I just have time for a quick post, but will be able to blog more when I'm back in Kyiv tomorrow.
We had court today and we are now officially the parents of Logan Dmitri and Daria Antonina Casey. I'm back on the computer that won't allow me to upload photos, so I'll do so when I'm back in Kyiv. Logan is 9.5 yo and Daria is 8 yo, and we are just thrilled and honored to be their parents.
More tomorrow!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunny and 60 in Balta
I'm sorry that the first set of photos yesterday didn't show up like they did on my end when I posted. I'll try to fix that the next time I'm here at the Internet cafe with our thumb drive.
Yesterday it was close to 60 degrees and sunny here, so we took the kids outside to play soccer and tag. They had a blast and we had lots of other kids from the orphanage join in. We're not allowed to take the kids off the property without their care worker, who has been sick for the last week. The room we were in for the first week with the kids was pretty small and narrow, with enough room for a desk, table and a few chairs. It was pretty difficult to play in there very much. Then, we were moved to a larger, classroom size room downstairs, which is much more conducive to doing things with the kids. It was filled with tables and chairs, which was good for doing puzzles, playing with play-doh, etc. But, it's great to be able to take the kids outside.
The orphanage has a big field with goal posts at either end of it for soccer, but the field is just dirt, so it's still muddy from the snow and ground thawing in many places. D really likes soccer. A plays for a little while then wants to do something else. She actually just prefers picking up the ball and running with it, but then, that's not really soccer, is it? :) When she does that, D yells at her a little bit, but he doesn't get too upset with her.
The other kids who joined us seemed to have a lot of fun playing as well. They all seem like good kids, and it's sad to realize that when our kids leave in a couple of weeks, all of the other kids will be staying, without families of their own.
So far, their interactions together seem pretty typical of kids their age, and we haven't seen either one get really upset with the other. We hope that's the case going forward! They do well playing together, well playing alone, and well playing with others. They also do a good job of sharing all of their treats that we bring for them.
On another subject, my sister-in-law ordered furniture for A's room yesterday. I'm so excited to finally be getting to some of the fun home stuff. We hadn't done anything before we left, as we didn't know what we were getting. I'm so glad we didn't either, as we were expecting much younger kids. We're going to put Scott's old bed back up for D, as he's big enough for it. Then I'll find some cool ways (I hope he thinks it's cool) to decorate his room as well.
One of our neighbors has been great about talking to the local school about what we'll need to have to enroll them when we get home. We hope to put them into school the week after they return. We'll give them a week to get adjusted to their new environment, and to doctors, dentists, etc. School's going to be tough for them for awhile, but ultimately, it's what's going to get them speaking English the fastest. Fortunately, we are in a great neighborhood with lots of kids, so they'll start picking things up pretty quickly. I can't believe all of this stuff is finally happening!
I'm actually going to be flying out this Sunday, March 2nd, to get things ready at home. I'm happy to be going home, but will miss seeing the kids during the 2 weeks until they arrive. Scott is under strict orders to take lots of photos in my absence :) Our dogs, though, will be very happy to see me again. Fortunately, they've had great care through another friend staying at our house.
Scott and the kids will definitely be home for Easter though, which will be awesome. I had totally written off Easter this year, but now we'll be able to do some things, although they are a bit old for an Easter egg hunt. I'll have to figure out how they celebrate it here, and try to incorporate some things.
Yesterday it was close to 60 degrees and sunny here, so we took the kids outside to play soccer and tag. They had a blast and we had lots of other kids from the orphanage join in. We're not allowed to take the kids off the property without their care worker, who has been sick for the last week. The room we were in for the first week with the kids was pretty small and narrow, with enough room for a desk, table and a few chairs. It was pretty difficult to play in there very much. Then, we were moved to a larger, classroom size room downstairs, which is much more conducive to doing things with the kids. It was filled with tables and chairs, which was good for doing puzzles, playing with play-doh, etc. But, it's great to be able to take the kids outside.
The orphanage has a big field with goal posts at either end of it for soccer, but the field is just dirt, so it's still muddy from the snow and ground thawing in many places. D really likes soccer. A plays for a little while then wants to do something else. She actually just prefers picking up the ball and running with it, but then, that's not really soccer, is it? :) When she does that, D yells at her a little bit, but he doesn't get too upset with her.
The other kids who joined us seemed to have a lot of fun playing as well. They all seem like good kids, and it's sad to realize that when our kids leave in a couple of weeks, all of the other kids will be staying, without families of their own.
So far, their interactions together seem pretty typical of kids their age, and we haven't seen either one get really upset with the other. We hope that's the case going forward! They do well playing together, well playing alone, and well playing with others. They also do a good job of sharing all of their treats that we bring for them.
On another subject, my sister-in-law ordered furniture for A's room yesterday. I'm so excited to finally be getting to some of the fun home stuff. We hadn't done anything before we left, as we didn't know what we were getting. I'm so glad we didn't either, as we were expecting much younger kids. We're going to put Scott's old bed back up for D, as he's big enough for it. Then I'll find some cool ways (I hope he thinks it's cool) to decorate his room as well.
One of our neighbors has been great about talking to the local school about what we'll need to have to enroll them when we get home. We hope to put them into school the week after they return. We'll give them a week to get adjusted to their new environment, and to doctors, dentists, etc. School's going to be tough for them for awhile, but ultimately, it's what's going to get them speaking English the fastest. Fortunately, we are in a great neighborhood with lots of kids, so they'll start picking things up pretty quickly. I can't believe all of this stuff is finally happening!
