases you just don't hear here. If you're in someone's way, they will physically push past you. If you're at a ticket window and don't defend your territory aggressively enough, someone else will come up to your window, interrupt what you're doing, and take care of their business with you standing there, mouth agape. I've seen this since Day 1 but it happened at every turn today. I wanted to take my jug of water that someone had just purposefully pushed aside and swing it in a big circle, knocking over everyone within three feet of me. Wisely, I resisted.
Later in the day, Anya took us to the ropes course. The boys had done the kids' course a week or two ago and breezed through it. Curt wanted to do the course with them, so they all signed up for the adult course. If Curt and I had known how difficult it would be for the boys, we wouldn't have allowed them to start it. Being Ukraine, they don't have a guide go with them and there is no way to get off once they've started. Isaac did better than Eli did. Isaac is a natural athlete. Towards the end, though, he was complaining that he just wanted to sleep. Oh but poor Eli. My heart broke for the little guy. He had a really tough time up there. Several times he got stuck. Anya and a guide would sternly tell him what he needed to do to get back on track, but he often needed a guide to scale a tree and help untangle him. Curt and I wanted to just get him down, but Anya kept insisting that he would finish it. He did finish, but by the end he was utterly exhausted and emotionally spent. It took them over an hour to finish. One thing's for sure: these boys are tough. I know a lot of it again is orphanage survival, but I get the sense that as a whole, kids raised here are not nearly as pampered as our kids in the States.
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