Last Friday I finally purchased a MotoX helmet for Dasha. I had been telling her that after she learns to ride a bike well, I would eventually let her drive the little motorcycle we have, but she has to have a helmet first. Well those days finally met, and she took to it like a duck to water. We set up some stuff in the yard for her to drive around. This way she can learn slow speed balance and how to handle the little bike before she starts to be brave and go fast. Well, she crashed into a pole once and it didn't slow her down. The poles are from our trampoline that had a losing fight with a windstorm earlier this year. I just pounded the poles into the ground a bit and dropped the padding on them. Worked well, and she's a pro at doing the motorcycle slalom now!

And finally, a movie clip (11.3MB!)  LINK HERE-----> http://files.blog-city.com//files/N04/78305/b/mov01960.mpg

Just wanted to update anyone who still checks this... FINALLY!

Dasha has been adapting very well.  Compared to what I expected, I would have to say AMAZINGLY well!  Her English has improved daily since she has been with us, still!  She is enrolled in 1st grade and doing well considering her language barrier and her previous education environment.  She is also part of an English as a Second Language (ESL) program at her elementary school.  This is to help kids get up to speed in English.  Her communication skills are getting pretty good at this point.

Yesterday, we took her trick-or-treating.  It took a couple houses to get comfortable knocking on the doors and saying "Trick-or-Treat", but as soon as she connected that saying with getting CANDY, she was quickly an old pro.  She went dressed as a cheerleader. 

Thanks to everyone reading this blog while we were in Ukraine!  This helped to encourage me to write daily.  Now we have a record of most of what happened while we were there.  Believe me, I wouldn't put in print some of what happened!  I will keep this for Dasha when she gets older.

Sorry I haven't updated this site since we have been home.  It has been really busy around here, obviously.  Sorry to leave those of you hanging that don't have personal contact with our family.

The flights went well.  Dasha was extremely excited to leave Ukraine to go to America.  During our first flight from Kyiv to Amsterdam (just under 3 hours), she was in my lap most of the time looking out the window and just jabbering in Russian.  She was pointing out things and was just as happy as she could be.  She kept repeating "America!" in the middle of sentences that I couldn't understand. 

We made it to Amsterdam and had reservations in the transit hotel inside the airport.  This made it extremely easy.  We had some dinner and went and checked into the hotel.  Dasha of course wanted to watch Tom & Jerry again, so I played it on the computer for her. 

The next morning, we got up and had some McDonalds breakfast, then started walk to our gate.  Really, it was only about 5 minutes to the gate.  We went through checkin and boarded the plane.  On this trip, we had center section seats, so no window seat for us.  Dasha was a trooper on this flight.  She of course got a bit crabby a few times, but no crying or big meltdown.  She was extremely happy to get off the plane in Detroit after about 9 hours on this plane.  We were too! 

We arrived in Detroit, had to pick up our luggage then go through Customs.  The customs officer processed our paperwork then sent us to a "Special" line.  This is where the Immigrations officer goes through the paperwork and stamps Dasha's visa.  It only took a few minutes and her visa was stamped.  When her visa is stamped, that made her a U.S. Citizen right there. 

She was not really happy when she figured out that we were getting into another airplane.  We couldn't explain it to her that this was only a 45 minute flight.  Dasha and Kendra had seats together, and I was a few rows back.  This is the only flight that we didn't have seats together.  No real big deal since it was such a short flight. 

We arrived in Grand Rapids on time.  We were greeted by a rather large family group with camera flashes going off.  Dasha was really excited to say the least.  She had seen pictures of all these folks the whole time we were in Ukraine, so she knew them and wasn't shy at all.  She went right to both grandmas for a big hug and kiss, then I told her to find 'dadushka', or grandpa.  She went right over to Kendra's Dad. 

Just before we left the airport, I was informed that my Dad had a severe stroke on Wednesday, and was in the hospital in Grand Rapids.  This definitely dampened the mood, but we tried to keep upbeat as much as possible.  Dad is still in the Hospital with complete left-side paralysis.  We will probably be moving him later this week to a rehab center for therapy.  Don't know much more at this time.

But, back to the main point of this blog...  We went home, caravan-style.  We had all the family following us home, with the exception of my sister and her youngest.  They were going back to the hospital to be with Dad.  When we got home, Dasha was almost swimming in toys that everyone brought home for her.  She did receive 3 hula-hoops. Must have been the multiple hula-hoop pictures on this site that did that.  But, she uses all 3 of them.  Sometimes all at once!  It was a long and difficult day, but we all made it through fine.

As of now, Dasha is adapting very well.  She is understanding English more than I had ever expected.  She won't speak much of any yet, but is understanding a lot of what we say.  That will take a bit of time.

Thanks for reading this blog.  The surprisingly huge number of hits (almost 17,000 at this time) has pushed me to write.  I will have to edit all this into a book form for Dasha when she gets older. 

Tuesday, July 12

Today was another day of "Hurry up and wait".  But we were waiting on the final documents, the immigrant visa.  This will allow Dasha to enter the U.S. and become a citizen when we go through immigration / customs in Detroit.  We left the apartment this morning at about 10:30 to go to the U.S. Consulate here in Kyiv.  Traffic was horrible.  We had an 11:00am appointment, and barely made it.  From the looks of it, it didn't really matter if we showed up at 11:30.  There was huge lines, hundreds of people waiting to get into the consulate.  My guess is that they are applying for immigrant status to go to the U.S.  But with a U.S. Passport, you walk right past everyone and go right in.  We turned in all the documents, paid our fee, then waited for an interview. 

When the officer called us to the window for the interview, the first thing he said is "I'm sorry.  I cannot issue a visa to you".  After a second or two of shock, he finished his sentence to say he is from Ohio, and he was giving us grief for being from Michigan.  It was a good ice breaker, I guess.  He was a very nice guy.  He asked Dasha in Russian who these people with her are.  She answered Papa and pointed to me.  Then she played around with him a bit and answered Mama and pointed to Kendra.  He didn't tell us what he said to her, and we didn't know what she said to him.  But all went well and we were told to come back at about 4pm to pick up her passport / visa.

We left the Consulate at about 12:30 or so and went to the Kyiv KLM Airline office.  We had already changed our tickets, but since we had to pay for Dasha's ticket and change our paper tickets, it had to be done at a ticket agent.  We have tickets in our hands to leave tomorrow!  We will leave Kyiv at about 4pm Kyiv time to head to Amsterdam.  We will then spend the night in Amsterdam and leave early tomorrow to head home.  We will land in Detroit at 10:30am Detroit time to go through customs.  After that, we will fly to Grand Rapids.  We will land in G.R. at 1pm.

