An American Girl

It has been so great to hear from all of you that followed along with the blog and our journey to Ukraine. We are happy that you enjoyed it, it was fun to write and will be something that we will love to look back on in the years to come. Many of you have asked for a follow up to our return, so here is a little bit of what we have been up to since we go back.

Well taxes are finally done. We have had two very busy weeks. Elona and Ben are doing great. You can tell that Ben is so happy to have us home and thrilled to have a little sister.
Elona is very happy all the time and is picking up English unbelievably fast. She is eating well and sleeping in her own room. She is already a typical American kid and loves hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken strips, but don’t worry, she also eats tons of fruit and plenty of vegetables. She is also beginning to let me know what things she does not like.

The Friday after getting home, Elona and I visited school. Ben was called from class and gave Elona the tour and introduction to her teachers, while I reviewed her class schedule. Elona will get one-on-one English as a Second Language four days a week. She will not be taking Science and Social Studies, instead doubling up on Language Arts, Math and taking Art, Choir and Gym.

Friday night Pam, Len and Angella came over to visit. The girls were so happy to see each other. After showing Pam and Angella her room, Elona, Ben and Angella were off together, playing, laughing and ‘screaming’ (it is going take awhile for Roger and me to get used to the additional noise). This gave us adults time to reminisce about the incredible experiences that we shared in Sevastopol and the real adventures we are only just beginning.

Saturday was a beautiful day so we took Elona to her first visit to the zoo. Robbin joined us there for our first family outing. She really was not as impressed as I expected and got bored quickly. I am used to Ben; he could spend the entire day and then some at the zoo. The one thing that did impress her were the manatees, here she pulled a small notebook out of her purse and asked how to spell ‘manatee’.

Sunday Aunt Robbin treated Elona, Ben and I to the ‘Cirque Dreams – Jungle Fantasy’ at the Aronoff. It was amazing and we all loved it.

Spring Break started April 6th and unfortunately we had cold drizzly weather. Roger and I also needed to finish our taxes, which for us is long difficult process. So Ben and Elona had plenty of time to just hang out and get used to each other. They are doing great together. Of course Elona has been introduced to the Wii. She is a already a good bowler and also loves Mario Cart, which is a car racing game. For days she was frustrated with last place, yelling “no…no…no” at the television screen and moving all over the place, Roger and I could not help laughing. She has improved greatly since then, now she sings while she drives, equally funny. We also played plenty of board games. Elona picks everything up very quickly and though she is very competitive, she is also a gracious loser (and winner).

We stayed busy all week; taxes, cooking, laundry and games. Wednesday, Roger took Elona and Ben downtown to have lunch with Robbin. That evening Roger and I needed a little adult time, so the Delatron’s came over for dinner and we played Yuker while Ben and Elona watched a movie. It was great to laugh and talk about normal life.

Thursday night we had Madeira friends over for a cook out. Nathan is a friend of Ben’s and his younger sister Maggie is in many Elona classes at school. We wanted Elona to know a familiar face when she arrived at school on Monday. Elona and Maggie hit it off right away; it is amazing how they can communicate so easily. They were typical girls, bugging their brothers and then running and screaming. Elona seems so normal, confident and happy, it is it hard to remember that she is still emotionally vulnerable and needs special attention and reassurance of our love and commitment continuously.

Easter was a big day for us. After family time in the morning with Easter baskets and breakfast, we headed to Milford to a friend’s family farm. This was the 50th annual Easter Egg Hunt held at the Carey farm. We have been taking Ben to this wonderful event since he was born, only missing a couple times and we have photos of Ben to prove it. This year Pam, Len and Angella joined us on a beautiful sunny day. The girls run off to hunt together, while Ben went off to hunt on his own and came back with one of the coveted silver eggs. The farm is beautiful, and a chance for us to see out of town friends.

After the hunt, the four of us head to Robbin’s to join her and Bill for a family dinner and our traditional egg hunt. This hunt is for eggs with letters inside that when put together and unscrambled reveals a prize. Robbin has been doing this for Ben for years. This year she wrote out Elona’s clues in Russian and with a little help; Elona figured out the clues and was thrilled with her prizes.

Monday morning – Elona’s first day of school. She was so excited and nervous at the same time, she could hardly wait. I drove Ben and Elona to school and went to Elona’s first class with her. We got her locker and practiced a little. I got her to her next class – Math and Maggie was there. I told Elona I was leaving, expecting her to protest, but no. All she wanted to know was what would happen when school was over. I meet her at her locker after school, she was all smiles. ‘How was school?” I asked. ‘Good, good’ she answered enthusiastically. And that has been her continuous response. She tells us her new friends’ names and she proudly shows us her math homework. She loves her teachers and loves school. Wednesday she took the bus for first time with Ben and she sat with a girl from her class.

So there you have it. Things are going better than we could have imagined. We know that we have great challenges ahead of us, but Elona is bright, friendly and outgoing, a real American Girl. She and Ben are getting along great, and we could not be happier.

Roger, Kelley, Ben and Elona

Home Sweet Home

We got home to Cincinnati safe and sound. It is so good to be home.

Ben, Aunt Cathy, Aunt Robbin and Bill were waiting for us at the airport with smiles, signs and balloons. It was perfect. Elona and Ben were all smiles. We all went straight home and Ben could not wait to give Elona the tour and show her her room.

We had a quick meal and wonderful conversation with family . It had been a really a long day so we headed for bed around 10:00, which would have been 5:00 AM in the Ukraine.

Thursday morning started with first Elona and then Ben crawling into bed with Roger and I. A big breakfast of pancakes and bacon got us off to a great start. What a great day, sunshine and 70 degrees. Roger and I started the task of unpacking and going through mail. Cathy was still with us and as usual helped with numerous chores around the house. Ben and Elona became fast friends and spent the whole day together, it was wonderful. First Ben showed Elona around the neighborhood, then it was a full day of playing hide and seek, balloon games, video games, card, and more. Roger and I knew they would get along great, they are both friendly and enjoy similar activities. The four of us had lunch was at Skyline of course. It was wonderful day and a great beginning to our new family.

Today is a big day. Elona is going to visit her new school. Ben is going to give Elona a tour of the building, while I fill out paper work. She will meet her teachers and we will review her schedule. Next week is Spring Break, which is perfect for relaxing and going to the zoo before she starts school on the 13th.

Thanks again to all of you that have followed along. We will periodically post updates, but taxes are due and we have a busy week of fun planned.

So good-bye for now, hope to see many of you soon.

Roger, Kelley, Ben and Elona

Bringing Elona Home

Okay, I have to tell you - right now Elona is pretending to have an office and is pretending to stamp documents with a deodorant container. She is listening to music on a disc player and organizing and re-organizing papers and objects on her ‘desk’. This is so funny to Roger and me. All three of us have seen a lot of documents stamped over the last two months. Elona was amazed that the Notary had five stamps, and each was bigger than the last.

Anyway. We have Elona’s Visa. George picked up us at the apartment and we hurried to the ‘Metro’. Kiev’s subway must be 10 stories underground, is very crowded and very noisy, which makes it seem like it is going really fast. A short Metro ride, a short bus ride, (practically running in between) we arrived at the U.S. Consulate 20 minutes early. I have to make a correction; our meeting yesterday was also at the Consulate, not the Embassy. We are the only people in the waiting room, which is very clean and new, not at all like any other waiting room we have been in since arriving in Ukraine.

Right at 2:00 we are called up to the window. The very nice American Consulate asked Elona a few questions; we raise our right hands and swore that all the document information is true. Sign the forms. We are finished. 20 minutes later the Visa is ready and we are out the door. I cannot describe how happy this makes us.

