BONDING CONTINUES

SAT/SUN 27 & 28 NOVEMBER, 2010

We’ve now visited “S”  three times (2 hours each) and believe we’re well on our way to bonding with him. Our drive to the orphanage from Donetsk is pretty when the sun is out and takes about 30-45 mins, each way. The primary industries in this area are mining, steel mills and farming (I believe the peaks in the distance in this picture are mine tailings). The soil is very fertile, almost black in color, giving Ukraine its moniker as the  “bread basket of Europe.”

On the second day, the orphanage director lead us into a play room in “S” ’s dormitory . First we entered an area where there were lots of other children and were met with multiple voices yelling “ciao!” I guess they thought we were Italian, since many Italian families adopt from Ukraine. I said “ciao” back then “privet” (“hi” in Russian) then “Hello.  American” (pointing to myself) . They all seemed to understand and some then said “hello”.

“S” continues to amaze us with his athletic prowess, technophilia and overall intelligence. He is a great soccer player and constantly wants to kick around an inflatable globe we brought with us. He out-dribbles Gavin (don’t tell him I said this) and Scott has been the recipient of many hard shots to the head. Even though he’s small, he’ll be the secret weapon of any soccer team with his ability to get around people with his fancy footwork. Today we brought balloons and played keep away from Gavin. I’m so glad we had some fun kid’s games loaded on the I-Pod (thank you Justin!!). “S” just can’t get enough of them. Scott and I were flabbergasted when he was able to do the rollercoaster game PERFECT the first time (I can’t even do it) and reached level 2 in BrickBraker in about 5 minutes. He loves the Ninja Fruit game the most and Angry Birds second. He’s also an astute photographer! He asks for Scott’s phone or our Canon SLR camera to take pictures. We taught him how to focus the lens and look at previous shots.  He tried running off with our camera and taking shots of his friends in the other room (and was able to take a quick shot of another cute little boy before we could catch him). Today we were able to see the room where he sleeps along with 7 other kids. Below is a picture of his shelf in a small cabinet next to his bed. In his cabinet are all his worldly possessions; toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and one small stuffed animal that he promptly removed and proceeded to kick around the room like a soccer ball.  There are no possessions at the orphanage, as it would make caring for all these kids too difficult. It’s ironic they are given nothing but have so much inside to give.

Another thing we did today was to show him the food flash cards I brought and ask him if he likes the food shown, as we receited each word in Russian. Gavin marked each card he liked with a star so we can buy appropriate food for him when he gets home. He told us he loves fruit, cereal, and bread but would furrow his brow at cards of food he’s never seen before (like eggplant).  He picks up on things extremely fast – it blows me away since we have a language barrier. The Google Translator comes in VERY handy when we are looking for a word we can’t find on our “Mommy Russian” handouts.  Aside from kicking the soccer ball, he also has the ability to concentrate and focus when required; yesterday he did a connect-the-dots but started at 28 and counted backwards to 1. He then went forward from 28 to 100!! HE taught us all the numbers since we can only reliably count to 3 in Russian! We always bring him some candy and he’s now looking for it in my bag each time we arrive. The first day we opened a pack of Starbursts and he filled his pocket with ½ the pack right away. This is hording behavior so common in orphanages. I want to show him he doesn’t need to do this around us, that there will always be enough; on the other hand I don’t want to load him up with sugar! Speaking of sugar, many his teeth are brown – luckily we have great dental insurance since he has about a $10K mouth! Needless to say we are already in love with this kid and will do whatever it takes to bring him home where he belongs. Tomorrow we will be dealing with more paperwork and beginning to surmount a few hurdles that are still in our way. Every day we leave the orphanage energized, but missing him. I’m always sure to say “Until tomorrow” when we leave so he knows we’re coming back.  

Our agency handlers are taking good care of us here in Donetsk. Dmytro gave us a short tour of the city showing us where a few restaurants, grocery stores and coffee shops were, then left for a few days to work on paperwork back in Kyiv. We go see “S” from 10 am -12 pm each day. We’re back around 12:45, and then usually go out for lunch. We love wandering around this smaller city where there are NO tourists (especially Americans who we usually try to avoid when abroad). Dmytro told us a funny story a few days ago about dumb Americans.  He prefaced it by saying he would have never believed it had it not actually happened to him. One day he was driving some people around Donetsk and they passed the statue below.

One of the Americans asked, “Who is that statue of?” He replied, “Lenin”. The American stated, “John Lenin?” How embarrassing! Did this person sleep through their history and economics classes in high school?!?! 

We went to see Harry Potter last night, completely dubbed in Russian.  I wanted Gavin to experience what “S” will be feeling once we got him home……being immersed in a language that is foreign.  I was surprised how well I could follow the movie (the ending was disappointing but I guess expected).

