Bad News / Good News

Photos:
1. On the phone at the Central Post Office
2. Robin at outdoor cafe near the Golden Gate (the main entrance to the ancient city - 1037)
3. Kvas (local fermented drink) tank and dealer at Lev Tolstoy Square
4. Meats and fruit for sale at the Bessarabsky Market

[Phil]

So, the morning after we got the referral to visit the 4-year-old with the joint problems, I did some research on the internet and it turned out that her syndrome (arthrogryposis) was lifelong and might require permanent assisted living. In short, she's a major special needs case, although her mental development is quite good. We decided that it would have been too much of a challenge for us, so we decided not to make the visit. Since there are no more adoptable girls in ou age range, we'll be returning to the US next week (Tuesday), which is the good news. I have to say, yesterday was a very sad day after we made the decision, but we're looking forward to coming back in the fall when perhaps more children will be up for adoption.

We're back at our borsch restaurant, this time for buffet style lunch. It was very good and inexpensive, and of course the staff knows us by now. We came in yesterday to post on the blog, but the wi-fi was down, so this has been our first chance to post. That reminds me, in addition to the very disappointing news about our potential adoptee, yesterday also fearured several other things that made it one of the almost-comically horrible days either of us has had. I'll let Robin explain.

[Robin]

It seemed at every turn things were going wrong. As my staff would understand, we were the "cursed couple". For example, our cell phone minutes expired mid-phone call with the airlines. So we made our way to the only place we knew with international phone access--the Central Post Office. The system was ancient and baffling. We finally figured out that you had to pay the cashier in advance, after which she handed you a card with your phone booth number on it and the way to dial out (anyone else know what "=" stands for ..... apparently it means"pause") we managed, after a couple tries to connect with Cheapoair (laugh with us here....Sherry, be prepared!) . We waited on hold for 20 minutes in a very small, sweaty-smelling telephone booth to finally connect with a representative who asked for our confirmation number to look up our reservation. He put us on hold for 5 minutes and then hung-up on us. I wanted to scream. We regrouped and bought a phone card for our apartment. I say "we" here...Phil (thank god for him) managed to ask the very mean attendant to buy a card, she really didn't want to be of help, but grundgingly gave us a card when Phil persisted. We went back to our apartment to be on hold with Delta (realize here that 800 numbers don't work in Europe) only to reach someone who after much questionning offered us a flight on the 16th for another $400 and with an overnight stay in Paris. We decided to pursue other options the next morning. In shock, we headed immediately following this phone call to the Belgian restaurant near our apartment for vodka and fries (mayonnaise on the side). Ha! We now know why people walk down the street here with a bottle of beer in their hands (Phil says beer is like a soft drink here, so no one looks aghast at these people).

[Phil]

Robin also forgot to mention that the housekeeper (who we thought was the broker) walked in on us as we were in our underwear and asked us when we were leaving. And then later I wanted to visit Lev Tolstoy Square, hoping that it would be really pretty and green with a statue of the man himself. Instead (after a long walk) it was a busy, exhaust-filled roundabout with a big dirty metro station. No statue, no nothing. We did, however, get to visit a large indoor market nearby (photo above). Very Ukrainian. Lots of flowers and hanging meats.

[Robin]

After a relatively sleepless night (Phil was talking emphatically in Russian to someone in his sleep] worrying about how the double hockey sticks we were going to get out of Kiev before the 16th, we woke to a pretty, sun-filled day. We internet surfed our way to tickets back to the US and we will arrive on the evening on the 7th of August (I must interject her Dr. Nagueh's-- "God willing" refrain).

[Phil]

Okay that's all for now. We'll probably back here tomorrow to post again. Right now we're going to attempt to go the Chernobyl museum again. Hopefully it's not a Sanitary Day.