Tuesday, December 1, Day 8

I spent part of the morning Googling "Kiev apartments." After we got off the train last night in Kiev, Konstantin brought us to a $90-a-night apartment that really is NO nicer than some of the $50-a-night apartments we've stayed in. He said it was the cheapest he could find. I found several on the Internet and called and discovered that people are ready and willing to negotiate, so I called the management company of our apartment and said we were checking out; come and collect your $90. They asked how much we were willing to pay. We said we had found one for $50. They said, "Okay. You can stay where you are for $50." Michael said, "Good job, Lori." I figure during the swine flu scare, there must be tons of vacant apartments; why not save some money? Isn't this already costing a fortune?

We spent the other part of the morning buying more minutes for our cell phone and buying a flash drive, going to an Internet cafe, downloading Firefox on the flash drive, and then installing it on our computer. All this was done in a foreign country by two computer idiots (us). We gave ourselves a pat on the back. The reason we did this is because our Internet Explorer quit working the minute we arrived in Ukraine, and we have not been able to put pictures on our blog. We've been able to access the internet and post via Team Viewer, but we couldn't post pictures. So then suddenly after we got all this done, the Internet Explorer magically started working again. Oh, brother. Computers are mind boggling to me. Michael can sit here in Kiev and access his computer at work as if he were sitting in his office in Taylorsville. He and his secretary are both on the computer simultaneously and communicating with each other. So our previous posts have actually been posted from Michael's office computer in Taylorsville!

We waited all afternoon for our second SDA appointment. We even walked to the SDA and hung out in the cold rain for two hours. Konstantin told the SDA that "The family is nearby and can come in a moment's notice." But it did not happen. Boo. They are requiring more paperwork, some sort of application asking them to do something, so we'll be going to the notary again tomorrow (Wednesday) and then the SDA at 3:00 p.m.

After that we ate dinner for a total of $7 at "our restaurant." They probably recognize us now. Jen, it's the one where the two cute Ukrainian boys gave you a taste off their plate. Our apartment is about a half block from there.

We keep hoping we see the cute Mormon Elders or Sisters so we could buy them lunch, but no luck. We also want to take a taxi today to see the Kiev Temple that's being built.

It's so awful to be away from our family during the holidays. Marissa put up our Christmas lights outside a couple days ago. Gage and Emily were assigned to put up and decorate the tree. Sometimes I find the holidays to be a drudgery, but I'm sure wishing I were home now.