Embassy Day

1. Ana on the playground near St. Mikhail's

2. Ana and I on the slide

3. Ana having borsch at Le Borsch

4. Walking home from the restaurant

[Phil]

So last night's train ride turned out to be pretty mellow. Ana was asleep within an hour of getting on the train. Robin sort of slept on half of the bunk with Ana, but came over to my bunk early in the morning due to Ana's "sleep kicking", for lack of a better term. It's like when a dog is chasing rabbits in its sleep. So I think Ana was actually the only one who got a decent night's sleep. Still, the conductress was very nice and came and roused us at 7AM, an hour before our arrival in Kyiv. We dressed Ana, had some jelly-filled muffins for breakfast (thanks, Colleen!), and then packed our bags. That gave us about 20 minutes or so to look out the window as we arrived. If you ever take the train in or out of Kyiv, be sure to keep your eyes open, because the view of the Rodina Mat statue and the Dnepr River as you cross the bridge is pretty spectacular.

So we managed to get all of our bags off with no problem, and were then met a few minutes later by our very nicely-dressed facilitator for the day, Sasha, and Sergei, the driver. We piled into Sergei's VW van and headed off to the Ukrainian Hospital for Ana's examination. When we arrived at the hospital, the scene was total chaos, as far as I could tell. There were Ukrainians, Americans, old folks, children, nurses, and doctors all crammed together in a narrow hallway with a few benches. We sat down with Ana, and Sasha took off down the hallway with our documents. When he returned, I said, "Is there some kind of organized system here?" He said, "There is, but you have to know it" (rueful smile). Sure enough, we only waited about 30 minutes before Sasha ushered us into the doctor's office. He was a kind-looking man with a very comforting demeanor, so even though Ana cried at first, he quickly calmed her down. He did a brief examination and then transferred all the vital info from her medical records onto the US Embassy forms. We were set free after that.

The next stop on our errands was the US Embassy. Kostya had been very thorough with our documents, so they were already in one packet to hand to the officials. Just to be safe, however, Sasha looked through them again and pointed out which documents went to whom. It kind of makes your head swim after a while. The scene at the embassy was also chaotic. There was a huge line of people outside waiting to go in to request visas. These turned out to be Ukrainians, so Sasha took us to the front of the line and explained who we were to the guard. He told us to go stand at the door and go in when the light above the door changes from red to green. Meanwhile, I realized that we had left some documents in the car, so I raced back up the hill, retrieved the documents, and got back to the embassy only to find that Ana and Robin were already inside. The guard let me through again, I went through the metal detector, and then had absolutely no idea where to go. I managed to find Ana and Robin after dashing through various hallways, and then we were instructed to go to yet another window. This turned out to be a good thing, however, as we were immediately attended to by a very kind and helpful Ukrainian employee of the embassy. She helped us with our forms and gave us an interview appointment for 2PM tomorrow, meaning that we could actually leave for the States after that. Our plane tickets are for Sunday, however, and it doesn't appear that we can change them. So we'll have a couple of nice days in Kyiv "to enjoy the Autumn". Actually, it's not that big a deal -- Kyiv's a great city with lots of parks and restaurants. I'm sure we'll have a great time with Ana (we already have so far).

[Robin]

So today has gone pretty well. The waiting in the hallway with Ana was kind of a nightmare for someone who's had about three hours of sleep, especially when Sasha brought me additional forms to complete by the time we left for the Embassy. In my sleep-deprived state, I had a hard time remembering when we were married, what was Ana's original name, etc.

Ana was a complete trooper compared to most of the other kids in the hallway. She sat on my lap with not so much as a peep (and with nothing to do but watch people) for over 1/2 hour. She was also really great in the car ride from the train to the Embassy and then to our apartment. She got really excited anytime we passed a big truck. She would point out the window and turn to me to second her excitement.

Our apartment is well-equipped and in a really great location (close to the St. Sophia's cathedral). I actually took a REAL shower for the first time in a month (as opposed to the hand-held showers we had in Kramatorsk). It felt like pure bliss. The place also has the holy grail of Ukrainian apartment amenities--a microwave. Oh, and it also has a washing machine. I had to break down and read the manual (which Phil found in a drawer) to try to avoid flooding the apartment when we did wash (YES! Clean clothes) this afternoon.

Tonight after dinner, we enjoyed the joys of parenthood--watching Ana chase Phil around the apartment with the "attack" baby seal; and the traumas--she didn't want to go to sleep (crying, bargaining) and she has also gone to the bathroom a bunch of times today with an upset stomach. Phil's Mom gave us a pep talk a minute ago by phone and I'm feeling better about this situation. We are just going to muddle through. Tomorrow I have to buy all the things I didn't think about: baby shampoo, tiny toothbrush, etc.

[Phil]

So, to continue the narrative, after we left the embassy we headed over to the apartment rental office, which was in a large apartment building with no sign. Sasha and I walked around the front and back, and finally found an entrance, which was advertising a "marriage agency" inside. We thought "this must be the place", so we went in and found the apartment office behind a heavy steel door next to the marriage agency. They buzzed us in, and we walked in to find two young women seated at computers. Long story short: we got the apartment, drove there, got the keys from the tenant, and then finally sat down and rested. Yesterday we picked up Ana's daily schedule, so we knew that she's used to taking a nap between 1 and 3. I asked her if she wanted to sleep (head shake). Are you hungry? (head shake). Robin and I just looked at each other, totally clueless about what to do. Finally we decided to put her in her PJ's. That brought on another round of tears, but she eventually fell asleep on the trundle bed within about 15 minutes. Once the snoring commenced, Robin and I both took much-needed showers. Ana slept for about an hour. When she awakened, she started quietly crying again. Robin and I surmised that she probably expected to wake up in her old room with all her friends and caregivers. Instead, she's in some strange apartment in a giant, noisy city. We let her lie there for a while (everyone needs a good cry now and then), and then we started asking what clothes she wanted to wear to the park. This snapped her back into the present, and so we all bundled up and headed for the playground near St. Mikhail's.

I've already written so much minutiae already, so I'll just say that the playground was a big hit, and I'm sure we'll be there every day. After the playground, we went to our usual haunt, Le Borsch, for dinner. We were kind of sad that only one of the staff members that we "know" was there, since we wanted to make a big production of showing off Ana. It turned out fine, however, as we got a new waiter who was young, very polite, and liked to practice his English with us. We hadn't eaten all day, so we had a big meal of borsch, black bread, pork-filled dumplings, chicken cutlet with cheese, and mashed potatoes. I think Ana's favorite was the borsch, although she was also pretty crazy about the dumplings. I have to agree with her.

On the way home we stopped in a little grocery store to buy some breakfast food. Ana seemed awed by the experience. She kept pointing at stuff and mumbling. It's actually very likely that she's never been in a store before, as amazing as that seems.

Bedtime has been a bit of a disaster tonight. We tried to put her down at 9:00, but she wailed and cried and eventually came back into the living room. Robin has been trying to calm her down. They're both exhausted, so I think I'll let them share the big bed and I'll sleep out here on the sofa. Which means please feel to email me in the next hour or so, 'cause I'll be up!

Until tomorrow,

Phil