Then, our translator had some business to deal with at the NAC, so we went there.  We waited in the car for an hour or so.  Long enough for little miss to need to find a bathroom TWICE.  The driver was gone with our translator, so we were left there with an open vehicle.  Kendra and Dasha took off to find a bathroom while I stayed with the van.  They found one a block or so down the road at a Chinese restaurant. 

We then left our translator at the NAC to go back to the Consulate to pick up our documents.  We were a bit early, and Dasha was ready for a nap.  Vitaly moved some stuff around in the back of his van and made Dasha a perfect little bed.  He even had a little pillow for her.  She snoozed for about an hour or so.  At about 3:30, I went back into the Consulate's office to pick up our stuff.  Everything was ready and good to go.

So, we are mostly packed tonight.  We will leave our apartment at about 1:30pm tomorrow to start our trek home!  See you all soon!

By the way, I had a glass of Kefir tonight.  This is the stuff that we mistakenly bought thinking it was milk.  It is kind of a sour milk / drinkable yogurt kind of stuff.  If you thought you were going to drink milk it would be a terrible surprise.  But, now expecting it, it wasn't bad.  I might even be able to get used to it and like it.  check out what it is at http://www.kefir.net or http://www.answers.com/topic/kefir

The last three days have been a bit busy for us.  Sorry I haven't updated the site, but playing with Dasha was higher on our priority!  But, I will revisit the last 3 days as best as I can recall.

Saturday was an at-home, get to know each other kind of day.  It was trying, but overall a good day.  Dasha was pushing all of the limits more than I could believe this little quiet, innocent little girl could.  No or Nyet was a joke to her.  Telling her NO just made her laugh and do whatever it was again.  We didn't want to be the mean guys yet, so we distracted her to something else as best as we could.  We stayed at the apartment all day, except for a walk to the grocery store.  Dasha walked almost all the way.  She wanted to be carried for a little, but it had nothing to do with her being tired, just wanted the attention. 

Saturday night, Kendra slept with her about the first hour.  Then Dasha was on her own.  More of what she is used to anyway.  Dasha slept through the night without any problems, and slept until about the same time as when we were awake. 

Sunday was a new kind of adventure for Dasha.  We went to the Kyiv Zoo.  Their zoological standards are a bit different than ours.  It was sad for a lot of the animals, but Dasha enjoyed seeing them.  Inside the zoo, there is a small petting zoo.  Small goats, small sheep, little pigs, etc. are all running around in there.  For the entry fee of 3 UAH each (about 60 cents US) each person gets a cup of vegetable scraps.  The goats and sheep love this.  It scared Dasha but she was definitely interested.  She would hold a handful of food for them until they got close then she would toss it away from her.  Here's a photo:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/126_petting_zoo.jpg

We spent a couple hours at the zoo with our driver Vitaly in tow.  Actually, we were in his tow.  He took the three of us around the zoo and explained things to Dasha so she could understand.  Admission was about $10 US for 3 adults and Dasha.  What kind of attraction can you get into in the U.S. for that?  Maybe a park! 

We left the zoo with plans to get some more money exchanged.  I had almost run out of grivna.  We exchanged some money then went to a toy store to get Dasha something to do.  The toy store we went to had small shopping carts just her size.  She went through just like a pro.  Very choosy on what she wanted.  We figured she would want everything, but no.  She picked out a small ball, we found a different kind of puzzle, coloring book and colored pencils and erasers.  By this time, she had caught on and was trying to start putting stuff in the cart.  So, it was time to hit the door. 

We then went across the street to McDonalds for lunch.  We thought "what kid doesn't like McDonalds?".  Well, we found one.  She would eat the fries, but wanted absolutely nothing to do with a cheeseburger.  She dipped her fries in mayo just like a typical Ukie after she saw it done.  She liked the mayo, enough that she just wanted to lick it out of the little container directly.

We then went to the grocery store to pick up a couple things.  Mostly milk and some fruit.  Dasha ate 4 bananas on Saturday, so we were out of fresh fruit.  We didn't find bananas, but they had oranges.  We got home to find out that the "milk" that we bought was actually kefir.  Not milk at all.  More of a drinkable yogurt.  http://www.answers.com/topic/kefir has a good description of it.  I can't stand yogurt, so I then poured it out.  Dasha saw this and started sticking her hand in the sink to grab some of it to suck off her fingers.  I shoo-ed her away.   But, I think this is something that they have had before at the orphanage.  She was probably thinking I was crazy for pouring out something like that.  We just don't have anything to keep it in.  Like the milk, it comes in a bag, and we only had one empty 1 liter water bottle. 

Sunday ended nicely.  Dasha went to bed with mama in tow.  Kendra was only in there for about 15 minutes and Dasha was out.    She slept through the night and was just waking up when we got up today.

Today we had to go to the "Clinic of the Oil Industry of Ukraine" to get her immigration medical exam done.  There are two clinics that are allowed and this is one.  Everything went well there.  Dasha is a normal healthy 6 year old.  Not that we didn't already know that, but the doc. confirmed it. 

On the way there this morning, we passed by a PIZZA restaurant.  My eyes caught that quickly.  It is very close to our apartment, so my mind was on pizza since I saw it.  After the med exam, we were dropped back at the apartment.  We later walked to the pizza place for lunch.  Nobody there spoke english, but they did have an english menu.  Pizza was very good.  Dasha did like it too.  That's a plus. 

Dasha just went to bed.  That means I can turn off the Tom and Jerry video that we have seen at least 15-20 times.  Guess what's on...  The Simpsons, in Russian!  Kind of funny to see this.

Tomorrow is the last of our legal work. We will go to the American Consulate at about 11am for our Immigration appointment.  This is required to get Dasha's Immigrant Visa.  Without this, she will be turned away at the border in Detroit.   We will return later in the day to pick up her completed visa.  Somewhere in between, we will go to the KLM office in Kyiv to pay for and pick up Dasha's airline ticket and make the changes to ours.  Thanks to AOL Instant Messager and my mom, we spoke to the NWA adoption fare specialists in the US.  I was here in Kyiv online with the instant messager and she was on the phone with NWA.  With this setup, I didn't have to call the U.S. and be put on hold while paying $5 / minute.  I also didn't have to speak with someone here in the local office that speaks broken English.  We have reservations, but just need to pay and pick up the tickets. 

