.................Kids are kids!

Recently, a friend asked me what I was looking forward to most about my trip to Bulgaria.  Without hesitation, I blurted out..."getting there and playing with kids, of course!"

I have such great memories of my time in Kazakhstan spent with the children (who weren't even destined to be mine).  The other special needs children in the orphanage whom I would have to sneak in my visits with, the children being adopted by parents at the same time (Kinley, Victor and Yanika) whom I could openly play with, and the neighborhood children....all brought so much joy to the experience.  And it was easy to see that after stripping down the cultural differences, the language barriers and developmental expectations...kids...all over the world....are pretty much the same!  This includes kids from the "country of Autism"   We don't have speak the same language to understand what a reach for a toy means....we don't have to receive eye contact to know a child wants our attention....and the simplest play things make the most wonderful toys (water...baby powder....hair clips...).

Some of you who followed my Kazakh blog may remember my experience of how the neighborhood kids coerced me to jump into the dirty public fountain with them on a hot summer day.  Without the use of a joint spoken language, the social context of knowing each other and in defiance of a social rule (certainly by Western standards) I had one of the best August afternoons ever....because I remembered what it was like to be a kid.  And hence...I am really looking forward to BULGARIA!