Thursday Michael and I felt gloomy all day, probably because it was so hard to be away on Thanksgiving. Marissa was with Zack in Mesa, Arizona, Gage and Quinn were at Emily's house, and Eric was hopefully having a Thanksgiving dinner in Guam. All my brothers and sisters were having a feast in Logan at Mom and Dad's house while Michael and I were here in Ukraine. The day was spent walking around Kiev and waiting for the SDA paperwork. The managers of our apartment came and collected our rent for two and a half days, 275 US dollars (gulp)! We won't be staying there again.
At 4:00 p.m., we got the referral from the SDA (State Dept. of Adoptions) to go to Sasha's orphanage in R______. We started the long drive in pitch black. Our driver, typical of every other driver we've been with, drove very fast the entire 5-hour trip and was pulled over twice by the police, creating a 45-minute delay. While Michael and I had our seatbelts on, the two in the front went seatbelt-less. It seemed crazy, especially since we were in heavy fog the last half of the trip. Hurling down the road at 120 kilometers/hr. through fog was terrifying. And for the thrill of the ride, our driver charged us 335 US dollars.
R_____ is a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. As we approached, we didn't even know we had reached a village. People here don't have porch lights or street lights, and everything was in total darkness. Igor, whose apartment we shared, was standing on the side of the street signaling us with a flashlight. We were shown into their humble apartment, along with our facilitator. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I was wary about staying with strangers, but it was very delightful. Igor and Natasha are such kind people and made us feel so at home. Natasha cooked every delicious meal for us, lovely vegetables from their "kitchen garden" that they preserved: Beets, pickles, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, etc. We had eggs straight from the chickens and milk straight from the neighbor's cow. There were no restaurants and certainly no working Internet while we were there. They gave the phrase "provident living" a new meaning. Igor teaches English at a school in the village, and Natasha speaks a little English also. They have two cats, but I had no allergy problems, which was a huge blessing. Also they don't smoke, another great blessing as the smoke makes me very ill. They have no children. They're in their late twenties.
So we arrived in R_____ about 11:00 p.m. and pretty much went straight to bed and tried to calm our nerves from the trip. Our bedroom was very small. When we attempted to close the door, it hit the headboard, so we hung my coat over the opening in order to give us a little privacy. The apartment was heated with a coal stove. The entire feel of the house reminded me of my Grandma Ballard's home when I was a little girl, only this house is even older I'm sure. We laid in bed and listened to geese, ducks, roosters, turkeys, and dogs having a party outside. The rooster was somewhat confused and crowed all night. At one point the animals reached a mighty crescendo, and we just burst out laughing.
A word here about jet lag. We are so tired by 5:00 in the evening, we have to prop our eyelids open. Then when we finally do go to bed, we take sleeping pills, which don't help, and toss and turn or read all night. We just can't seem to get our internal clocks adjusted.
So Wednesday night while we tossed and turned, we had a discussion about the possibility of running out of cash while here. Ukraine is a cash economy, no checks or credit cards. We decided to speak to Inna, our facilitator, the next day and be very frank and blunt about the expenditures. We also decided to be assertive when it comes to crazy driving. We have four very large reasons to stay alive while here and don't want our children to become orphans themselves.
We have some great pictures to share, but the program isn't working, so hopefully we'll get that taken care of soon.
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