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A Rare Day in the Life of Kalinovka

March 22, 2015, 21:00 2079 Author: Maria Semashkina, translated by Anna Oliynyk deti.zp.ua On 10 March, little and adult residents of Kalinovka made another visit to Zaporozhzhye

On March 10, little and adult residents of Kalinovka made another visit to Zaporozhzhye. I met them on the motorway at about 11 o’clock and we went to the Boguslayev Museum. Unfortunately, we did not take the wheelchair patients to the second floor, but those who were able to walk on their own liked the collection exhibited in the Museum very much. As for me, I can tell with certainty that it is a European-level museum.

Besides, children liked the big amount of motorcycles, samovars and the Ukrainian-style corner presented in the Museum. Besides, the special guests who follow the news as well as we do were contemplating the mannequins wearing military uniform with great interest.

When we went outside, I decided to make a photo session with helicopters and artillery on the background. I asked them not to climb on any objects though they noticed that “ordinary” people climbed wherever they wanted to.

Редкий день

Редкий день

Редкий день

Редкий день

Редкий день

Редкий день

Редкий день

After visiting the Museum, we went to have our lunch in Puzata Khata restaurant where we took tables at the very end of the dining room. Close to the toilet, of course. When we went in, other visitors seemed curious and a bit shocked. Actually, it happens every time. Though I should notice that strangers really tried to help us – hold the door or help those who needed support. I was really touched when I saw an old lady with a crutch who was holding onto the wall with one hand and helping Artem who uses a walking stick and who had to climb one stair up with her other hand…

After having our lunch, we headed to the concert dedicated to the memory of Taras Shevchenko. In the Glinka Concert Hall, we were given seats in the first raw so I could assure the administration that my team would sit calm as they had no one sitting in front of them to stroke.

At the concert, there were many school students, who started leaving the room in the first 15 minutes after it started while “my” children and adults were almost all listening to the male and female choir and looking at men and women dancing wearing national costumes with their mouths open. Even Yura who is always very noisy was behaving himself, and only his permanent desire to clap his hands was ruining the balance though it was the expression of his delight rather than insanity.

When the last song of the concert was performed, all the viewers stood up and my team decided that they should do the same. It must have been the collective unconscious influencing them. At the same time, Vitya managed to take a branch of the snowball tree which fell down but as soon as he realized that it was not real he threw it back onstage.

After the concert, a good old lady was so impressed with the children from Kalinovka that she started giving them sweets and even collected paper for them. When the concert room was empty, we went down to the cloakroom and after getting dressed and drinking juice children and adults from Kalinovka went home where their dinner was already waiting for them. I am sure that the next time I come to the orphanage, children will surely ask me when we are going to visit another concert and will say that they enjoyed their time very much. And those who could not go will ask when they are going to go to the seaside and what color the trolleybuses in Zaporozhyzhe are…

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