Regression to Infancy

Again, I apologize for the delay in posting....for those of you getting disappointed with my meager showing thus far, I beg you to stay patient with me until I have regular access to internet and thus to you all :)

My inability to do things such as find a suitable apartment and get internet hooked up for myself within a week here is a lovely example of the topic of this post which is....my figurative regression to infancy.

In so many ways I feel like an infant here in Ukraine...in my understanding of about 1/8th of the conversations going on around me, in my need for constant supervision when exploring the city, in my relationship with the family who has opened their home to me temporarily (they tenderly fawn over me telling me when I need a nap, when to where slippers to avoid catching cold, and what to eat to keep me healthy-doctors who are reading this...is there ANY truth to the explanation that drinking cold water can actually make you sick??)

Premonition about this inevitable regression still has not quite prepared me for living it. I find myself daydreaming about the day when I will be allowed (yes, when I will be allowed haha) to cross the street without the gentle guiding hand of a native Ukrainian at the small of my back -side note, often this guiding hand is attached to the body of an 8 year old boy...the son of Sasha, a man who is two years younger than me and who was my host-brother when I visited 4 years ago...yes, he has an 8 year old son whom everyone considers is more safe to cross the street alone than I am haha!!!

Laughter is the best way I have found to cope with the inevitable low moments. Yesterday I had a really low moment after spending the day touring a children's hospital and struggling to make myself and my goals here understood in my VERY-broken russian conversational skills. I got home early and yet felt unbelievable exhausted both physically and mentally. I had myself a good quick cry then told myself the problems I was having were good ones to have...at least people here are interested in helping me find what I am looking for even if it is overwhelming me. Anyways, the healing power of laughter popped up out of nowhere in a two hour exchange of russian and english lessons that took place between myself and Irina (my host) that can only be described as a beautiful cross-cultural moment of clarity.
To an observer we may have seemed to be speaking completely different languages and yet we were making jokes and giggling like school girls and somehow making ourselves perfectly clear to each other.
It was an evening I will not soon forget.