Wednesday August 29, 2007

Hello Everyone:
Thanks to everyone who is following our journey. Thanks for all the nice comments.

Today was another eventful day. Angelina picked us up about 10:45. We dropped off the original paper to the judge first, then onto passport pictures, then went to see his grandma which was probably the most important thing we did today in the grand scheme of things, and then we visited Olga at the orphanage to complete paperwork with her, have champagne and chocolates for a toast.

The visit with Grandma was very enlightening to say the least. She is older and in poor health. Her apartment is shared with Sergey's stepsisters, Nina and Marina, ages 21 and 18 who we also met. It is a one bedroom apartment with a small living room and a tiny kitchen and tiny bathroom. Over here the toilet is in a separate small room from the sink and the shower. It also appears that other people may also share the apartment, such as Nina and Marina's aunt and children?? Grandma told us that while she would love to raise Sergey she is too old and in too poor of health. His sisters (half sisters) are not financially capable of raising him because they are in school and also work to support themselves so there is no way for them to raise him although they would like to. Grandma had tears of joy to be able to meet us and is very happy for Sergey that he has a forever family. We probably spent an hour or two talking through the translator with grandma. The sisters could speak some English but we talked with them mainly through the translator. They have a computer and we will keep them informed about Sergey. It is very helpful for us to meet them and know his background. By the way, I am not sure how they got all his pictures, but all the pictures we took of him at Christmas were at grandma's house. I am so glad she has them and looks at them often. We can send more. When Sergey wanted to take some of them we told him we have a duplicate set in America and he should leave them for grandma. My observation here is that Rex got the 21 year old with her own apartment, just in a very different way than he ever expected - not that we will have that much contact - but it is interesting how the universe delivers what you think about.

Well, more Ukrainian observations if you are not tired of them.
For the families travelling to the Ukraine in the near future and working with Angelina- do not sweat the gift buying. It appears as though Ukrainian champagne, Ukrainian chocolates and cognac are the gifts of choice for the judge, and others, which Angelina helped us pick out and then she distributed. We did give some of the gifts we brought to the regional officials. The rest of them we simply gave to Olga to distribute to the orphanage workers. We also brought toys for Sergey to leave with his friends, which we left with Olga due to the fact the orphanage was closed. Angelina has a driver named Valera, who you will pay $10.00 per hour for his assistance. At first I thought it unnecessary, but after seeing how they drive (a little crazy like all of Europe), park, and move the vehicle around while we were doing paperwork, it is necessary so her car is not destroyed. Also, bring paper and pens to write on and with. There is a scarcity of pens here and no paper to be found anywhere!!!! Also, bring handi wipes. They will be used more than the sanitizer in the jar. I noticed Angelina carries them also. They are lightweight and easy to pack.

Observations about the country, food, etc.
Sergey is a common name in the Ukraine - have met at least five or six other Sergey's.

It is not an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) friendly country. Potholes, manholes, curbs without wheelchair accessibility, buildings with no elevators and going up the steps of these buildings is like the blind leading the blind - no lights.

One more comment about the toilets - they do not flush the toilet paper here, they put it in the trash. However, I could not bring myself to put the toilet paper in the trash and have flushed it. But Sergey puts his in the trash.

Another comment about our bathroom in the hotel, it is all black tile, including the ceiling.

Today on the way to Sergey's grandma's apartment we went past private houses - OH MY - it reminded us of the houses the slaves lived in down South. Rex remembers driving by them on family vacations when he was six or seven. These "houses" look in much worse repair than the apartments. They all have corrugated tin on the roofs. I believe the apartment buildings also have corrugated tin for rooftops if we could see the top of them.

Money is hryvnia (grivna) and is a 5:1 exchange to the USD. Therefore it takes 5 hryvnia to buy 1 USD and 100 hryvnia for 20 USD. Their bill denominations are 1,2,5,10, 20, 50, 100,200. I am not sure if they have 500 and 1000 denominations also, because we have not exchanged that much money, but I have seen those bills in a magazine.

Here the wedding ring is worn on the right ring finger.

I mentioned that everyone has a cell phone and today on the playground I saw a three year old handling her parents cell phone. Also, many have two and three cell phones. Angelina was talking on two phones at once and gave us her third one so she could call us. WOW!

There is alot of pollution here. We saw several smokestacks spewing out alot of pollution from the coal mines below the city. Sunday was National Coal Miner's Day with a big parade and on Monday we saw several hungover men lying on park benches.

They only toast their bread on one side!!

The staff at the hotel are service oriented. They are Pinnacalized for all of our chiropractic friends following our journey!!!

Sergey has watched Nickelodean channel here - and the cartoons are similiar just in Russian.

Well, we travel tomorrow morning at 5:40. I am not sure whether I will get to post anything else until we get home. I do not know where the apartment is we are staying in Thursday and Friday so not sure if we can find an internet cafe!

We leave Saturday around noon for Amsterdam and then around 3:30 from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. It is nine hours.
Rex, Liz & Sergey