Last night we finally celebrated Thanksgiving, three days late. I brought Stove Top Stuffing, turkey gravy and ingredients for a pumpkin pie with me, anticipating this. Unfortunately, our oven doesn’t work so I couldn’t make the pie. Turkey is not usually consumed in Ukraine and the woman in the grocery store told me buying turkey is “no good”. So we had ham and it was great (Ukrainians eat a ton of pork)! We set up one of the computers on the table and played an electronic Thanksgiving card Gigi sent me (thanks Gigi!!!!)  to set the mood.

"S"  's artwork already up on the fridge in our flat.

"S" loves taking pictures out the windows and captured this bird. He must look out the windows a lot.

MEETING "S"

FRIDAY, 26 NOVEMBER, 2010.

We arrived in Donetsk at 7 am to heavy fog and our friendly driver, Andriy. As he loaded our luggage into the car, I tried looking around….this is where our new son is from, I had to see it and soak in as much as possible! But to no avail, the fog was so thick you could only see a few feet beyond the side of the road.  It reminded me of the tule fog in Davis in the winter, when you can’t drive over 25 miles per hour on the country roads. Our first stop was the “Inspector’s” office to have our paperwork checked before going to the orphanage.  This office was near the orphanage which was about 30 minutes out of town, in the middle of farmland.

Upon arriving at the Inspector’s office, we had to show our passports. Dymtro discussed the case with the Inspector and then we were off to the orphanage.  On the way to the orphanage, we were told not to talk unless asked a question. I was also reminded to never say “hi” (“pri-vet” in Russian) to an official. I should instead say “hello” (zdrast-vuyt-ye).  Point well taken.

We were the only car in the parking lot as we pulled up to the orphanage. The orphanage was made up of 6 or 7 large, 4-story brick buildings and huge fenced in yard for the kids to play in. Although it was old by our standards (“1965” was etched into the stone near the roofline) it was very clean and well maintained. We were shown into the director’s office along with the Inspector who had arrived with us. The director was the warmest young woman we had met yet!  She was all smiles and politeness and even offered Gavin a special candy from her desk. She stated that Gavin was very big. She said “S” was very small for his age. She then asked us (with Dymtro translating) how we liked Ukraine, what we did for a living and how we would juggle our jobs along with another child. You could tell she really cared about the kids in her charge. I had made a booklet of pictures from our home, of our pets, yard, cousins, etc. and had it translated by our newfound friends R & L (THANKS SO MUCH IF YOU GUYS ARE READING THIS!!!). They translated my picture captions into Russian then transliterated it (phonetic pronunciation) so I would be able to read it to our new son, as well as leave the booklet with the orphanage personnel so they could read it to him between our two trips. This booklet became an invaluable resource with the Inspector and the Orphanage Director as it depicted our lives, to a fuller extent, than did our dossier. It also showed how we intend to gently communicate with this boy right away and the support we have back home. It also explained how one of Gavin's cousins was adopted from Khazakstan and how Gavin's uncle was also adopted.  We received a lot of (positive) questions about this. The Director and Inspector were both curious about the book and laughed at many of the pictures.  The Director then left the room and we waited with Dymtro and the Inspector. After a few seconds, much to our surprise, the Director came walking in with a small boy at her side, dutifully holding her hand.  He looked about 5 ½ years old, maybe weighing 45 lbs. He was actually 7 and ½.  His sweater and slacks looked oversized on his slight frame. We said hi and he responded softly, not making eye contact. The Director explained he had a slight cold.  We were all surprised she would bring him into her office since we thought we would be escorted to some type of play room to meet him. We stumbled through some greetings in Russian, and he seemed to understand and responded shyly. The Director said he goes to school on the premises, is learning to write in Ukrainian but speaks Russian.  Gavin offered him some American candy we had brought (Skittles) after receiving approval from the Director. He loved that! Then we showed him some of the toys we brought and began playing catch with an inflatable plastic ball with squishy spikes all over it. He was really coordinated and seemed to love playing catch!  Suddenly, he placed his hand up to his nose and walked straight to the door and stood there without a word, his back to us. I asked what was wrong and the Director said his nose is running and he needed a Kleenex. At that point I realized he did not go to any of us in the room, not the Director, the Inspector, Dymtro nor us for help. He just went and stood by the door. I had read about this type of behavior since commonly there are not enough caretakers in orphanages, so kids are not used to getting their needs met.  They don’t even know to ask. It breaks my heart. In about 2 seconds he was met with a flurry of Kleenexes from my bag and the Director’s desk, and came back down to sit with us. Next the Medical Director came in. She was a matronly grey-haired woman, wearing a white nurse’s pinafore straight out of WWII. She went over all his vaccines and health status. He had been in the orphanage about 2 years.  She answered all our questions. Everything was good news!

