Day two....Boy! Do my feet hurt!

What a day! I have walked so much that I swear if I keep this up I will HAVE NO BUTT left at the end of this adventure. Not such a bad trade off I think…

Our new translator Irene met us at McDonalds in Independence Square and we went to lunch at Bellies (not Jellies as I had thought). MMMMM! It was great! I had some sort of borsch with smoked meat, pickles, lemon, and veggies. It tasted like tortilla soup without the tortillas. Also, a ravioli type of item with potatoes inside it, kinda like a gnonaci, and a pastry cake that tasted like a champagne cake. It was great. John had borsch and sausage and a lot of other stuff I can’t remember. We were stuffed all for the tune of $8 including what Irene ate.

We then took off up a hill (somehow I feel like every street we took was ‘up') and saw the governmental buildings, churches, the apartment where the Queen of the Netherlands stays, lots more churches, and the place where the Ukrainian president works (kind of like the Whitehouse) and this really neat building with animals all over it.

One of the hills we walked up had a beautiful park where two separate weddings had just taken place. The brides were beautiful and we watched as their pictures were being taken. Farther down there were children playing everywhere. There was a pony, big wheel car, train, and bounce houses for the kids to play on/in. All for a fee of course…commerce is alive and well in the Ukraine :) It made me miss Aidan big time. He would have loved it!

We also took the Metro. O Lord! What an experience! Everyone has to do that at least one time in their lives. Because we are on the right bank of the river, it is really far under ground. When I say far, I mean REALLY far – about 200 feet worth. We road down two long escaladers and then finally took the train to our stop, got off, caught a bus, and walked the rest of the way – thank goodness - DOWN HILL. All for 60 cents each.

We went to the market again. Like before everything is fine till we open out mouths. People actually turn their heads and look at us when we speak. Talk about feeling out of place! Anyway, we spent $4 on a really big round loaf of bread, 1 lb of salami (John loves that stuff) ¼ lb or so of some sort of cheese, 6 eggs, 3 big bottles of water, and grapes. Cheap!

For dinner we went to O’Brien’s. They have these really great potato wedges with Creole spices on them. Also, the fish ‘n chips are out of the world. They are breaded with real beer batter and it was more than John and I could eat. We then walked up the road from our apartment and saw more beautiful buildings. No one is afraid to be out after dark here. Irene said they will walk at 3 am and feel safe. Try that at home :) So, as before everyone was out and walking. People here love to be outdoors. At any given time you will see them sitting at a café, or just reading a book under a tree. Irene says they are so cooped up in winter indoors that they send as much time as possible outside before winter hits. Incidentally, Irene HATES winter. I can’t say that I blame her.

We spoke with Mike tonight via the internet. SO GREAT to see a familiar face. Thanks Mike, we loved it! I was emailig Marie when the PC phone rang...You've got mail! And its REAL! Hee hee hee...Hopefully we will be able to talk to Aidan and Bryce real soon. If you adopters out there don’t have a computer video phone, I sure suggest it. Best invention ever. It was like sitting right in front of our friend. So great if you have children left at home.

While we were walking I asked Irene a lot of questions concerning the people of the Ukraine. I was surprised at some of her answers. Irene says she liked the country better when it was under Soviet rule because there was more to do as a child. Camps, competitions, summer time fun, etc…School was very important at that time. ‘Before Independence’ she calls it. They had more money then, but less food and clothing. Now, she says, they have more available goods, but less money. And education is not considered important now. There is nothing for most children to do daily and they spendd their time on video games and watching TV. They are not encouraged to do well in school, or to even attend for that matter. Not too much different than the opinions of some in the USA.

Coming from America it is hard for me to imagine living in a place like this voluntarily. I appreciate my freedom AND the right to earn a living doing what I want, in addition to being as prosperous and successful as I can be. It makes me count your blessing to have what I do (including but not limited to: Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, and a supermarket) I am already sooooo home sick for my Albertsons :)….

I am so excited for tomorrow to get here! Tomorrow is our appointment with the SDA. By the time you are off work you should all know how it went. Things are different here than with the NCA. There is still uncharted territory and our facilitator says tomorrow our adventure really begins. A lot of our stuff was never transferred and our facilitator had to really work to get it all together and make this appointment happen. Fellow adopters – check on your paper work weekly! Things do come up missing. Know where it is and who is handling it! I can explain more off line if you have any questions…just make sure I have your email address.

Please continue to pray for us and know that you all are in ours…
K~