I'm actually going to be flying out this Sunday, March 2nd, to get things ready at home. I'm happy to be going home, but will miss seeing the kids during the 2 weeks until they arrive. Scott is under strict orders to take lots of photos in my absence :) Our dogs, though, will be very happy to see me again. Fortunately, they've had great care through another friend staying at our house.
Scott and the kids will definitely be home for Easter though, which will be awesome. I had totally written off Easter this year, but now we'll be able to do some things, although they are a bit old for an Easter egg hunt. I'll have to figure out how they celebrate it here, and try to incorporate some things.
Monday, February 25, 2008
More photos from Balta
Here are a few more photos of Balta. The first is the beautiful orthodox church, which is next to the orphanage. You can't see them as well, but the back of the church has the traditional onion domes. The second photo is the orphanage itself. It resembles a boarding school, and is in much better shape than we anticipated. According to our translator, it also doesn't have the awful smell that most orphanages have.
The third photo is self-explanatory. The roosters and chickens that are EVERYWHERE. Literally, they're everywhere. People are self-sufficient here, so most grow their own vegetables and the roosters and chickens provide meat and eggs. These guys co-exist (peacefully it seems) with dogs and cats in their owners yards. Many times, they're not even in yards, just out on the streets. And they crow all the time.
The last shot is of the gas lines, which we only find interesting because they're all above ground. We've just kind of gotten used to seeing them anywhere, so we don't really pay attention to them anymore, but it was pretty weird to see the first few days.
Balta photos
Finally! I think the computer that I've been trying to post on didn't have ActiveX or something installed. Anyway, here are some photos from Balta. From top, the Administration building where we go to meet with the Inspector. The statue is Lenin.
The second is a typical street in Balta. Other than a couple of the main streets, most are unpaved. The third photo are some typical soviet-style apartment buildings near where we're staying. There are many of these buildings around our part of town.
The fourth photo is a shot of downtown Balta's main street. This street is always bustling with activity, people shopping, working, doing business, etc. The last photo is a shot of the Saturday open air market. There are many vendors who sell a variety of products, from fishes, meat, cheeses and vegetables, to clothes, shoes, housewares, and toys. There are regular stores in town, but this market has the most variety of anything you'd want.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Another day in Balta
It's Saturday afternoon here, and the weather the past few days has been pretty decent. I actually went out for a run on Thursday, which must be quite unusual because I got lots of stares. It was sunny and around 50 degrees, which felt really good after the last week of things being so cold.
The kids are both still recovering from colds, so we decided to give them a break today and not visit them. Their care giver, Victor, is also sick, so we haven't even had him around the past couple of days. Victor speaks very broken English, a few words here and there, but is sometimes able to translate a few things for us that the kids say.
That's been the only frustrating thing really, that we can't even ask the kids how their day was or how school was that day. The kids say lots of stuff to us, especially A (she's very talkative), and all we can do is nod our heads at them. We hope they don't think we're total morons :) If everyone is feeling better tomorrow, Victor said we could take them for most of the day, and take them off the orphanage property. We bought a soccer ball and there is a park nearby, so that would be fun to do with them, especially now that the weather is a little nicer.
Last night we just had to laugh, we have gotten SO bored! I mean, it's great to be here, but there is literally nothing to do here. I say that but there actually appear to be at least 3 "casinos" or places where we could gamble. Except that we don't. There are only 3 local stations on tv, we don't even get sports or the fun music video station we had in Kyiv. Last night we went grocery shopping and played cards. Whoohoo! Rocking Friday night in Balta :) We have a 500 piece puzzle that we bought for the kids that we might do tonight. Do we sound desperate for entertainment????? I feel bad for Scott though, because when I leave he won't have anyone to speak to for those 10 days. All in all though, we're just focused on getting the kids out of here and back to Colorado, so this kind of feels like a big camping trip.
We were going to try to go down to Odessa today for the day, but none of the taxi drivers speak English, and the buses look miserable and claustrophobic. No train station here. Scott will get down there after court to get the kids passports, but I won't get to see it.
I have taken a lot of pictures of the town, but for some reason, the blogger isn't letting me attach photos anymore. I don't know if we only had a certain file size limit or if the functionality just hasn't been working the past few days. We'll try to figure it out. I have some good shots that I think you'll be interested in seeing from our little town here.
The kids are both still recovering from colds, so we decided to give them a break today and not visit them. Their care giver, Victor, is also sick, so we haven't even had him around the past couple of days. Victor speaks very broken English, a few words here and there, but is sometimes able to translate a few things for us that the kids say.
That's been the only frustrating thing really, that we can't even ask the kids how their day was or how school was that day. The kids say lots of stuff to us, especially A (she's very talkative), and all we can do is nod our heads at them. We hope they don't think we're total morons :) If everyone is feeling better tomorrow, Victor said we could take them for most of the day, and take them off the orphanage property. We bought a soccer ball and there is a park nearby, so that would be fun to do with them, especially now that the weather is a little nicer.