After this, we were taken into a play room where there were toys, chairs, tables and sofas. We got out some of the games I brought and “S” aced the memory game, like it was old school for him. I had purchased some great flash cards at Lakeshore Learning store with the picture of the item (animals, food, parts of the body, toys, etc.) on the front and both the Russian (plus transliteration) and English spellings on the back. As he would find things that matched in the memory game, I would say the word in Russian with great delight! A few times I guess I mispronounced because he corrected me!! This kid is smart!  Gavin did a great job acting as a support for him and being a wonderful big brother already. Right before we left, Gavin gave him one of the Kinder Eggs we had bought in Paris. He certainly knew what this was since he tore it open and gobbled it up (I’m so happy he’s a choc-o-holic just like me ;-)). The prize inside was a “Mishka” (teddy bear) that he really liked. The Director announced our time was up. We all walked to the door of the orphanage and said our goodbyes. I hugged the little guy and Gavin and Scott shook his hand. None of us wanted to leave.

On the ride home, Dymtro said everything went fine. The next objective was to bond with him over the next 10 days. We’d be allowed a 2 hour visit each day. The orphanage needs to see that he is bonding to us and he has to want to go with us. I wouldn’t want it any other way. After all this kid’s been through, it needs to be his absolute choice. Dymtro said “S” was told who we were and why we were there. I can’t imagine what a stressful experience it must have been for him; whether he wanted to be adopted or not.

We drove back to Donetsk, all anticipating our visit tomorrow!

PET A DOG, GET SOME TRIPE

Thursday, 25 November, 2010

This morning we woke up, had breakfast and planned on leaving early to explore the city of Kyiv. We wanted to hit the Lovre (an ancient monastery), St. Sophia Chapel and the Chornobyl Museum.  We received a call from our agency contact in Kyiv, saying he wanted to meet at 11:00 so we couldn’t get an early start. It’s OK, that’s what we’re here for. To kill some time in the morning, we went exploring an open air market near our apartment. It was much like a farmer’s market but with everything from boots to toilets to fruit (of course we brought some cheese with us in case we spotted the street dogs we had seen yesterday). You DO see some people with dogs as pets here. Pet dogs are mainly purebreds (lots of German Shepherds, a few King Charles Cavaliers and some Westies). The street dogs actually look amazingly healthy. I believe Darwinism is at play here and the sick ones simply don’t make it. These two dogs often wandered around near our building. I was able to feed the brown one by hand but the black/white one wouldn’t come near us (especially Gavin). He acted like he’s had rocks thrown at him in the past.

Walking through the open air market was very interesting! There were many meat stands – it was cold enough that you didn’t need refrigeration (note sparrows). I felt like I was back in anatomy lab, identifying livers, hearts, kidneys, intestines & tongues.

There were many old women in heavy coats with scarves surrounding their withered faces, selling a few vegetables, pickles or chickens with the feet still on.  I had heard that the younger generation in Ukraine has embraced the break from Russia and is benefitting from the new democracy than the older generation, who tend to suffer more due to cuts in social services they received under the communist regime.  I felt bad for these women.  As we approached the metro station, we came across a sight that warmed my heart!! Some vendors had placed flattened cardboard boxes in the shape of a square about 15’X15’ on the concrete. On top of the cardboard were open cardboard boxes that had dogs had curled up inside. They were sleeping peacefully in the middle of the bustling metro station! Cardboard is such a good insulator – they all looked very content! Nobody bothered them at all.

 I also noticed dogs curled up, sleeping next to store fronts, with leftovers placed near them by some dear soul.  As we wondered back through the market to meet our agency contact at our apartment, I noticed a woman pushing a cart who evidently worked somewhere in the marketplace. She called one of the street dogs to her and tore off a piece of cardboard from a nearby box and fashioned a comb out of it. The dog trotted right up to her, wagging its tail happily. She began scratching it with the cardboard and cooing to it. Of course I had to join in since no Ukrainian dog had ever let me pet it before! I approached and said “Kara-show sabaka!” (good dog). The woman looked at me smiling and said something in Russian and laughed. Once she knew I had no idea what she was talking about, she called over another woman from a nearby booth to translate. The only thing the other woman knew how to say in English was “What is your name?” So we exchanged names and I told her (with my broken Russian) that we were tourists (duh, anybody could see that), staying about 3 weeks with friends in the apartments (I pointed). She had a friendly smile and was very gregarious about trying to tell us something…..I couldn’t tell what. I think I got that she was a school teacher but lives on some type of farm with cows (dairy or beef?). She kept mooing and we were both laughing! I told her I’m a veterinarian and she was so impressed.  Using the “veterinarian card” doesn’t get you too far in the Ukraine but it sure did with this animal lover! She looked to be about 50, was wearing bright pink lipstick which was juxtaposed against her dirty rubber boots for slogging through mud…….. or something. What attracted me most to her was her quick smile and effervescent personality…….you don’t see this in many people in the Ukraine.  She then grabbed my arm and signaled for all of us to follow. She ran us through a maze of small stands into a large, covered meat market. Here you could by any part of the cow. Gavin was quite concerned..…he had never seen skinned pig and cow heads for sale before. She led me up to a stand owned by someone she obviously knew and asked for some tripe. It was quickly bagged up and presented to me as a gift. Scott tried desperately to give her some grivnas (Ukraine money) but she flatly refused. Then she lead us further back, behind the meat tent, through another  maze of boxes and narrow hallways, to an area where she stayed.  In this room she had a small bed, a tea pot and a small desk. Evidently she would come in from her farm a few days per month, live behind the meat tent then return home. She offered us tea (“chai” in Russian). We exchanged addresses and phone numbers at her insistence. I’m pretty sure she wants us to come visit her at the cattle ranch, which I’m up for!

