With our limited Bulgarian, and the boys' even more limited English, there are not so many topics of conversation we can have. Here are some of the few subjects we do discuss. Many of them come up on our daily walks.
-- What is dangerous. A big topic, of understandable concern for small children ripped away from the only home they knew. In addition, Donna and I have emphasized that the stove is dangerous, etc.. Often Elisey asks me if something is a little dangerous or very dangerous. He also seems to want to believe that the things that fascinate him are only a little dangerous. These include cars, airplanes, motorcycles, and, sigh, guns and other weapons. For an eight-year-old boy with almost no English and zero impulse control, the answer for now is that they are all very dangerous. Nuances can come later.
-- What we are afraid of. This follows naturally from the previous.
-- What is ours. The boys have only a vague idea of ownership, having had everything in common at the orphanage, even clothes, and therefore nothing to call their own. Elisey in particular is keen to accrete possessions to himself and often just declares that things belong to him, even at school. On our walks he sometimes gets indignant when I inform him that a car, a house, a flower, does not belong to him or to us.
-- Where is everyone? Similarly the boys, used to communal living, do not understand that everyone in American has their own home. When the social worker, or our in-home helper leaves, or the boys leave their teachers at school to come home, they (Elisey most often) ask plaintively, where is X? We tell them they are at their home, but don't have the language to explain that everyone has their own home. I don't think they would quite understand yet, as they haven't visited other people's homes, which we are reluctant to (see the previous paragraph).
-- The quality of food. The boys often declare meals to be tasty, although Dimcho doesn't like vegetables as much and often makes a face and waves it away.Elisey likes most foods, and even has developed a taste for mustard on his ham and his hamburger.
-- The quality of buildings, especially toilets. When we are out and have to go to the bathroom, the boys often declare, "Hubava toaletna" (nice toilet!) even if it is a filthy men's room in the park. Mostly it's the novelty, I think.
Elisey also likes to talk about the police, although he has trouble understanding how the police can be nice if guns are not (again, nuances will come later), and cries out in excitement every time he sees an airplane, wanting to know if it is a large airplane or a small one. And if it is dangerous. As we live near a small airfield, we have this conversation often.
