On a Wing and a Prayer

It's official.  The Ericksons have landed in Ukraine!  True to form every plane was late except for the last one to Kiev but we made it and on time!  I will never carry that much carry on luggage again!  We dressed for really cold weather but so far every plane, shuttle and building  we have travelled in or visited has been really hot but I suppose that makes for interesting travel smells.  

It is a very humbling feeling being somewhere that we are the ones who do not understand the language or protocols.  Riding from the airport with our driver just taking in all the signs in a different language, strange sites and so much evidence that we come from a land of plenty.  At the same time it is so liberating to give up all control and kind of do as we are told and being okay with doing things a different way.   Our driver went with us to get a phone, some local currency and some groceries.   It was a very uncomfortable experience grocery shopping as we knew our driver had many things to do and we had no clue in the store but we got some things;)  It really does take faith, trust and humility but in return there is calm.   Getting over all those really trivial luxuries and self determined standards of living definitely gets your heart and mind in the right place.   Gee all this shock and we still have things like hot water, heat, internet, TV here.

We have a break today to shake off our travel and rest up a bit and prepare for our Wednesday morning appointment with the SDA where we hope to procure a referral for Y.  If all goes as planned we should be able to pick up our approved referral on Thursday and take the overnight train to Simferopol where the orphanage is and meet with the orphanage director Friday morning.   And then finally we will see our amazing little Y and spend some time with her.   As we understand it on weekdays our visits will be limited to a couple of hours after school and before dinner but on weekends we should have more time to spend.     Our facilitator will be busy collecting all the approvals and paperwork from the area local to the orphanage as well as book a court date for the upcoming adoption hearing.  Then the facilitator will take those back to the SDA in Kiev by early next week where multiple approvals over a long ten business day period are acquired and brought back for our court date. 

It is snowing at a good pace outside now and looking forward to bundling up and getting out and about later this morning and will try and get some pics of this winter wonderland up later today.  Our apartment is located around "Dream Town" which from what I've been able to understand is a mall with three floors of grocery, shopping and restaurants.   And as much of the living spaces we have seen so far in Kiev most are expansive ten story condominium type buildings in various states of disrepair.

Our apartment is no exception to the excessive temperature we have had the window open most of the time as we have not yet been successful controlling the temp with the limited controls. So thankful it is hot and not cold extreme.  I just keep thinking this has got to be costing someone a fortune or it's just because we are on the fifth floor.  The apartment seems to have been recently remodeled and has everything we need including a washing machine.   The rooms in the apartment each have a color theme with textured wall paper and what looks like a colored plexi glass on the ceilings.  It's kinda neat but I wouldn't want to keep it forever.  Here are some pictures of the temporary pad :

There are sparkles in the wall paper...

The blue room bedroom

You've heard of a welcoming red door?  This is a welcoming red entryway

The Green Room where we'll sit, wait, and bone up on Cave Man Russian

Kitchen Light