My sincerest thanks for your assistance everybody, especially you, Kokosha!
I can understand there being some questions and skepticism raised about this, so I'll add a little background in case anybody is interested. I worked with a secular non-religious group for 8 weeks, and we went into the "orphanages" to work with the kids. Part of my work was going to a variety of different orphanages, boarding schools and programs for street kids. I also had a regular assignment where I spent pretty much every morning: a rather hard-core place that wasn't a true orphanage but a weird hybrid of mental hospital/juvenile delinquency facility. The kids there weren't dangerous to themselves or others, but they did have problems: learning disabilities, anger management, socialization issues, probably some ADD and dyslexia; there were also some otherwise normal kids (to the degree that orphans are normal - that's a tough break even for the strongest child) who were sent there temporarily as punishment, mainly runaways from regular orphanages. It was pretty much a laboratory for fetal alcohol syndrome and the consequences of alcoholism, but I suppose most orphanages in Russia are.
I think Anton was there for running away from his regular orphanage, but I'm not sure. He was there with Gena, mentioned in both letters, and I do know that Gena was there as punishment for running away with two other boys, and I suspect Anton was one of them. Aside from a stammer, Anton seemed fairly normal and relatively bright. He was especially interested in English and used every opportunity to learn English and especially to write English letters, so I found his English spelling of "body spray" very touching -- obviously copied from the bottle. Glenn tells me that on his recent visit he gave Anton a Russian-English dictionary, and Anton went straight for the "dirty words," which sounds like a fairly normal 15-year-old boy to me! None of those kids was particularly great with numbers (understatement), but Anton did appear to be one of the kids on the higher end of intellectual development and socialization skills, although his letter might have been a bit elementary. He also might have been dumbing it down for my benefit since he knows how pathetic my Russian is.
I'm genuinely surprised at Anton's statement that he's been waiting for me. I don't think it's true at all! I never gave him any reason at all to believe that I'd return to Russia. I saved for years for that trip and figured it for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Glenn, who volunteered with me, stays in touch with Anton's friend Gena and visits a few times a year from England (which is a much closer and less expensive trip) now that Gena and Anton are back at their regular orphanage, and so Anton's "waiting on me" is, I suspect a ploy on Anton's part to try to have a visitor too. I'm sure he'd be glad to see me because we did form a close and affectionate relationship, but I find it hard to believe he's been waiting for me. As for why he included his birthday, I chalk it up to a polite solicitation for a birthday present. It will probably work. These kids are streetwise and clever even if they're not Einstein-level geniuses, and they're also sweet and loving. I think you have to be a bit of a "player" to survive in an orphanage of any sort, and they certainly don't ask for a lot. If all you have to give them is your time and attention, they're grateful just for that and will fight over who gets to carry your bags and hang up your coat. If you want to slip them a bit of candy or let them wear your gloves outdoors, they'll take that too. Anton was one of the children who religiously saved the candy wrapper of any sweet that came his way. He and some of the other boys invented a game to play with their empty candy wrappers and traded them like baseball cards. At the mental institution/juvenile delinquent center where I worked with Anton, there were pretty much zero toys. A few, maybe, but they were so pathetic that nobody really wanted to play with them. We brought our own for the kids to play with, mostly art supplies and machinkas and some board games.
As for adoption, that wasn't the purpose of our work and we never mentioned the word in the children's presence. It wouldn't be fair to put such hopes in their minds. Personally, I'd love to adopt Anton and some of the other boys. The thought of him (or them) driving tractors and numbing themselves on vodka until they die by age 40 tears my guts out. But we can only give what we have and do our best, and the Russian government is not receptive to adopting children to single American women who are diabetic and pushing age 50.
If anybody is interested in learning more about my experiences in the orphanages and the kids we worked with, you can check out the blog I kept during my time there: http://julieinrussia.wordpress.com/2007/01/. That link will take you to January 2007 and it is more interesting if you read it from oldest to newest! I worked with the orphans through March 2007 but I have tried to keep posting to keep the blog alive and to hopefully keep some consciousness of the orphans in my own mind and the minds of others. I've also posted news items about Russia and its culture that interest me, and there's a link to my photos as well (but be warned: there are like 400 of them and only a few pages are of the orphans; taking my camera into the orphanages could be disruptive because the kids didn't want to do anything except get their pictures taken; also, I didn't want to be disrespectful. This was their home, however temporarily, and I don't want my guests coming to my home with a camera every time they visit. So picture-taking was reserved for special times.)
Thank you again for your help. I am very grateful to everybody for their assistance and support. You seem like a nice group of people so I'll probably check in regularly if you don't mind! Also, if anybody has questions about the work I did or how they can do that kind of work too, I'd be glad to help. (If you're a man and go work for a few weeks in the orphanages, I promise you'll spend that time as a rock star! Those kids hardly ever see a grown man except maybe a teacher or a doctor.)
Again, my sincerest thanks.
