Tuesday August 28, 2007

Hello Everyone:
Today was a very eventful day. Angelina met us at 8:45 AM and we were off to do precourt paperwork and pick up Olga, the orphanage director. She was a little worried because the final original stamped document had not arrived and was concerned the judge would not grant the hearing without it. However, she was able to convince the judge that the faxed document was as good as the original prior to the hearing. Judge was late for the hearing as he has another hearing. Hearing began about 10:30. It only lasted a short period, but the judge did ask us questions. He also asked Sergey questions. He did grant the request to waive the ten day waiting period!! Hallelujah! Prayers have been answered!!!! After the court hearing we did some more regional documentation in Donetsk and Angelina was going to pick up Sergey's passport with his new name later today. We saw his new birth certificate with his name change and Sergey was pleased. Tomorrow we will finish up the last regional paperwork, finish up the final paperwork at the orphanage and pick up his luggage from the orphanage, and visit his Ukrainian grandmother to say goodbye. Thursday we will have his medical appointment and Embassy appointment in Kiev. We would like to fly Friday, but due to the holiday weekend, ticket availability was better on Saturday, so we will come home Saturday. We are finalizing the flight details and let you know that tomorrow.

Some other Ukrainian observations for those that are interested. Most of the toilets here are the flush type, however, we have encountered some Turkish toilets (this is the squat type - but they do have porcelain bases for your feet - a little better than those we encountered in Italy for those of you who went on that trip with us!) We have not had to pay to use any toilets, however, we have had to use our own tissue a couple of times. Their toilet tissue is many different grades. In the hotel it is similiar to our cheaper toilet paper. At the Internet Cafe it is brown - somewhat like paper towel quality, but I do not mind it. As for shopping, there are no big box stores here, however, we did go to two nice malls in Kiev and one very nice department store in Donetsk where they had everything from clothes, to jewelry, to cell phones, to a grocery store all together in about a six story building. On the other hand, there are also open air markets with fruits, vegetables, etc., but Angelina tells us they are not all legal, especially the ones selling the fresh warm unpasteurized milk and the fresh meat that is not refrigerated, which we pass every time we go the federal buildings. Then their is the bazaar which is close to the Internet cafe and to Lenin Square. We ventured over there a couple times - part of it is outdoors and part of it is indoors. Then there are the street vendors, especially, the one along the street to the Internet cafe that is selling school supplies - the typical things, paper, pencils, books, pens, pencil cases, all the typical things you would get in America - just in Russian. Sergey got a pen there today and the English book - 5th Form that I talked about earlier. Then there are the private stores much like you see in small town America which I ventured into yesterday looking for a gift bag. Surprisingly, most of the shopping in Kiev was underground. There was a huge underground mall under the Mandarin Mall. You could buy furniture there as well as kitchen supplies, computers, TV's, kids clothes, shoes, etc., really everything but groceries. The cities have access to many things if you have the money to purchase it. In Ukraine, that is the biggest challenge. Doctors make $150.00 USD per month or 750.00 hryvnia per month. That is their middle class. Teachers make $60.00 USD per month or 300.00 hryvnia. Angelina said the judges make a little more than the doctors per month. I'm not sure what the coal miners make. Very interesting culture - where the people are very educated but their jobs do not support them above bare essentials. Oh, their homes are pretty much all apartments. Angelina told us her apartment was not much bigger than our hotel room. They inherited it from her husband's grandmother, therefore they live in Gorlovka, even though she is from southern Ukraine. When we were in Gorlovka lst week we passed rows and rows of apartments that looked the Chicago ghetto flats on the outside. I am not sure what the inside looked like. And by the way, the courtroom today - wait until you see the pictures.

Enough for today. Will post more tomorrow.
Rex, Liz and Sergey