Our Really Long Weekend

Saturday:

On Saturday we decided to go to the Great Patriotic War Museum. We went down to get a shot of energy at the Double Coffee down the street and took the train to the Dnipro river stop and walk to the museum from there. On the way to the train station there was a folk dance/song performance going on outside of city hall. You can view a video clip of it below. Once we got to the stop we realized we had made a mistake. Looking up the high bluff over looking the river, we would have a long climb ahead of us in the opposite direction from where the museum was located. Oh well....




We walked up the road for about a mile and where it turned to head back in the direction toward the museum, we could see the Kyiv-Pechesk Lavra which is a fortified monastery with beautiful gold domes. Additionally, this is where the famous catacombs are located. We called the audible and decided to bag the museum in favor of climbing up to see this landmark instead. Besides, it was a shorter walk and we had wanted to see it anyway. We were at the central complex of the Kyiv-Pechesk Lavra earlier in the week (cathedral entry to come in a later blog entry), but were unable to find this part of the complex. Lucky break.


When we got up to the complex, we were pleased to find out that we had actually stumbled upon the catacombs directly. We entered the church where we purchased some candles and began climbing the long steps underground. The passages were lit by candlelight only. There were very narrow passageways that were lined with tombs of clergy, saints and monks. Most tombs had a glass case that you could view the mummified remains. These remains were covered in colorful burial garments. In each enclave was a painting of the person at the head and a plaque with the name and date of death. These were extremely old. Lara had covered her head with her scarf, which is proper form in orthodox churches. When she went in, a priest stopped her gave her a lesson in furthering her modesty by buttoning all of the buttons on her coat and a lesson in the proper way to pay her respects to the deceased. Scott did not get a lesson, not sure the reason for this. At each tomb we are supposed to make the "signum crucis" (sign of the cross), lean over and kiss the casket. We also got a lesson on making the signum crucis correctly in the eastern orthodox manner, with the fingers of the right hand pinched together starting from the forehead then to below the chest and then right to left. It is the right to left distinction that is the difference (not sure about the fingers pinched together). After a few coffins we observed others simply touching the coffins instead of kissing them. We felt better about this technique and followed suit. There were other people in the catacombs as well and it was very crowded. We were continuously worried about catching our cloths or others on fire with all the candles lit in these very tight spaces. Wish we had a photo to show, but no cameras were allowed. It was a very moving experience. These catacombs are something everyone should experience if they are in Kyiv.

After the catacombs we walked to a different Metro station that did not require us to walk for miles. There we found a really nice underground mall. Lara bought her bling encrusted hair clip we had been searching for and we also found an English language book store. We purchased two paperback books: "The Other Side of Midnight" (Sidney Sheldon), and "The Testament" (John Grisham). Nothing remarkable about this other than you would have thought we were purchasing a leather bound special collector's additions... pricey. Earlier in the day we had dropped by the Hyatt hotel and they felt sorry for us and gave us some English language newspapers, a Time magazine and a couple of rags on doing business in the Ukraine. We are reading all of this stuff with a great enthusiasm. I keep telling Lara to pace herself, but she blazed through the Sidney Sheldon book in a day. Now she's on the second and half way through. This blog is keeping me occupied.


We grabbed a bite to eat at a food court. Not much different than a food court in the U.S. at a mall except that you can buy beer. We then took the train back to our home station and rested a while.

Saturday night was a big night. We went to see the Ukrainian National Ballet Company perform at the National Opera House. It is a wonderful way to spend an evening. The Opera House is breathtaking and classic old world design. The most comfortable seats I have ever sat in for two hours and fifteen minutes. We saw them perform "The Vienna Dance". We are not experts in ballet, but we recognized the music, so we think that this is a classic. If any of you have any knowledge, please post. This being our first ballet, we also do not have anything to compare it too. We were told this company is one of the best in the world, and given how wonderful it was, we tend to believe it. We understood the story line of the ballet. These dancers did not only dance, but acted the story out. We had no ability to read the playbill, so had to rely on our interpretation. Lara is ready for me to put on some tights and dance around the room! We'll keep that to a private dance...... you're welcome.