If all goes well, we will leave here on Wednesday afternoon.  We will fly to Amsterdam and stay the night there.  Then we will leave Thursday morning heading to Detroit.  We leave at 8am Amsterdam time, arriving in Detroit at 10:30 am Detroit time.  It is like an 8 1/2 hour flight.  We will then go through customs in Detroit.  Once we clear customs, Dasha is officially an American Citizen!  We will then fly to Grand Rapids, arriving at about 1pm. 

Last bit of good news for the day is that I just got off the phone with the Mercure hotel in the Amsterdam airport.  If we can get a room in this hotel, we won't have to try to get a Netherlands visa for Dasha tomorrow too.  There are only 33 rooms available in this hotel, and it is the only one "inside" the customs area.  This way we will not have to go through customs in the Netherlands.  They had one room left for us!  It is now reserved.  With barely any time left on my cell phone, I was frantically talking fast to the operator at the hotel.  I finished the phone call with probably about a minute of international time to spare.  The call cost about $8 US, but was well worth it.  I can't believe it, the final things are coming together!

Here's a few more photos:

Getting ready for the zoo:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/126_getting_ready_for_zoo.jpg

Family at the zoo:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/127_at_zoo.jpg

The orange.  She loves fruit:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/128_orange.jpg

Ready for the day on Sunday:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/129_ready_with_skirt.jpg

Helping Mama do dishes:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/130_helping_mama.jpg

Chowing on her new favorite, pizza!:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/131_first_pizza.jpg

Nap time.. isn't she cute:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/132_nap_time.jpg

Coloring book:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/133_coloring.jpg

Finally, the next "Got Milk" ad.  But, it's a milk-like substance:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/134_got_milk.jpg

These photos are from the past week and a half.  From the time we met Dasha to today.  We had very limited internet time with a real bad connection so I only posted some of the photos we took.  Here is a larger selection of photos from this time.

July 8, 2005

Today was a whirlwind day.  I am typing this as we are in the van to Kyiv.  I’ll post it as soon as I can get access again.

Late yesterday we received word that the NAC signed the needed documents so we could continue with our scheduled court date.  Lyuda, our translator, had to take a bus from Kyiv to Kharkiv overnight because no train or plane schedule would work that had tickets available.  She arrived in Kharkiv at 4:00 this morning.  At 7:30 it was time to get the day started.  We first had to visit the orphanage to talk to the director and to give a donation.  We stopped for only about a half hour to see Dasha, then we had to run to get the legalities going.

First, we dropped Lyuda off at the courthouse.  Then we went to the Inspector’s office to pick her up for the court hearing.  Then we waited outside the court for word from Lyuda.  This unknown waiting time is about to drive us nuts.  We didn’t know if it was going to be 10 minutes or 4 hours.  Well, it was about an hour and a half.  Then we went into the courthouse and waited once again in the hallway.  This hallway is like what a lot of people have described as a “Scooby-Doo” hallway in the NAC.  This is because like in the Scooby-Doo shows, someone opens a door and runs down the hall to go into another door, closing it behind them.  Then a minute later someone comes out of another door and into a 4^th door.  It’s almost comical watching this happen. 

Anyway, after about 2 or 2 ½ hours waiting in this hallway, Lyuda comes back out and tells us that the prosecutor needs to leave and we will have to wait until Monday….  Lyuda being the persuasive one that she is convinces him to stay for our hearing.  The courtroom was very different than what we would be used to.  I was too chicken to ask if I could take a few pictures. 

The hearing started with the Judge asking us to tell her about us.  Kind of to confirm the documentation she already had, I guess.  Then there was questioning of the orphanage lawyer, the Inspector, and the prosecutor.  All agreed to allow us to adopt Dasha.  After about another 45 minutes of this type of questioning that was all in Ukrainian, of course, we were asked to step out of the room for a bit.  In about 5 minutes or so we were asked to come back in.  At 2:09pm Kyiv time, or 7:09am Eastern time on July 8, 2005, Dasha legally became ours!

Now is when the fun begins.  There is rush hour type traffic and we are running WAY low on time.  We take a few “shortcuts” that would probably get you at least a BIG ticket if not arrested in the U.S.  Including a short jaunt down the sidewalk to get by a traffic jam; crossing the center line to pass a bunch of cars (with oncoming traffic!); and crossing the center line to pass 20 or more cars waiting to turn left, stopping in the front of the line!  To a lot of people, this would have made them uncomfortable…to me it was just part of the fun! 

We had to take the court decree to get a new birth certificate, then to a Notary, then finally to a government building to get it legalized.  After all this, we could go to the passport agency.  The passport agency was supposed to close at 4pm, but the worker took all the information on the telephone from our ever persuasive Lyuda and had the documents ready for their Director to sign when we got there.  We got there about 5pm, so it was a crapshoot if we would be able to get it signed or not today.  Being Friday, if it wasn’t signed today, we would have to stay in Kharkiv until some time on Monday.  Well, in Ukraine, persuasive people and money talk.  It was signed and we were on our way to pick up Dasha. 

We stopped by McDonalds (yes, I did say that!) to grab some food for the road.  None of us had eaten in the past 10 or so hours.  We bought Dasha a happy-meal.  Then we went to get Dasha.  Everyone at the orphanage was so nice.  We went inside to get a few documents clear, then went outside to find Dasha.  It was about 6pm by now and that’s about when her group comes inside to eat their dinner. 

She came inside a few minutes before her group with us.  Her care taker (is it a care giver, or a care taker?  I dunno) gave her a quick bath and changed her clothes to the ones we brought.  We took a couple photos of the group with Dasha being the star in the front.  The group was definitely envious of Dasha, but seemed to be a happy group as usual.  We said our goodbyes to the care takers and the group.  The entire group followed us outside for one last goodbye to Dasha, and they all stood outside waving as we drove out.  It was a bittersweet moment for all.

We are now driving from Kharkiv to Kyiv.  We will have a bit of paperwork to deal with on Monday, but it’s pretty much done.  The main thing is that we have to get her U.S. Immigration Visa.  We will have an appointment at the U.S. Consulate on Tuesday at 11:00 am.  We will have to have a medical exam for her before the Consulate appointment.  So, if all goes right, we will have everything except plane tickets to leave on Tuesday night.  We will attempt to get tickets for Wednesday.  We will have to stay overnight in Amsterdam, so the earliest we could be home would be on Thursday afternoon.

