Michael & Liz are Bloggable

This will be a long post because there is a long story behind it.

Yesterday after work we were trying to tell Liza our plans for the weekend. We wanted to go to the pool on Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday. We also tried to tell her we wanted to take her to dinner at a restaurant and then Frankie's Fun Park on Friday night. That's all we tried to convey.

She did not want to go to the pool and had no interest in it. She tried to tell us that she couldn't swim and so she can't go. She was dead set on not being involved in pool activities. In every way possible we tried to say "you don't need to swim to go in the pool", "you can stand in the pool", "the pool is shallow", "the pool is fun", "the pool not deep". But in her own little way she shakes her head with a very strong "no"! I'm sure you can imagine both our and her frustrations.

We also tried to say we were going to a "fun park tonight", "We were going to a restaurant tonight" and she would constantly shake her head no and finally I had her write down what she wanted to say and she did with 4 exclamation points. Of course the translation site I use didn't translate it(we have a feeling her spelling isn't great). I finally said "you want a boring night? do nothing?" and she said "da".

This is the part of the story where Liz and I made a big mistake. We decided to call the interpreter to help understand her. Mistake doesn't even describe it though. I explained to the interpreter we wanted to take her to the pool, a fun park, and a restaurant and Liza is trying to tell us "no", we don't know why, and is very insistent. The interpreter says "umm... ok". She gets Liza on the phone and it was full of very quiet da's and nyet's. Liza hands the phone back to me and this is, word for word, the conversation we had at that point:

Me: Hello?

Interpreter: "I got a letter from Liza's Aunt and I haven't spoken to Liza since she arrived and I already told her Aunt that she was OK. I guess I was wrong."

Me: (Obviously, I was taken aback) "Oh my gosh! Liza is great! We have no problems! We are not unhappy at all. We just want to understand her and she's insistent on telling us something"

Interpreter: "Well she's fine, what's the problem?"

Me: "Well I just wanted to understand why she doesn't want to do anything fun? I asked her if she wanted to have a boring night with nothing to do and she said 'da'".

Interpreter: "She is a child. You should not treat her like an adult. She doesn't know what these things are. Just take her and don't tell her where she is going. Once she gets there she will have fun."

Me: "OK, we will do that. Thank you very much... OK... bye".

We felt scolded. We felt unfit to take care of her. We felt like we made a big mistake by calling the interpreter for help in understanding Liza. I thought that's what the interpreter was there for though? Right? To help with these situations?

One thing about it though, she was right. Liza is 8 years old. She knows nothing about our culture or the fun we want to give her. So from that moment on, we were going to take Liza without giving her information on activities and assume she'll enjoy it.

We took her to Chilie's where she wanted chicken and potatoes. We ordered chicken fingers and mashed potatoes and pineapple juice. Before dinner they gave her crayons and a coloring book and she loved it. She at one point got bored with it and I started coloring in the blocks in the crossword and she took it right back and went to town. She got her dinner and loved it. She seemed amused by the squirty ketchup bottle and how it came out in a long stream. I think she really enjoyed the restaurant atmosphere. She constantly was looking around and observing other people and food walking by. Even I am still enamored by the look of a steaming pile of fajita ingredients walking by. So that was a success without a doubt.

We then left and went to Frankie's Fun Park. Anyone who doesn't know what that is, it's a big huge complex with a massive arcade, 3 18 hole putt-putt courses, 2 go-kart courses and tons of climbing things for kids. The second we walked in she was curious but very reluctant as always. Every single game we wanted her to play, this was the routine:

1. She would shake her head no.
2. I would play once.
   
3. She would then want to play 5 or 10 times in a row.
   

The best one was Air Hockey. She didn't want anything to do with it. Liz had to practically pull her hand onto the table. After beating me 7-5, she was elated and clapping and so incredibly happy. High fives all around. The only two games she didn't want to play was skeeball and basketball. We think it's because of her culture. Boys do sports, girls do not. We weren't going to be able to change her mind on that. So at the end of our time there, we were 17 dollars poorer, 200 tickets richer, and we bought a goofy yellow little poof ball with them.

Here are a few pictures from the event:

So this morning we woke up and had some breakfast, went to the Raleigh Farmers Market, came back and watched Ice Age, had some lunch, and then went to the pool. During lunch we found out what Liza's favorite food was: Watermelon. She practically ate an entire quarter of a watermelon. Which is a ton. We finally had to tell her "ok, kvateet" (enough). Here is documentation:


So then we went to the pool. Liza in clothes and Liz and I in bathing suits. She didn't want to wear it because she didn't want to swim but Liz snuck it into our bag without her knowing just in case. When we got there, I told Liz "I'm going to act as much like a child as possible so she can see how fun it is." So after some cannonballs, splashing around, and doing hand stands, we pretty much sealed the deal on her getting in. She picked up her bathing suit and in front of the entire pool she started getting undressed. Liz then escorted her to the bathroom and she came out in a bathing suit and slathered in sun tan lotion.

The rest is history and thus the title of the blog, "remember when she was shy?" She immediately hopped in and splashed around, attempted to swim, and started an endless cycle of getting out and jumping in. Soon it was Liz and my job to get out and jump in with her. She also put on the goggles we brought and really loved going under.

Since she came here on Tuesday, she has been reluctant to speak at all, much less english. But ever since she hopped in the pool she has changed. To get us to jump in she would say "adeen, dva, three!" and we would jump (three is three in Russian, very funny). The next time it was "One, two, three!" She was just talking up a storm.

Finally when we wanted to go, we said to her "pitnadsat minootooh" which means "fifteen minutes" and she said "da" and once the time went down to 7 or 8, we'd say "7 minutes" and she goes "no! ten ten ten!" and then repeat it in Russian. That went on for 15 minutes. She originally didn't want to go, now she doesn't want to leave. Finally we got her to get out to walk home with us and the whole time we were trading responses on English and Russian words. We'd say "sidewalk" and she would say "said... whack" and try a few times until she got it and then say it in Russian and we would attempt it as well. The words exchanged on the walk were "car", "storm" (because of the black clouds moving in), "sidewalk", "street", "dogs". This is the kind of conversations we pictured ourselves having, but she didn't want to speak English before. Boy I hope it continues.

We don't have any pictures from the pool but we have a feeling it will be a favorite of hers so we'll get plenty. When we got back she picked out The Little Mermaid to watch for the second time this week and sat down with a Popsicle while Liz braided her hair.


Remember when she was shy? We hope this trend continues. Tomorrow we have a party with all the families and kids from Belarus so that should be a blast! We will do our best to seek out the interpreter and mend any damage we might have caused by our conversation.

Sorry for the long post, but we are just beaming with happiness over this whole wonderful week. Liza has been such a blessing to us, hopefully we've been the same to her. Can we keep her? =P