Now we are just killing time until the flight tomorrow morning.
For dinner we went to ‘Papa John’s’ (not the same, here Papa John is black). Elona ate 4 large pieces of pizza and a salad. Roger and I are thinking we will not be able to afford to feed her.

That is all from the Ukraine. Tomorrow we will return to our wonderful country and our friends and family. Thank you for joining us on our amazing journey. We will write again when we are home for few days to let you know how Elona’s first days in America go.

Roger, Kelley and Elona.

Photos are the view from our apartment.

We Are In Kiev

Galya picked us up in a cab and we went to the deski dome (orphanage) to say a quick good-bye to Mama Irena. You can tell she really cares about her girls and is so happy when they find loving homes. She gave Elona a box of chocolates and us a bottle of Champaign to share a toast with Pam and Len when we return home.

We got to the airport in Simferopol on Sunday, no problem and said our good-byes to Galya. We hope that she and her family will visit us in the US someday.

Elona was a little nervous about getting on the airplane as we walked towards it, but after we boarded she was fine. She had a little trouble with her ears and a lot of trouble with boredom. She is a typical 11 year old, complains when you are running all over that she is tired, and then complains that she is bored you have to sit and wait for more than 5 minutes. We explained later that the flight to US was a lot longer and that she was going to have to entertain herself better. Roger and I did our best imitations of Elona, sighing and flopping, she got the idea.

We arrived in Kiev about 2:00 and George was there to pick us up. Igor, Sveta’s husband, drove. He and George bicker like an old married couple, and then George turns and smiles at us. We are staying only a few blocks from where we were before. This is the center of the city, shopping, business, restaurants. The apartment is comfortable, but not quit as newly remodeled. We are having trouble getting the internet to work, but are picking up the coffee shop’s wireless from the first floor if we stand at the window. We had dinner at ‘Friday’s’. Roger had steak and was happy. The food was good, but a lot more expensive that eating out in Sevastopol, but about the same as home.

This morning we got up and out the door with George and Igor at 8:15AM. The first stop was the Medical Center where George went and registered and then we waited for about an hour for the doctor. The Doctor was very nice and the exam was over and all the papers signed and stamped by 10:30. We are out the door and on to the U.S. Embassy.

At the Embassy, we walked right past the line of 30 or so Ukrainians waiting outside, finally it pays to be an American. There is special office just for adoptions and we go right up to the window with our documents, most which George has organized, and more which I had spent about 2 hours the night before filling out. Everything is good, I signed a couple of papers and we are told to come back tomorrow to meet with the Consulate and we will receive our visa then. I cannot tell you how relieved were to hear those words. George is amazed; we were only there about 30 minutes.

We are so close now that we can taste it.
Kelley, Roger and Elona.

Leaving Sevastopol

We have the Passport. Yesterday at 4:00 Galya called and said we should meet at the passport office just in case it comes in. So the three of us walked over, it was about a 10 minute walk (we made a wrong turn, so it took us 20) and a beautiful day. There are about 15 other people waiting, all standing around the door. That is how they wait here. There are places to sit, but they all stand around the door. We were only there about 15 minutes when they start calling people in one at a time. Roger and I are not hopeful, we have had so many delays, no way will it be here. But, we are called in, Galya give me this look of ‘I can’t believe it’.

Ten minutes later we are out the door with Elona’s passport and running to the travel agency to buy our airline tickets to Kiev. I think Galya is more relieved than we are, she is all smiles. She called Sveta with the good news. We found out late last week that Sveta is very sick and will not be able to make the arrangements for us in Kiev. Instead George will be taking care of us. He is the guy that helped Pam and Len when they were here, so we are in good hands, but sorry we will not get to see Sveta. We will be leaving Sunday morning for Kiev, it doesn’t seem possible. Then we leave for Cincinnati on Wednesday morning. Can’t wait to be home.

Last night we got together with Jaimee and Andy, their friends Amanda and Jarred, and Galya. Elona was very existed to see Jamiee and Andy, and another friend Tanya that she knew from the orphan summer camp. We also ran into the Canadian, Jason, that we had meet weeks before. It was Friday night and every place was busy and smoky. We finally crowded into a corner at a small pizza place, Fiesta Pizza (wish we had tried it sooner, we liked the pizza better that Potato House, but let atmosphere).

Kevin joined us later with a friend, he was busy keeping track of the US sailors in port, but stopped in for a slice. It gave us a chance to thank him again. While we were there several more sailors stopped in for pizza. Jamiee and Andy had meet Joe the day before and he was making arrangement to donate clothes to their Operation Lazarus.
It was a nice time, and we happy to get to see everyone before we leave. As much as we miss Ben, home and family, we are going to miss Sevastopol and the wonderful people that we have met here.

Kelley and Roger

Oh What A Night

Three nights together and everything is going great. Elona has slept well on the living room sofa, and is waking up hungry and eats all day. The first night she took a long bubble bath and washed her hair. She is a little bored, but is otherwise fine. I would imagine she is used to having other children around all the time so this is a little strange. We gave her the first ‘Harry Potter’ book in Russian and she is enjoying that. Today she helped cook breakfast and now she is dusting the apartment, even though I told her she did not need to.

Our routine has been about the same. Late mornings, we eat breakfast, go to the market, and then Skype Ben before he goes to school. Then depending on the weather, we hang out and play on computer or go for a walk. Wednesday night we played some UNO and watched an American movie (in Russian) that Pam had lent us (thank you Pam, those movies have been a life saver). Today we are going to start packing – yeah.

Just a funny note. Roger had commented to me several times, that there is no place in the city where there has been concrete sidewalk or road repair that does not have a shoe or paw print in it. So last night coming up from meeting Kevin, he came across a patch of wet concrete in the sidewalk. Roger has made his mark in Sevastopol, leaving his hand print.

Yesterday we walked down to the public dock area where a US Navy ship is docked. The USS Klakring is on a diplomatic visit to the Ukraine. It is a ‘small’ ship. Last night we went to a reception there. Kevin invited us, this is a real privilege. The party was under a tent on the helicopter pad. The US Ambassador was there, and Ukrainian Admirals, what the military folks would call “big brass”, and of course the officers and some of crew of the ship. There were about 80 people all together. We really didn’t have the right clothes to wear. We had to go out and buy skirts for Elona and I, and shoes for Elona. Good thing we have our ‘court clothes’, or we would have had to decline. Kevin said it didn’t matter, it is our Navy. Kevin and his boss (an Army Coronel) were there of course. Kevin’s friend Kostya, whom we had meet before at Kevin’s, was working as the interpreter for the Ambassador. Roger had met several of the officers the night before, so they were all coming up and introducing themselves to Elona and me.

When we first arrived Elona was particularly interested in the swan ice sculpture and sterno cans heating the serving dishes. The cheese and veggie tray was also a hit. Later when they started serving food (all very American) she had her first chicken fingers and BBQ meatballs, and then ate two large dinner rolls. She decided the roast beef which Roger was thrilled with.

Many of the American officers spoke Russian and Elona got plenty of attention. In fact, the Army Coronal, who spoke Russian, was very nice spoke with Elona frequently. He arranged for Elona to have a private tour (Roger and I got to tag along) of the bridge and the deck with a Russian speaking US officer. One of Executive Officers had a traveling koala bear (like our Flat Stanley) from his 8 year old daughter’s school project and posed for photos with Elona. As it turns out Elona stepped on her first piece of US soil last night when she went aboard the ship. So as a special gesture, the commander of the ship ordered the Elona be entered into the ships log.

We left after about 2 hours with a cold and tired little girl. It was an exciting night, one I don’t think she will forget for a long time. Roger and I would like to express our appreciation to the US Military for a special night and for their great work around the world. Just another reason we are proud to be Americans.