We are planning on staying in the same apartment in Kyiv that we were in before.  This will make life simpler as we know where things are and know the accommodations are adequate.  I also know the internet works GREAT from there compared to Kharkiv where we could barely hold a connection.

WEEHEE!  We are now parents!!!

Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday.  We are running extremely low on internet time.  We are down to about 1/2 hour left.  I can recharge my account when we get back to Kyiv, but can't from here. 

So, Wednesday was a very full day.  We did our "normal" routine for the most part.  We left our apartment at about 9:30 to go see Dasha.  It had rained all night and the streets here do not drain like they do in the U.S.  Some of the smaller streets looked more like a stream than a street.  Some of the main roads had about 6-inch deep standing water in the intersections. 

We finally got to the orphanage, and Dasha was happy to see us again.  We played in the same room as we had many other times.  It's a small room with 3 little benches and wooden locker-like closets. This is where the children change from their outside clothes to their inside clothes.  They all have to change their shoes in this room too, as their outside shoes are not allowed inside beyond this room.  There was an Italian family in this room also.  They are working to adopt a cute little girl named Katya.  She's about Dasha's age, but a little smaller.   We have seen this family on Tuesday with Katya also.

The other family was sitting there mostly quietly tossing a small ball back and forth.  This gave Dasha ideas.  Dasha went and got another ball from a closet in the corner of this room and started off gently tossing the ball back and forth to us.  Before we knew it, Dasha was getting pretty roudy.  The ball was bouncing off the ceiling, walls, and all of us too!  We did what we could to keep her settled down a bit.  She remembered the word "cookie" as she was asking for a pachernya and cookie.  We didn't bring any gum today because she wouldn't keep it in her mouth the day before.  We didn't bring any cookies either... bad papa and bad mama!  But, we did bring M&Ms.  They are her friends too.  It rained the entire morning, so we weren't able to go outside to play.  It was getting really roudy and loud in this little room with all the ball throwing between Dasha, Katya, and the Italian family's 9-ish year old boy.  I decided to try something...  I pulled out my laptop which had most of the Tom & Jerry tape recorded on it.  The room fell silent almost immediately.  It was funny because the Italian boy saw that it was Tom & Jerry and told his parents "blah..blah...blah...TOM & JERRY...blah...blah.."  The rest was in Italian and I couldn't understand a bit.  So I let the kids watch about 3-4 cartoons before turning it off.  But it did wonders in settling the room down.

We left when the kids were getting ready for lunch, at about noon.  We stopped by the Target supermarket to pick up a few things.  We bought a few bags of candy bars to take back with us for the afternoon for the group.  We left the supermarket to go to the medical clinic to pick up Dasha's AIDS test results.  We didn't have any reason to believe that she was HIV+, but needed to have the test done because she hadn't been tested.  Thankfully, the result was negative.  To our surprise, the bill for the blood draw and the test was 10 UAH, or $2 USD!  Amazing.  I don't think you can drive by a U.S. clinic for $2 can you? 

We went back to the apartment for lunch and a quick nap (these are getting addicting).  Vitaly was back to pick us up at about 3:45 to go back to visit again.  We brought the candy bars in the backpack so Dasha wouldn't see them.  We waited in the little room until Dasha was done eating, then she came out to see us again.  When one of the care takers walked through the room, I stopped her and asked if she could give them to the kids.  She happily obliged.  She called all the kids into the room and they went to their little desks.  Dasha was given the bag of candy to give to all the other kids.  The kids loved it.  There was another bag of candy bars left when Dasha was done passing them out.  The care taker gave Dasha the bag back and told her something.  Dasha took the bag and hung it in her little locker.  For the rest of the time we were in there, she ate a few more.

Soon we went outside.  It had stopped raining, but was still muddy.  The other kids were kept inside.  Dasha put on her sweater, pants, and outside shoes then grabbed us to go outside.  She took a ball with us to play outside.  We threw and kicked the ball around for a while, then she was bored with that.  We then went to walk around the building a few times until it was time for us to go.

We still didn't have hot water in the apartment, so our translator talked to the landlady and she asked if Vitaly could pick her up.  We have a hot water tank in the apartment, but I couldn't find any circuit breaker to turn it on.  So she and Vitaly arrive shortly after.  They dink around with it for 15-20 minutes and still cannot figure out what valve to turn on an what to turn off.  I saw where she had the circuit breaker, in a closet.  So since they couldn't figure it out, they turned it back off and said that she would call a "professional" tomorrow.  When they left, it took about 30 seconds for me to have it turned on and heating water properly.  So last night we had hot water again. 

We received a call from our translator this morning.  Our driver needed to help someone move this afternoon and we wouldn't be able to visit Dasha this afternoon.  We also had to cut our morning visit a bit short.  So we went to visit Dasha at about 9:30 until about 11:00 this morning.   We spent some time inside and outside today as we did yesterday. 

Tonight we will find out if the NAC signed the paperwork for us to be able to go to court tomorrow.  If all goes well, our translator will pick up the signed document tonight and take an overnight train to Kharkiv from Kyiv tonight.  Tomorrow will bring many challenges.  We will start at court, if all goes well there, we will have to get a "new" or "revised" birth certificate here in Kharkiv; then go to the passport office to get her Ukrainian passport.  If we can get this all done tomorrow, we will head back to Kyiv tomorrow night.  

I will attempt to post another photo album from Kyiv this weekend.   

Wow, it's 9pm local time and we just got home from a full day.  We started the day as we have the previous few.  Vitaly picked us up at 9:30, and we showed up at the orphanage at a bit before 10am.  The kids were all still inside.  We thought they might stay inside today because it rained a lot last night.  Dasha was once again very happy to see us.  But, soon after we showed up, all the kids started to get ready to go outside.  Once we got outside, the care taker told Dasha to go away from the group and play with us.  At least that's what we figured she said, because Dasha took us by the hands and off we went.  The rest of the group must have been told to stay in one large paved area, because no kids went to the muddy playground area (except us and Dasha...).  There was another family there to see another little girl.  They were off on their own also.  We spent some quality time with Dasha.  Today we were going to attempt to avoid the endless cookie begging, and only brought the last one in the package.  This way, she could see that she took the last one. This worked.  But, it was funny that she wanted all the crumbs out of the bottom of the bag.  Sounds like something that I'd do, eating all the sugar out of the bottom of the bag.  Today we did bring some gum though.  She really likes gum, but she can't keep her hands out of it.  If she isn't pulling it out of her mouth to look at it, she's pulling it out to flatten it and suck on it to make it pop.  Just before her group was ready to go in, Dasha kept begging for gum.  It took us a while to figure out what she was saying.  Actually Vitaly told us what she was saying, so WE really didn't figure it out.  Since it was so close to her time to go in, she didn't get more gum.  That made her not very happy.  When her group lined up to go in, she was on the verge of crying.  Not because she was leaving us, but because of her not getting more gum.  It was heartbreaking watching her walk away with her group almost in tears.