Last night we just had to laugh, we have gotten SO bored! I mean, it's great to be here, but there is literally nothing to do here. I say that but there actually appear to be at least 3 "casinos" or places where we could gamble. Except that we don't. There are only 3 local stations on tv, we don't even get sports or the fun music video station we had in Kyiv. Last night we went grocery shopping and played cards. Whoohoo! Rocking Friday night in Balta :) We have a 500 piece puzzle that we bought for the kids that we might do tonight. Do we sound desperate for entertainment????? I feel bad for Scott though, because when I leave he won't have anyone to speak to for those 10 days. All in all though, we're just focused on getting the kids out of here and back to Colorado, so this kind of feels like a big camping trip.
We were going to try to go down to Odessa today for the day, but none of the taxi drivers speak English, and the buses look miserable and claustrophobic. No train station here. Scott will get down there after court to get the kids passports, but I won't get to see it.
I have taken a lot of pictures of the town, but for some reason, the blogger isn't letting me attach photos anymore. I don't know if we only had a certain file size limit or if the functionality just hasn't been working the past few days. We'll try to figure it out. I have some good shots that I think you'll be interested in seeing from our little town here.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Court Date!
We have a court date of February 28th, at 2pm. This is the formal hearing in which we'll all go in front of a judge who will make the final determination on our adoption of the kids. The orphanage director, Inspector, the kids themselves, and us will all testify at the hearing. The judge has the final say, and can say no for any reason. We don't really think we have anything to worry about but, we will be a bit nervous on this day, for sure. The other American family that was just here said it took about an hour, and they even had a couple of "jurors", some local townspeople who sat in on the case as witnesses.
The date of 2/28 is all determinant though on the SDA getting their final paperwork done by 2/27. They should've received ours yesterday morning, so they have a week. This should not be a problem, but you never know with the SDA. If they don't have their paperwork done on 2/27, then the next earliest court date we can expect to have is Monday, March 3rd (I think it's the 3rd). Fingers crossed that all goes well with the paperwork.
This is actually about 1 week faster than we anticipated, so if everything stays on schedule, we'll both have to change our tickets home, which is a very good thing! With an appointment date of 2/28, I hope to be back home by 3/3 at the latest.
We're now kind of hitting the point where we're getting a bit bored here. We still have some books and movies, but there isn't much to do other than that. At least the weather has warmed up, so I went for a long walk yesterday. There really isn't much to see, but it's just good to get out.
The date of 2/28 is all determinant though on the SDA getting their final paperwork done by 2/27. They should've received ours yesterday morning, so they have a week. This should not be a problem, but you never know with the SDA. If they don't have their paperwork done on 2/27, then the next earliest court date we can expect to have is Monday, March 3rd (I think it's the 3rd). Fingers crossed that all goes well with the paperwork.
This is actually about 1 week faster than we anticipated, so if everything stays on schedule, we'll both have to change our tickets home, which is a very good thing! With an appointment date of 2/28, I hope to be back home by 3/3 at the latest.
We're now kind of hitting the point where we're getting a bit bored here. We still have some books and movies, but there isn't much to do other than that. At least the weather has warmed up, so I went for a long walk yesterday. There really isn't much to see, but it's just good to get out.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Official Petition to Adopt
Yesterday (Monday) we had to give our official answer as to whether or not we want to adopt D & A. Of course, we said yes. We had a meeting with the Inspector, the Orphanage Director, Olga (our translator) and Victor (one of the social workers/care givers at the orphanage). D & A were also present and had to also give their consent to be adopted by us.
The kids were quizzed by the Director, and of course, we couldn't understand anything. Olga told us after the questions that they were being asked. A said "my mama!" immediately and gave me a huge hug. D though looked very nervous and a bit upset when the Director was asking him questions. Olga told us later the the Director was messing with him a bit, telling him we'll take A, but not him. Asking him "why do you want to go, things are so good here at the orphanage", and "you can stay another 5 years here, then go". D was sitting next to Scott, and Scott said his legs and hands were just shaking, he was scared. I guess the Director finally asked D directly if he wants to be adopted by us, because he finally said "dah" instead of "nyet". We were not happy that this happened to him, but of course, we didn't understand what was going on at the time, and our translator must also let some things take their course.
The kids then had to write a statement saying that they want to be adopted by us, which will be part of the court file. They will also come to the court hearing with us, and will be asked more questions there. From a process perspective then, yesterday went very well and was a big step forward. Olga and the Inspector worked until about 8 pm last night to get his report ready for final signature by his boss. His report will also be part of the court documents.
Later in the afternoon when we were playing with the kids though, we could tell that D understood that we are adopting them both. He called Scott papa and me mama for the first time. We got lots of big hugs today :)
Today, Olga will formally petition the court for our hearing. Additionally, tonight she will take all of the new documents, plus our original packet of documents, back up to Kyiv for review by the SDA. The SDA must provide the final sign-off on the adoption before the court hearing. The SDA only accepts such paperwork on Mon/Wed/Fri morning, and only returns the final paperwork on the same days. Their review takes about a week. If Olga can file everything with SDA tomorrow morning, then we're hopeful that we'll have something back next Wednesday (2/27) evening, and we can have court on 2/28. So, that is the date that today Olga will petition for. This is actually about a week sooner than we expected.
All in all, Olga is happy with the way things are progressing here. The time frames are good and moving at a pretty good clip (of course, not fast enough for us!). It helps that Balta is a small enough -but big enough - town to get things done in. Everything can be done here, and within a few blocks of each other. There have only been a few other American families that have adopted from the orphanage our kids are at, but at least they're familiar with everything that needs to get done to make an adoption happen.
