We made it, twenty-five hours after leaving. Kiev is nine hours ahead of Utah. Our night lasted four hours on the plane. It was kind of funny to be served breakfast only four hours after dinner. Needless to say we did not get any sleep. My stomach was not happy with this. Between that and the driving to our flat I was lucky I didn’t lose my lunch.

As we were waiting for our luggage a man came up and said, “luggage?” We said yes he proceeded to write a number on a paper and showed it to us. Dave nodded. So the man grabbed our luggage and put it on the cart for us. I had to explain to Dave that he wanted us to pay him. As we were leaving security a grim security guard pulled us to the side. He was very KGB looking. He asked why we were in Ukraine and how much money we had. Dave told him we were here to adopt and then said we were carrying half the amount we were really were. He looked disappointed and said, “Ok” and let us go.

Our translator and adoption facilitator met us and drove us to our flat in City Center, Kiev. Thank goodness we have someone who knows what we are supposed to do and where we need to be. I can’t make sense of the driving. They don’t use blinkers and there aren’t lines on the roads distinguishing lanes. They don’t wear seat belts and there are potholes everywhere. Thankfully for our safety and my stomach, our facilitator didn’t drive too crazy.

They also park however they can which mostly is on the side walk.



There were a lot of people out today. It is Easter but about eighty percent here are Orthodox and will celebrate Easter next week. People everywhere were carrying willow branches. I’m going to try and find out why tomorrow.

Our flat is cozy and pleasant. It’s old and sparse but the toilet flushes and there is heated and running water. This is the outside of our flat.



I’ll have to take a picture of the elevator. It is old and rickety and only fits two at a time. Yikes.

We went to the food court for dinner tonight. After looking at the many choices nothing looked familiar or appetizing to me so we ate at McDonalds. Dave was worried about ordering but I asked for a cheeseburger and fries and we came out ok. There were two McDonalds to choose from and both were at least three times as packed as any other restaurant. The mall is built under what our translator told us was “Revolutionary Square.” I think she said the Ukrainian Revolution was fought here. I am going to clarify tomorrow.
This is just one angle of the square.



If I could think of one word to describe Kiev it is “old.” The buildings are either old and run down or old, beautiful and rich with history. At home Emi and I like to talk about what other buildings and people existed and lived where we do now. It’s so easy to just think we are it unbreakable. But feeling the atmosphere here, seeing the history and considering the cycles in history reminds me that this is a volatile world.

Dave asked our translator, Natalia, today about the economy in the Ukraine. She shook her head and replied its better not to talk about. A little later we saw a group of demonstrators, I think they were dressed in black. We asked what it was all about and Natalia just shook her head. I can’t tell if she is ashamed to tell us or doesn’t want to scare us.

Tomorrow morning is our appointment with the State Department of Adoption, SDA. I think we will also do some sight seeing. If all goes as planned we are taking the train to the orphanage on Tuesday night. Natalia says it is better than driving because you can lie down and sleep. I think its better than driving because the driving is crazy.