We came back to the apartment for lunch and a nap. We had some Chicken Kiev and boiled potatoes we purchased a couple days ago at the grocery store deli.  It was pretty good.  At least at this apartment we have a microwave.  A microwave we might need tomorrow for bath water!  This morning we woke up to no hot water.  I don't mean some luke-warm water, I mean nothing came out of the faucet when it was on the "hot" side!  Tonight there's water that comes out on that side, but it still isn't warm.  Hopefully it will be fixed by morning.  I can hear pipes banging as I type this.  Hopefully it's someone fixing it.  We'll see in the morning!

O.K., back to today.  We returned to see Dasha at about 4pm.  This afternoon, we stayed inside.  All the other kids went outside, so we had some quality indoor time today.  We worked a couple puzzles that we bought at the grocery store a couple days ago, Dasha colored a couple pictures in the Sesame Street coloring book we brought from home, and we just played with each other.  She even got in an amazing amount of lap-sitting, cuddling time.  Really surprised me when she wanted to sit in my lap and cuddle for about 10-15 minutes.  Both Granny's called my cell-phone while we were there today.  Dasha talked to both of them.  But for some reason, when she talked to her Granny Green, she just kept babbling on and on and on and on.  Neither of them knew what the other was saying, but Dasha was babbling and wandering around the room on the phone like a teenage girl.  It really was funny to watch.

At about 6:30, the other kids started coming back in the room.  It was almost dinner time.  We said our goodbyes with Dasha and headed towards the car.  Vitaly was there waiting for us.  We left and went to find somewhere to eat.  We found a traditional Ukrainian restaurant and decided to try it.  Very nice place.  The main restaurant was an 18th century house.  By Ukrainian standards, it must have been a mansion at the time.  There were outside tables and inside tables.  We sat in an outdoor section under a patio roof.  Vitaly translated as much of the menu as he could.  It was kind of funny because he doesn't speak very good english.  We found something that sounded really good.  Beef with potatoes.  Didn't have a clue how it was prepared, but beef and potatoes sounded good.  We both ordered the same thing.  Traditional Ukrainian red borsch first, followed by a fresh vegetable salad, then the beef/potato thing.  The dinner was served in a small covered bowl.  It was like a stew, but without as much liquid.  It was the spiciest thing that we have had here.  Not spicy like HOT, but lots of spice.  It was one of the best things that I have had here.  Dinner was very good.  For the three of us, it was about $35 USD.  Not bad at all for the amount of food we had for a pretty nice place.

Tomorrow will be the same schedule, with the exception of lunch time.  We have to go back to the medical clinic to pick up Dasha's blood test results.  I'm not sure what else is in our schedule.  Thursday, we will find out if the NAC signs our request for a court hearing.  We cannot keep our Friday court schedule if the NAC doesn't sign the form on Thursday.  Wish us luck on that one!  I think they only sign these on Thursdays.

Today we once again went to play with Dasha.  We arrived about 9:45am.  Her play group was already outside and she was playing with one of her favorite toys, the hula-hoop.  She wasn't as excited to see us as she had been.  I think she is just expecting us to come now.  That's o.k. too, because I expect us to go see her too!  She did come directly to us to show off her hula-hooping skills again though.  Today she "allowed" us to get a bit closer to the other kids, or maybe she "allowed" them to get close to us, I'm not sure.  Either way, we were surrounded by other kids most of the time we were there. 

After about an hour, Dasha started looking for cookies.  I had been wearing cargo pants, and the cookies had always been in my leg pocket.  Today I had on jeans, and she couldn't find the pocket where the cookies were supposed to be.  She really had a puzzled look on her face, then started asking for "pachernya" again.  The cookies actually were in the small backpack that we have been bringing.  I told her "cookie" a few times and she got excited and started saying "cookie" over and over again instead of "pachernya".  I broke down and gave her a cookie, at which time she told me the usual "dva", or two while holding up two fingers.  I told her "nyet" and "odim" saying "no" and "one".  She was disappointed, but her disappointment soon changed to smiles as she devoured the cookie.

After a bit, she started again asking for "pachernya" over and over again.  Other kids were all around us, so I didn't want to get the cookies out if I didn't have enough or permission from the care takers.  So, I tried to get her mind off the cookies and on to something else.  She had no part of it and kept trying to get in the backpack.  Didn't matter how many times I said "no" or "nyet", she would continue.  I had to be the bad guy today for the first time.  Boy she didn't like that.  She went off in a huff and started to pout.  She was fine with Kendra, but would have nothing to do with me for about 20 minutes.  I ended the pouting with an M&M.  I had to give in.  We have limited time to visit her during this week, so "tough love" is going to have to wait I guess. 

I did record some more small videos and took more photos today, but my internet time is very limited until I can recharge my account.  I don't have the online time to post them yet, but I will as soon as I can.

At a bit after noon, her group was rounded up to go in to eat their lunch.  We said our goodbyes and waited for our driver to pick us up.  He was going to get some documents delivered and an oil change in his van.  But, that was to change.  Our translator called us and said that he had to go to the bank to pay for the court costs then deliver a receipt to the court secretary.  We weren't sure how long this was going to take, but he showed up at about 3:45!  Apparently the lines were long to get this done.  He apologized for being so late, but explained the long waits.  We then all 3 (Us and the driver) went to a little cafe for lunch.  We had been to this one before here in Kharkiv.  It's part of a supermarket called Target.  No, not the same Target...  I bought a pretty full lunch for the three of us for 63 UAH, or just over $12 US. 

We then came back to the apartment and watched an hour or so of COPS that we had recorded digitally on the computer, and then watched "Gone in 60 Seconds".  We brought about 35 movies, and have seen all of them at least once already.  We wished we had recorded more of what we would normally watch instead of just movies.  Thanks to the Mazzaferros, we have 5 DVDs of "Everybody Loves Raymond", which we have watched multiple times also. 