 We returned to our meeting with our agency contact, Dmytro, a nice guy who speaks perfect English. He explained what we would be doing next and that he was now assigned to our case, since our particular case may prove to be difficult. After hearing this, my heart sunk but I tried to remain positive, knowing this trip would have a number of ups and downs. We all agreed to meet this afternoon to sign more papers then take the train to Donetsk, in the southeast portion of Ukraine.

We took the metro into town but only had time for the Chornobyl Museum. It was very interesting but sad. The main theme was NEVER to allow such a thing to happen again. You talk to any Ukrainian and they’ll tell you exactly where they were the minute it happened. One entire wall in the museum is dedicated to all the children who died of acute radiation poisoning (see their pictures on the back wall of this photo). It’s heartbreaking. They also do a god job of describing exactly how the reactor blew up and the heroism of the men that stayed behind to try and cool it – knowing they’d eventually die due to the HUGE amounts of radiation they were exposed to.

We were picked up by our driver and taken to the train station with Dmytro. I eagerly told him of our activities during the day and ask if he could please translate the address the lady from the meat market had written down. I handed him the piece of paper - he looked at it and handed it back to me. He then stated, we are too friendly and talk too much to locals (who me?!). We shouldn’t do it since some people seem friendly, but we do not know the language or culture, and they actually may be a bit “off”.  He explained how we don’t understand just how poor this country is and that is it VERY different from the U.S. We need to always lock our door at night and NEVER OPEN IT TO ANYONE.  PERIOD. We need to talk softer too. Basically, we need to keep a lower profile.

…but the dog lover-meat market lady who bought me tripe can’t be all that bad now, can she?! I absolutely love travelling and meeting people from around the world. But yes, this is different.  Alright, we will follow his orders and tone it down a bit.

We got to the train station early so decided to have pizza since it would make Gavin happy. We walked to a pizza parlor which was on the third story of a building next to the station and ordered our pizza. We were almost finished when we noticed two young men at a table near us had begun slapping each other in the face. At first I thought they were just kidding around but this quickly escalated to punches and beer, food and furniture began to fly. I pushed Gavin off his stool and told him to get out, since the fight was dangerously close to us. Dymtro ordered us out too so we grabbed our stuff and ran out the door as the security was coming up.  Well, I guess Gavin experienced his first bar brawl early in life.

We boarded the train and took off for our overnight ride shortly thereafter. We had traded up to first class (which I highly recommend to all of you coming after us), so had 2 plush twin beds to relax upon. Scott set up the DVD player for Gavin and we all fell asleep to the movie “Jumangi” and the smooth rock of the train.

6 AM is too early!!

OUR S.D.A. APPOINTMENT

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 24, 2010

Here is a picture taken out our kitchen window. Our building looks just like this, as do the hundreds of other apartment buildings outside Kyiv. To me this is a reminder of the years of Soviet occupation of the Ukraine. I often look down from this window and see teens smoking behind the small building below, maybe hiding from parents (?).  Cigarettes are cheap here, relatively speaking ($1.14 per pack) which makes them sadly affordable. There are non-smoking ordinances in buildings, restaurants, but you seem to never be able to escape the smoke. It’s everywhere.

Today is the big day…our appointment at the S.D.A. (State Dept. of Adoptions) is at 12 noon.  Our driver picked us up and drove us downtown. There was A LOT of traffic and we barely made it in time. Turns out Benjamin Netanyahu is here so the downtown area near the federal buildings was packed with police. Israeli and Ukrainian flags were hung from all the lamposts. Finally we arrived and Lana was waiting for us outside the back of a non-descript building. We entered an austere foyer with plain white and blue walls with various announcements in Russian tacked up, announcing new rules and regulations for adopting families.  There were 2 other couples ahead of us in line, waiting up a flight of stairs and a group of people in an adjoining room pouring over what looked like files. The other couples also had “handlers” with them. The couples ahead of us were each escorted up the stairs into another room while we waited in the stair well.

