Sunday in Kiev

Today we had lunch with three facilitators and two other couples who were adopting. Interestingly, in the middle of Kiev we were sitting at a Japanese resturant. The new couple we met was L2 and B2 from Manitoba. We reviewed the procedures for our appointment at the adoption centre and talked about what else might happen during our trip. After this we went to a dark and smoky internet cafe where I caught up on the last few days. Just to let everyone know...things are going very well. We are really excited to be over here, there are good people helping us, and, most importantly, we will be meeting the little one soon. We decided we would try to walk back to our apartment. Unfortunately, all of the buildings look the same and we got a bit lost. We decided to get a cab around 4:00 pm because it was getting dark. The sun sets really early here. The cab cost $3.00 but the driver did not have any change. He tried a couple of nearby stands but to no avail. Eventually he settled for about $2.50.

Candace's mother phoned around 5:00 pm. It was nice to hear a voice from home. At 6:00 pm we walked about 15 minutes to join the other couples for supper. We were joined by a teacher from Saskatchewan who is working in Kiev. We ate at an authentic restaurant called "Kozak Mamay". I had the chicken kiev which seemed appropriate given the city we were visiting. Walking home I was struck by a couple of things - the people here are very affectionate, and everyone smokes everywhere. Once back at the apartment, Candace and I did some laundry in the tub and sink. With our appointments tomorrow and Tuesday, all of us are getting quite anxious. That being said, as a result of our cumulative efforts, there will be four or five Ukrainian children living in Canada in 2007.