We moved into our new apartment last night. It's in the same building as where we were staying, but this one has a kitchen. It was so nice to make eggs this morning, instead of more oatmeal and fruit. So far, the little bit of grocery shopping that we've done has gone pretty well. We can't read anything that we're buying (except Coke products), but the pictures are pretty self explanatory. Our greatest grocery shopping skill here is pointing at items and putting up the number of fingers for the amount of the item that we want. Communication is almost non-existent (we have learned to say thank you and dog), but pointing works amazingly well.
The funniest thing so far is that we tried to buy sugar last night (everyone puts sugar in their tea here, and that is how Olga likes it and she's now staying with us for a couple of days). Except that when we showed her what we bought, apparently we bought a bag of salt instead of sugar. The sugar is just kept in ziplock type bags, not formal packaging. Oh well. This morning, I hit the market to buy eggs and a few other items. It's kind of fun to walk around and see all the fresh produce brought in for the day. Most of it is potatoes, cabbage and onions, but there are the occassional tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Tons of meats and chickens, though we haven't purchased any yet since we just got a refrigerator.
We tried the ATM for the first time today, and it worked out okay. I've used ATMs in other countries successfully before, but wasn't sure if my bank would approve a transaction coming in from Eastern Europe. They did though. The exchange rate is 5 to 1 (hryvna to US dollar) and it looks like big monopoly money. Our money does go pretty far here, with regards to groceries and the few meals out that we've eaten.
It's actually pretty warm today - at least 30 degrees, maybe 40. It's hard to tell since it was below zero for so long. It could be 20 degrees out, but I almost feel like I should be wearing shorts. While we were in Kyiv, I didn't need the heavy boots and ski gloves that I brought. But, I am definitely appreciating them here when we're outside. Inside our apartment, it's warm enough for tank tops and flip flops.
I forgot to transfer the pictures of the town to a thumb drive, so I'll have to post the pictures I've taken of the town tomorrow (or the next post).
The kids were quizzed by the Director, and of course, we couldn't understand anything. Olga told us after the questions that they were being asked. A said "my mama!" immediately and gave me a huge hug. D though looked very nervous and a bit upset when the Director was asking him questions. Olga told us later the the Director was messing with him a bit, telling him we'll take A, but not him. Asking him "why do you want to go, things are so good here at the orphanage", and "you can stay another 5 years here, then go". D was sitting next to Scott, and Scott said his legs and hands were just shaking, he was scared. I guess the Director finally asked D directly if he wants to be adopted by us, because he finally said "dah" instead of "nyet". We were not happy that this happened to him, but of course, we didn't understand what was going on at the time, and our translator must also let some things take their course.
The kids then had to write a statement saying that they want to be adopted by us, which will be part of the court file. They will also come to the court hearing with us, and will be asked more questions there. From a process perspective then, yesterday went very well and was a big step forward. Olga and the Inspector worked until about 8 pm last night to get his report ready for final signature by his boss. His report will also be part of the court documents.
Later in the afternoon when we were playing with the kids though, we could tell that D understood that we are adopting them both. He called Scott papa and me mama for the first time. We got lots of big hugs today :)
Today, Olga will formally petition the court for our hearing. Additionally, tonight she will take all of the new documents, plus our original packet of documents, back up to Kyiv for review by the SDA. The SDA must provide the final sign-off on the adoption before the court hearing. The SDA only accepts such paperwork on Mon/Wed/Fri morning, and only returns the final paperwork on the same days. Their review takes about a week. If Olga can file everything with SDA tomorrow morning, then we're hopeful that we'll have something back next Wednesday (2/27) evening, and we can have court on 2/28. So, that is the date that today Olga will petition for. This is actually about a week sooner than we expected.
All in all, Olga is happy with the way things are progressing here. The time frames are good and moving at a pretty good clip (of course, not fast enough for us!). It helps that Balta is a small enough -but big enough - town to get things done in. Everything can be done here, and within a few blocks of each other. There have only been a few other American families that have adopted from the orphanage our kids are at, but at least they're familiar with everything that needs to get done to make an adoption happen.
We moved into our new apartment last night. It's in the same building as where we were staying, but this one has a kitchen. It was so nice to make eggs this morning, instead of more oatmeal and fruit. So far, the little bit of grocery shopping that we've done has gone pretty well. We can't read anything that we're buying (except Coke products), but the pictures are pretty self explanatory. Our greatest grocery shopping skill here is pointing at items and putting up the number of fingers for the amount of the item that we want. Communication is almost non-existent (we have learned to say thank you and dog), but pointing works amazingly well.
The funniest thing so far is that we tried to buy sugar last night (everyone puts sugar in their tea here, and that is how Olga likes it and she's now staying with us for a couple of days). Except that when we showed her what we bought, apparently we bought a bag of salt instead of sugar. The sugar is just kept in ziplock type bags, not formal packaging. Oh well. This morning, I hit the market to buy eggs and a few other items. It's kind of fun to walk around and see all the fresh produce brought in for the day. Most of it is potatoes, cabbage and onions, but there are the occassional tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Tons of meats and chickens, though we haven't purchased any yet since we just got a refrigerator.
We tried the ATM for the first time today, and it worked out okay. I've used ATMs in other countries successfully before, but wasn't sure if my bank would approve a transaction coming in from Eastern Europe. They did though. The exchange rate is 5 to 1 (hryvna to US dollar) and it looks like big monopoly money. Our money does go pretty far here, with regards to groceries and the few meals out that we've eaten.
