Wednesday, March 05, 2008

03-05-2008 (written on 3/9/08) Kiev

Another eventful day with little sleep to start it off! This morning at 8am a driver arrived and Dad, the kids, and I piled in and drove to the US Embassy again. We went in to an amazingly smooth process and filed the paperwork, paid the fees, and headed back out. Both the kids were angelic and sat with my Dad through everything. Not only that, but Emma’s visa was already ready to be printed when we were leaving and Micah’s would likely be done within two hours. Yay! We could come back at 2:30 or later to pick up our completed visas and our flights for tomorrow don’t have to be changed!!

From there we went home and regrouped a little. We gathered our things again and set out for a little adventure in Kiev. First we walked to the Funicular (cable car) that brings us down to the bottom of a huge hill that otherwise is a very long and steep walk. It costs a whole 50 kopets (10 cents) to ride and was well worth it! At the bottom was a site I was longing to see… McDonald’s! I know, it’s sad, but 7 weeks in a foreign country and 4 of them in a rural area make McDonald’s look like real golden arches!

Yes, I dragged my dad to McDonald’s in Ukraine and I’m sure he’ll have to face the ridicule for it later. But boy did it taste good! They have potato wedges in their McD’s that we don’t have here and they’re pretty tasty too.

After McD’s we went to a pharmacy to get nose drops just in case for the kids for the flights. Both were a little congested and I didn’t want them to have sinus issues in flight. Then we exchanged some cash for Hrivna and walked on down to Irina’s house. That’s the family I stayed with our second trip through Kiev and Mike stayed with them on his way home too. I wanted to introduce them to our new children as well as pick up some things at their house.

We had a nice visit although it was short because I’d set up for the driver to pick me up just before 4 at the apartment and we still needed to go to the supermarket and walk home. I enjoyed our visit very much though and hope to one day see them again.

Then it was off for the essentials- diapers, wipes, formula, baby food, water, chocolate, and Coke . Back to the Funicular and to the apartment with about 30 minutes to spare!

My brave father kept both kids and I went to the embassy and picked up their passports and the ‘secret envelopes’ with all the paperwork needed for immigration at the airport.

We ended the day by walking to the underground food court for some Ukrainian pizza and a walk around the underground mall. Then back to the apartment to pack and get the kids bathed and down for bed. Unfortunately this wasn’t such a simple process and although the kids were down around 10 it was probably 1 am before Dad or I went to bed.

Luckily Dad slept well although he said the bed (couch) was a little less comfortable on night #2. I wasn’t so lucky as to even notice if the bed was comfortable because I didn’t spend any time in it. Micah was up with diarrhea all night long. He went through 2 outfits and must have filled 6 diapers in a short night. He also drank and drank which I was fine with because I didn’t want him dehydrated. I spent half the night in a chair in the kitchen and the other half laying in bed rocking Micah in the stroller. Not a great start to our day filled with flights home!

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