Visiting Katia in Ohio

I've had a pretty busy summer since I came home from Ukraine. Since we still had several weeks before the academic year starts, I did some traveling. In July, I flew to Ohio to meet a new friend.

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens

Katia and I met through my blogging friend Keesha.  Katia is Keesha's new sister; she was adopted from Russia, just like me!  Katia's family doesn't speak Russian, so she was really excited to get to spend time with me.  The two of us went to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Of course, we had to stop to see the red pandas.  We got along really well- soon we were chattering away in Russian about our favorite things.

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens

The zoo was beautiful. As it's also a botanical garden, there were lots of lovely fountains and beautiful trees and flowers. The red pandas were the best part, but I also really liked the monkey island. Can you see the monkey behind me in the picture?

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens

There were fun statues all over the zoo as well, like this gorilla. However, it was over 100 degrees outside! We were so hot that Katia and I decided to leave the zoo to do something cooler.

Northland Ice Center

Katia is an amazing skater, so she took me to a local rink to show off her moves. I told her that I wasn't a great skater, but Katia insisted that it's in our blood as Russians. It was actually pretty fun! Katia showed me one of her competition programs. Both of us have experience performing, but I've never danced competitively, so I was really interested in Katia's life as a skater. I promised her that some day I'd come to see her compete; she promised to come see me dance in New York City some day.

Northland Ice Center

It was a great day and Katia was really fun to hang out with. It was so nice to talk about our favorite Russian candy and tv shows. I had brought a stuffed Cheburashka for her- and it turns out she loves Cheburashka too!

Do you have any friends with whom you have something special in common? I loved hanging out with Katia so much that my moms found a group for me here in New York. It's just for Russian-speaking kids. It meets in one of New York's Russian neighborhoods.

7 comments

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Ooh! sounds like lots and lots of fun :)
    I'm so glad you had someone to speak in russian to! you both look like excellent skaters :)
    -Aisha

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  3. It's so cool that you got to meet Katia! Great pictures. Looks like you two had a lot of fun together. Hopefully you can keep in touch.

    Glad you found a Russian speaking group! That sounds neat.

    There are three girls in my family who have extra things in common: me (Charissa,) Fiona, and Kiwi. All of us are ten years old. We're in the same class at school. All of us are adopted. All of us were born in other countries than Canada. (Fiona and I were born in the United States, and Kiwi was born in China.) Plus we have matching nicknames; we sometimes call ourselves C, Fi, and Ki. :-)

    We all have other friends too, and plenty in common with our other family members, but the three of us are especially tight.

    Love,
    Charissa

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  4. Ooooohhhh you guys had a really good time together .. it is so kewl that you had someone to speak Russian with .. and now your moms have found you a group that is even more kewl for you .. maybe you will meet a very special friend through the group.

    My sister Marsali and I (both adopted) are the same age .. homeschool together .. and LOVE to travel and see the country with mama. Mama will not let us travel around without her though .. so we do not get to run around the USA like Sophie and Tirya. LOL!!

    We have something in common with you too .. we are both friends of Sophie.

    Love Ya,
    Taryn

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  5. Looks like you and Katia had a great time! I love the pictures! =) That's awesome about the Russian group... that should be a lot of fun!

    My friend Keisha and I go to the same school and we're both new there this year. She and I both recently moved to town, and we live next door to each other. =)

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  6. So glad you had fun with my sister! She's pretty great, isn't she? :)

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  7. The Cincinnati Zoo is really fun! We live ten minutes away! I'm glad you liked it and got to see your favorite animal!

    Meeting new friends is really fun! Especially if they are from the same county as you. It's something you have in common!

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