Kiev, Ukraine
We took an overnight train to Zaporizhzya on Sunday night. We arrived there at 6:40 am. It was a pretty sleepless night. David and I both only got a couple of hours of sleep. We found a hotel to stay at, and then had to wait until 9:00 am. to go to the Inspectors (Social Workers) Office. They gave us permission to go to see the youngest boy. It said in his file at the National Adoption Center (NAC) that he had some health issues but supposedly they had been resolved. We decided to see him first, so if there were any issues and we had to decline the referral we wouldn’t have gotten the hopes up of the older boy. When we got to the orphanage, there were several children checking out the flowers that just started to bloom. They were all excited about them. We checked in with the Director of the orphanage, and were told to go and see the doctor to review the Vitali’s history. Let’s just say there was a lot of stuff to review. We asked if we could see him interacting with other children before we actually met him. They wouldn’t let us into his playroom where the rest of the kids were playing. They brought him out into another room with toys, and a caretaker played with him while we watched. Vitali was afraid of David…they said he had not seen many men. He wouldn’t even look at him. We then took him outside with some other kids. It broke our hearts, but we had to turn down the referral. There were too many unknowns and health issues that clearly hadn’t been resolved. We had to go back to the Inspector’s office to do some more paperwork, and then got something to eat. After that, we had to get tickets for the train back to Kiev. Another overnight train ride of 10 hours. I had always seen people in the adoption chat rooms talk about their experience with the toilets in Ukraine. I had no idea what they were talking about, because any one that I had ever seen or used was fine….somethimes not the most sanitary, but a toilet. Well….when we were at the train station getting tickets, I had to use the facilities. We went down some stairs, where we had to pay a lady to use the toilet. Didn’t think any different of that really. You had to take your toilet paper off a roll there and proceed to the “restrooms”. The first stall I went to, there was just a hole in the floor…hhmm, I thought, must be for the men. I saw Lena, our translator go into a stall across from those. I went and opened the stall next to hers. Guess what? Up 2 steps to another hole in the floor. Squat and go. The walls between the stalls were waist high for most, not for me. It was quite an experience. Now I know why everyone talks about the toilets!! After we got our tickets we went back to the room to rest before we had to go to the train station. The train ride back was fine…not much sleep again. We arrived in Kiev around 6:30 am. We were taken to a different apartment, and waited to hear something about our next appointment. We didn’t hear anything until early evening. We had an appointment today at 9:45 am. There were no siblings available today, nor any girls. So we accepted a referral for a 14 month old boy. He is in an orphanage here in Kiev, so at least we won’t have to travel. We cannot get a referral to go and see him until tomorrow, which means we can’t see him until Friday. We have no idea what his name is, we were just happy to have another appointment and receive another referral we didn’t even ask. He is supposed to be relatively healthy. We won’t know anything more until we see him.
David and I ventured out again today…bought some fresh vegetables and Ukrainian food from the street vendors. We just got back from walking to center city Kiev. We were mainly looking for places to eat and markets where we could buy prepared food to bring back to the apartment. On the way back, we stopped at McDonalds for dinner!! It was pretty much the same food and setting, the only difference was that the girls behind the counter were actually happy to wait on you. Raising their hands, and smiling to get you to the counter. What a difference from the fast food places in the US. Our apartment is in the middle of a large hill…think of San Francisco…so anywhere we want to go we have to walk up and down a huge hill. Needless to say we are getting quite a work out, not to mention that our apartment is on the 4th floor and there is no elevator! A walk to the end of our drive way will seem like a piece of cake after this!!
Tomorrow, Lena, our translator is taking us out, hopefully to show us where the farmers market is, and a few other places of interest that may be in close proximity to our apartment. The produce here is amazing, everything is fresh and tastes like it was grown in your own garden. David’s getting quite a chuckle out of how healthy I’m eating here. Believe me, it’s out of necessity more than anything else!
I guess that’s all for now. Unless something exciting happens tomorrow, I probably won’t post until after we meet the little boy. Hope all is well with everyone!!
May 13, 2005
Sorry to keep everyone in suspense! We decided to adopt Bogdan, who we have named Nicholas. However, due to the complicated paperwork process, we decided to come home and wait for a court date. We were in Ukraine for 3 weeks and are now waiting to return. It breaks our heart to know Nicholas is in Kiev, not aware of what's going on. We can't wait to go back and bring him home. We did keep a detailed journal which will be posted when we can find the time. The pictures are ready to be uploaded....again, just need to find the time.
May 28, 2005
We had court on May 25th. It was pretty uneventful. Of course the 30 days wasn't waived. We went to see Nicholas on Thursday. We spent about 2 hours with him, playing outside. I don't think he remembered us...although the nurses did say that they showed him our picture everyday, telling him it was his Mama and Papa. We took him to get his passport picture taken. It was his first ride in the car...he loved it. When we would stop, he would rock back and forth trying to get the car to go. We don't have a definite date to go back yet. The paperwork process is more intensive in Kiev, so Lena, our translator, is going to try and get some things done ahead of time. So we will be traveling either the last week in June or the first week in July...and finally Nicholas will be able to come home!!!!