It's actually pretty warm today - at least 30 degrees, maybe 40. It's hard to tell since it was below zero for so long. It could be 20 degrees out, but I almost feel like I should be wearing shorts. While we were in Kyiv, I didn't need the heavy boots and ski gloves that I brought. But, I am definitely appreciating them here when we're outside. Inside our apartment, it's warm enough for tank tops and flip flops.
I forgot to transfer the pictures of the town to a thumb drive, so I'll have to post the pictures I've taken of the town tomorrow (or the next post).
Sunday, February 17, 2008
More photos
The top picture is of St. Andrew's church, which is now solely a museum. The picture doesn't do the color on the domes justice. They were the most amazing teal color. The bottom photo is Independence Square, which is one of the main areas in Kyiv for events, political rallies, etc. There is a mall that sits below the entire square area, and many restaurants, etc skirt the perimeter. This is kind of the "Times Square" or "Picadilly Circus" of Kyiv. Our apartment was situated about 2 blocks from here, about half way to St. Sophia's.Playing tourist
Dima (short for Dmitri) was our tour guide to get us over to the Pechesky Lavra and walk us around Kyiv a bit. Without him, I don't believe we would have made it! The second picture is just one of the streets where many of the souvenir vendors set up shop. This street is actually near the SDA, where we had our official appointment to choose the kids. Scott ended up buying one of the traditional hats, but not the one in the picture. :)At Pechersky Lavra compound
These three photos were taken at/around the Pechersky Lavra compound in Kiev. The Lavra is a group of churches (and now museums) on the upper level with a series of underground caves/monasteries below the ground. We were able to tour part of the caves, which was really cool. There are bodies of saints in glass caskets in various parts of the caves. You buy a wax candle to use to light the way. Rumor has it that none of the bodies are embalmed in anything, but all are petrified. Some of the hands were sticking out of the cloaks, so we could see them. The Lavra sits along the Dnepr river. The bottom picture is of the one of the main churches on top, the Church of the Assumption.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Miche with Olga and Valentina
Olga, in the middle, is our translator, and Valentina is our facilitator. They have been great to work with and Olga has been amazing!
A day in the life...
We just came from the orphanage, where we got to spend some time with D today. A is sick, so we only got to see her for a couple of minutes on the way out. We went to the open air market (a big flea market) this morning and bought a puzzle and a lego-like kit that can do a shuttle/plane/robot. Yesterday when we were there, D was very inquisitive about Scott's watch, pushing all the buttons, wondering how things worked and what things did. So, we thought that a lego set might be fun for him.
We were right. He is really bright, and knew exactly how some of the more complicated pieces should go together. Even more so than the 3 adults in the room :) We spent a couple hours working on building the airplane, and he had a great time. He has really opened up and is all about Scott :) A, on the other hand, is all about me. Jumping up into my arms to give me hugs. She likes Scott too, of course, I think the girls just like the women more and the boys like the men more.
So, we wanted to give you a bit of an idea of our little life here. Balta is a town of 25,000 people, but is very poor compared to U.S. standards. There are many buildings that are definitely left over from communist times, and the social agency's building has a big bust of Lenin in front. We haven't taken a picture of it yet, but will post one when we do. Back in the day, this was a thriving agricultural community. Post-Russian split, the only industry left here is a milk factory.
The streets and roads are in horrible shape, potholes, crumbling asphalt and cement, etc. Many of the buildings are completely dilapidated and uninhabitable. Everyone that we have interacted with, though, is very friendly, and eager to assist us. Communication is quite a challenge. Our translator left us Thursday night to spend the weekend at home with her daughter. Fortunately, the little hotel (more like an apartment building) has another adopting American couple staying here. The woman is actually Russian by birth, so we went out to dinner last evening and she ordered for us. The menus don't have pictures, and it's impossible for us to know where to even point our fingers.
Our little apartment is simple, but comfortable. It has 3 rooms: bedroom, living room, and bathroom. It has a hot water pot, so we're able to make oatmeal, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Since we've been in Ukraine, we've been mostly existing on sandwiches - ham and cheese in Kiev and peanut butter here. Lots of fruit, oatmeal and yogurt as well. Tomorrow, Bob and Lana - the other couple here from Mississippi - will be heading back to Kiev to process out of the U.S. Embassy with their new daughter. We'll be moving into their apartment, which also has a kitchen. I will say that this apartment is much nicer than the one in Kiev - it is larger (the apt in Kiev only had a twin bed), and has many more windows so is much lighter. Like all buildings, it's on central heat, so while it's freezing outside (definitely below zero), it's hot enough inside for tank tops. We've been sleeping with a window open to keep it cool enough.
Once we move into the new apartment with a kitchen, we'll be able to buy plenty of groceries. There are markets/grocery stores about every 10 steps it seems. More grocery stores per capita than NYC. Additionally, the open air market sells meats, cheeses, breads, fruits, etc. There is a better variety in the grocery stores than I anticipated, although definitely not a lot of veggies. They do have frozen veggies, though, so that is fine. We'll make another attempt tonight in a restaurant to order food, which will be interesting.