No More Orphanage

Boy, a lot has happened since Sunday. First, we did not get to take Elona home from the orphanage on Monday like we were supposed to. After going to several offices with Galya and Kostya, we went to the orphanage to pick up and Elona. The representative from the government was there also. They whisk Galya away and ask (tell) us to wait in the library. About 20 minutes later Galya comes in with a very sober look. “It is not happening today.” What??? She repeats the statement and we are shocked. The director will not release Elona without the birth certificate- that we cannot get until tomorrow. Even the government representative is surprised.

But that was yesterday. Today we have Elona with us. She is working on an art project and listening to music as I am writing this.

The day started at 8:30 this morning and we went none stop until 4:30 today when Galya and Kostya dropped us off at the apartment. I will not bore you with all the details, but we went to eleven locations during that time. It was after we got the birth certificate that we picked up the Director at her home (she wasn’t feeling well) and went to the Orphanage for the official transfer. Galya handed over documents and we signed some papers. They gave Elona a nice book of Ukrainian Folk Tales and the Director gave her phone number. Later our little angel says to Galya in Russian “Why the hell did she give me her number, I’m not going to call her”. One neat thing, they brought out a wooden US puzzle with pictures of adopted children glued to it and we placed a mark where Elona would be living in America. Elona’s mark is right next to Angella’s. The Neeley’s from California and the Webb’s from Tennessee were also represented.

The government representative was 40 minutes late…..so after he arrived and signed the papers, it was official; we got our papers, said good-bye. In the hall Galya says….lets run. Roger and I are a little surprised, but we don’t ask question. All four of us take off as fast as we can through the orphanage and out to Kostya waiting in the car. Roger and I are thinking….did we get away with something, are they going to come running after us and take Elona back????? Turns out we are just running behind and Galya is just trying to get us to our next stop before the lunch break at 1:00 starts. We get there in time to get things turned in, but still have to wait for the lunch break. So we had lunch and had a really nice talk with Elona.

Long story short, it took all day but we have applied for Elona’s passport, which should be here in time for us to leave for Kiev on Saturday evening (thanks you Galya and Kostya). We will apply for the U.S. visa on Monday, get it on Tuesday and leave for home on Wednesday. Hallelujah.

Tonight, finally, is our first night together. I have a feeling our adventure is just beginning.

Kelley, Roger and Elona
(The photos are of Elona with some dorm mates, and Kostya and Galya on the day of our outing.)

The Home Stretch

Tomorrow is the first of many ‘big’ days to come in the next week. Galya will pick us up in the morning and we will head out to get the adoption decree. The next step is getting the passport. We will try to get some other things done, but we need Elona’s new birth certificate and of course that office is closed on Monday.

Next we will go to the orphanage and pick up Elona. We will bring her her own clothes, shoes and coat. She will change out of her shared orphanage clothes for the last time. I really mean ‘shared’ clothes. Not only did we see Elona wear the same clothes for many days in a row, but we would also see the other girls in the dorms wearing them also. She will gather up the very few belonging that she has and we will leave for the apartment.

We will not be saying good-by to the orphanage for good yet. We will be returning about 3:30 for a ‘going away party’ and for the official hand off with the director and a government representative. Roger and I will be very thankful to be walking up that hill for the last time (it is steeper that it looks in the photo). Elona picked out small gifts at the market for her dorm mates; she did a great job, very thoughtful and stayed on budget. Did I tell you Elona is a list maker, and she has beautiful penmanship. She made a list of the girls she was buying for and crossed them off as she went.
Elona was also very specific with what we should bring for the party, she made me make a list. We are bringing juice, fruit, chocolate and a cake. She would have invited the whole orphanage if we would have let her.

Before I forget, wanted to ask those of you that have adopted, was your child eating everything in site? Since we have been spending more time at the apartment with Elona and offering her things like popcorn, chips and salsa and even trail mix, as soon as she gets to the apartment, she starts indicating casually that she is hungry. And, she will eat about anything we put in front of her, today it was strawberry yogurt and left over macaroni and cheese. It cracks me up.

Anyway……After the party and the official hand off…. We will, all three, be leaving the orphanage for the last time. Before heading home, we are going to the Potato House for Pizza. Then to the apartment for Elona’s first sleep over. Elona is about jumping out of her skin. She is so excited she can’t contain herself. Today on the way to the bus she was singing “Tomorrow, Tomorrow”. The feeling is mutual.

Almost forgot. Friday night our good friend Kevin hosted a party at his apartment . Roger and I, Galya and Kostya, Jaimee and Andy, and Amanda and Jarred attended. Katie, a past co-worker of Kevin's, also joined us. Kevin is a great host. Sangria, cold cuts, bruschetta, shrimp cocktail, and salad. There were also chips and salsa, potato chip with French onion dip and M & M’s that the Americans went crazy for. It was a really fun night with good conversation, a night that will away bring fond memories. Thank you Kevin.

Kelley and Roger

P.S. 2nd photo is the view of a statue of Lenin as we walk to our apartment everyday.

Thank You

Since not a lot is happening here except for waiting, we will put in a few new pictures of the city and take some time to thanks some people.

Pam and Len: Without the two of you having the courage to do this on your own, Roger and I would not be bringing this wonderful child into our family. It is so hard to imagine how difficult your adoption experience must have been without someone there to hold your hand, the way that Roger and I had the two of you. And a thank you to Angella , who is celebrating one year in America this week, this has all happened because of you.

Next of course would be our family. Without their support we would not have been able to make this journey. Ben was on board with the adoption idea from day one and still is. We all knew that the process could last this long, but we were sure it wouldn’t (we were wrong). The first 5 weeks away from Mom and Dad, wasn’t so bad, but we are all ready to get our lives back to normal and Ben is no exception. So we thank him for being patient and we can’t wait to see him.

Cathy has left her home for what will be 8 weeks by the time it is all over. She came to Cincinnati to take care of Ben, a young teenage boy (need we say more), the dog, the cat, the fish and the toad. She has run errands, paid bills, gone to dentist appointments and gone to martial arts more times than we can count. Having one person commit that much time and take on all that responsibility is uncommon and we will be forever thankful. And let’s not forget Steve. While Cathy is in Cincinnati for these 8 weeks, Steve has been home alone. A couple weeks is one thing, we married folk might even consider that a good thing, but both Cathy and Steve have disrupted their lives so that we could be here.

We can’t say enough about Robbin. She too was on board from the very beginning and we don’t know what we would do without her. She helps in too many ways to mention, but has been especially supportive with Ben since we have been gone. She has been there to give Cathy well deserved breaks, she has helped Ben with school projects and been there when he needed her. We Skype with Robbin almost every work day and that bit of normalcy does wonders for our morale. We should also mention that Bill has also been very supportive, he and Ben are close and I am sure that having Bill at the black belt testing really helped.

Thank you to all the friends that have taken Ben for a day of play or for sleepovers. This has really helped the time pass for him and we really appreciate it.

There are people back in Iowa that I would like to thanks. Aunt Trula and Aunt Mildred are nursing my mother after a minor surgery. And Bev and Dick take a lot of time out of their busy lives to help with her medical care. Hi Mom, hope you are feeling better.

Finally, thanks to all of you out there who are following the blog, writing comments and sending emails. You have helped Roger and I get through the each day and put smiles on our faces.

Hope to see you all soon.
Kelley and Roger

Rain, Rain Go Away

We have started to count down the days. Next Monday the 23rd is the day that Elona will leave the orphanage for good and come to live with us. We will have a small celebration, just the three of us, on what will be both a wonderful and strange night.

We got a small break yesterday, but not from the weather, which Galya has told us has been unusually rainy this year (no kidding). Kostya and Galya picked us up in the morning, it had rained all night, but the sun was out and the temperature was in the low 40’s. We headed out of the city past one drab soviet type apartment building after another. These were all built after WWII, at the end of the war there were only 8 buildings left standing in Sevastopol.

