Sasha called us around 11 this morning telling us to be ready to go to the notary in a half hour. So, off we went, downstairs to meet our driver. We seemed to be getting closer to where Olivia’s family is staying. “I wonder if we’re picking them up?” Yes, we were. They needed to go to the notary too.

We went there to make a paper to apply for the kids’ passports. It did not take long. It is so funny… Sasha translates the whole thing for us. Then we sign both papers. Then, they give us the official copies to sign. I am not sure what they do with the official copies, but I swear I saw them rip them up the first time we went to the notary. Like, please sign this. We need you to practice your signature before you sign anything official.

After we were done at the notary, the driver took Olivia’s parents back to get ready for court and Aaron, Sasha and I hung out in the mall, waiting for him to come back. Sat there and talked, asking Sasha all of the questions I have been wanting answered. Very important things. Like what kind of vodka I should get my sister for Christmas.

Then the driver returned and off we went to run another errand, before heading home. Sasha wanted to take care of what she could for us today so that we can get everything possible done on Friday.

Our most exciting thing we did today is to book our tickets home! We’ll be flying in to Kansas City at 6:40pm on Christmas Eve! I cannot wait!

I feel like we have so much to get done before we go. We want to get gifts for some of the people who have been good to us and Ilya and Lena. People at the orphanage, Sasha, our driver, Ilya and Lena’s friends at the orphanage. Exchange some money. Try to find pull-ups. Market tomorrow for boots for the kids.

Before we left, I took all of the money and divided it up into envelopes marked for different things. “Facilitator.” “Visas.” “Passports.” One of my envelopes was marked “Orphanage Donation/Dossier Prep” from the Reece’s Rainbow handbook. Well, the orphanage donation was apparently a part of our facilitator fee and we do not need to give them an additional donation. The cost of our plane tickets was a bit more than expected. I believe because we are flying so close to Christmas. But without that extra fee, it all works out. Yay!

We showed up at the orphanage at our regular time. Aaron went upstairs to get Lena, while Olivia’s parents and I waited downstairs for someone to get Ilya and Olivia. Aaron came back down about 10 minutes later and told us that the kids were in quarantine and we could not visit them.

Disappointing, especially for Olivia’s family, who will only be here until tomorrow. And the kids will also be quarantined tomorrow.

We thought since we know had lots of time and a driver who we were already planning on paying for 3 hours, we’d stop at the supermarket and the outdoor market. Well, the outdoor market is closed on Mondays! So, we just stopped at the supermarket and were home by 11. A disappointing day, but I hope that the kids will be feeling better by the time we break them out and I’ll be feeling 100% too!

How was the train ride from Kyiv to where you are now?
It was not bad, but very long– 15 hours. We had first class tickets, because that is all Nikolei could get for us. The train left at 7:40. We slept for awhile, about 9:30 until about 5am for me. I was very concerned that we’d get off at the wrong place, which really should not have been a concern, because Sasha hopped on and got us. The bathrooms really are as disgusting as everyone says, though. Everything in them is wet. Bring hand sanitizer and wipes. 


What is your flat like in this city?
It is huge! We pay about $45USD/day. We have internet (obviously) and cable TV, which gets channels in many different languages. The English channels, either 1 or 2 of them, are not so good.

This is our kitchen, of course. Refrig, Stove, Microwave, Sink, no oven.

This is the living room. The couch pulls out into a second bed.

This is the washing machine in the bathroom, very small and no dryer. This thing shakes so hard it will knock off whatever is on top of it. And in this case, it disconnected a bit from the waterline and leaked a bit.

This is the bedroom, very big. The bed is futon-like and not super comfortable.


Do you get any sense of the general politics there?
No. Not really. There is a very big statute of Lenin, and then down a few blocks, there is a very big statue of Artoma, a revolution leader (don’t ask me more about him!). 


What are you doing about language? Will you have them only speak English, or will you try to continue Ukrainian (or Russian)? Do they speak Russian as well as Ukrainian?
They’ll speak all English. In this region, they only speak Russian. As I understand it, it is best for an adopted child to lose their first language and learn exclusively their parents’ language to bond with their parents. If they want to relearn Russian or learn Ukrainian when they’re older, we’d be happy to help them pursue that.


Are you taking a cab back/forth to the orphanage?
We have a driver. Same guy, every day. He waits at the orphanage during our visit. His name is Oleg and he is a great guy, so nice and tries to speak English to us. A taxi costs about $12.50 per visit. A driver costs about $22.50 + tip per visit. We tried a taxi the first day and he had to stop twice and ask for directions. Our taxi on the way home smelled horrible and I was about ready to vomit. Of course, most taxi drivers don’t speak English and don’t know we don’t speak Russian. I didn’t think I could deal with the surprise of a new taxi driver each day. We decided to hire a driver. Now, we share our driver with Olivia’s family, which cuts the cost down a lot. I am very happy with our driver and he will stop wherever we ask for an additional cost, which is great for getting things like groceries.