Before she left, Olga, our translator, wrote down the Russian form of chicken, pork, vegetables, etc, for us to at least point to. We really can't say the words very well. We would definitely be starving if we didn't have the help we've had so far. The restaurant food has been simple and plain, but filling. The food prices are very inexpensive, and we're paying less than $30 per night for our apartment.
There are dogs roaming the streets everywhere here, some pathetically thin. There is a group of roosters nearby that crow at all hours of the day. Apparently, they don't understand that they're only supposed to announce the sunrise. Our apartment is a couple of blocks away from the orphange, and a couple to the main street with all of the stores. The orphanage (there are 3 here) that D and A are in looks a lot like a boarding school - a very poor boarding school. But it's in pretty good shape, and the kids are well cared for. We're fortunate that they're in the same school - it's making things much easier.
The kids were born in this town, which will also make the paperwork infinitely easier on our translator. She'll be able to get their original birth certificates here, petition for our court hearing here, the court hearing will actually be here (which, according to Bob & Lana who just went through it, is a pretty big deal in this town). All in all, we're hoping to be able to shave some time off the trip because we're able to do most everything except apply for the passports here.
The internet cafe where we're at now is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment. It's terribly cold in here, very different from the one we used in Kiev. It's full of teenage boys, just gaming away the afternoons. But, all the kids are very polite, and make room for us to use a computer as soon as we enter. BTW, it is true what they say about the women here - they wear high heel boots and relatively short skirts even on the coldest days. Jeans are extremely popular, even for the professional workers here. Honestly, though, I don't know how some of these women stay warm. Most of the boots and coats we've seen are fur-lined, but very few people even wear gloves. And it's been at least 10 below with the wind chill for the past couple of days.
Our apartment doesn't have cable, so there are only a couple channels we get, and of course, we can't understand them. In Kiev, we had many channels and were able to watch rugby matches, and the Ukrainian versions of American Idol. They also had a good music video channel which was great to work out with. There is a little gym in our apartment building - very 70's style with the weight machines. However, when we went to use it yesterday, there must have been at least 10 kids in it using all the equipment (10 kids makes the room completely packed). But, it's nice to have it. I have been able to work out about every other day doing some cardio, pliometrics and bands since we've gotten here.
We've been spending time reading and playing games, when we're not at the orphanage or traveling. I brought an electronic New York Times crossword puzzle game and electronic Soduku. Scott has a playstation and he is now addicted to Madden football. At night we watch one of the movies or TV shows that Scott burned to his iPod. All in all though, the days fly by pretty quickly. We still haven't quite adjusted to the time change, I think mostly b/c the sleeping accommodations in Kiev were awful and it was tough to sleep at all. It will be much better here, and I'm hoping by Monday we'll have a pretty good pattern for everything down.
We have finally figured out how to post pictures, so we'll post some now and we'll be taking more this week of Balta so that you have some idea of life here. Overall, I think we're really fortunate to be in Balta, and (except for the cold) are enjoying it.
We were right. He is really bright, and knew exactly how some of the more complicated pieces should go together. Even more so than the 3 adults in the room :) We spent a couple hours working on building the airplane, and he had a great time. He has really opened up and is all about Scott :) A, on the other hand, is all about me. Jumping up into my arms to give me hugs. She likes Scott too, of course, I think the girls just like the women more and the boys like the men more.
So, we wanted to give you a bit of an idea of our little life here. Balta is a town of 25,000 people, but is very poor compared to U.S. standards. There are many buildings that are definitely left over from communist times, and the social agency's building has a big bust of Lenin in front. We haven't taken a picture of it yet, but will post one when we do. Back in the day, this was a thriving agricultural community. Post-Russian split, the only industry left here is a milk factory.
The streets and roads are in horrible shape, potholes, crumbling asphalt and cement, etc. Many of the buildings are completely dilapidated and uninhabitable. Everyone that we have interacted with, though, is very friendly, and eager to assist us. Communication is quite a challenge. Our translator left us Thursday night to spend the weekend at home with her daughter. Fortunately, the little hotel (more like an apartment building) has another adopting American couple staying here. The woman is actually Russian by birth, so we went out to dinner last evening and she ordered for us. The menus don't have pictures, and it's impossible for us to know where to even point our fingers.
Our little apartment is simple, but comfortable. It has 3 rooms: bedroom, living room, and bathroom. It has a hot water pot, so we're able to make oatmeal, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Since we've been in Ukraine, we've been mostly existing on sandwiches - ham and cheese in Kiev and peanut butter here. Lots of fruit, oatmeal and yogurt as well. Tomorrow, Bob and Lana - the other couple here from Mississippi - will be heading back to Kiev to process out of the U.S. Embassy with their new daughter. We'll be moving into their apartment, which also has a kitchen. I will say that this apartment is much nicer than the one in Kiev - it is larger (the apt in Kiev only had a twin bed), and has many more windows so is much lighter. Like all buildings, it's on central heat, so while it's freezing outside (definitely below zero), it's hot enough inside for tank tops. We've been sleeping with a window open to keep it cool enough.
Once we move into the new apartment with a kitchen, we'll be able to buy plenty of groceries. There are markets/grocery stores about every 10 steps it seems. More grocery stores per capita than NYC. Additionally, the open air market sells meats, cheeses, breads, fruits, etc. There is a better variety in the grocery stores than I anticipated, although definitely not a lot of veggies. They do have frozen veggies, though, so that is fine. We'll make another attempt tonight in a restaurant to order food, which will be interesting.