We are heading towards Yalta. Once we are out of the city we drive through rolling hills covered with vineyards. There are low mountains in the distance, one is snow capped. Through a pass, and there is the Black Sea along a rocky coastline. Along the hilly highway we saw probably a hundred cyclists in racing attire. This is a big summer vacation area, for mostly Russian tourist. Spread out along the coast there are resorts and spas, some existing, and some being constructed, and many large homes that are rented out during the busy season.

Our sunny day is quickly becoming grey and cloudy and by the time we pull into our first destination it is raining. The palace was built in the early 1800’s by one of the princes. It was used as the set for several movies including ‘The Three Musketeers’ – don’t know which one. As we get out of the car it is really starting to rain and we have no umbrella (stupid us). At least we are wearing rain coats with hoods, but poor Galya is not….so she puts the nylon shopping bag we carry with us on her head. What a trooper. Kostya chose to wait in the car. Of course the whole point of the palace is to enjoy the grounds and architecture. So we walk in the rain through beautiful gardens and around the building, before hurrying back to the car, all of us soaked.

We decide to head back towards Sevastopol rather than go on to Yalta. On the way we stop at a small church perched up on a cliff overlooking the sea. It has stopped raining briefly so we can get out.

Back in Sevastopol we all have lunch in a place that we have walked by almost every day called “The Three Fishes”. They had an English menu. We had a nice time and the food was really good. Salads are very big here, but they are not leafy green salads like at home, they are mostly mayonnaise salads, like eggs salad with a bunch of other things added. Roger had a piece of chicken with a piece of fried ham wrapped around it, with French fries and I had a breaded chicken breast with melted cheese over it, with rice. Pretty safe huh! We will go back again and I will try something more adventuresome. We finished with lunch just in time to grab the bus and head to the orphanage. Despite the rain and our trip being cut short, it was really nice to get of the city and see what the country was like.

Last night we celebrated St. Patrick’s with our Irish-American friend Kevin at the ‘Black Kat Bar’. His friend Kostya also joined us. We toasted Ireland, the Navy and a dozen other things. It was a nice time. There we had chicken wings and French fries……just like home.

Congratulations Ben

Yesterday Ben received his black belt in the martial art, Maududo. And we are very proud and happy for his success yesterday in testing, which included breaking 3 boards in three different ways. Our trip to the Ukraine has been hardest on Ben, and we are so proud that he has kept his grades up at school and now we want to congratulate him for sticking with Maududo and meeting his goal. We love you Ben and we wish we could have been there.

Still not much to report here, it has been rainy so we have been hanging around the apartment. The funniest thing that happened was yesterday on Elona’s visit to the apartment. We made microwave popcorn. I don’t think that Elona has ever had popcorn before, even though we have seen single packets sold at some of the kwikie marts, which are everywhere by the way. At all of the major bus stops there is a little market, most you don’t enter, just pay through a window. You can get anything there; cigarettes, beer and liquor, milk, water, candy, loaves of bread, etc. Some even sell fresh baked pastries filled will things like onions, cabbage and even meat and potatoes. We mostly buy water to get smaller bills for the bus.

Anyway, I showed Elona the microwave popcorn package….okay. But she is shocked when I put the whole bag into the microwave. She was fascinated and did not take her eyes of the bag, pointing and making us look as the bag got larger and larger. And of course she liked it, who doesn’t.

Kelley & Roger

Killing Time, and Not Each Other

We are settling in to wait. Now that we have official (if not physically) been awarded Elona’s adoption, we can pick her up every day and take her out of the orphanage. She is still attending school, so on week days we pick her up at 4:00 and return her by 6:30 so she can eat at the orphanage, yum. That is not a lot of time, but on average the trip takes 20 minutes each way, so it is really worth it to bring her back to the apartment instead of sitting in a room at the orphanage. We play cards, do educational computer games and eat snacks. She loves trail mix and Wednesday we introduced her to nachos. We used up the last of the tortilla chips and salsa that Kevin had given us. We melted some cheese over the chips in the microwave and served them with the Pace medium salsa. I explained that this was Mexican food and got the point across by singing the ‘La Coocaratia’ song, which she recognized immediately. Elona was eager to try. Her eyes widened and she waved her hand in front of her mouth, indicated that the salsa was hot. She did this the entire time, but it did not stop her from dipping each chip in the salsa and finished off every last tiny piece.

I thought we should tell you a little more about how we are surviving here in Sevastopol. We would like to encourage anyone that is considering adoption to consider the Ukraine. Even though we have had limited contact with the other children, we have seen enough to know that there are wonderful children here that need homes, we have picture of some we will gladly share when we return. Most important there are people here that you can trust to help you identify children that will fit into your family. These are people like Sveta and Galya. Galya has already told us to ask if anyone would be interested in adopting a 13 year old boy. We have seen him briefly and he is very handsome. She has known him for a long time and says he is a great kid. They cannot understand why he has not been adopted before. They would love to find him a loving home.

As for this whole process, obviously it is the amount of time you most spend her that is the real issue. But living in Sevastopol is very easy. The apartment is very comfortable and being close to the city center makes it very convenient. We are close to the market, restaurants, shopping and the bus. The first photo shows our apartment building at the top of the hill, then the back of the building (all entrances and parking for tenants). The last photo shows the entrance to the stairwell leading to our apartment. They are all like this, very sterile, gloomy and with key code access. Our apartment is on the first floor. The door to our apartment is very new and secure, the key turns deadbolts on all four sides of the door and all the windows have bars.

The key to our sanity has got to be our lap top. This is by far the most important thing that we brought with us and the unlimited internet is worth the 100 greivna ($10) a month that we spend. With this we can talk to family, send and receive emails. We use it to communicate with our facilitators and the US Embassy. Sveta handed us a Ukrainian cell phone almost the minute we got off the plane, but we use it very little.

Our lap top is also invaluable in filling the time we spend waiting to go to the orphanage. It keeps us up on what is going on back in the States. We listen to WVXU ever morning. First the BBC and then Morning Addition. We watch the Evening News everyday (the next day) and we can also read the Enquire. But entertainment is also important. Last week we watched our last Soprano’s episode. We have looked for TV episodes on the web, but have discovered that all network shows are blocked out from the US. Thankfully we have Comedy Central. Now every evening after dinner, we sit down in front of the computer and watch “The Daily Show” and “the Colbert Report”. Good thing or we may have returned from Ukraine not know what “twittering “was.

So that I don’t bore you completely, I will break up ‘What it is Like to Live Here’ into different blogs. Tomorrow…..what we eat. How exciting

Book Club - Wednesday, Mar. 11th.

Since can’t make it to Book Club tonight, I thought I had better make my report here.

I have had plenty of time for reading. First, I read a small book that Ben had to read for 7th grade. ‘Ties That Bind – Ties That Break’ by Lensey Namioka. Short historical novel about Chinese society in the early 1900s, more specifically the practice of foot binding. I enjoyed it, Ben didn’t.

Next, before we left, Jenny recommended ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ by Ken Follett. A very thick historical novel set in England in mid 1100’s, about the construction of a cathedral and the lives surrounding it. It spans over 40 year and is a real page turner. A good story and an easy read, I would recommend it, and I plan to read the sequel. But I thought it lacked real historical detail, like you find in the ‘Outlander’ series and was defiantly not as closely tied to real history as the Phillippa Gregory novels (like ‘the Other Boleyn Girl’).