 I knew I liked Lana. Constantly looking at her watch she opened the door at the top of the stairs at 12:05 when we hadn’t been called yet, searching for someone to talk to. At 12:15 I asked her if we would, in fact, have an hour for our appointment since in Ukraine, lunch runs from 1-2 pm. She assured me “da” = yes.  She went boldly down the hall again, searching for someone to escort us in. Finally at 12.:20 we were called in. We were brought into a small room filled with files neatly placed in wooden cabinets, a desk and a few computers. We met the SDA worker  called Yenta who immediately began showing us files of children. Lana had warned us that they may show us files of kids with physical and mental disabilities, even though on our documents we state that we want to adopt a “healthy” child with “minor correctable difficulties”. This wording is recommended since ALL children who have been institutionalized will have some type of physical and learning delays. If you do not put this wording on your documents they will NOT consider you for adoption. Nonetheless, we were shown about 5 files with pictures of kids who were deaf or had other severe neurologic problems. It was so sad to put these aside, but we had to. I assume they show these files just in case a couple changes their mind and decides to adopt one of these kids. You would have to start all of your paperwork over again and it would take months. Lana then asked for healthy children. They brought out 2 files of 2 adorable boys. I had warned Scott & Gavin to not judge based on the picture attached to the file as these kids are sometimes not smiling or look sad/scared. Lana poured over the documents attached  to each child and I had her show me the medical reports. Even though  I’m not too good at reading Russian, I could see in each category ”healthy”  was written in Cyrillic by the doctor. Lana then gave us some background. Both boys had not been in the orphanage their whole lives but the court had terminated their mother’s rights and they had been placed there.  Lana then got on her cell phone to our agency contact in Kyiv and began bantering so fast in Russian I could not understand one word. I assume he was checking some other type of database to look further into the background of these 2 boys. I tapped Lana on the arm and asked, “What do you think?” since at this point, we are at her mercy and must trust our handlers. She replied “Da (yes), I think these are both good propositions”.  Gavin, Scott and I looked closer at each picture. One of the kids looked just like Gavin’s friend, Gage, from school. Super cute! He was a big kid, one that looked like he could hold his own in a wrestling match with Gavin.  The other boy had blonde hair and looked a bit sad in the tattered 2 X 2 picture that was attached to his file. We couldn’t see his body since his picture was only a head shot. Then Lana began having a somewhat heated discussion with Yenta.  I did not know what was going on.  Yenta brought another woman into the room, I assume was her boss.  This woman had a copy of our home study, stating exactly what type of child we were looking for.  She pointed to a sentence in Russian and English that said we wanted a boy from 6-7 years old. It turns out these boys were 7 and a few months so we could not adopt them since our paperwork was interpreted as “up to exactly 7 years old” and not a day over. What?!?!?!  Scott and I were dumbfounded. We assumed 6-7 meant if they were from 6 to  7 1/4, 7 ½, 7 3/4 years, etc. Voices were raised between the boss and Lana as Lana got on the phone again to our local agency contact in Kyiv. The boss went over to a computer and started madly typing something.  I tapped Lana’s arm and asked what is going on. She was talking to the boss at the same time she was on the phone and she looked at me sternly as if to say,” just be quiet and let me handle this.” I felt like a school child being reprimanded by my teacher…..…but I shut up. Pretty soon Lana took the two files away from us. “We cannot take these children,”  she said.  My heart sunk but I had purposefully not allowed myself to become attached to pictures or stories at this juncture.  Lana was still on the phone with our local contact when she asked Yenta  to pull up a file of a particular boy our local agency contact had found for us and had done some pre-screening on. A minute later  Yenta returned with a file of a boy who I will call “S”. He was healthy, smiling,  had big ears and skinny legs (just like Scott), looked fairly tall for his age and had a red mark on the side of his face and his knee was scuffed, like he had just been playing too rough outside (hopefully). His mother’s parental rights had been terminated by the court when he was 5 and he had been in the orphanage ever since; this includes one year “off the register” meaning he was available for adoption only to Ukrainians or family members, then he was “on the register” for about 1 year, meaning he could be adopted by anyone. This is almost the best timing scenario we had hoped to find. He has a sister who was also taken by the courts – she is 16 and is in a trade school program at an orphanage for older kids. Lana said this should not be a problem since they are so far away in age – sometimes when there are siblings, they ask you adopt both together. We are not even sure he knows he has a sister, but we will receive much more information at the orphanage. This boy was 7 and ½ years old…..would this also be a problem? Lana said “nyet” (no) and urged me quietly but firmly to take this referral (sometimes you just gotta go with faith and stop asking questions). He had not been seen by any other adoptive parents  (which was good, as opposed to have been seen by many and turned down) and I made sure they checked that the file was currently updated to ensure nobody else was on their way to see this child. Everything checked out so we took the referral. We would receive much more detailed information, medical records, etc. at the orphanage. The time was 1 pm exactly.