Before she left, Olga, our translator, wrote down the Russian form of chicken, pork, vegetables, etc, for us to at least point to. We really can't say the words very well. We would definitely be starving if we didn't have the help we've had so far. The restaurant food has been simple and plain, but filling. The food prices are very inexpensive, and we're paying less than $30 per night for our apartment.
There are dogs roaming the streets everywhere here, some pathetically thin. There is a group of roosters nearby that crow at all hours of the day. Apparently, they don't understand that they're only supposed to announce the sunrise. Our apartment is a couple of blocks away from the orphange, and a couple to the main street with all of the stores. The orphanage (there are 3 here) that D and A are in looks a lot like a boarding school - a very poor boarding school. But it's in pretty good shape, and the kids are well cared for. We're fortunate that they're in the same school - it's making things much easier.
The kids were born in this town, which will also make the paperwork infinitely easier on our translator. She'll be able to get their original birth certificates here, petition for our court hearing here, the court hearing will actually be here (which, according to Bob & Lana who just went through it, is a pretty big deal in this town). All in all, we're hoping to be able to shave some time off the trip because we're able to do most everything except apply for the passports here.
The internet cafe where we're at now is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment. It's terribly cold in here, very different from the one we used in Kiev. It's full of teenage boys, just gaming away the afternoons. But, all the kids are very polite, and make room for us to use a computer as soon as we enter. BTW, it is true what they say about the women here - they wear high heel boots and relatively short skirts even on the coldest days. Jeans are extremely popular, even for the professional workers here. Honestly, though, I don't know how some of these women stay warm. Most of the boots and coats we've seen are fur-lined, but very few people even wear gloves. And it's been at least 10 below with the wind chill for the past couple of days.
Our apartment doesn't have cable, so there are only a couple channels we get, and of course, we can't understand them. In Kiev, we had many channels and were able to watch rugby matches, and the Ukrainian versions of American Idol. They also had a good music video channel which was great to work out with. There is a little gym in our apartment building - very 70's style with the weight machines. However, when we went to use it yesterday, there must have been at least 10 kids in it using all the equipment (10 kids makes the room completely packed). But, it's nice to have it. I have been able to work out about every other day doing some cardio, pliometrics and bands since we've gotten here.
We've been spending time reading and playing games, when we're not at the orphanage or traveling. I brought an electronic New York Times crossword puzzle game and electronic Soduku. Scott has a playstation and he is now addicted to Madden football. At night we watch one of the movies or TV shows that Scott burned to his iPod. All in all though, the days fly by pretty quickly. We still haven't quite adjusted to the time change, I think mostly b/c the sleeping accommodations in Kiev were awful and it was tough to sleep at all. It will be much better here, and I'm hoping by Monday we'll have a pretty good pattern for everything down.
We have finally figured out how to post pictures, so we'll post some now and we'll be taking more this week of Balta so that you have some idea of life here. Overall, I think we're really fortunate to be in Balta, and (except for the cold) are enjoying it.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day!
Hi everyone, we're sorry we've been off the grid for awhile, but things have been a bit crazy. We arrived safely in Kiev this past Saturday, and met with our new facilitator and translator. Our appointment with the SDA to choose children was on 2/12, so we had a couple of days to get adjusted and play tourist.
We both really enjoyed what we saw of Kiev. The city is still obviously in transition, but it is very pretty, and at least where we were, very clean. The people dress fashionably, despite the cold. We hired a tour guide one day to take us over to the Lavra - a compound of multiple churches, museums and caves. The caves originally were built by monks for monks and pilgrims. There are many saints buried in the caves, and people still come for pilgrimages there. Tourists are only able to go into certain parts of the caves, but what we saw was very cool. We also went and saw St. Sophia, St. Michael's and St. Andrews. The churches here are gorgeous, the traditional onion dome that you see in pictures. We did end up getting completely lost one day, trying to find our way by ourselves. Unfortunately, this isn't the best city to get lost in, considering the different alphabet. It took a few hours, but we eventually found our way back.
Our meeting with the SDA went pretty much as expected. We were shown profiles of 4 sibling groups, all of which were older than what we initially wanted. We were also shown two single boys with some health issues. We chose a brother-sister sibling group to meet. About the SDA (for those of you who are about to go through this process): the psychologist we had was very nice. We were actually allowed to bring our translator in as they were short a translator that day. I think it helped us (at least me) to have our own person there. The one hour we had went by quickly. We narrowed it down to 2 groups pretty quickly - a sister group of 2 and the brother-sister we chose. The atmosphere over all was more relaxed than I anticipated.
The kids are in the Odessa region, south of Kiev. Our paperwork to meet them was completed on Wednesday, late afternoon, and this morning we left Kiev very early to travel to meet the kids. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about choosing these two, only because of their ages. Scott has always been open to any children of elementary school age; I wanted to stay between 4-7 yo. The boy is 9.5 yo (10 in August) and the girl just turned 8. They are in 2nd and 1st grade here.
We got to their town and first met with the Inspector - basically, the social worker who is in charge of the orphanages in this town. We spent some time with him, then he took us over to the orphange. We went to the orphanage director's office (she is actually growing lemon trees in there! of all things) and the group of us, including our translator, sat down to talk. Her questions to us were basic: who are we? where are we from? what do we do? do we have other kids? why did we choose these children? etc.