Currently I am reading Leo Tolstoy which is a challenge. Turns out Leo fought in the Crimean War and wrote his first recognized works while he was serving. ‘The Sevastopol Stories’ we found in a collection of Tolstoy here in the apartment. I started with ‘Sevastopol in December’; I lasted on evening -description of an officer walking though a hospital tent. ‘Sevastopol in May’; I lasted one evening – description of a young officer’s insecurities regarding his patriotism and his social status. There was probably more to it, but too bored to continue. ‘Sevastopol in August- 1855’; I have lasted a few days, think I can make it, it’s not that long. Story of two brothers, one much older and an experienced officer returning to the front after an injury. The other just arriving at the war and finds out it is not as glamorous and he is not as brave as he expected (do you see a theme here??). I am sure it will have a tragic ending.

Unfortunately I will have time to finish Tolstoy and still have time to read something else. Next is ‘The Moor’s Last Sigh’ by Salman Rushdie.

So that is my report……I am sorry I will miss Book Club. Have nice glass of red for me.
The photo is of the main street in Sevastopol, very near to where we live.

Kelley

It's Official - Tuesday, Mar.10th

Well it is official. The Sevastopol Court has accepted our petition to adopt Elona and change her name to Elona Marie. Ben, you have a sister. Now there is a 10 day waiting period (which will be more like 12 because of the weekend), we will get the offical court decree, and she will come to live with us. Then all is left is process of coming home to the United States, which is not small thing.

We arrived at court today about 10:00 AM after picking Elona up at the orphanage. She was wearing a black pant suit with a white blouse and white bow in her hair. The exterior of building housing the court is a dump. The neighborhood surrounding the building is made up of abandoned buildings and apartment buildings that look like section 8 housing. Inside the building is just as bad. Peeling paint, iron pipe railings and concrete steps. The lighting in the narrow corridor where people are lined up on benches waiting are vertically hung exposed 24” fluorescent fixtures. The lamps are blue; Roger says it reminds him of the movie “Brazil”. Would have liked to take pictures, but that would have been un-cool.

We only have to wait for about a half hour and we are called into the Judge’s chambers. Inside the room is quiet comfortable with a large desk with a conference table placed against the front with seating for up to 10 people. The Judge is much younger that we expected and handsome. There are ten people present, ourselves, Galya, Elona, the orphanage representative, the government representative, the Judge, his secretary and two other women (not sure who they were). The Judge’s reviews the paperwork and asks if we agree with the petition to adopt Elona, we say “da”. He asks us some questions about employment, our home, and schooling. He asks Elona if she would like to be adopted by us and if she understands that she will be leaving the Ukraine and that we will not speak Russian. She answers “da” to both questions. The judge review some more papers, speaks to the other people in the room. The whole thing lasts about 20 minutes and he announces that he will accept out petition to adopt Elona. It is over. We all say thank you and leave the room. This is when Mama starts to cry and almost brings Papa with her. She is ours.

Kostya and Galya accompanied the three of us to ‘The Greenwich’ for lunch. We found that Elona likes black tea, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and grilled chicken. She doesn’t like black or green olives, or feta cheese. Galya told Elona all about what is coming up after the 10 day waiting, the frantic work to get the passport, the trip to Kiev for the visa, and the 8 hour flight to the United States. It is exhausting just thinking about it. After lunch we take Elona back to the orphanage. From now on will be able to take Elona out of the orphanage every evening from 4-6:30 and longer on weekends.

It was a beautiful day, so after shopping briefly at the market we walked down by the water and took that long way home. The trees are starting to bud, and areas of the main street are very beautiful.

Kelley and Roger

Taking It Easy - Monday, Mar. 9th

Just a short message tonight.
We have had Elona with us during the day Sunday and Monday (no school for Women’s Day). We took it pretty easy. Sunday was bright and sunny, but breezy and not as warm as Saturday. There were all kinds of people at the city center because of the holiday. We stop at McDonald’s on the way home from the orphanage for ice cream and french fries, which we ate outside. She really enjoyed the french fries with ketchup, a real American already.

Back at the apartment she played an educational computer game with our help for a while. Later we tried to Skype with Pam and Angella. There were some problems, so it took quite a while before we finally settled for talking with no video. Shy Elona emerged again, but Angella did plenty of the talking and I am sure next time she will be more outgoing. It was fun to talk to Pam and Len.

For some of you that are not familiar with Skype – you need high speed internet, at least a microphone on your computer, web cam (for video), download the free Skype program and poof….you can talk to each other for free. We have been talking to (and seeing) Ben and Aunt Cathy four or five times a week, and talk to Robbin almost every day. And now we can talk to Pam and family.

Well tomorrow is the big day - Court. As we understand it, we will go with Galya (she bring all the paper work), and either we will pick up Elona, or the director will bring her. The local adoptions will go first and then the international. The Judge will ask us a few question and we will answer “da” (yes). He will ask Elona if she wants to be adopted by us and is she understands that she will be moving to where they don’t speak English. She says “da”. The Judge leaves the room for a half hour or so and comes out and gives his decision. I think it is all designed to stress you out. Then we wait ten more days for the final adoption decree.

I will report in tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Kelley and Roger

the Panorama - Saturday, Mar. 7th.

We picked up Elona today and came back to the city center, changed buses and rode up the hill to a park. It is the warmest day that we have had, no coats and our sweat shirts tied around our waists. We are on our way to see the ‘Panorama’, a 360 degree painting recreating the battle scene from the Crimean War

The Crimean War took place in Sevastopol between Russian and the Allies (primarily England and French) and lasted only about a year, 1854-1855. I read that in that one year around 100,000 people died on each side. The Panorama, originally created by Franz Rubo, was complete in 1906 and installed in the round building designed and built by the Russian Military. The building housing the artwork was destroyed during WWII along with most of the painting. During the bombing soldiers cut down and saved what they could of the painting and it was smuggled out of the country. The painting could not be restored, but the pieces were used to recreate it. In 6 months 17 artists recreated the artwork and in 1954 the restored building reopened with the new artwork.

Before entering the main room there are displays of beautiful original sketches (I would call them paintings) that Rubo did as studies for the final work and there is one small section of the original art. Then you go up to the rotunda. I must say it is breathtaking. The Panorama is huge for one thing. It depicts thousands of soldiers in the heat of battle. You stand on an elevated round stage in the center with the painting all around you. The figures in the foreground of the painting are life size and between you and the painting the floor is staged in an incredible lifelike diorama of bunkers, tools and war debris. The battle scene goes on forever to distant small ships out on the Black Sea and only puffs of smoke off in the distance. The whole thing together looks so real, so 3 dimensional. You could sit for hours and discover something new.

After viewing the Panorama we walked around the park. There were two young women there with two nice looking horses (we had seen one cantering though the park earlier with a young colt following along behind). They are selling rides and I did not see any release forms. There is a small area with gift tents and carnival rides including a slow moving ferris wheel. We take a ride hoping to get a good view of the city. The view is okay, it is warm but very hazy and photos are disappointing. I was happy to get off the ride.

We walked back down the hill to our apartment and Ben ‘skypes’ us from Cincinnati. We had not told Elona about the call – hard to explain that we are going to see and talk to people half way around the world on our computer. Ben was great and says good morning in Russian and tells Elona how excited he is to meet her. For the first time in weeks we saw the ‘shy’ Elona again, we had almost forgotten that she existed. Of course Ben and I were jabbering in English and she could only pick up a word here and there, I am sure next time she will loosen up. She got to meet Aunt Cathy . She also got to meet Alice the dog and Sox the cat. Sunday we will try to Skype Angella. We told her and she asks “Angella Russian?” I say yes and she gives a sign of relief.

Kelley and Roger

Women's Day - Friday, Mar. 6th

This coming Sunday is ‘Women’s Day’ here in the Ukraine. Turns out this is a pretty big holiday and it is celebrated all weekend. So this was the big event that Elona and the other children in the orphanage have been practicing for and we got to attend the performance today in the Music Room.

