We're not in Kansas anymore

Rocky...

After 23 hours of traveling, we finally made it to Kiev. We flew from Pittsburgh, to DC, to Frankfurt, to Kiev….three flights.  Another couple who hosted through New Horizons was on the Kiev flight with us (Rachael and Derrick Proctor from Michigan).  They are adopting a son (14) from an orphanage in the same region as ours. It was nice to see them.

 I feel like I missed a day somewhere in transit and I’m a little messed-up on sleep. I tried to sleep on the airplane but that did not work. Now it’s midnight here and I’m wide awake. Great! (We have a big day tomorrow - going to our long-awaited SDA appointment and I don’t want to have big circles under my eyes.) We are in a nice apartment, but it reeks of smoke and I can’t breathe right. You don’t have much choice about where you stay here….they have it all arranged for you and you don’t ask too many questions…the sentiment here is that Americans are spoiled….yes, I think we don’t realize how well-off we have it. This is not Kansas….

Kiev is a beautiful city, but it seems like life here is not vibrant.  A fellow from Finland (Kristians) rode beside us on the flight to Kiev and we had an interesting discussion about the difference in cultures between Ukraine, Finland, and the US (he travels to Ukraine often for work).  He told us that Ukraine is a “complicated” country that has a problem with corruption and getting the economy going.   It was only 20 years ago that the country was under Soviet rule…people were afraid to speak or say anything contrary to the Soviet Union. When you walk through the streets here today and meet the people, you can see a look on their faces that their life here is not easy. People look occupied, and generally, do not smile. There is a very high unemployment rate. Our translator said that the government does not like to have all these international adoptions occurring because countries with high adoption rates are poorer countries and they don’t want to be perceived that way here. Many people here want to see fewer adoptions, even if it means the children have to grow up in orphanages.

 If all goes well tomorrow at the SDA, we will get a letter giving us permission to go the orphanage and to start the process of getting an adoption hearing date. I just can’t wait for the day that we will go to the orphanage and give big hugs to Roman and Natalia…only 2 more days.