Bitaemo Kyiv!!

Got up in morning after a pretty good sleep. Found out that Donna’s pack got left in Vancouver. Got all ready to leave Frankfurt on the plane and everything, when low and behold, the plane was not working. So, everything and everyone from that plane had to transferred to another plane. This was the second delay we had traveling with Lufthansa. So the lesson is: Maybe the German trains run on time, but so far both our flights on a German airline left an hour late.

Going through Ukrainian customs was a breeze and the 75 pairs of shoes made it through with no hassle. Leonid, our drive, was there to meet us at the airport, and as soon as he spotted Murray in the crowd and connected him his name as “Long”, he chuckled! It was close to 1 hour to drive to our apartment. Traffic is quite horrendous in the streets of Kyiv, although we have experienced more hair-raising drives in our travels through the Philippines, and other parts of SE Asia.

Our apartment is in downtown Kyiv, with a combined living/bedroom, small kitchen, bathroom with a washer/dryer combo. There is a huge grocery store next door where we stocked up on food, and Murray wanted to try out other Ukrainian beers beside the Slavutych he’s used to getting at Folkfest. The weather is sunny and warm. We are spending the evening relaxing in our apartment, still somewhat tired from the jet lag.

Driving through the streets in Kyiv, many sights looks familiar to Donna who was here in 1987 (St. Sophia Sobor; St. Andrew’s Church, Dynamo Stadium), although the place has changed dramatically with many, many more new, luxurious cars on the streets, more colour for signs, people dressed very nicely, and more Soviet style propaganda replaced by Ukrainian nationalism---blue & yellow flags (take note of the banner on our blog), signs proclaiming “I’m Ukrainian”, or “For Ukraine”, etc.

After all the effort we’ve put into this adoption process for the past three years, we can hardly believe that we are finally in Ukraine!

The Travails of Travels....

Guutentaag from Frankfurt!! We are in Europe!

Our flight arrived in Frankfurt at 11:20 a.m., just about the time Murray predicted our arrival with the 1 hour delay leaving Vancouver. We then flew right over Fort McMurray. (Natasha and Kara: We asked the pilot to beep his horn when he flew over. Did you guys hear it?)
Our flight went over close to the north pole, and it remained bright and sunny the entire 10 ½ hr trip. Our seats were on the outside of plane, but near the stairs going down to the toilet rooms---yes these were located “downstairs” on the plane-----and people waiting for their turn would take up rather “loud” conversations with other travelers. So we got little sleep on the flight and arrived in Frankfurt quite tired, only to discover that Donna’s backpack got left behind somewhere. So we are waiting for her stuff. But don’t worry, she looks pretty good in Murray clothes as long as she rolls up the legs. Actually Donna was smart enough to exchange sets of clothes between her bag and Murrays....he did not give any pants!

We certainly do hope Donna’s backpack will catch up with us in Frankfurt so we can take it with us when we clear customs in Ukraine. We already learned of other families whose bags did not make it with them, and ended up with missing stuff from their bags because they weren’t present when Ukrainian customs went through them. I’m not so concerned about my clothing and personal items. It’s the adoption related stuff, and stuff we have for the kids that I wouldn’t want to go missing.

We spent the afternoon walking around “Romer” area in Frankfurt; many of the buildings had not been destroyed during WWII, so there are plenty of interesting old buildings to see as we walked around the cobble streets. With little sleep and jet lag, we were wavering in the afternoon, and decided to stop for a coffee. There are lots of bakery style coffee shops in Frankfurt with tasty treats. It was interesting trying to explain to the server that Donna wanted decaf latte and she did not understand. A customer standing next to me called someone and said “decaf”. She got off the phone and said “decaf is impossible”. Okay, let’s add lots of milk to the latte instead! Murray himself is quite into the German beer. PROST!!!

Heading Out

A-minus 6 days. A week from today is our appointment at the SDA. We spent today packing up and getting things ready as we leave tomorrow. We got everything we planned to take into one backpack each, one carry on each, plus one huge duffle bag of 75 pairs or DAWGS kids shoes, and other stuff for the orphanage. It's been a few years since we last traveled internationally, so we had to remind ourselves of what we really needed for this trip, verses what would be nice to have. So that meant limiting the clothes we are taking, pouring shampoo and soap into smaller bottles, and going over the medications twice to make sure we had everything we needed---for us and the children. With the commotion around the kitchen island getting the bags packed, the cats could sense there was something going on. And they even slept on one of the bags. Should we just pack them up with us!

Thanks to everyone for vistis, emails and phone calls, sending us prayers and good wishes for our journey ahead. We really appreciate all your support and encourage during this time in our lives. We also want to thank everyone who's helped us to get ready for this adoption----everything from doing translations, finishing the deck, "kiddifying the house", cleaning the house, designing our blog banner, driving us to the airport.....and so much more!

We been wating for this day to come for so many years, that it's hard to believe its finally here. "Pa Pa" for now (Ukrainian for "bye bye") and we'll be in touch again from Frankfurt & Kyiv. We love to read your posts on our blog.