We arrived a little early, so went into the library to wait. Elona came in. She is all dressed up with a big bow in her hair and pretty little flowered dress with full skirt and puffed sleeves. It was a little small for her and something that would have been more stylish when I was her age, but she looked adorable. We took pictures and then one of her friends, Janna came in dress very similar and Elona asked that we take their picture, then the rest of her dorm came in and we took pictures of all of them together. There are 9 girls total, Elona is the oldest, most are 7 or 8 and a few younger. I said to the girls ‘you all look very beautiful’ and Elona translated. She is already picking up bits English. She was so proud of herself, more that once she said “Mama say in English, Elona say in Russian”.

The performance was for the employees and some of the older children were there. Seven girls from Elona’s dorm and the same number of boys in the same age group preformed. There were a couple boys that spoke several times and sang. Then the girls performed in small groups. Elona sang a song with four other girls and then later did a dance with 9 other boys and girls. Two other older girls sang also, we could tell they were thrilled. Following the performance they awarded the Director and the counselor with card and flowers and then a woman that we had never seen before, made a short speech and handed out small gifts to the women and girls of the orphanage.

After the performance, Elona changed clothes and we went outside. A bunch of other children were out, so we mostly watched Elona interact with the other children until it was time for us to leave.

We cooked dinner at home and then planned to meet our new friend Kevin somewhere. He invited us up to his apartment, with the ‘Women’s Day’ celebration he said everywhere would be packed. He also had another friend Kostya, who is with the Ukrainian Navy and has been to school in the US. They are both very nice, interesting guys and we enjoyed lively conversation. It got late, so we Skyped Ben from Kevin’s computer…..good job - Ben would not start up his video until he knew who was calling.

Saturday we have Elona for the afternoon. I’ll report in tomorrow.

Kelley and Roger

Site Seeing - Thursday, Mar.5th

It is a beautiful day in Sevastopol, the first we have seen for quite a while. The sun is shining and it a comfortable 40 degrees. Today Galya picked us up at 11:00 and we caught a bus going south. We ride for only about 10 minutes and then got out and walked for about a half a mile through residential neighbor hoods. We are on our way to Chersoneses.

Chersoneses is an ancient Greek city that was inhabited from 400BC to the 12th century, nearly 16 centuries. This site is listed with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization). It is said that the disciple Andrew visited Chersoneses. The ruins are located along the edge of the Black Sea and the white stone walls are quite beautiful against the blue water and sky. There is no restrictions and you can walk all over the ruins. I would guess that the ruins today cover about 20 acres in total.

Also located on the site is St. Vladimir Cathedral built in the late 1800’s to celebrate the baptism of St. Vladimir on this site in 992 AD. This site is said to be where Christianity was brought to Russia. The Cathedral was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt in the 1990’s.

It was great to get out in the sunshine, go down by the water and see something new (or old). And we got back in plenty of time for me to write this blog before we head of to visit Elona at the Orphanage. Our visits this week have been pleasant but short. We have a small calendar and Elona is crossing off the days at each visit. Yesterday we gave her a disposable camera so that she could start taking pictures of her friends and caregivers to have when she get to the United States.

Kelley and Roger

More Americans - Monday, Feb.2nd.

Not a lot to report regarding Elona, we did not get to bring her home yesterday, she had to stay to be in another performance of some kind. So we hung out at the orphanage. The disappointment was that we had planned to Skype with Ben and Robbin….their first live meeting. We will try again next weekend. School is finally out of quarantine, so during the week we will not be going to the orphanage until 4:00.

Last night we meet up with some Americans that Pam and Len had connected us up with. They are also friends the Mike and Gail (blog followers who have 4 adopted children from Sevastopol). Jaimee and Andy are a young couple from California but live here in Sevastopol. They had just returned from the States where they we raising funds for their charitable organization. Operation Lazarus helps kids that have graduated from the orphanages and are out on their own with no jobs and no income. Jamiee and Andy brought two friends with them, Amanda and Jarrod, that will be staying for the next year (possibly longer) to help them with their projects. Jarrod was a juvenile probation officer in CA, before coming here. Jaimee and Andy know many of the orphans before they graduate from working each summer at the summer camp that the orphans attend. Right now they help the kids as much as possible in a multitude of ways; food, medicine, friendship etc. Their long term goal is to raise enough money to open a temporary housing center. It turns out that the government will give orphans free housing when they graduate, but the paper work can take up to a year (imagine that). Their facility would give kids a place to go while they are waiting for their place and also a recreational type facility to give kids a place to come for holidays and special occasions. We commend them for their great work.

The six of us went to a nice café the ‘the Greenwich” for dinner. They have two English menus – yeah. I had pancakes (which are crepes) with chicken and cheese and Roger had grilled chicken with broccoli. The next time we go, I am getting the desert pancakes with peaches, they looked delicious. We had a great time and look forward to meeting up with them again soon. When we left they showed us where the flower market is – Pam and Len, we will be heading there if this weather ever warms up.

Kelley and Roger

10 and 20 - Saturday, Feb. 28th

We got some good news on Friday; the director gave us permission to take Elona out of the orphanage as long as we did not leave Sevastopol. So today was our first day. We picked her up at 2:00 and took the bus back to our city center. Before going back to the apartment, we went to the market; there were a few things that we needed like an onion, eggs and toilet paper. We also needed to pick up some slippers for her to wear at the apartment. The floors are tile and very cold. At first she did not understand, but soon she was trying on the sizes and choosing the color she liked.

Then it was back to the apartment. She was a little timid, like anyone when they enter someone else’s home. We showed her around; she happily noted that we had displayed the Valentine’s Card and the pipe cleaner ‘Elona’ that she had made us. I showed her the gym shoes and boots that I had bought her to wear to America (they fit fine by the way). When we mentioned the shoes for America, she wanted the Russian-English Dictionary and asked me ‘Soon’??? We got out the calendar and explained that the court date was the 10th, then the 10 days and no more orphanage on the 20th. A few more days, then Kiev, three more days and America. I think this really made it real to her, she was all smiles, and she kept repeating “10 and 20”.

We played a computer reading game and put together a wooden seahorse puzzle. Then we snacked on Aunt Cathy’s trail mix and played a couple games of UNO before it was time to take the bus back to the orphanage. As the three of us walked up that trash riddled street to the orphanage, she started repeating again…..”10 and 20”. It is such a great feeling to know that she is as sure about this decision as we are.

Tomorrow we will pick her up again for another visit at the apartment. We are planning to Skype Aunt Robbin and Ben in the morning. It will be exciting to see her reaction to talking live to someone over the computer. And Ben will meet his new sister for the first time.

Now I know what you are thinking, not another photo of the market, (in 10 days I will be able to put in photos of Elona). But these are jars of honey; some are beautifully filled with layers of nuts and honey. I thought it would nice to try some, so I bought the smallest jar layers with almonds and pecans. After we go it home, Roger happens to think that honey is a raw food and maybe we shouldn’t eat it. So I would appreciate thoughts on that subject if anyone has any insight.

Also, we would again like to express our appreciation for all you followers; the emails, your comments and support really makes a difference. Thanks again.

Kelley and Roger

Staying Put - Thursday, Feb. 26th

Believe me, it was not any easy decision, but we have decided to stick it out. Ben is okay with it, thinks we should save the money for better vacation this summer. It is easy for him to say, he’s still sleeping in his own bed!

To celebrate our decision to forgo our vacation to the wonderful United States, we did the next best thing – we had lunch at McDonald’s. Sorry, Renee, but this is only the second time since we arrived in the Sevastopol.

To help pass the time, we are hoping we can make some arrangement to take some day trips around the area. There are Greek ruins and beautiful scenery not that far out of town. If it would just warm up, the trips to the orphanage would be a lot more pleasant.