Sunday:

We began Sunday lazily and spent our morning reading. Decided to go to the grocery store, but were tired of the lack of variety the minimarts offer in the downtown area. We had to meet with our translator/coordinator in order to transfer some documents that needed translation for the upcoming week. She wanted to come to us, but we decided it would be more fun to navigate the train system and take them to her in the suburbs. We asked her for the location of a train stop that had a supermarket, and she said she would investigate it. Lara and I were talking about our lack of normal things to do the other night. Our lives back home are kept busy with the kids, errands, chores and work. Here we have none of our normal day to day work that keeps us occupied and engaged on a daily basis. Like we said before, this is not a vacation so this is frustrating.

We walked to the Metro station a few blocks away. We were interested to see the suburbs and how they compared to the city. To meet our coordinator on her turf, we had to head east over the Dnipro river. We were going to the last station on the line where our coordinator would meet us. This stop is near her home. She thinks we are a little insane for wanting to leave the city and venture out in this way, but she is getting used to the fact that we are somewhat adventuresome. She is accepting this more and is always worried about where we are and where we are going. After about a 20 minute train ride, we came to the final station, got off and met our coordinator to give her the papers. We also discussed our strategy for the week ahead.

A new strategy: We had mentioned that we were seeking a new strategy to get the process moving along. Our agency is pulling in additional resources here in the Ukraine and is handling all of the details. This is welcome news after the changes in the Adoption Center last week. We can not go into details, but it sounds much better to us than the "wait and be patient" strategy we had on Thursday. We are being told we may have another appointment towards the end of the week.

After some discussion with our coordinator, she gave us very detailed directions on how to get to the supermarket near the train station. To get there we had to head back to the city (west) and transfer to another line which would take us north several stops to the supermarket. Sounded easy enough (keep in mind no English or Latin letters anywhere). She insisted we call her when we got back to our apartment.

The Suburbs: From what we could see, the 'burbs here are more what you would expect in an eastern European country. Lots of high rise apartments and few houses. The apartment buildings were mostly old with the occasional new building intermixed. They tended to be old concrete and brick structures that were built here after WWII. Very little personality. We also saw a lot more poverty there with people living in makeshift shelters. These included streets that looked very similar to what you would see in a Mexican boarder town such as Juarez across from El Paso. There were areas that looked like metal storage structures, and there were people clearly living in them with cars parked out front and garbage piles out back. Garbage collection is not well coordinated ,and it is in piles in the woods and frequently overflowing recepticals . Very different from the city proper of Kyiv.


Getting back to the city, we transferred to the north line and arrived at our grocery shopping destination. As described, the store was right outside the train station. A big, wonderful store with lots of variety. Like the department store we described in the prior blog, more variety than we have in a US store. The only area lacking was the vegetable section, but we get the impression vegies are purchased more in open air markets. We purchased fish, pasta, some vegies, bread, sausage, stuff for breakfast, etc. This should last us the rest of the week for a little less than $50. We then put it in our bags and hauled it all back home on the train. We were packed in like sardines on the train. Apparently, Monday being a holiday, everyone was headed downtown.

We arrived home. Just as we walked into the door, our coordinator called us! Just wanted to make sure we made it home. We made a pasta dinner. Yum.



Monday:
Monday was a national holiday, foggy, rainy and cold. A good day for a walk, some reading, and a few sights.

Before leaving we spoke with our coordinator. She had met with our new resources and new wheels are in motion. Good to hear the new approach is starting to be executed. Our child awaits. More on this Tuesday.

We walked to the park across the street and fed the pigeons. Then to the river overlook. Then down to valley over to the Unification Monument. The Unification Monument was erected by the Russians to commemorate the unification of Russia and the Ukraine. I will apologise for the adjectives up front for this monument, but it is an UGLY, EYE SORE (the tour books are not kind to this monument either). It is a metal arch with strips of colored neon sitting prominently on top of a high hill. It can be seen from every direction day or night. This is very unfortunate. If that is not enough, they see fit to cram a couple of carnival rides along side (The Matrix Ride and Bumper Cars!). One of these days, I am sure the Ukraine will remove this monument and put up something better in its place (or nothing, which would be fine). There are two impressive statues under the arch. One that the Russians put there and one that the Ukrainians put there off to the side after de-unification. The Ukrainian sculpture seems to be put there as a patch to offset the Russian sculpture which is centered under the arch. This monument is a bit of an anomaly. Everything else we have seen has been tasteful and very well done and thought out.

After walking around for a while longer, we headed to a cafe, had a latte, lunch and went home. Watched a movie on the computer and am now finishing this blog, which took me three days to complete. Monday was a nice, do nothing day.