I hope everyone had (or will have, I guess) a safe and fun Holiday today.  No fireworks are going off here.

We arrived at the orphanage a bit after 10am this morning.  Dasha's group was already outside playing.  We walked towards the playground where there were lots of kids playing.  I was hoping to see Dasha before she saw us, so I could see her reaction.  However, word spread through the playground quickly as we heard "Dasha" a few times coming from other kids.  Before I knew it, I saw Dasha running towards us.  She was as happy to see us as she had been the other times.  She ran right up to me and got a big hug.  We then followed her to the playground where she did her normal things.  One of her favorite things to do in the playground is to climb up on something and jump into our arms.  She will tell us "mama" or "papa" for who she wants to catch her.  It really is cute.  I took a video of her today doing this:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/b/jumper.MPG

Other children started to come around us.  Previously, Dasha would start to get jealous and either take us by the hand and go further away, or shoo the other kids away.  Today was a bit different.  Dasha would play with the other kids around us for the first time.  She would also let us play with the other kids a bit too.  A little later, another little girl came by with a hula-hoop.  I was amazed at how well she kept this thing going.  Then Dasha gave it a try.  Again, amazed.  She's an old pro at this.  See here:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/b/hoop.MPG

Dasha kept asking for cookies, with a very somber, sad look on her face, she would say "pachanya" the Russian word for cookie.  We were able to coax her into saying "cookie" a few times so she got the cookies.  A bit later, she gave me the sign for candy.  I had been giving her M&Ms one or two at a time for the past few days.  She knows what pocket I keep them in now.  She would hold her hand out to me and then pop it over her mouth and make some chewing movements with her mouth.  It still amazes me to see how well she can communicate without knowing a common language.  So, I would get the M&Ms out and tell her "odim" and as usual, she would hold up two fingers and say "dva".  This would go back and forth a few times until I would finally give in and give her two.  If I only give her one, she will not eat it, but hold on to it.  If I give her two, she will eat them both, but only one at a time. 

We left a bit after noon, when it's thier lunch time.  Her group was going inside, so we headed to the car.  We both got a big hug and kiss, then a nice little "das vadanya" as usual.  Then she followed her group inside.

We came back to the apartment.  Today was our translator's last day here until Friday.  She has to go back to Kyiv to deal with some of the legal paperwork for us.  We will stay here and visit Dasha every morning.  Our driver, Vitaly will continue to stay in Kharkiv at a relative's house.  He will take us to see Dasha every day, and also take us if we need to go anywhere else.

We walked to the market when we got home.  We bought another outfit for Dasha.  It was a pink shorts and tee shirt set that matched.  Prices in these markets are very good.  This was 16 UAH, or a bit more than $3 USD.  We then walked over to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  Luckily we didn't pick up one more thing... our bill was 69.70 UAH and all we had with us was 70!  That left us with the equivalent of about 6 cents US.  Dumb luck because we didn't even keep track of what we were spending.  I thought I had more grivna than I did.  We will have to get some money exchanged tomorrow. 

Here's some pictures for today: 

First is Dasha smiling over a wall at me:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/86_smile_over_wall.jpg

Second, she wanted my sunglasses in the worst way:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/87_cool_with_friend.jpg

Last but not least, what seems to be her favorite playground game:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/88_jumper.jpg

That's it for today

Today was the first day we were actually able to take Dasha out of the orphanage.  We needed to get some blood tests done, passport photos, and some clothes for her. 

We started the morning at about 8:30 when our translator and driver picked us up.  They had already stopped at the orphanage to pick up Dasha, as it was on the way.  We first went to a medical clinic to have some blood drawn.  We need to have a couple tests done before we can complete the adoption anyway, so why not get it out of the way.

First I'll attempt to describe the clinic office... It was a bit outdated by typical U.S. standards, but apparently it works.  We waited in the hallway for a couple minutes while they finished up with the previous patient.  Then we went directly into the exam room.  Dasha was too short to sit in the chair and get her arm on the pad, so she stood.  I had the displeasure of holding her hand down while they took the blood.  Lyuda held her hand in front of her face so she couldn't see what was going on, and I just cuddled her as best as I could.  She made some faint noises, and I could definately tell when she got stuck, but she was a trooper and didn't cry.  The nurse(?) finished and put a cotton ball on her arm.  Dasha must have had this done before, because she grabbed the cotton ball immediately to hold it on tight. 

We left there to go get something to eat.  Dasha hadn't eaten breakfast yet because they didn't want her to eat prior to the blood draw.  So she was hungry.  We had promised her something good after the earlier poke in the arm, so she picked out a piece of cake with jello and whipped cream on top.  She also got a salad and a chicken kabob.  She also picked out a mixed-fruit juice to drink.  She ate her chicken & didn't touch the onions that were skewered with the chicken, except to push them on the far side of her plate.  I asked her if she wanted them and she just gave me a YUCK look like I was crazy!  Once the chicken was gone, she started on the salad.  I think it was a cabbage salad.  She ate every drop of it.  Then it was time to dig into the cake.   Here she is with her coveted cake:  http://files.blog-city.com/files/N04/78305/p/f/85_cake.jpg

When we finished eating, we needed to go to the Notary office to get some documents.  The Notary here have more responsibility than they do in the U.S.  They actually prepare some documents here instead of authenticating who signed it.  Then we were off to go shopping.  That was an experience!

We pulled up to their version of a super-mall, I guess.  It was a HUGE outdoor flea-market type of environment.  Most of the boothes were under one of many big tent roof things.  There was barely enough room to walk down the aisles, as they were maybe 5 feet wide, and many people there.  Each booth was about a 10' square.  Each vendor had their specific items that they sold.  Some had shoes, some clothes, some house paint.  They sold just about everything imaginable in this place.  We were told that people come from all over Ukraine to go shopping here, as the prices cannot be beaten and the thing is just plain huge.

We found everything that we needed.  A few shirts, a pair of jeans & jean jacket, another pair of pants, shorts, a couple other tops, a nice little dress, shoes, socks, and underwear.   She is all woman when it comes to shopping.  She knew what she wanted and what she didn't want.  She wanted to carry the bags too.  She was happy to try on all her clothes to see that they fit.  For all this, we spent a grand total of about 700 UAH (grivna), or about $140 USD.  I didn't think it was bad for what we got, but I'm not a typical girl's clothes shopper either.  Oh, and by the way, I managed to sneak away for a minute and bought her a Barbie look-a-like.  As soon as I returned, my bag was immediately inspected by a nosey little girl though.  She couldn't wait to get back to the van to see it because we didn't give it to her while we were there.