Another thing I am looking forward to is trying some good Ukrainian food. We will have to get some American’s or Galya and Kostya to go with us. We have looked at some of the menus and we haven’t got a clue, not like Spanish or French, when you can at least figure out if it is fish or chicken.

Well that is all for now, hopefully I will have something interesting to write about soon. The photo is of a church just up the hill from us.

Kelley and Roger

We're Still Here - Wednesday, Feb.25th

Sorry we haven’t written, but there hasn’t been much to tell. We have been going to the orphanage every day, reading, cooking, and watching Soprano’s. And the last time we went to the Potato House, we didn’t meet anyone new. It is still really cold.

We have been waiting for the judge to give us our court date. We had high hopes for a date by the end of February, but we are out of luck. March 10th. We are disappointed, but not surprised; everyone has warned us not to expect things to go as planned. Galya is hoping to talk to the judge tomorrow morning to see if there is any chance of an earlier date. If she can’t, we have to decide whether to stay, knowing that we have at least 4 more weeks here; or spend the money to come home for 7 days. It would not be so bad to stay if we could take Elona out of the orphanage during the day. Hanging out at our apartment and going to the market is a lot more fun. Anyway, we will make our decision after we hear from Galya tomorrow.

There are a few things about Sevastopol that we have not told you about.
Dried fruit is really big here. The photo’s show the beautiful colors at the tables in the market. I have been sampling different cookies each time we go to the market. Most of them have some kind of fruit inside. They also have wonderful coconut macaroons. A lot of the men here carry purses. Not the shoulder-strap man-bags you see in the U.S sometime. These look like miniature doctors bags, but with more buckles.

The fashions here are similar to Kiev, but a lot less black, more color. Still lots of boots. And on warmer days (there have not been many), boy the skirts are short.

You ask any of the English speaking guys what the best thing about the Ukraine is and they will all say ‘the cheap beer’. You can buy it everywhere and anytime. You can drink it walking up the street at 8:00 in the morning and we have been told you can even drink it on the bus, though we have not seen anyone.

There are lots of music videos on TV and they are really bad and really trashy. They have stuff like Animal Planet and Discovery with Russian dubbed in over the top of the English.

One of the funniest things that happened was a day that we were waiting in the government building waiting for some paperwork. A very tall, very blonde woman comes out and asks Galya a question. Galya laughs. It seems that this woman had read our home study and saw that my brother Frank was divorced. She wanted to know if my brother was interested in meeting a nice Ukrainian Girl. So, there you go Frank….let me know if you in the market.

Well that is all for now. Who knows….we might be home this weekend. We will let you know.

Kelley and Roger

Cold weekend - Feb. 21st and 22nd

It has been really cold here this weekend. So aside from going to the orphanage we have been staying in. Fortunately I made a large pot of beef vegetable soup Saturday, so there was no need to go to the market.

During the visit on Saturday we stayed in the music room the whole time. The wind was blowing and the room was really cold. Elona showed us her talent for cart wheels and back bends before we settled into the usual, playing UNO, reviewing a little English, and playing I Spy on the wooden floor. Good-byes and ‘we will see you tomorrow’.

Sunday was not as windy, but just as cold. Roger and I both dressed warmer in preparation of the cold music room. As soon as we got there Elona said ‘Hi, I am Elona Marie Holliday” with a huge smile. Then she immediately wanted to go outside, soon we knew why, she was putting on rollerblades. She put them on in the 2nd floor dorm and proceeded to walk down the concrete steps in them. Outside the sun was shining and it was not as windy. We walked around the building as she skated. She does pretty good, especially considering all the gravel and holes in the surfaces. We walk up around the school. School is still closed for ‘quarantine’, which make her very happy – normal kid.

Back inside, we had brought the laptop with us and a couple beginning learning CD’s that Pam had loaned to us. It only took a little while for her to get the hang on it, with help from us. She really enjoyed it and we did that most of the afternoon before playing a couple quick games. Then it was time to leave for the bus. As usual we exchange lots of hugs and kisses.

Tomorrow we are hoping to find out our court date and for warmer weather.

Kelley and Roger

Singing and Dancing Friday Feb. 20

The day started pretty normal, some laundry, cheese omelets for lunch and a quick run to the market. At 1:15 we Skype with Ben before he heads for school. Then it is reading until it is time to head for the orphanage.

Today Galya and Kostya pick us up; Galya will be visiting with us today. She tells us that we have not received our court date yet, they told her to call back again on Monday, typical. When we get to the orphanage, Galya spots the Doctor and asks about the medical report that we need. It will be ready on Monday, typical. We see the councilor and ask if we will be able to take Elona home to our apartment for the day on the weekend. No, not until after the court hearing. We are disappointed, it is getting hard to fill the time shut in a small room with people that don’t speak the same language. A lot of UNO.

Elona is very happy to see Galya. We go to the library/computer room and sit on the floor. There are three pretty new computers. We ask Elona who uses the computers, she has never seen anyone use them. Elona is talking a mile a minute, telling Galya all the news of the orphanage. We ask about simple things, foods she likes, how many girls are in her dorm, has she ever slept in a room alone. There are eight girls in her dorm, she is the oldest, and the youngest is 4. Two of the girls are going home to their mother in 10 days, we are happy for them.

We tell Elona her new name. Elona Marie Holliday. She thinks that it is good. We have her practice writing her full name and then Galya works with her for a few minutes on the English alphabet. Elona asks if we can go outside. She runs around obviously showing off for us. We don’t stay outside for long because it is cold. Back inside we go to the music room where the music teacher is working with an older student. They finish and we get a special treat. Elona sings for us with the teacher. She has a very nice voice and you can tell she enjoys singing. She has already told us that she will pick chorus in school. Galya tells me how surprised she is that music is such a large part of our school curriculum, not true in Ukrainian schools. Now the choreographer comes in, it is time for dance rehearsal and we get to watch. Elona is attentive and follow directions without disruption, which there is plenty of.

Soon it is dinner time and we say our good-byes and head for the bus. At our stop Galya stays on the bus to go the rest of the way home and we head straight for the Potato House. It is Friday night and very crowded, all the tables are taken, a young couple offer for us to share their table. Sergy and Katrina are young university student and speak pretty good English. We repay their generosity with shots of tequila (it is a western style restaurant after all). Katrina likes a tequila shooter, made with sprite – so when in the Ukraine, do like the Ukrainians. It is fun. Soon they need to leave, they are heading for the cinema, so we exchange emails and say good-bye to new friends. Then it’s back to the apartment for more Sopranos.

Kelley and Roger.

Casual day - Thursday, Feb.19th

Really not a whole lot to talk about tonight. It was a lazy day. Got up late, cooked cheese omelets for lunch, and did some laundry. I started making soup for the dinner tonight. At about 1:00 we Skype with Ben and Aunt Cathy before he heads for school. Ben is not quite awake, but we still get caught up with what has been going on. After that Roger played some games on the computer and I read a while until it was time to leave for the orphanage at 3:30.

When we arrive at the orphanage, as usual Elona’s face beams and she runs up and gives us hugs. Then we head for the office to get keys to a room where they ‘isolate’ us from the other children. The new rule. This is such a shame. It is our understanding that there were no adoptions from this orphanage until only a couple years ago. We are adopting Elona because Pam and Len met her while they were adopting Angella. Pam and Len adopted Angella because another family met her while they were adopting and so on and so on. If we can’t get to know any of the children while we are here, how can we become their advocate?

