Vanya headed out on his travel July 15 and ended up sitting in Burlington Vermont for 10 hours as the airlines tried to wait out thunderstorms! He got a lot of practice going in and out of the XRAY system (6x!), using the pay phones to call us and asking for help and information in English! He did really well!
The downside was he lost his flight to Moscow...but as always the silver lining was worth the cost! (Thank you so much Kim and Jamie for financing the new ticket we had to buy!)
As Vanya sat in the airport, an email arrived from our dear friends in Moscow who run Maria's Children. They were offering to include Vanya as a counselor for a ten day camp starting that weekend with disabled orphans outside of Moscow! We contacted them, got directions and rebooked Vanya's travel with this plan!! This wouldn't have happened if he had made his original travel and gone on to Pavel's hometown of Bryansk Russia.
Vanya left July 16...traveled via Kiev, survived an overnight in the Moscow airport waiting for lost luggage, negotiated the purchase of cell phone and provider, found the train and route to Maria's Camp, and ended up right where we hoped...clowning and bringing joy to kids coming from the same place he had!
We've talked several times by phone and he seems to being doing really well, and loves the camp! His interview for student visa will likely be next week sometime at the American Embassy in Moscow.
Moscow is 8 hours ahead in time, and his cell phone is +7 965.337.3472
You can talk pretty cheaply via Skype and Vanya would love to hear from any of you! He needs to keep his English going!
Thank you so much for your support of his journey to independence! You would all be amazed at what he has accomplished if you'd known him 7 years ago as the ragged kid who barely spoke a word of Russian...let alone English and a little French!!!!
Recent Comments