From Kyiv to Kramatorsk

[Phil]
So we left Kyiv last night at 6:30 pm for the 12-hour train trip to Kramatorsk. We had a private berth, which was a godsend because of all the junk we had with us. We watched the sights out the window until the sun went down and then we watched a DVD on our laptop. We slept off and on all night but felt okay when the conductress knocked on our door at 5:45 AM. We exited the train and were met by a gray day and light rain, i.e., my favorite kind of weather -- I took it to be a good omen. We were then immediately met by Kostya, our facilitator here, who hired a cab and took us to the surprisingly not-bad Hotel Kramatorsk. We have a small suite on the 6th floor. It has a mini-fridge, cable TV (Hour of Justice! Cash Cab in Moscow!), a sofa, large bathroom, and two twin beds. We’ll stay here for at least the next few days but may get an apartment after that. So Kostya then left us so that we could clean up and get some breakfast. He came back at 9:00 AM to take us to the Child Protection Official who had to approve our visit to the orphanage. We walked in the rain to the government building a couple of blocks away and met an attractive young woman who ended up being the Child Protection Official. We brought her some chocolates from Kyiv and she seemed surprised and delighted. We were there for only 15minutes or so before learning we could go straight away to the orphanage, which is located only a few blocks away. I’ll let Robin take over here.
[Robin]
A couple of notes about the train ride: 1) Although they have a dining car, they also have vendors that get on at each stop and call out their wares, for instance, "Pistachios", "Calamari[?]" and "Beer" (we had brought some junk food with us and that had to do for dinner); 2) The train is really slow in comparison to others I have traveled on in Europe and it swayed and bounced over the tracks and stopped at about six other stations on the way to our stop; 3) The berths were the sleeping areas, nothing pulled down or went up, you just snuggled up on a sheet (provided cleaned in a plastic bag) to go to sleep. When we arrived, I don’t know that I was quite so delighted to see the rain when we got off the train. There’s nothing like lugging a bunch of baggage around in the pouring rain. But I guess it was bound to happen, as we have had perfect weather on both trips up to today. When we were walking to the orphanage, it was through a tree-lined boulevard that reminded both Phil and me of Berlin. We went to the wrong building at first and then were redirected to the orphanage one building down. I have to say that I was surprised at how nice it was: a brightly colored playground, trashcans made to look like penguins, and murals of happy faced children on the windows next to the entrance. When we went inside we were seated with the orphanage director and the psychologist. They explained that Nastya was born with a cleft palate and had a non-threatening heart murmur, and did we understand that she is therefore a special needs child? This was not news to us, so we were not dismayed. They went onto say that they are very fond of her and that they cried and cried when the other couple decided not to adopt her. They described her as easy-going, but as a "character" that knows how to protect herself (and her toys). They said she was a little stand-offish, but they felt this showed intelligence. They said she makes efforts to learn and tries very hard with her speech therapist. Lastly, that she is not a crybaby and is easy to play with and well-liked by the staff and other children. Once we said we would like to meet her, they took us to another room where a very officious medical staffer went over her medical history and then the psychologist answered questions about her from us (What does she like to do? Does she play well with the other kids? etc.). Then they asked if we were "ready" to see her and went out of the room. Phil and I were a bundle of nerves. What would she think of us? Would she cry? Would we cry (well, that might just have been me thinking this)? Would she like the stuffed animal we bought her? How should we introduce ourselves?
[Phil]
They came back in and said that they had to change her into different clothes. About 10 minutes later they brought her in. She was very cute! They had her in a red jumper and red tights, and the jumper had a bear on it. The psychologist put her in front of us and told her, "You have some guests." I spoke to her in Russian, telling her hello and that we were happy to see her. Then the psychologist said "Do you want to sit in Mama’s lap?" (nudging her toward Robin). Nastya nodded and sat in Robin’s lap. I told her that we had a present for her, and we gave her a little stuffed bear. They asked if we had any candy. We had bought some in Kyiv but had left it at the hotel. So a staffer ran to get a chocolate that Nastya wasted no time in eating. They asked if we had any photos with us, so we brought out our photo album. This fascinated her to no end. She sat on my lap and I showed her pictures of Lola, our house, our family, etc. I told her that Lola likes to ride in the car. The psychologist asked her,"Do you want to ride in the car with the dog?" Nastya slightly smiled and nodded. I then turned the page to a photo of Julia and Madigan in princess costumes. She let out a delighted sound and grabbed the album from me. I said "Those are your cousins." She turned the pages of the album over and over. She especially loved the pictures of Lola, as most small children probably would. Then they suggested that we color with her. We sat down and a little table and she immediately started taking the crayons out of the box one by one and scribbling/coloring in the coloring book that we brought. The psychologist encouraged her to color inside the lines, and she would do it for a while and then go back to her scribbling. The psychologist quietly slipped out and left the 3 of us there alone.
[Robin]
We were impressed with her interest using different colors and her neatness in putting the crayons carefully back in the box. Then she reached for a ball on the desk and we proceeded to play with her by throwing the ball back and forth to one another. She was very animated and really seemed to enjoy this interaction. She had quite good hand/eye coordination and I think she will make a fine Wiegerink game player. The psychologist returned and was really helpful and continued to try to engage her in games that showed her ability to count and distinguish colors. She also was quite a good "stacker" with the type of toy where you have to put the bigger loops on the bottom and stack up to smaller loops. She really hadn’t said much at this point but then they told her that it was time to leave to get ready for lunch, and she emphatically told them "I don’t want to", which got a real laugh out of the adults in the room. So much for being worried that we would scare her. After she left for lunch they questioned us in terms of how we felt about her. There was a slight delay as we stammered "yes, we really like her." Meaning that this little girl may very well be living the rest of her life with us…what a strange, awesome, overwhelming feeling.
[Phil]
We then went to the Administrator’s office to tell her that we want to start the adoption process. They were thrilled. We will be able to visit her every day between 9:30-12:00am and 4:30-6:00 pm. Kostya advised us to not overdo it with the visiting, since it can be draining after a while. He thought an hour a day would be fine. We’ll go back there with him tomorrow morning and continue the adoption process. Right now we’re going to save this to a flash drive and see if we can post it on our blog (with photos) at the internet cafй in the hotel lobby.
If any of you has our Ukraine cell number, feel free to call us.