We then managed to find the van and started our trek to take Dasha back to the orphanage.  She was not going to let us leave without giving her the doll though.  We asked if it was OK to let her have it in the orphanage, and it was ok, so I opened it up and she took it immediately.  We walked her back to her room which was very quiet.  It must have been nap time.  Dasha was very tired too, because she slept in the van for a bit on the way back.  She quietly gave us hugs and a "das vadanya" and went off with the care takers, probably to continue her nap.

We went back to the apartment and unwound a bit.  Then we were off to the grocery store.  We actually spent the most that we have ever spent at the store.  Probably because it wasn't a 3 mile hike to the store and we could carry more stuff back.  We spent about 120 UAH, or about $24 USD.  What a bargain shopping here is.  We had 2 very full bags for the trip home.

On another note, you have probably noticed that I switched the blog so the newest entry is at the top.  It was getting fairly long so I thought it may be easier to read this way.  Here on a pathetically slow and unreliable phone connection it is easier....  Also, we do read EVERY comment that has been posted.  It is nice to see who is reading this thing.  It really amazes me that we have over 11,000 hits so far.  Feel free to leave comments, use the little blog-board on the front page, or email us at pwgreen@centurytel.net . 

We are headed back to see Dasha tomorrow morning at around 10am.  No big plans for the next 4-5 days except to get to know our little girl a bit more!

This morning we visited Dasha again.  We were only at the orphanage at about 10am until about noon, but we did get some qualit y play time in today.  Her group was just going outside to play when we got there.  We met the group in the staircase as we were going up.  Her face just lit up when she saw us, and ran over for a hug.  We took her away from her group to play as a family.  Her choice as much or more than ours!  She loves a bit of attention.  We brought a Sesame Street coloring book to her today.  Her eyes just lit right up when she saw that.  She loves to color.  We sat on one of the park benches in the playground for a while and she continued to color in the coloring book.  She wanted us to move a few times, but she still wanted the coloring book.  Other kids would come by, and she definitely didn't like that.  She would pack up our stuff and go somewhere else.

She took us over to the playground and wanted to play her favorite daredevil game, jumping off of stuff and letting us catch her.  She would take turns saying mama and papa for who she wanted to catch her.

She then remembered that yesterday we had some cookies in my pocket.  She kept asking for a cookie (in Russian, of course).  I did bring what was left of the cookie package, but it was only two.  She ate those, and I showed her that the package was empty.  A bit later, I opened a package of M&Ms.  She really likes those too.  She would let the candy coating melt in her mouth, then eat the chocolate.  Everytime I would give her an  M&M, she would continue to hold her hand out and say "dva", meaning two!  I would then tell her "odim", or one.  She would then give us the most sad / fake sad look that you could imagine. It was funny seeing how much she thinks (maybe she's right) that she can manipulate us.   I guess it was working, because most of the time she got "dva"!

We went back inside a bit before noon so she would be around her group when it was lunch time.  She went and got a puzzle to put together, then lost interest soon after.  She really wanted the coloring book back.  She went to my backpack and told us what she wanted.  We didn't understand her verbal request, but her body language said it all.  She colored a few pages then her group started to come in.  The then wanted to put the coloring book away because the other kids started to show interest in it.  We went over to the couch and sat with her as the other kids came in.  The care taker turned on the television so the kids could watch some cartoons.  The room fell completely silent as the kids were glued to the television.  Dasha was on my lap leaning back on me also watching the cartoons as the care taker was preparing their lunches.  As the lunches were ready, we told Dasha "Das Vadanya", and she replied in kind.  We both received big hugs, and she went to the other children to watch the cartoons.

As we left, we found out that the Judge that was on vacation is coming back into town tonight.  We were able to get a tentative court date of July 8.  We dropped off all the documents at the inspector's office, so if they get signed, Lyuda will take the documents to Kyiv to get the NAC approval to be able to go to the court hearing.

We will be able to take Dasha from the orphanage tomorrow for a bit to get a passport photo taken, some medical tests, and do some clothes shopping.  She will not be able to take ANY clothes from the orphanage, as all the clothes are "community" clothes and are shared by all.  We will need to buy everything from underwear to shoes. 
So, if all goes well, we are looking at being able to use our original return flights (4-weeks).  We will have to see how things work out in the next week or so though. 

We did buy a Russian version of Tom & Jerry on VHS yesterday.  Our apartment has a VCR in it, so I was able to transfer from the VHS to a video that can be played on the laptop computer or on our video MP3 player.  This may be the thing for part of the plane ride home.

We spent day 2 today with Dasha Katerina Green today!  It was an amazing day.  When we first made it to the orphanage, the children were sitting at their little tables eating breakfast.  I didn't see what they were eating, except I did see hot dogs.  About 1/2 of the kids were holding their bare hot dogs with their hands and wiggling them.  It was pretty funny to see 10 or so little ones shaking hot dogs in the air.

Just seconds after we showed up, peeking through the door, Dasha's friends pointed us out.  She looked over and just gave us the biggest smile that I have ever seen.  She waved to us excitedly.  When she finished her meal, she ran out to see us. 

We took her outside to play, or actually she took us outside.  She changed her clothes and put on her outside shoes.  Then she grabbed each of our hands and showed us the way.  Good thing because we weren't sure how to get outside!  There's a couple staircases and a few hallways.  We have gone in a different way everytime, so it's not as straightforward as it may seem (unless you are 6 years old, I guess).

We went out and sat on a park bench in the playground.  She looked at our photo album again, and we took more pictures.   She remembered who we were, and both Babushkas and Dadushkas (Grandma and Grandpa).   There is this little dog that always seems to be around, Dasha saw her and went for her.  Really friendly little dog.  He seems to love attention, and Dasha loves giving it to her. 

Dasha then took us over to the playground to show off a bit.  She is a little daredevil.  She likes to climb on about everything.  She climbed up on the back of the park bench and jumped off the back before we knew what she was doing.  She attempted a couple more times, but we were on to her game by then.  A bit later, the other children came outside to play.  She wanted us to hold her and carry her when they were around.  She would just give them a grin and a look like she was showing us off. 

We went inside to play, since all the other kids were outside and she didn't want to share us.  She really likes to color, put together puzzles, and redo Kendra's hair!

