First official meeting - Tuesday Feb. 10 th

Well the meeting with the young pretty women judge was quite brief. We waited out in the stairwell with about 3 other couples and their facilitators for about 45 min. before we were called in. We were surprised that Sveta came into the meeting with us (we thought that we would be alone with a government translator). The judge asked us only one question- Why did you decide to adopt Elona? Next they showed us her file with a small picture - we verified that this was the child that we wished to adopt. We asked a few questions, and we were finished, not more than 10 minutes.

Now all we need is the paperwork/referral to visit the orphanage. Unfortunately, the office was without power all of last week. Sveta tells us that power outages are common in Ukraine, but very rare in Kiev. Anyway, because of the power outage all the appointments scheduled for last week were delayed, and the paperwork for those families that have been waiting all week will get their paper work first.

Sveta will be calling the office tomorrow at 12:00 for an update and will call to let us know when we can expect our referral. Then we be able to make travel arrangements for Sevastopol. Sveta advised us to get our bags packed and be ready to run, just in case.

After our meeting we did a little souvenir shopping, but it is colder today so we headed back to the apartment to put on warmer clothes and then walked to the small bar for pizza. After, we people watched in the mall while I sampled some gelatto (awesome). A young family walks by and we hear English. we keep an eye on them and when they walk by again we get their attention. Can you believe it - they are from Columbus!!!! They are adopting also. Ron and Sara are traveling with their two very young daughters. They are one of the families held up by the power outage and were on their way to their next appointment. We wish them luck. What a small world.

Since we have a little time, thought you might like to hear more about what we are experiencing in Kiev. This is very old country with a very rich history before it was taken over by the USSR, the new Ukraine has only been independent from Soviet Union since 1998. The government is very young and they have a new women prime minister.

Sveta is our adoption facilitator in Kiev. She is taking care of everything for us. She picked us up at the airport, she arranged our apartment, she makes sure we have all the documents that we need and make copies. She will make and get us to our appointments. Then she will arrange for our flight to Simferpol where Galya will take over and arrange our transport to Sevastopol.

Our apartment in Kiev: The sign on the street is Sunflower B & B. We walk though a gate from the street into a parking area to an alcove with a metal door. There is a key code to allow access into the elevator/stairwell. All concrete and dark, an old winding stone staircase wraps around an open elevator shaft protected by metal chain link. We get into the tiny elevator and go to the 5th and top floor,although the buttons in the elevator go to 10. There is a narrow double wood door that we unlock to gain access to a hallway with one dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling, it is full of building supplies, drywall and metal studs. There is a beautiful carved wood on the left. Our door is on the right, it is wrapped in brown snake skin vinyl . We unlock the door to bright apartment with high ceiling and big windows. It is very clean and comfortable. There is small balcony, but not much of a view…the back of other apartment buildings. We use it to keep our many bottles of water chilled (you can not drink, cook or brush your teeth with anything but bottled water). The kitchen has small refrigerator, gas range and washing/drying machine – for clothes. Unlike US, you have to wash very small loads and they wash and dry in the same machine. The bath is also new with sink, toilet, bidet and tub. No stand up shower that we are used to, hand held only. And there is a towel warmer – nice.

Kiev as we have seen it is cold and rainy, grey and dirty. But that is winter everywhere. There are many parks, trees and hills. Our young guide, Natalia told us how beautiful her city is and I believe her. I wish we were visiting in the spring or summer, but I am also happy that we will return to the US early enough for Elona to attend school for several weeks and then have the time over the summer to get more acquainted and have fun.

The architecture and the history are rich and mixture of many worlds. Along with many gold domes, the ironworks are beautiful. Ornate railing and street lights are everywhere. There seem to be large bronze statues on every major street corner. The grey massive structures built by the Soviet Union are a big contrast to the ornate Byzantine churches with the gold domes and bright colors. Most of the domes churches have been rebuilt as replicas of the originals. The Soviets destroyed most either during WWII or just to abolish religion.

Sveta warns us to be careful where we went in Kiev. She says that Ukrainian people are good people, but unemployment here is sky high and has gotten worse over the last several months. There are groups of young people everywhere.

In general, the people here are very attractive and thin. Roger loves the tight jeans. Everyone here seems to dress in black. Black leather with fur collars, short jackets or shiny leather down to the ankles. Black boots go from ankle high to over the knee. Roger thinks I should get a pair, just to wear around the house.
No one smiles, or make eye contact, especially the older people, but this is cultural, not rudeness, true for most of Europe. I have gotten a couple smiles, from the young people. Natalia was full of smiles and so anxious to please us.

More later.....maybe from Sevastopol.

Kelley and Roger