Crazy days in Kyiv!

We aren't really experiencing culture shock, but we have seen and experienced some VERY interesting things in the last two days.

Sunday: Our day to rest and relax, we decided to walk around Kyiv and "sightsee". Here are some of the things we saw...

We found an indoor market with TONS of fresh produce, flowers, caviar, nuts, canned goods...

Even fresh chicken...at least I hope they are fresh!

We saw some old babushka ladies dancing in the park to Ukrainian music.

A statue in the park across from the university (and yes, that is a pony next to Gary!) You can rent ponies and power wheels to ride around this little town square :)

And apparently there is only one rule for parking in the city of Kyiv...there are no rules! Yes, this is the sidewalk where these cars are so awkwardly parked.

Monday: The day of our big SDA appointment, we were told to expect a driver to pick us up around 9:20 for our 10am appointment. "Don't worry, we will call first, " says Niko. We are awakened from a dead sleep at 7:00am when the phone rings! "Hello, this is Eugene. I am your driver for today. Are you ready for your appointment?" Um, NO WE ARE NOT READY!!! We scramble to get dressed as Eugene waits patiently for us. We run downstairs, hop in the car, and head off to pick up the Carlin family, whose appointment is right after ours. On the way, we discover THERE WAS A TIME CHANGE THAT WE KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THIS WEEKEND!!! At any rate, we were on our way to the SDA. Serge tells us it's time to go up. We head up the stairs, sit down in an office and are asked, "you are only adopting one child, correct?" "No. Actually, we are adopting two." We give them Anna's name and they search for her file. Now the Social Worker must get permission to show us two children. She comes back, and then we are told, "There is a problem with Sasha's papers. His parents signed off on their rights to him at 1 month, but it must be done only after 3 months to be legal". We explain that the situation was already worked out. Serge gets on the phone with Marina (our in-region facilitator) and asks her about this. She assures him it has been taken care of. But then, there is a problem with Anna's paperwork! We are told, "Her parents have never signed a letter of abandonment." Serge gets back on the phone with Marina. He hangs up and says, "Marina is calling the orphanage to see if they have it." Five seconds later, Marina is calling to say that the orphanage has it. We said about 10 words through the whole appointment, and Serge did the rest. We went from 3 potential problems (only one child, Sasha not having proper paperwork, and Anna not having proper paperwork) to ZERO! Serge knew what he was doing, and we just sat back and watched him work. Afterward we went to grab coffee with Serge, Yulia, Eugene, and our new friends, The Carlins. Then on to the train station to purchase tickets for an overnight train to Dnep tomorrow. We got to the train station and were told there were no tickets available for either families. Eugene gets on the phone with Serge, passes the phone through the tiny window to the woman sitting at the desk, and we sit back and watch as Serge does his thing. And *POOF* a minute later, the Carlins are purchasing their tickets, and we are promised that ours will be waiting for us tomorrow. By Wednesday, we should be locked in embraces with our babies :) Speaking of our babies, want to see their infant pics? Of course you do! We were not allowed to take them because they were glued to the documents, but they let us take pictures of the pictures. Also, we now know Anna's new middle name. She will be Anna Victoria. Victoria is her biological mother's name, and we feel it is important for her to always have that part of her mother.

Sasha

Anna

Waiting patiently.

Coffee with Yulia and Serge

Beautiful church right next to SDA