We had to leave at noon.  It was lunch time, then nap time.  We had paperwork chases to perform all afternoon.  We found out that the normal Judge and Prosecutor for this area are on Vacation.  We will soon find out what that means to us. 

This is another PHOTO ALBUM, so click on the header to get the rest of the thumbnails, or click here:  http://www.philgreen.blog-city.com/photo_album_4.htm

Here she is! 

We met her at her orphanage today for the first time.  We both fell in love.  The legal paperwork has been started!

We do have internet service here in Kharkiv.  But, I have to buy another prepaid card soon, as I don't have much time left.  We will post more information and more photos within the next couple days.

Mostly photos of today's tour of the Chernobyl museum in Kyiv.

Today we decided to be a little adventurous.  We were told that there's a Chernobyl museum on the far north side of Kyiv, the Podil district.  It would be a 15 mile round trip to walk, so we decided it would be interesting to take the Metro.  Neither of us had ever been on a subway system, so it was a bit of an adventure.

We actually got off at the right stop to change trains, found the right train, and went the right direction (not as easy as it sounds!).  Once we were off at our correct stop, we emerged from underground.  Not having a clue what road we were on once we came above ground, we wandered to attempt to find street signs.  I really think street signs are optional here.  We wandered a few blocks and still didn't know where we were.  There were numerous street-car type trains running the roads, which we haven't seen on our side of town.  We finally found a taxi driver and attempted to ask him.  Our map is in English.  I think he was more confused by our map than by our non-Russian speaking.  He finally figured out where we wanted to go, and offered us a ride for 10 grivna.  (about $2).  We accepted and he took us the 4 or 5 blocks that we needed to go to get to the Chernobyl museum.

Upon entering the museum, we were pointed the way to the guard.  It was 5 grivna each, plus 10 for a camera pass.  The museum was moving.  There were thousands of photos of people that died either during the incident, or during the cleanup.  Photos of children born with massive deformities.  Photos of destruction.  There were news articles from all over the world, even a 2 page NY Times on display.  Some of the equipment that was used during the cleanup (or similar equipment, I don't know if it was the actual stuff) was on display.  It looked like equipment from WWII, not 1986. 

We wandered the museum for a couple hours.  We were the only visitors while we were there.  There was a lady that sat in a chair right inside the door of the room we were in, just kind of watching us.  When we went to the next room, she moved too.   Photo album is at:  www.philgreen.blog-city.com/photo_album_3.htm

We finally left the museum and went to find our way back.  We wandered and found the entrance to the underground Metro station, and went towards home.  We passed our stop and went one stop further, as it was closer to the grocery store.  We left the Metro station and walked to the grocery store for a few supplies.

We received a call from our Translator informing us that we will leave Kyiv tomorrow morning at about 5am to head towards Kharkiv.  It will be about a 4-5 hour car trip.  We will have the same driver (Vitaly) as we had on our first full day here for our tour of Kyiv.  We were very happy with this news, as Vitaly speaks pretty good english, and is an extremely nice guy.

I'm not sure when we will be able to reconnect to the internet after tomorrow morning.  Hopefully we will be able to get internet access in an apartment in Kharkiv, but I don't know yet.  As soon as I find it, there will be some posts regarding our visit to the orphanage!

Yesterday we went down to Independence Square to wander.  Little did we know that there was a HUGE festival going on all weekend.  It was definitely a good way to spend the day.  There were street vendors selling anything from collectables, books, food, beer, and souvenirs.  Live music in multiple places, a kid chalk art contest, etc.  There were carnival side-show type acts also.  In the photo album you will see a street magician.  In the photo he is in the process of escaping from a straight jacket and chains. 

We met up with the Fujans to explore the festivities, then went to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner.  It was a good change of pace to eat something familiar. 

We then went over to an open market where they sell anything from caviar, fish, meats, fruits, etc.  It's a whole different world.  There was fresh cut meat waiting for sale on the counters without refrigeration.  There were fish tanks with live fish for sale.  If you look at this picture, you will see what it was like:  http://www.philgreen.blog-city.com/54_lunchjpg.htm.  These are cow heads.  Still have the eyeballs and fur on the snout.  I'm not sure how you would prepare this, but I'm sure people here eat them. 

Today, we were looking for some more familiar food.  We have both been craving a burger.  So we got the closest thing to a 'real' burger we could find... McDonalds.  The food is the same as at home, except the menu is in Russian / Ukrainian.  After we finally communicated our order, we sat down inside to eat.  Ketchup is not included, but charged extra, kind of like bags at the grocery store!

These photos are (mostly) in Independence Square during a festival celebrating Constitution Day which is Tuesday.

Click on [PHOTO ALBUM] above to view thumbnail page. 

Things went as planned today.  We did receive the signed referral from the NAC today.  So, that means our travel will happen on Tuesday as we planned yesterday.  We went to the NAC at about 4pm today with our translator to retrieve the signed documents.

We will travel on Tuesday by car.  Kharkiv is about a 4-5 hour car ride from Kyiv.  When we arrive, we will need to meet an Inspector to review the NAC documents, and issue a referral directly to the orphanage.  Once we have this document, we can visit this child.

We did see something a bit different while driving through Kyiv today.  While it seems almost normal to drive and park on the sidewalks or just about anywhere, this guy aparently parked in the wrong place: 

Another thing that I have thought was a bit different, or interesting is some of our mechanical luxuries in this apartment:

Our on-demand water heater (hanging on the kitchen                    The extent of the electrical panel in the

wall)   It must be lit before using.                                                 apartment.  Only 2 circuit breakers total!

Tomorrow, we are trying to get together with as many Americans that are currently in Kyiv as possible.  If you are in Kyiv and want to stop by, come to Independence Square by the Fountain of the Founders at 2pm. 

Well, we just got word that our travel will not happen until (hopefully) Tuesday afternoon.  The NAC will sign the referral some time tomorrow, but someone at the orphanage must sign the referral before we can visit.  That person will not be available to sign this document on the weekend.  Since the Holiday is on Tuesday, they will take a 4-day weekend.  We will hopefully travel on Tuesday night, get this thing signed on Wednesday morning and visit on Wednesday. 

Another exciting weekend in Kyiv!  Tuesday is Constitution day.  I think it's like our July 4th.  We saw some fireworks in the grocery store today.  Not like our little sparklers and smoking snakes.  They were BIG stuff!

So, without any REAL news between now and then, you will just have to read about our boring lives here in Kyiv!   I'M BORED!