Initial Meet-n-Greet

Yesterday we arrived to the Kids Village orphanage and had a brief interview from the Assistant Director (the Director is out of town right now). Everything went well and they wanted to introduce us to a little boy. They wanted the meeting to be in the library where he was being taught a lesson and they wanted us to pretend like we were just in the library reading at first. After awhile, Svetlana started talking to him and drawing pictures with him. She told him that she would like to introduce us to him. He agreed and got up from his chair to shake our hands, it was very cute. He then was drawing pictures and was answering questions about what he liked and what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said that he loves airplanes and that he would like to be a pilot someday. Dustin then helped him draw an airplane, which he liked very much. There were several ladies in the room and it was intimidating for him to answer questions and we could tell that he had a little bit of a shy side. He was quickly engrossed with Dustin and I’m sure it is because there are not many men around the orphanage. After a little while of talking to him they told him that we had to leave. He stood up to say goodbye, nice to meet you and shook our hands again. This time he shook Dustin’s hand with both of his hands, which is tradition for men to do when greeting each other in Russian culture. Again, it was so adorable and made our hearts melt! We left the library and went back to the main room to discuss what our visiting schedule would be like over the next couple of weeks. About 5 minutes after we left the library he came into the Director’s office to give Dustin a paper airplane that he made from the drawing that they were working on together!!! They flew it around for a while and then he said goodbye to all of us again. About 3 minutes later he came back again to give me a paper airplane as well! It was the cutest thing and I cried happy tears. It was very emotional to meet him and interact with him; so special!