We ask Elona about school today. She tells us it is closed because so many children are sick. But she is not sick (we pray she stays that way with so much travel and stress ahead). Elona and all the other children at the orphanage attend public school. It is located next door; it is the picture on the left. The picture on the right is the entrance into the orphanage. There is an old filthy tee shirt on the ground to wipe your feet on. The entrance and hallways are night and day from the clean cheery dorm that Elona lives in. Bilka, the house dog, is usually sleeping in the stairwell or coming in when we are leaving. He is filthy also, but we have seen him doing his job keeping other stray dogs off of the compound.

We play Concentration with a deck of cards. Elona is impressed with how well we shuffle the cards and is trying to learn. After a bit we get out the English Russian picture book and practice some English. I am confident that she will do well at learning the language. Six o’clock comes around quickly and it time to go. Sad faces and hugs, and we head for the bus.

Back at the apartment we caught up with Robbin on Skype. We talk about the upcoming travel plans, which we hope to be able to start nailing down tomorrow night. I finish making the soup, I am using the left over roasted chicken, veggies, and a soup spice packet we bought in the market. It turns out great. I am going to buy a bunch of the packets to bring home.

Once I sent this off, Roger and I will watch some more Sopranos. Then tomorrow we will start again all over again. Galya is going with us to the orphanage tomorrow, so we can converse with Elona a little more. She will also ask if we can bring Elona back to our apartment during the day Saturday and Sunday.

Till tomorrow.
Kelley and Roger

Sunny in Sevastopol - Wednesday, Feb.18th.

Last night we went over to our new best friend Kevin’s apartment. As you remember we met him and a couple of other English speaking people at the Potato House the night before. He made us nachos. Kelley had some wine. And everything was great. We asked him where he shopped because everything was just like home and he said at the American PX in Kiev. His apartment is only a couple of blocks from ours and is very nice, nicely furnished and much bigger than ours. We sat in a sun room overlooking the main street. Unfortunately he’s leaving Friday for about 10 days. We’ll see him again because we know we’ll still be here, and besides he lent us a couple of DVDs. He also said there are about 8 gringos (as he calls them) in town and they see each other on a regular basis. Tonight they will be at the Black Cat Bar. We looked for it today, but it didn’t see a picture of a black cat and we couldn’t read the signs, so we’re not sure where it is. We’re gonna miss him. When we left he made us a care package, tortilla chips, Pace Picante sauce, and microwave popcorn. We are really grateful.
Today was a casual day. No meetings, no appointments. So got to walk around a little bit, and see our neighborhood in the sunshine. But first we went to the market. As Pam and Len told us, “Don’t stock up; buy just enough for the day so you have something to do tomorrow.” Good advice. We have gone back to the same vendors a couple of times so they recognize us right away, (who wouldn’t). We have the cheese lady, the soap lady, and the pastry lady. We bought some beef, the first red meat we’ve had since we got here, so Kelley is going to make some soup with it. We were looking at what we thought was bacon but it was cured, and the woman selling it cut off two small pieces to try. We tried to say no, fearing food poisoning. But she kept trying to give it to us. So we ate it, then she offered a different cut and another. Which we also ate. We walked away from there fearing gastric calamity. So far, so good. Just outside the market we saw a vendor selling whole roasted chickens. So we bought one of those. Just like Krogers. We had some of that for lunch and for dinner tonight we grilled cheese with chicken.
At 4:00 we went visit Elona, she had seen the doctor and gotten a couple of shots. And as usual she was very happy to see us. We played UNO and practiced English a little, and talked about flying home. We explained that we will fly four times to get to our house, and she doesn’t seem to be worried about it. Although at this stage to her it’s not that real. Tomorrow we will talk some more.

Gotta catch a train - Tuesday, Feb. 17th.

We were ready to go at 11:30 today when Galya and Kostya picked us up. It has been unusually cold here since we arrived and today there are snow flurries. We first go to the government office for our appointment with the boss of the woman that had interviewed us previously. This was the first man we have seen in this whole process. He asks about our home, income, why we had chosen the Ukraine and was our family supportive of the adoption. He reminded us that there could be difficulties with an adopted child. After, he wished that the remainder of our adoption process would be swift and life with the child would be happy. And he thanked us for taking care of their children. It was very nice.

Now, we have to get the remainder of the paper work to the 1:30 Train to Kiev so that Sveta can file the papers at the Ministry tomorrow between 9-11 AM or she will have to wait until Friday. Sometimes I think that Roger and I are contestants on “The Amazing Race”. We wait in the hall for the very slow printer. Finally we get one copy printed and Galya takes it and runs (she will come back later to get the other copies). Fortunately the train station is not far away and we get there on time. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting at the train station, but Galya runs on to the station platform and right onto the train. She comes out a few minutes later and we take off again.

Galya and Kostya drop us off at the bus stop near the orphanage before they take off to get copies and file more papers, and then probably to work at her many other jobs.

Roger and I buy some chips at the store at the bus stop and head up the hill to the orphanage. We are really early and Elona is still at school. She comes in about an hour later. We work on some English words and look at pictures. After a while she does her homework with the other girls. Her hand writing is very neat. We play some I Spy until she has to leave to go to dinner. We take off for the bus. We will be back tomorrow. At this point most of gathering of things is over. And since we can’t go as early to the orphanage we can look around Sevastopol a little.

We hope to find out what our court day will be on Friday. On our court date the adoption will be final, except for the 10 day waiting period that follows. Then we apply for the Ukrainian passport for Elona, 2-10 days. Then we fly to Kiev to apply for the US Visa at the American Embassy 3 days. And then we can all go home to the United States.

New Friends - Monday, Feb. 16th.

Today we headed out at 10:00 with Galyak and Kostya. Galya has the day planned. We planned ahead and packed snacks…..after all Galya is on a mission (believe me, we are not complaining, we are very grateful to have Galya). We are going to the notary, then to the government office, to pick up an assistant so we can pick up the papers from the orphanage (they won't release them to us) and meet with the supervisor, and to get final approval. That is the plan.

Well, the notary went well. We get to the government office and the orphanage has not submitted their paper work. So we go to the orphanage to get it, but they can not finish because the one computer is tied up.

That is how it goes…..we went to hang out in the main room of Elon'a dorm,thinking she was in school, but to our surprise Elona was there. While Galya stood over the staff to get the paper work finished we spent time with Elona. The group area is a living room with a large rug and comfortable chairs, a TV, and some student desks, there is coat room with individual cubbies, a bedroom with about 10 beds and a bathroom with individual hooks and shelves for towels and tooth brushes. It is all very neat and clean.

Galya comes in and goes over the afternoon. We get moved to a different room and play UNO with Elona while Kostya watches. During this time Galya has Elona write her letter saying that ‘she would not mind being adopted by us’. Later the children need to rehearse for a musical performance to be given to some war veterans (they are celebrating Victory Day), and we get to watch. Unfortunately the orphanage director notices that we are there and we are moved to another room before Elona practices her part (remember, new rule, we are not to see the other children).

Finally Galya returns and we head to the government office to submit the paper work and hopefully meet with the official so that Galya can send the paper work to Sveta in Kiev tomorrow. No luck. But we do get our paper work submitted and schedule an appointment for tomorrow at 12:00. Wait a minute…isn’t that lunch time? Galya believes she can still get everything on the train to Sveta tomorrow and we should get a court date on Friday. Cross your fingers.

Since we had no lunch and the market is closed on Monday, Roger and I head for the Potato House after Kostya drops us off at the apartment. Pizza again. We hear English a couple tables away and after we finish our food. Roger steps in and introduces himself. We are invited to join the small group. In the picture starting on the left, Roger, John from England (on vacation?), Jason from Niagara Falls, Canada (currently living and married in Sevastopol), Gem from Turkey, Natalia, Ukrainian living in Turkey, and Kevin from Boston (currently with the Navy living in Sevastopol). We have beer and talk about many things including politics, Ukrainian red tape and travel. It was good to have a casual conversation that we understood all the words, besides between just us.