My New Russian Friend
So I made it to the retirement home, which thankfully is only 15 minutes from home and easy to find. It was scarily easy to get up and into Pyotor's room. All I had to do was sign a sheet then up I went! So much for security, right?
When I found him he was sitting quietly in the dark, I think half asleep. Apparently he's mostly blind, the poor thing. His right eye is completely white/blue and his left is not much better. I think that's why he held my hand the whole time and caressed my wrist, like he was making sure I was real and actually there. He also told me that he doesn't like to walk b/c he tends to fall and that he usually sits and sleeps in his chair all the time. It was heart breaking. I'm wondering if I can at least get him out into his wheelchair to go sit outside and enjoy some fresh air at some point. His room was 100 degrees and so stuffy and he sat in a sweater and pants with a heavy blanket over his legs.
I visited about 40 minutes and we talked about various things (he does speak some English, so this is good). He said he has 3 boys and 5 girls but only one girl lives nearby and visits once in a while. I wonder if they are all still alive or what since he's 90 so they could easily be as old as 70 themselves. We had a little trouble communicating though- I think he thinks I'm still in college when I was trying to tell him that I studied many years before, but he has memory issues from old age (I checked) and asked me to repeat my name and other information multiple times.
Turns out that he used to teach Bible studies when he lived in Brazil then Germany, so he actually knows like 4 languages. I was very impressed. I was reading Psalm 30 to him, and mind you my pronunciation and reading are very rusty, so he was correcting me and explaining things, regretfully it was in Russian so I only understood some of it. From the gist of it, i got: If you read a little every day, then in no time you will be reading very quickly. It was sweet.
I asked if I could visit again and he said yes, please. And then told me that when no one visits him, he is very sad, but when someone is there he is very happy. *heart breaking*
I think I will see if he has any allergies and if I can bring little presents and such. I was thinking of taking him things like chocolates, treats and some flowers so his room doesn't smell so hospital. I am going to try to find lilac since that's a big Russian flower (they were everywhere when I was there) and maybe that will invoke good memories for him. He also had a CD player so I'm going to try and see what I can find in the way of Russian music, preferably Christian. I have some Russian Christmas, but I'll save that for later. :)
Overall it was a satisfying visit. If any of you have an ideas on how I can improve the life of a 90 year old blind man, I would appreciate it. Languages I can work around, blindness I've never really encountered. Thank you!
When I found him he was sitting quietly in the dark, I think half asleep. Apparently he's mostly blind, the poor thing. His right eye is completely white/blue and his left is not much better. I think that's why he held my hand the whole time and caressed my wrist, like he was making sure I was real and actually there. He also told me that he doesn't like to walk b/c he tends to fall and that he usually sits and sleeps in his chair all the time. It was heart breaking. I'm wondering if I can at least get him out into his wheelchair to go sit outside and enjoy some fresh air at some point. His room was 100 degrees and so stuffy and he sat in a sweater and pants with a heavy blanket over his legs.
I visited about 40 minutes and we talked about various things (he does speak some English, so this is good). He said he has 3 boys and 5 girls but only one girl lives nearby and visits once in a while. I wonder if they are all still alive or what since he's 90 so they could easily be as old as 70 themselves. We had a little trouble communicating though- I think he thinks I'm still in college when I was trying to tell him that I studied many years before, but he has memory issues from old age (I checked) and asked me to repeat my name and other information multiple times.
Turns out that he used to teach Bible studies when he lived in Brazil then Germany, so he actually knows like 4 languages. I was very impressed. I was reading Psalm 30 to him, and mind you my pronunciation and reading are very rusty, so he was correcting me and explaining things, regretfully it was in Russian so I only understood some of it. From the gist of it, i got: If you read a little every day, then in no time you will be reading very quickly. It was sweet.
I asked if I could visit again and he said yes, please. And then told me that when no one visits him, he is very sad, but when someone is there he is very happy. *heart breaking*
I think I will see if he has any allergies and if I can bring little presents and such. I was thinking of taking him things like chocolates, treats and some flowers so his room doesn't smell so hospital. I am going to try to find lilac since that's a big Russian flower (they were everywhere when I was there) and maybe that will invoke good memories for him. He also had a CD player so I'm going to try and see what I can find in the way of Russian music, preferably Christian. I have some Russian Christmas, but I'll save that for later. :)
Overall it was a satisfying visit. If any of you have an ideas on how I can improve the life of a 90 year old blind man, I would appreciate it. Languages I can work around, blindness I've never really encountered. Thank you!