The plan is to travel tomorrow by overnight train to a region called Donetsk, which is in the Southeastern part of Ukraine near the Russian border and the Sea of Azov. The boy’s orphanage is in a very small town, 45 mins.  outside Donetsk. We will stay in an apartment with Lana in Donetsk and be driven in daily to see the boy for a few hours a day (all they allow). Lana said we will have to play with him alone, in a room, since they don’t want the other kids to see because it may “hurt their hearts” to know one child is getting adopted. We are able to see the entire orphanage, where he sleeps, eats, etc., but cannot play with him out in the open.   

We left the S.D.A. and asked Lana take us to an authentic Ukrainian restaurant to celebrate! We ended up going to a Moldovian restaurant which served Ukrainian food also. I had borscht (which Lana promises to give me her secret recipe for) and stuffed cabbage rolls.  Scott & Gavin had meat soup and Perogies. Gavin was starved and ate his Perogies so fast I barely saw them! Another reason Gavin likes traveling internationally is that it’s one of the few times we let him drink Coke since we can’t drink the water.  I forgot how hyper Gavin can get on Coke! He was very funny and made us all laugh during lunch!

Tomorrow we need to be ready by 3:30 PM for our trip to the train station. We have the rest of the day free, as our agency personnel are running around filing papers for us, etc. (I feel  so spoiled!). We will go sightseeing around Kyiv and try to learn as much about this child’s heritage and culture as we can.  We plan to hit a historic cathedral and cave monastery built over 1,000 years ago and the Chornobyl museum.

We can’t wait to get on the train!

OUR FIRST DAY IN KYIV

MONDAY, NOV. 22
Today we flew from Paris to Kyiv (I will use the Ukrainian spelling, "Kyiv" as opposed to the Russian spelling, "Kiev", which is now preferred since Ukraine became independant from Russia in 1991).

Leaving Charles de Gaulle

We arrived in Kyiv and were greeted by our translator, Lana, and our driver (I still can't understand his name and need to have him write it for me). Lana is very sweet and loves to talk! She immediately handed us a cell phone to use in country and swept us off to the grocery store to buy food for our apartment and money to put on our phone. The drive into town was interesting. We came across a humongous (I mean massive, Statue-of-Liberty-size) statue of a woman with her arms outstretched, on a hillside along the highway. Lana said this is "Mama Ukraine", a monument to mothers all boys who were lost in previous wars. I saw this as another tribute to how much Ukrainian moms love their families. Kyiv is cut in half by the Dnipro River, much like the River Seine cuts through Paris. The part of the drive along the river was nice. Once we crossed the bridge we entered the suburbs or  "bedroom community" as described by Lana, made up of block after block of 10 story, dreary-looking apartments. It was rainy so I'm sure the rain contributed to this depressed appearance.

The Ukrainian gorcery we visited was very well stocked! Lana explained we would be staying in a family's apartment in Kyiv at least 2 nights so we needed to buy food and water. She kindly directed us to food she thought we would like, that other Americans had bought...broccoli, chicken, etc. It was cute! I told her we'd rather sample some Ukrainian food so she began showing us her favorites of certain things...chocolates (I KNEW I liked Lana!), salami, bread, Ukrainian mayo, Kiefer (sour milk) and 3 types of Ukrainian beers. We left the store with 2 HUGE bags of groceries for only $40......those of you who know Scott, know this  made him VERY happy! Just to give you some idea of approx. prices in American dollars.......bread = 0.35,  Snickers bar = 0.51, Litre of Vodka= $6.31, 0.5 L bottle of local beer = 0.57.

We are staying in the apartment of in-laws of one of the employees of our agency. It is cheery,clean, warm, homey and comfortable! We are so grateful to them to allow us to stay here, as we definitely prefer this to any hotel with a bunch of boring expats.



The kitchen.



Gavin watching one of his Goosebumps videos.



Me blogging in the kitchen.




Note salami in Scott's hand.

 Lunch was our first meal in the apartment. We bought salami with lots of fat in it (for Scott) as opposed to the type we get back home since there were tons of different types to choose from. It turned out the fat pieces stay intact and float around in your mouth until you get up enough guts to swallow them whole. Ick. The cheese, dark/dense Ukrainian bread with thick Ukrainian butter and Ukrainian mayo (I thought mayo was an American invention?) were all great and we wolfed them down. After lunch, Scott and Gavin went out for a walk today and got lost since all the 10 story apartment buildings look the same!    They were also soaked since it is STILL raining.

