It Begins...again

We've made it to Kyiv with no delays or flight hiccups. We did get stuck in the very middle of the row on the Atlantic flight, which makes for very difficult sleeping conditions. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much getting here. Oh well, it will only help with adjusting to the time difference. So we haven't updated the blog with our progress, or lack thereof, as it was not in our best interest to post. I'm still not gonna post anything about what has transpired. We are here to adopt another child and we will pray that God finds little Vova a family. Our appointment is on Monday but due to very short notice, the cheaper flights were available on Wednesday. This will give us a few days to adjust and recover a bit. I've come down with a cold of sorts and I'm looking forward to sleep. We'll try to take in the sights around Kyiv, not to mention practice our caveman style Russian. Unfortunately, because we got here early in the afternoon, we can't fall asleep or it makes for a long night and next day. So to keep from falling asleep we went for a stroll around the apartment building and found the tank, the soccer stadium, and the open air market. Seriously, for any family that is coming over here, they'll take you grocery shopping to get you started, but that market rocks! It's got everything from motor oil to underwear to raspberries. Also, flying in to the city I noticed a lot of, well let's call them neighborhoods, but they're more like long streets with the homes at the front of a long lot. Behind each home was a huge garden. No wonder these kids like vegetables so much. Lisa and I got to practice our Russian, which we find a lot of fun being able to communicate with a complete stranger in a foreign country. Funny moment for the day came when Lisa was buying raspberries and the older lady said the price was 12 grivna. This is the equivalent of about a $1.50 for a pint...very reasonable. If my wife knew more Russian, I have no doubt she would have tried to negotiate it down. Well, we're learning the value of the various colors of paper money, and after trying to buy the pint with just a 2 grivna note, the lady said 12 again. Fine, here's a 100 grivna note. We finally get our change and satisfied we have communicated well, we start to walk away, forgetting our berries. You would have thought Lisa stole from her the way she was yelling at her to take her berries. Ah well, tomorrow's a new day and we can't wait to see what we find.