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Sorry there was no update yesterday, we were pretty tired and I really didn't have the energy to post. I checked my email and that was about all of the energy that I had. We took some more pictures yesterday and as I was uploading them to my computer, I heard a pop in the converter, and needless to say, my charger for my digital camera no longer works. So I will load the pictures that I have and hopefully I can get the pictures that I took with the regular camera developed and put on a disk. If not, I guess they will have to wait until I get home.
Yesterday we visited with Jacob twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. In between we ate and exchanged the clothes we bought him. That was an experience in itself! They don't credit you for the stuff you return, they wait to see what you buy and figure it out on a calculator, and even though we left with less than we returned, we still ended up paying more money. Forget looking at the receipt to try and figure it out because that gives you no information. Oh well!! We bought 9 month clothes and most of them fit pretty well, some were too big. We decided to just wait until we get to Warsaw to see if the selection is any better there. A note on a few things we discovered while eating and shopping in Ukraine. The place we've been eating at offers “fast food” in Ukraine. It is set up like a buffet / cafeteria style restaurant. They have the same food everyday. A couple of days ago when we were paying, the cashier was trying to ask me a question, and our translator said she was asking me how many packs of pepper I had. I didn't notice that each of the condiments (salt, pepper, honey, jam, etc.) had a price on it and they actually charge for each packet. When we went to the supermarket (regular grocery store in US), they actually charge you for bags to pack your items in. It makes you think what wasteful people we are in the US. What would we do if we had to pay for these items? Would we use less? Would we be more conscientious? We've been amazed at how cheap things are here. A liter of premium gas is about .40 US dollars. A cup of espresso is about $.40. If you want a cup of coffee, you pay for the coffee, cream and sugar are extra. Our translator told us on the average, school teachers & doctors average about $45 US per month. So much is hard to even comprehend.
Today we visited with Jacob twice also. It was a much nicer ride today as their was less traffic. He's eaten pretty much everything we've given him. He loves Cheerios. We put them in a container with a flip top lid, and he gets so excited when we open it. He puts his whole had in and grabs a fistful and tries to shove them all in his mouth at once. He fills his cheeks and wants to try and eat more, and doesn't quite grab the concept that he needs to swallow before he gets anymore. We got a sippy cup for him at the store. The caretakers said he drank out of a bottle or a cup, so we thought we would try to get him used to a sippy cup before we left. Yesterday he had apple juice and did pretty well. He can hold on to the handles, but doesn't understand that he has to lift the cup to get more juice. All in good time. Today he had strawberry-banana juice. He drank that so fast he got the hick-ups. It was pretty cute! Of course he is always jealous when one of the other kids is getting food. He tries to crawl over and take it away from them. Today he was full of himself. They brought in a walker for the kids and he was like a little speed demon going around the room. We finally had to take him out, we were getting tired chasing him! This morning, we had the joy of the toddlers again with their music time. The caretakers put on a little puppet show for them first and then they all got musical instruments to play with a song. They were so cute, and of course again, they all kept looking at us. It was not as hard today as last time. But the couple from Italy was there and they both had a hard time with it. When we were leaving, the woman told us, “This is such a sad place”. It makes me feel good that at least the children are well cared for and that they are getting some stimulation. They seem to be happy. Our translator told us today that there were about 80-90 children in this orphanage. The only ones we have seen were the toddler group of about 12 children, and the 4 children who are being adopted right now.
Max told us today that hopefully we will go to court late Monday morning and hopefully take the train back to Kiev Monday night. We hope so! Then there are a few days in Kiev for more paperwork and then it's off to Warsaw and then home!! We're not getting our hopes up, because we know things don't always go as planned. Our tickets back are for the 12th of March and if we are close to that day, we will wait so we don't have to pay for the change fee. If everything is done a week early then we will come home sooner.
Nothing more really to report, it rained yesterday and today. There was a little glimmer of sunshine on our ride home, but it's cloudy now. Maybe tomorrow the sun will shine! We visit Jacob twice again tomorrow and then Monday morning we have an appointment with the Inspector. We'll let you know what happens!
