Yesterday We Moved

Yesterday morning we were awakened at about 10:30am (don't judge us for sleeping in so late it's really hard to fall asleep when it's 7 hrs ahead here), it was our facilitator, Yulia. She told us to have everything packed by noon, we were moving apartments and she was going to have a driver a named Sasha pick us up. Sasha would have a USB broadband modem for us so we could have internet in our new apartment. We weren't so excited about moving apartments or only having an hour and a half to pack everything. We had just learned our way away around from our apartment and we had stocked up on groceries the night before. But, the idea of having internet at our disposal made up for the lack of timely notice.

We packed and then waited outside. Of course they did not show up until 12:45pm. Ukrainian's are always late! I am not overstereotyping, it's just the way it is. Sasha pulls up, hopes out of the car, and runs over to us; he spoke no English. The only words I understood were Yulia and Sasha. There is two other people in his tiny car already, some lady who works with Yulia and her daughter. I get the privilege of sitting in the back middle seat. I suddenly have flashbacks of my childhood, the five kids in our family piling into our Mercury Lynx. I'm just hoping that I don't get car sick, as I am prone to do, as Sasha drives like a maniac barely squeezing his tiny car between parked cars and other moving vehicles, over bumpy cobblestone roads. We finally get to our new apartment; when we enter the hallway it is dark and really rundown. There are stairs that are falling apart; the tile on them and in the hall is chipped and broken. There is a small elevator. I'm pretty sure this may be the oldest elevator in the world. It's pretty scary looking and I was pretty nervous to get in it. There is only room for this lady and myself to get in it. I'm a little relieved because Drew is carrying some heavy bags and I seriously question whether or not this elevator could handle that kind of weight. Plus, I figure if the elevetor plumates down to the ground, at least only one of our kids parents will die.

We enter the apartment and it is actually way nicer than our first apartment. The kitchen has new appliances, the bathroom is clean and doesn't reak of urine, which is always a bonus. The tile in the bathroom is new, blue, and shiny, and it has a huge bathtub. We pay this lady $100 USD to stay here two nights. $50 a night is actually pretty cheap in Kyiv; imagine trying to find a clean, safe apartment in NYC for that price. She gives us a usb modem and tells the instructions are in the box. I was pretty excited at the thought of having internet there in our apartment. I could skype with our boys back home, stream some Netflix, or watch Hulu! I immediately open the box; yes, there are instructions but they are written in Cyrillic. In case you're wondering, no Drew and I do not know Cyrillic. I'm trying not to be angry as I watch all my internet dreams vanish. We still haven't figured out how to use it. Thankfully we are a short walk from the "Coffee House" chain; which is basically Starbucks, only the espresso is heavenly.

Shortly after getting to our new apartment we get another phone call. "Hello, I am Alex. I work with Yulia. I meet you at Ministry of Adoption today at 3 oclock. OK?" I reply "OK." Alex says, "OK, we talk more there. Bye." We had to go back to the SDA/Ministry of Adoption to pick up our official referral papers to adopt Kole. We quickly unpack at our new apartment and head out for a walk. We grab a quick snack to eat and then head to the bank to exchange some more USD into UAH money, because we are not certain if there will be banks near where we are staying once we travel to Kole's region. Then we start making our way toward the Ministry of Adoption office. Drew has gotten really good at reading the maps we have, even though they are in Cyrillic. Who knew that Greek would actually come in handy some day; it has surprisingly been a help since Cyrillic was derived from Greek. At least Drew can recognize certain letters enough for us to make our way around the city with ease.

We arrive at the SDA a little early and wait for Alex. He shows up right about 3:00pm. Amazing! Someone was on time. We go inside, wait in line for a few minutes, show our passports, sign something and pick up our papers. We go back outside and Alex explains that he will drive us to Kole's city because the train doesn't go there. We will leave Sunday between 2-3pm and it is about 500km away. Alex is clean shaven, has short hair, is dressed very American and drives a really nice car with leather seats. There are mullets everywhere; Drew has been taking pictures so we will have a little Eastern European Mullet Album to share when we get home. Seriously though, I feel like I am in a Billy Ray Cyrus music video. We are happy that we will be driving in Alex's car to see Kole. Have I mentioned that none of the cars here have seatbelts in the back seat? Well, Alex's car does! Yeah, atleast as we are flying at ridiculous speeds down the highway, I will be buckled in.

After we say goodbye to Alex outside the SDA we walk decide to walk back toward an Irish pub we spotted earlier that day. I'm not sure how much more McDonald's or unrecognizable food my intestines can handle. We get to the pub, go downstairs from the sidewalk and walk into a beautiful pub with big screen TV's. We sit down and they hand us a menu in ENGLISH! It's not cheap compared to what we have been eating, but we are starving and tired. So we order the things that seem most like American food off the menu. Our waitress brings us bread with butter and she sets a bottle of Heinz ketchup on the table. I smiled so big and said "ketchup." She laughed and said "you like Ketchup, yes?" Drew and I just laughed; we probably seem really weird to her. But they charge for ketchup packets at McDonalds so we haven't been getting any. If you know Drew at all it is quite impossible for him to have a meal without using half a bottle of ketchup.

Our meal was incredible. I had chicken and roasted potatoes, Drew had turkey wrapped in bacon with potatoe fries. There were sliced tomatoes and cucumbers on our plates and all the bread and butter we wanted. So yummy! They also had free wifi, so we called Lane and video skyped with Hudson and chatted with a couple of friends on facebook. It was a real pick-me-up.

After that we headed back to the apartment and did some reading for a couple hours. For dinner we ate some cups of noodles (think Ramen) and some crackers, we had purchased at the market. It made us feel less guilty of spending $25 at lunch, since our dinner cost about $2. After "dinner" we pulled out the laptop and watched a couple of episodes of "Sports Night" we brought with us on DVD. Great show by the way; another Aaron Sorkin masterpeiece. Just before the start of the last episode we watched, we popped a couple of Tylenol PM (which is our only hope of getting any zzzz's).

It's been difficult to sleep for a combination of reasons: 1) When we go to bed here around midnight, our bodies still feel like it is only 5pm. 2)Our bed at our first apartment was horrible, you could feel the springs sticking into your back. 3)I just can't stop thinking about Kole. I just want to be with him, and these days in Kyiv with nothing really to do are getting old.