Chornobyl carrot?

The owner of our apt. showed up tonight and did a "turn down" service, setting up the bed in the living room so Gavin would have his own place to sleep and showing us how things worked. He loved Gavin and kept mussing up his red hair! Conversing with him was difficult but I know he understood our "thank yous". 

TUESDAY, NOV.23
Lana called us tonight. We will be picked up tomorrow at 11:15 AM for our appointment at the SDA (State Dept. of Adoptions) at noon. This could likely be one of the most important times of our lives! We are excited but a little scared at the same time. We pray that things go well and we are able to choose a boy to go visit. We would leave on Thursday evening to travel to the region he is in. Wish us luck!

SACRE BLEU! WE'RE IN FRANCE!

Scott and I want to raise our children to be citizens of the world and we are already well on the way with Gavin. Ever since we dragged him through Mexico at age 5, he's been bugging us to take him on another international trip. So we extended our layover in Paris, hoping to give him a taste of one of the most popular tourist’s destinations in the world. My good friend Lauren, who lived and worked in Paris, recommended some sites to see since she had just taken her young nephew to visit Paris. Lauren also knows me well and like me, loves seeing things that are "off the beaten path". So we had plans for "Lauren's Whirlwind Tour of Paris" which included the catacombs and a cool little taxidermy shop (I know, sounds weird) as well as some of the major sights. Lauren also recommended our quaint little French hotel in her old neighborhood, Hotel Molay, which was also close to a metro stop.

When we arrived in Paris at 9 AM, it was raining, foggy and Gavin had only slept 1 hour the entire flight! We jumped into the next available cab to go to our hotel. We were blessed to have landed in a cab driven by Daphne, the friendliest cab driver in ALL of Paris!(We took cabs later in the day and found drivers to be either glued to their blue tooths or not wanting to converse with us in our broken French, so Daphne was indeed a find). He was affable, funny, loved to ramble on about politics and thought our adoption plans were awesome since he had 3 kids himself. Since the weather was terrible and we couldn't check into our hotel yet, I suggested Daphne drive us around to some of the sights. He was an amazing tour guide, allowing us to get out and explore at each stop, taking our pictures, telling us the history behind every church, street and statue. When he found out I was a veterinarian, he whipped out his I-phone to show me a picture of his 2 cats he brought home as strays (gotta love this guy). He said small animal vets do very well in Paris since Parisians LOVE their animals (now I know where I will go to work if I ever want to spend time overseas!).

With Daphne at the wheel we saw the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysee, Notre Dame, and  Ste. Chapelle. He then dropped us at our hotel and insisted on outlining the exact metro route for us to take to the catacombs. It was a no-brainer to hire him to pick us up the next morning for our flight out! We stowed our luggage and made our way down the street for a quick bite to eat and people-watching at a local cafe. It was hard to find a place serving lunch since it was Sunday and many restaurants were closed. But I finally got my double espresso, Gavin got his Paris hot cocoa and Scott was happy to eat something other than airplane food.



Scott on street corner with yellow backpack.

 Another favorite pastime of mine when visiting a foreign country is to go to a grocery store. We stopped in one and Gavin was delighted to find "Kinder Eggs" (we don't have these in the U.S. since they'd be considered a choking hazard :-). Kinder Eggs are a hollow milk chocolate egg with a toy surprise inside. Gavin got a 3-pack so he could give one to his new brother upon meeting him! We walked back up the street to our hotel, taking in the sights and smells; a huge line at the bakery (must be good), the butcher shop where the ducks and chickens were displayed with full-feathered heads attached (I assume to prove their freshness), loads of tulips at the flower stands, bikes to rent then return anywhere in the city from special "bike" stations and many friendly dogs.

 Upon checking into our room, we decided to take a 2 hour power nap then get up just in time to take the metro over to the catacombs before they closed at 5 pm. Or at least, that was the plan......we woke up at 4 pm. Drat! We'll just have to come back again for the catacombs. We ventured out to have dinner at  Cafe de L'Homme, situated in one of the museums across the Seine River with a full view of the Eiffel Tower. Dinner was great but not authentic French cuisine I had hoped to try (like escargot, etc.,) but the spectacular view more than made up for it! About every 15 minutes, the Eiffel Tower would light up and sparkle, like electricity was moving through it - what a sight! After dinner we decided to walk over to the Arc de Triomphe. On the way we got lost (since I had started us off in the opposite direction) so we had to ask a group of Parisians for help. As I asked my question in broken French, they all laughed, told me it was too far to walk then hailed a cab for us, told the driver where to take us and sent us on our way. I'll have to say we never bumped into any snobby Parisians you always hear about. We taught Gavin to always say "Bonjour Madame/Monsieur"  any time he met someone or walked into a store and to say "Au revori" upon leaving, "Merci" and "Pardon" when appropriate....this got us along way! Anyway, the Arc de Triomphe is quite a sight at night since the arc sits at the intersection of 12 streets - it's fun to watch all the cars whizzing around and honking! 

