Back in Kiev

4/3/2009
(Some of this is a bit of a duplicate because our internet access was cut off during my posting. Sorry if there is any confusion!)

We arrived in Kiev rested for the first time. It was the day for us to go to the US Embassy. After showering, Nicholay picked up us from the apartment. (En route to the embassy, we requested a change of apartment.) On our way inside, we met another couple who was American. We visited with them for a little bit. They live in New York… Huntington on Long Island! They hosted a little boy at Christmas and were in Ukraine to adopt him. He’s nine years old and some of the friends who live near them have adopted his friends from the orphanage! They had beautiful pictures of them together at Christmas. He’s a very handsome little boy. The couple directed us through the maze of the unmarked embassy and gave us some tips about the passport line. They don’t give out numbers in line. You simply have to remember your arrival place… who was in line before you... and wait. Jordan jumped the queue, thank goodness. We’re not sure how, but he was able. We submitted our paperwork and left. On our way back to the apartment, we rode with the American couple. They were staying on a boat run by YWAM… again, small world experiences. The boat is about 40 minutes outside of the city Kiev. They were a great couple. We are praying that everything works out for their adoption. The mom was going to be staying in Kiev while the dad returned to work—a familiar story. She will be going to get her son about the same time I will be returning to get Nina. (Maybe we will connect!?!?)

We went for coffee only to be called to meet our land lady and change apartments. This was a crazy experience, but we needed to change. During the exchange (after running across the city to meet the land lady), we met a dad who had adopted a little girl with Down syndrome. The family had three children: 5, 4, 2. Their two year old has Down syndrome as well. They were questioned about why they would do this. And, the dad had to explain their reasons to the judge. It sounded like it had been a stressful experience. The dad is a high school teacher in Illinois. And, only he returned to pick up their new daughter. The mom had returned to the US and stayed with the other kids. We left dad and his new daughter for naptime.

We set off on a walking tour of the city Kiev. There were overbearing governments buildings and luscious parks, just about to bloom. We walked up lines of stairs and of course discovered the soccer stadium of the Dyanamo. (We referred to the Kiev football team as “Dynamo” and were repeated corrected!) We walked across the bridge of love… there we discovered old lamp posts lining an ancient wooden bridge… we carefully crossed it. Couples take locks up to the bridge and “lock” their love. As most walls and posts, the locks were coupled with overlapping graffiti.

We continued along the tour and saw most of the high points of the city including the Friendship Rainbow, a symbol of the friendship between Russia and Ukraine. We walked along the Dnipro River with its local beaches, being primed for the summer season. One could possibly also tour the city by following the many statues of various important people throughout Ukraine’s history.

The culture is something to appreciate including the beautiful women! The women are very trendy, which is not always flattering. As a whole, they are very stylish. Women wear 12 cm heels everywhere. Jordan and I discussed the probable demand for podiatrists in this country! The women, although very pretty, wear everything tight fitting, and at every opportunity, they show skin. (This is merely our observation.) Maybe the US is the same. We simply live in a very small part of the world.

Everyone tends to wear black. However, we were told that as warm weather approaches, the colors change. It did warm up a bit while we were there, and the colored clothing was more noticeable.

In restaurants, we were told that you simply have to have sushi and flatscreen to be successful. After this, we noted the tvs and the sushi! The flatscreens seem to be programmed to the Paris runways. Fashion shows can be seen everywhere you go; thus, the resulting trendy attire!

Ordering food was something Jordan and I never seemed to master. We were able to order hot tea and coffee with and without milk. Other than these desires, we struggled at restaurants. The strange thing… eventhough you might be offered an English menu, the wait staff could not understand us. Again, we chalk it up to the adventure!


To bring this day to an end, we had dinner at this great little inexpensive French place—where the waiter spoke English. Fun, delicious food with truffles and coffee… we have consumed way too much coffee and chocolate during this adventure! Thankfully, walking was our primary mode of transportation. We loved that part!