A very Interesting Day

Don...


I really don't want to bore people reading this blog with the normal everyday stuff that goes on in this part of the world, but I have to say that even the routine stuff amazes me. I grew up in upstate New York and now live in a nice suburb of Pittsburgh. My multicultural experiences are limited to a few years of living in Mississippi while in the military and a couple short trips outside the country. I have never experienced life the way these people do in southeastern Ukraine.


Let's start with the market. It is only open for a short while on Fridays, and Saturdays. The weather was bitter cold here today at the market. The temperature was only a modest 30 degrees but the air here feels much different than at home. It is damp and goes right to the bone. I am including a few photos of the market place.

You have never seen a better selection of coats and boots. Seriously!

Just Like the Mall

Produce Section

The Russian Built Cars are all very Similar

The people were very nice. This one lady knew we were American and wanted me to take her photo. This one I am including is the second one I took because she didn't like the way she looked in the first one. She asked me to repeat it one more time.

 

She was really very friendly to us.

We also went around today to get more of the paperwork accomplished for the adoption. We visited several government offices and our translator worked all day to get this done for us. We are hoping for the best case scenario that would get us a court date and the children awarded to us prior to the holidays here. That will be no easy task. If we do not receive the court date, then we will have to come back in January and stay much longer than originally planned. Our hope was to come back, take the kids to Kyiv, clear the immigration and passport process, fly back and live happily ever after.

Statue of Lenin

I made the mistake when walking by this government building and asking why the statue of Lenin hadn't been torn down yet. I received a dirty look. I guess some people here think he was an OK guy.

So on the last post we had a video of Roman writing his new name. I have also included a video of Natalia when the kids came to our apartment last night to celebrate a belated birthday party for her with a few gifts. Her birthday was in November. We will be celebrating Roman's birthday in the apartment tomorrow as he turns 14. He told us that he has never had a birthday party. How sad!

OK, That's our little girl (Natalia Marie). She is soon to have three new sisters and three new brothers. At least they are all out of the house and she won't get to be the little sibling that get's picked on all the time like I was.


That's all for now. I don't expect to make a another post until tomorrow after the birthday party. By the time Rocky and I get done with this blog you could have read a good novel. If you are reading this blog for the first time, you might want to start with the OLDER POST which has a link down at the bottom of the page.


Have a Great weekend!