Today I took Dzintars to his first ever hands-on museum! I sent emails to many local places on Dzintars behalf, requesting free tickets so that he could experience new things. The Discovery Science Center was one of two places that said yes! So today the two of us set off on an adventure. He'd never before seen anything like it! What an amazing experience for him, he got to touch, feel and take part of so many different science related things! Even with his VERY limited English I think he learned a lot just by being able to touch and manipulate everything.
Laying on a bed of nails. He said it hurt a tiny bit:)
Smiling through his first ever earthquake in the earthquake simulator. Pretty neat.
Tornado exhibit.
FYI, if you ever find a baby Condor, don't assign Dzintars the job of feeding it, his poor bird didn't get much food IN his beak.
He's a very good rock climber, even in flip flops!
Seeing how fast he can throw a baseball.
Their grocery store exhibit ROCKS!! Each cart has a computer screen with a digital shopping list. Then it asks you questions either pertaining to math (i.e. Choose the pineapples that are the cheapest per serving (canned, freshly cut or whole-all info is on the label). Or recycling type of questions (choose the orange juice whose container is NOT recyclable.) You scan the bar code and then the computer tells you whether you are right or wrong. He didn't get much out of the questions, but we did use the shopping list for some English practice. I read the name and he had to find it:) He enjoyed this exhibit more than I thought he would!
Next up was the ice hockey exhibit. A Latvian teenagers dream come true! He thoroughly enjoyed each part of this one!
Driving the Zamboni.
Shooting some pucks.
All geared up and playing goalie, the pucks whizzed right past him!
Even in all that gear you can still see him grinning!!
Standing in front of some super powerful fans with bird "wings" on, learning how to hold the wings so they have the least amount of wind resistance.
The flight simulator was very intriguing to him. Might have ourselves a future pilot.
Posing next to the imprint of his face.
We also got to watch a wildlife show with live animals. Another highlight for him. Checking out the American Alligator. Think it freaked him out a bit. They were letting everyone touch it at the end but he passed.
A very young and silly Baboon.
The Armadillo - which he Google translated and told me is dangerous. At first I thought I heard him say in Latvia we "eat" them. Which I thought was strange, but stranger things have been eaten in foreign countries. He got a good laugh out of that one. Thought I was pretty crazy.
This afternoon we stopped by the Dentist's office to pick up the clothes that his hygienist donated! Inside were a pair of super sweet Nikes and wouldn't you know it THEY FIT PERFECTLY! He was thrilled beyond belief and immediately asked if he was able to take them back to Latvia. I had to break the news that while they were given to him part of our program rules are no name brand gifts (ipod, Sony, Nike etc). The reason being that it makes the kids a target and they will be beat up by their jealous peers or one of said jealous peers steals it:( I told him I'd ask permission and explained why. He assured me it would not get stolen as his door at his boarding school (where he attends during the weekdays) has a lock and he locks it when he sleeps (That explains why he always locks his bedroom door at night). Luckily for him our program director thinks one pair of Nike shoes will be fine! Cindy, if you are reading this THANK YOU! He lit up when he saw those shoes! And the clothes are going to fit perfectly as well!!
Dzintars and I ventured to our first church youth group event. Tonight they had a pool party at our pastor's house. I'm so proud of how brave he is in new situations. I explained to him that the kids from church were having a pool party and that we could go or just stay home. He chose to go even though he doesn't know a soul there. I stayed with him with my handy dandy Google translate at the ready, he met a few kids, took a dip in the pool that was so quick if you blinked you missed it (poor kid gets cold so easily). We played some one-on-one on the basketball court (I won in case you are wondering, he may or may not have an issue with traveling) and he learned how to play H-O-R-S-E with a few of the high school boys. Then we sat down for some worship time, when the lyric sheet was handed to him he looked at me and asked for the music in Latvian:) Peter has spoiled him. I explained that I didn't know about the singing ahead of time and therefore didn't have them translated for him. I did my best to translate portions of the songs on my phone, at least he got the gist. He even sings right there with us in Latvian when he has the translations. I tell ya this kid is brave! There is no way you'd get me singing along in English if I was in a foreign country surrounded by my peers, the last thing I'd want is to be different. But he doesn't seem to mind. I'm daily impressed with this kid I tell ya! I have no doubt that had he been able to communicate with the other kids he'd have left there with many, many friends! He'd likely have been the life of the party! He has no fear! As we sat and listened to the kids interact and joke around with each other I couldn't help but think about how badly I want him to be able to spend his high school years in a group like that! Surrounded by people who know him well, who point him to God, help him grow and learn and who will support him! He would thrive in such an environment.
It is so hard NOT knowing what his future holds, but we're trusting in the ONE who holds it! He loves Dzintars even more than we do!
He is a very special boy, no doubt. Praying for a family for D.
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