 We then began walking down the Champs de Elysee, a huge shopping boulevard that puts NY's 5th Avenue to shame!

Gavin and I had famous pastel-colored macaroons at the world-renown Lauduree bakery, located here. Gavin had a green apple and I had a rose/ginger flavored macaroon--- delectable! (How do these French women stay so skinny?)

 At Christmas, every single tree lining the Champs de Elysee is decorated with white lights and at the end opposite the Arc de Triomphe, is a Christmas village complete with all types of food/crafts stands and a huge Ferris wheel. Unfortunately the Christmas lights were up  but wouldn't be turned on for another week. Waaaah! Gavin absolutely had to have a crepe from one of the street-side stands so he ordered one IN FRENCH AND PAID FOR IT IN EUROS ALL BY HIMSELF (we were very proud of him ;-) .

Gavin ordering a chocolate crepe in French.

 It was now close to midnight and we had to get up at 4 AM since Daphne was picking us up at 5 AM for our flight to Kiev. We'll definitely be back.....VIVE LA FRANCE!

EXCITEMENT ABOUNDS ON OUR TRIP (ALREADY)

SATURDAY NOV. 20, 2010

Scott and I have been so excited, we really did not get much sleep the night before our trip. Gavin got about 8 hours and for that we are thankful! Upon arrival at SFO to catch our flight to Seattle, I noticed lots of tall guys in line for our flight. Turns out it was a local college basketball team flying up to Seattle for a game. Since we had to book our flight late, we could not get seat assignments until this morning and sadly, we could not sit together. I was in row 15 and Scott & Gavin in row 29. We DID however, get seated together for our flight from Seattle to Paris which is key since  I'll be conducting a crash course in French for Scott & Gavin on that flight!

The excitement began about 45 minutes into our flight. The flight attendant was near my seat with the beverage cart when another flight attendant set off an emergency alarm in the back of the plane, which beeped the flight attendant near me. I heard her say a passenger in row 28 had collapsed. An announcement was then made over the intercom for any doctors on board to please come to the back of the plane (where Scott and Gavin were sitting). A minute later, I asked our flight attendent if anyone had responded and she said only a human pathologist and he did not feel he could be of any help so did not leave his seat.  So I went. I found one of the basketball players I had seen earlier that day, laying across 3 seats with the team's trainer hovering over him. He had lost consciousness but was slowly coming to. We placed an oxygen mask over him while the fight attendent called someone on the ground (not sure if she was talking to someone with Delta or 911) and began taking notes. I took a jugular pulse and got 80 but his pulse felt weak to me......hmmmmm, I'm used to taking femoral pulses on dogs and cats who are stressed out because they are at the vet's.......is this normal for a human pulse? I took my own pulse at the same time just to check and yes, his pulse seemed weak. He was sweating profusely and was extremely pale. As he began to come to, I was able to get some key information for the flight attendent to relay to the people on the ground....not taking any drugs, was treated for a viral condition last year, no drinking last night, got enough sleep last night. He told me his heart was racing right before he passed out. He said he was extremely hot which belied the condition of his skin (cold and clammy). I tried to reassure him as best I could. We sat him up slowly. I asked the flight attendent for some orange juice for him. As he began to look a little better, I asked the trainer if anyone on the team had any powdered Gatorade with them. She said no.....what? a basketball team without Gatorade???. I asked the flight attendent if she had any type of drink that contained electrolytes...she thought for a moment, then went back to the galley. She broke into some of the first class snack packs that contained the type of  "Emergen-C" packets containing electrolytes. We dumped these into some bottled water and I told the trainer to push fluids on him as hard as she could. He really didn't want to drink, wanted to rest, and it was hard taking off the oxygen mask each time to make him drink.

I then went to the next row back (Scott & Gavin's row) where Gavin was happily enjoying the broken-into 1st class snack packs the flight attendent had given to him. Our flight continued uneventfully into Seattle. I was happy for the basketball player and Scott was very happy about my intervention, stating "At least we didn't have to stop in Portland and miss our connection." When we landed, our plane was immediately escorted into the gate closest to the terminal. Scott's comment; "Great, we don't have to wait in line with the other planes." Everyone had to stay seated until the ambulance removed the player, his coach and trainer. As I was waiting for Scott and Gavin to disembark, I saw the player with the paramedics. They had a pulse-ox on his finger and were taking to him. A few minutes later, they released him and he walked away with his team. Huh?!? I sure hope he goes to an ER in Seattle for a quick ECG & bloodwork before playing in his game (at least that's what I'd do if he were a dog)!