Greetings from Kiev, Ukraine!!

Hooray! We're in Kiev, and the quarantines have been lifted in nearly all the regions. But let me back track.

Our facilitator called us last week and said the news on the street was that the quarantines would be lifted Monday, the 23rd. He crammed our SDA appointment into Wednesday the 25th between two other families and said to come. We knew it was a bit of a risk and were so relieved to get off the plane in Kiev and learn that, indeed, the quarantines had been lifted!

Our flight here, via San Francisco (weird, I know) and Munich, was uneventful. No late flights, no lost luggage, no long lines, and the airports were all fairly deserted, just how we like it. Don't get me wrong. The 24-hour process of getting here was grueling, to say the least, but it went about as smoothly as it could. We went on Lufthansa, and they are great, and Eldon from Golden Rule Travel is fantastic.

Our SDA appointment was today at 11:00 a.m. We walked from our apartment on the square, and when we were almost to the SDA, our facilitator called us and told us to bring our lap top to show the SDA photos of us with Sasha. (We forgot to bring hard copies of photos, so put that on your check list, families headed to Ukraine.) So we ran back down the hill to our apartment, ran back up the hill, and headed for the SDA. This was all done in my high-heeled black boots. It was painful.

The appointment went smoothly, and it looks like we'll be in Sasha's orphanage by Friday morning. Yahoo!

Michael and I are determined to lose weight while here. We walked a lot today, took the stairs every time to our apartment (6th floor), and ate authentic healthy Ukrainian food at our favorite restaurant here in Kiev. The total tab for the two of us was forty grievnas (spelled wrong I know), which is five dollars! You can eat for cheap, but I looked at shoes today in a store for $200! So clothing is expensive; food is cheap.

The weather is mild, warmer than usual we're told. No snow here yet. Hardly anyone is wearing the face masks anymore to protect against swine flu.

Sasha lives in a teeny tiny village, and we're staying with an English teacher and his wife. The wife is employed at Sasha's orphanage. I hope it's not too uncomfortable to hang out with Ukrainians we've never met, but apparently there are no other places to stay in a village that small. We don't know if we'll have internet, but we'll try to post whenever we do.

Our goal is to get through court before everything shuts down for the holidays. Then we'll come home for the 10-day wait, and one of us will come back in January to finish out.