They then went to get the kids. For now, I'm going to refer to the boy as D and the girl as A, until everything is settled. A & D walked into the room, a little shy and nervous, as to be expected. Our translator told us that at their ages, they know why foreigners are there. The director had them introduce themselves and say a few things. For instance, D's favorite class is math, and A likes to learn Ukrainian.
We then spent about an hour or so with the kids, the translator, their main care worker, and the inspector. We asked some general questions of the kids, and they were very polite and engaging. We joked around a little bit with them, and they have actually been to America before, on a hosting trip. Scott & I told our translator that we would like to come back and spend more time with them in the afternoon.
So, we went back after lunch with a few toys and some treats. We played cars and colored with them, and they opened up some more. A is very outgoing and talkative (though she needs some speach therapy), and she is very cute. D is more reserved, and more serious - you can tell he has been taking care of her for awhile. D had a lot of fun playing with the cars though, and I think will relax with us in a couple of days. Both kids are overall in very good health, though they did not have any schooling before coming to the orphanage.
We definitely felt a connection with these two, and though we have until Monday to make our final decision, we are planning to move forward with adopting them. We will be able to spend a couple of hours an afternoon with them, and more time on the weekends. We are looking forward to bonding with them while we're here, to make the transition home easier.
So, I guess what we got for Valentine's Day are our (very hopefully) new kids! :)
Now that we're settled in to the town here, we will be updating this blog regularly. We will post pictures when we are able. Right now, we've only been able to use the internet cafes, so it's a bit difficult with the photos. We're trying to get wireless in our apartment. Next time, we'll also write more about life in this little village, which is definitely more Soviet-style than Kiev was.
happy valentine's day everyone!
We both really enjoyed what we saw of Kiev. The city is still obviously in transition, but it is very pretty, and at least where we were, very clean. The people dress fashionably, despite the cold. We hired a tour guide one day to take us over to the Lavra - a compound of multiple churches, museums and caves. The caves originally were built by monks for monks and pilgrims. There are many saints buried in the caves, and people still come for pilgrimages there. Tourists are only able to go into certain parts of the caves, but what we saw was very cool. We also went and saw St. Sophia, St. Michael's and St. Andrews. The churches here are gorgeous, the traditional onion dome that you see in pictures. We did end up getting completely lost one day, trying to find our way by ourselves. Unfortunately, this isn't the best city to get lost in, considering the different alphabet. It took a few hours, but we eventually found our way back.
Our meeting with the SDA went pretty much as expected. We were shown profiles of 4 sibling groups, all of which were older than what we initially wanted. We were also shown two single boys with some health issues. We chose a brother-sister sibling group to meet. About the SDA (for those of you who are about to go through this process): the psychologist we had was very nice. We were actually allowed to bring our translator in as they were short a translator that day. I think it helped us (at least me) to have our own person there. The one hour we had went by quickly. We narrowed it down to 2 groups pretty quickly - a sister group of 2 and the brother-sister we chose. The atmosphere over all was more relaxed than I anticipated.
The kids are in the Odessa region, south of Kiev. Our paperwork to meet them was completed on Wednesday, late afternoon, and this morning we left Kiev very early to travel to meet the kids. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about choosing these two, only because of their ages. Scott has always been open to any children of elementary school age; I wanted to stay between 4-7 yo. The boy is 9.5 yo (10 in August) and the girl just turned 8. They are in 2nd and 1st grade here.
We got to their town and first met with the Inspector - basically, the social worker who is in charge of the orphanages in this town. We spent some time with him, then he took us over to the orphange. We went to the orphanage director's office (she is actually growing lemon trees in there! of all things) and the group of us, including our translator, sat down to talk. Her questions to us were basic: who are we? where are we from? what do we do? do we have other kids? why did we choose these children? etc.
They then went to get the kids. For now, I'm going to refer to the boy as D and the girl as A, until everything is settled. A & D walked into the room, a little shy and nervous, as to be expected. Our translator told us that at their ages, they know why foreigners are there. The director had them introduce themselves and say a few things. For instance, D's favorite class is math, and A likes to learn Ukrainian.
We then spent about an hour or so with the kids, the translator, their main care worker, and the inspector. We asked some general questions of the kids, and they were very polite and engaging. We joked around a little bit with them, and they have actually been to America before, on a hosting trip. Scott & I told our translator that we would like to come back and spend more time with them in the afternoon.
So, we went back after lunch with a few toys and some treats. We played cars and colored with them, and they opened up some more. A is very outgoing and talkative (though she needs some speach therapy), and she is very cute. D is more reserved, and more serious - you can tell he has been taking care of her for awhile. D had a lot of fun playing with the cars though, and I think will relax with us in a couple of days. Both kids are overall in very good health, though they did not have any schooling before coming to the orphanage.
We definitely felt a connection with these two, and though we have until Monday to make our final decision, we are planning to move forward with adopting them. We will be able to spend a couple of hours an afternoon with them, and more time on the weekends. We are looking forward to bonding with them while we're here, to make the transition home easier.
So, I guess what we got for Valentine's Day are our (very hopefully) new kids! :)
Now that we're settled in to the town here, we will be updating this blog regularly. We will post pictures when we are able. Right now, we've only been able to use the internet cafes, so it's a bit difficult with the photos. We're trying to get wireless in our apartment. Next time, we'll also write more about life in this little village, which is definitely more Soviet-style than Kiev was.
happy valentine's day everyone!
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