On Saturday we decided to go to the Great Patriotic War Museum.
We walked up the road for about a mile and where it turned to head bac
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



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.
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.
2 comments:
Looks like you two seriously need to find the veggie market, or you'll end up coming home chubby!
Loved the description of the catacombs. I like how they respect it as truly a place of pilgrimage, rather than simply a tourism destination. Lara's lesson in modesty from the priest was a hoot-- got to make sure these women don't flash any skin! Incidentally, the three fingers together in the Orthodox sign of the cross represents the Trinity, and the remaining two fingers folded down together is supposed to represent Christ's two natures (human and divine).
It seems nice that you have a coordinator that is sort of a mother hen-- at least she seems to care. I wonder if most of her clients have been too scared to go exploring? Perhaps she was worried about you running into the poverty you saw, and possible dangerous neighborhoods. Anyway, it sounds like your in good hands, and she is willing to work with you on your new strategy. Keep persevering-- your child is waiting!
Love you, and am praying for you
Chris
On my way to see the pictures now! Very excied to hear that things are moving along and you are venturing out of the city! That monument has NEON? What were they thinking????
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