Miss Valla

     

      Aaron's village doesn't have a hotel.  No bed and breakfast either.  There is a school with a few rooms that are available to rent.  They were full.  We arrived in the village unannounced.   This stunned us but seemed normal to everyone involved.  We are Americans who plan our lives out weeks and months in advance.  We make lists, consult maps, google everything and make sure every base is covered before we leave home.  
     We drove into a village with no idea where the center of town was located, where the social services building was located, where a bathroom was located!  Our facilitator took it all in stride.  She knew exactly where to go despite never being there before.  She directed the driver and he drove right up to the building we needed, she walked in and within just a few minutes had started the process for us to go see Aaron.  Unbelievable.  But, our housing still needed to be solved.  No hotel.  No rented rooms.  No problem. 
     Calls were made and within a few hours of our dropping unannounced into the village, an 80 year old woman, with dyed hair and gold teeth, vacated her bedroom and invited us to stay with her.  She spoke not one word of English, we spoke about three words of her language, but somehow we communicated - with signs, a bit of polite German phrases we both knew and a lot of laughing. We couldn't pronounce her name so we called her Miss Valla.

      It was not the Hilton.  The three of us were crammed in one room.

It was hot.  Brutally hot.  We had one little fan that we directed so that all three of us could feel it.

We sat on our beds whenever we were in the apartment.  We had nowhere else to go.

We felt like we had gone back in time.

A kitchen much like my Great Grandmother's kitchen,  although not quite as clean! 

To save money, dishes are washed with a liquid dish soap that is diluted down to one drop soap and one bottle water.  One bottle of dish detergent in Miss Valla's apartment will last her a lifetime.  We bought our own bottle of dish detergent.  She thought we were a bit crazy!

An old fashioned phone with an old fashioned ring!  It worked!

A radio that played non-stop.

Our bathroom...

Well... let's just say that it doesn't have a chamber pot - but it definitely is not the Hilton!

A shower room that is separate...

     The image on the door is deceiving.  Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the shower room (or bath stall).  It is a tiny little room that contains a sink, an old style bathtub and a cabinet.  You have room only to walk in and close the door.  The bathtub has a board laying across the back of it that holds a bunch of washtubs.  So you can't use the bathtub as a bathtub.  You can't use it as a shower either.  The hose to the shower is not hooked up to the wall.  Basically you squat in the tub and wash and spray.  Not so bad for my 5'2' frame but poor Rob! 

We washed our clothes in the washtubs and hung them out to dry on a line off her balcony.   We cooked in her little kitchen (washing all the dishes BEFORE we used them) and ate at her table. 

She had funny little rituals.  Before we left we had to sit on short little foot stools in the little foyer for a few minutes.  It was for good luck.

She thought we were going to get sick because we put bottles of water in the freezer. 

She dried bread in bowls in the windowsill.  In the bedroom.

She served us borscht.   

Poor Elijah.  He took one look at the stuff in the bowl and wanted to immediately throw up.  We were whispering to him to 'just take one bite'.  She was watching and wondering why he was stirring his spoon in the bowl but not eating.  Too cold?  No problem.  She whisked away his soup and heated it up in a pan.  Back in front of him it came.  More stirring.  Too hot? 

 She's definitely confused.

We were quietly begging for him to just take a bite.  Both of us eating ours with more relish than we felt to offset his reluctance.  Finally he got some in his mouth.  His shudder and look said it all.   Okay - she pulls out chicken.  The boy will eat chicken.  Relief!  Elijah loves chicken.  Yes - Da  - he will eat chicken.  She brings it to him... AND DUMPS IT INTO THE BORSCHT!!

Dear Miss Valla 

 We left our fan and Aaron's stuff in her apartment. 

She has already told us she wants us to come back. 

We can't wait! 

Please though - no Borscht!