Back In Kiev !

Our trip back to Kiev was pretty quick. "Silent Ray-Ban Guy" drives a lot faster than Nikolai. We were dropped off about 1:15, and were ordering Big Macs by 1:30. We had pizza for dinner. After our first two American meals in a week we were feeling pretty good.

The hotel where we are staying in our no name town actually has a pretty good restaurant, with an American menu. The trouble is that even written in English most of the food is not what we want to eat. We have found a few dishes that we seem to eat over and over. I like this slaw they have which is basically shredded cabbage tossed with lemon and orange juice. They also make something they call a slapjack (which I anticipated being a pancake), but is actually fried mashed potatoes served with sour cream - yummy. They make fried patatoes with onions just like dad - also yummy. Have you noted the potato theme? It continues... Joe found a stew with meat and potatoes he likes and he has eaten fish several times. They also make good mashed potatoes. Our menu would be ever so much larger if we were fans of raw fish (in various forms), liver (also in many forms) and smoked sausages.

We think the name of the town is something close to Radimashel (definitely not an exact spelling). Joe has included a couple of pictures. The one of the big white building with the statue out front is there government building. The statue is V.I.Lenin. When we first came to town and were looking for the government building Nikolai just stoped in front of it and said here we are. Ramon wanted to know how he know and Nikolai responded that the Lenin statue was a giveaway for the government!

We also have a picture of an intersection and the plethora of potholes that abound, not just in this intersection but all up and down the roads. We had read that the roads were pretty rough but had not really seen anything but the main roads up to this point. The roads in Kiev are great as are the main roads through the towns - but turn down a side road and the picture is what you get. Try riding down one in a taxi and you can imagine that the entire ride is spent swerving from one side of the road to the other.

Outside Kiev it is not uncommon to see many horse drawn carts. We have said several times that they look like something you would see in a picture from the 1920's. Lot's of stereotypes abound here. This one looks like one of the Ledbetters is driving! (My family will understand this.)

The large red brick building is the orphanage, at least it is one of the orphanage buildings. Ramon has said several times what a large facility it is. The right side of the picture is the dorm and to the far left is the administration (main office) and classrooms. On our second meeting with the children we met in their science classroom. Looked very much like one of ours with some fish tanks, a periodic table, a couple of rabbits, preserved things in jars, etc.

The school is close enough to town that we have been walking back and forth - which is the best thing to do considering the condition of the streets. Also, I have not been able to figure out how taxi's determine their fares because none of them have a fare box. You just get where you are going and they say an amount and you pay it?!

Both Joe and I get to meet with the children 1-2x daily. The boys are always playful and curious, and Oksana is getting more and more used to us on a daily basis. Oksana is a very mature 12 year old, and has obviously had a lot of experience caring for her brothers - they listen very closely to everything she says. It is pretty amazing to see how quickly she can corral her brothers when they get out of line - we wish she did not have such responsibilities placed on her so early in her life.

Joe and I will head back to the orphanage on Tuesday (its Saturday today) and will work on getting documents together so we can set a court date - our next big hurdle. Thanks to Rachel for updating the blog while we have been away! We will likely be back out of internet contact for the next several days/weeks.

By the way, we have been in contact with a few folks that are pursueing adoptions here in Kiev - thay all have similar stories of delays and frustrations with the "process." Please keep Steve and Shirley, David and May and all of the other families fighting through this process in your thoughts and prayers!

Tonya & Joe