February 29, 2004
The Internet café is closed today….now I really feel disconnected from the rest of the world!! For those of you who know David, and how much he likes to shop in crowds, he got his first taste of a Ukrainian Walmart! We wanted to get some things for Jacob and we went to a super market named Target, and it was as close to a Walmart as you will find here. It was mostly a supermarket but they had little side shops specializing in things like jewelry, baby stuff, cosmetics etc. It was very crowded. At the checkout, they have one person stand on your side of the counter to scan everything, and a cashier who sits behind the counter to take your money. We found that every store we have been in, all the cashiers sit. Since we really don’t know what Jacob is eating, we decided to get some different stuff to try. We bought Nestle Stage 2 foods, juice, some cereal / oatmeal and formula for extra nutrients. Of course we forgot to take our spoons with us to the orphanage, so we had to get one there. We tried the chiken, rice and carrot mix and he gobbled it down. I hope not to jinx myself here, but it seems like he is not going to be a very fussy eater! He also had a small bottle of apple juice and some cheerios. He already eats like David’s side of the family!!! The other two couples there are trying to get as much food and nutrition into their kids as possible, because they both have to leave and wait 30 days before they can come back to take their children home. The only countries that don’t have to do this are Spain and the US. (Don’t know if this includes Canada or not.) We also bought some toys for the orphanage. During the week the caretakers brought toys to the playroom for the children, but this weekend, there were different caretakers and none of them brought anything for the children to play with. Even though each couple had a few things for their children to play with, it’s pretty hard to keep them occupied for 2+ hours with what we had. The other couples had gone out and tried to buy clothes for their kids and were complaining that they couldn’t find anything either. There must be some secret store somewhere where the Ukrainians buy their clothes, but no one has found it yet! They were also commenting that they couldn’t find vitamins for the kids either. So for those of you who haven’t traveled yet, you might want to consider bringing some along. All of the children who are being adopted right now seem to have a bad chest cold. They all rattle when they breathe. Even though they are sick, they all seem to be in pretty good spirits.
Max didn’t hear from the passport agency, which they were supposed to call him today. This is a hurdle we have to cross tomorrow if we want to leave tomorrow night for Kiev. This of course depends on whether or not we go to court tomorrow. Hopefully one way or another we leave Kharkov no later than Tuesday.
Just a few tidbits of information for those yet to travel: They have everything here for the children (with the exception of a wide selection of clothes and medicine). We brought some stuff with us, and if when we adopt again, we won’t bother. I don’t know about the more remote regions, but they also have all types of snack / comfort food here, even American candy bars. We brought a lot of snack food with us and we didn’t need to. The plastic grocery and Ziploc bags have come in handy. You should take the bags to the supermarkets with you so you don’t have to pay for them. We brought toilet paper with us, but I have yet to see any toilet paper here that is so bad. The only reason it has been a lifesaver for us, is that in our hotel and our apartment, the rolls are much smaller and you can go through a roll in one day. It is much easier to have your own than to call down to the front desk to ask for another. We also brought hand sanitizer and wipes and haven’t had to use them either. This may be a different story once we have Jacob with us, but everywhere we have been has been pretty clean and there has always been a place to wash your hands. Again, we are in a major city, so this may be different in other regions. We haven’t seen many people wearing jeans, mostly younger females who wear fashion jeans. Everyone else is wearing dark colored clothing. I don’t think people will stop and stare at you if you have jeans on, but I would suggest dark pants. You will also spend a lot of time with your child on the floor in the orphanage, and dark colors will hide any dirt better. Also, make sure you know how much your driver costs, if this cost is not included in your package. One couple is paying double what we are. The driver was recommended to them by someone, and I don’t think they know how much they are paying compared to other drivers. For a 10 hour day, our driver charges about $30 US or $150 Ukraine. It wasn’t that his car was better or he did anything extra for them either.
I guess that’s all I can think of right now.
I’ll try and get this loaded to the site before we leave to meet the Inspector tomorrow morning. Keep your fingers crossed that we can get everything accomplished tomorrow and be back on a train to Kiev tomorrow night!!!
March 1, 2004
No time to write....Met with Inspector at 9:00 am., Court at 10:00, adoption granted, 30 days waived!!!! Jacob is with us now, and we are leaving on a train to Kiev tonight at 11:00 pm. I'll write more when I get a chance, just wanted to let everyone know the good news!!!!