Back in Kyiv

1. Ana in Pooh pajamas in the train compartment.

2. Breakfast of strawberry muffins.

3. In the van, going to the embassy.

4. The view from our window.

[Phil]

So here we are again in the capital city. Kramatorsk seems worlds away. We're in a very nice apartmentment on Bolshaya Zhitomirskaya St., not far from St, Mikhail's and the city center. The view froom our balcony is pretty magnificient, as it looks over Podil (the lower city) and the Dnepr. There's also an awesome playground in our courtyard.

We'll update more later. Now we're off to the playground and, of course, Le Borsch. :-)

Klass!

1. Ana's last meal with the group at the orphanage. It was a snack of apple slices and bread.

2. Ana in the apartment doing Robin's hair.

3. Ana trying to wear all of her clothes.

[Phil]

"Klass" (Russian for "cool") is what we keep saying to Ana as she tries on outfit after outfit at our apartment. She wailed like a banshee in the taxi after we left the orphanage, freaking out us and our taxi driver as well, but once we got in the apartment we immediately distracted her with cake, toys, and Russian cartoons. Now she's in little kid heaven: toys, juice, cartoons, new clothes, etc.

Soon Colleen will return and we'll go to the neighborhood restaurant for dinner, and then it's on to the train and Kiev!

The Blustery Day

1. Colleen, Robin, and I celebrating Ana's Gotcha Day at Restaurant Premier

2. Robin and I dancing at Premier.

3. Bag o' Money for the orphanage.

4. Ana with the soccer ball I bought for her group.

5. Ana in new jacket(Bob) and hat.

6. Windblown Robin outside the Big Market.

[Robin]

We got up this morning and walked over to the orphanage. It is a beautiful day here--sunny with a warm breeze. We stopped at the playground when we arrived to say hi to Ana and tell the caregiver that we were going to pick her up later, but we needed to go inside and do some paperwork with the director.

We then were ushered into the deputy director's office and joined by a few other representatives of the orphanage (psychologist and nurse). They congratulated us and then we proceeded to fill out forms and sign documents. It turned out that we needed to have Kostya there to finish the paperwork so we called him. He was in Donetsk getting Ana's passport and wouldn't be in town for another hour. We adjourned for a lunch break.

We went outside to see Ana, and all the kids were playing with the soccer ball that Phil had bought them, including Ana. She kicked the ball back and forth with Phil and some of the other boys. Then one of the kids opened the bag that I had brought and pulled out Ana's new jacket. She was on it immediately! She threw off her old coat (unassisted) and yanked off her hat. She the paraded around to show the caregiver and the other kids her new clothes. She looked like she had swallowed the canary.

[Phil]

And she had never shown much interest in soccer, but with the arrival of the new "Ukraine Premier League" ball, she was all over it. So after all the meetings with Kostya and the orphanage staff, we decided to go with Colleen to the Big Market one last time to get some supplies for tonight's train trip. In a very strange coincidence, we ended up buying pretty much the exact same clothes that Colleen bought for Lily, sight unseen. We also tried to get another Ukraine soccer ball, but the guy had closed his stall. We also ran into our DVD salesguy, who made a point to stop and say hello and good luck to us.

[Robin]

Phil forgot to add that we said goodbye to Kostya. He did a great job for us and he was very nice and said nice things to us at our parting.

We are going to pick up Ana now! Tonight we take the train to Kiev. Vladislav is picking us up to take us to the train and help us to depart. YAHOO!!!

It's Official

1. Colleen and me blogging at the Palace Apartment on Sunday night.

2. Robin waiting in the Vital Records hallway in Donetsk. In Ukraine, there's a lot of hallway waiting!

3. Kostya with Ana's official birth certificate.

4. Me waiting in Vladislav's van outside the passport office.

5. Calendar in the Evil Bank office showing Ana's "Gotcha" date.

[Phil]

Yes, it's official: The Red Sox win the pennant! The Red Sox win the pennant!

Oh, and Anastasia Caroline Hammond is now legally our responsibility (and joy).

[Robin]

This morning as we walked to meet Kostya at the courthouse we were remarking on how it was amazing that this waiting might come to an end. Seems unreal even now.

The courthouse visit was completely anti-climatic: We waited in the lobby and Kostya came down and said 'let's go." The driver, Vladislav, was waiting for us outside to take us to Donetsk. We then drove like bats out of hell for about an hour and a half.

I've decided that Urkranian drivers have two speeds: pedal to the floor or a dead (screeching) halt. We were bouncing around in the back of the van as Vladislav dodged various things in the road: dogs, people walking, people on bicycles, trucks loaded with hay, buses, etc.

In Donestk we went to the region's vital records department and waited in a hallway for about an hour until Kostya emerged with paperwork for applying for her birth certificate. We signed some forms and then waited again. Then we went with the papers to a notary and waited in the lobby there. Then we went to a passport office and waited in the car there. Then back to the vital records place only to find out it was closed for lunch. Then more waiting, then to the notary, then to the bank. More waiting in the hallway. Then back to the notary for more waiting. Then back to the bank. Whew. If I didn't have patience before, I swear I am building it like a muscle from all the use on this trip.

The ride back was a trip, to say the least. We took a little detour to drop off Kostya off in his hometown then took the backroads back to Kramatorsk. Really bumpy backroads (the speed not appreciably lower). I felt as though I was in a washing machine.

[Phil]

Yes, I almost hit my head on the roof a couple of times. In one comical moment, Vladislav said something to me in Russian about having to weave back in forth because of the bad roads. I said, "Yeah, I noticed." He said, "No, no. In front of us." Sure enough, the road through the next town was a disaster of crumbling pavement and potholes. He said that the town had fallen on bad economic times. He pointed out the (literally) crumbling factories, saying "That used to be a glass factory. That was a chemical plant. Now it looks like Iraq. Haha!" (mordant chuckle)

[Robin]

Yes, today was not without its comical moments. Taking Ana's disability account out of the bank was a comedy in itself. The typical bureaucratic roadblocks--basically they just don't want to give you your money (in this case, Ana's) and make you pay for it by wanting everything notarized, double-checked, etc. Then they proceeded to give us the money in a brown paper bag. Yes, like the kind you would use for a danish. It made me want to laugh.

One really wonderful part of the day was when Kostya asked us "are you ready to fall out of your seats?" He then proceeded to tell us that Ana's sister, Natasha, might be adopted by one of our previous drivers. Turns out that he was the one that drove us to Ana's birthplace and then drove Natasha and her guardian from there to the courthouse in Kramatorsk. I guess he noticed what a sweet and mature girl she is and was impressed. His family (six kids!) has invited her to join them for her Fall break from school to see if it is a good fit for all of them. We were thrilled to hear this news. Miracles do happen.

[Phil]

Yes, I was stunned, although it wouldn't really surprise you if you had spent any time around Natasha. We were definitely prepared to adopt her if it had to be a package deal. But this actually works out great for all involved -- Natasha gets to stay in Ukraine and become a teacher, Volodya (the driver) and family get a wonderful new daughter, and we're still bound and determined to do some sort of fundraiser to support Natasha's education when we return. From what we've heard, many of you would like to help!

So, with today's successful trip to Donetsk, we're still on schedule to return to N.C. late Sunday night. Tomorrow will be an interesting day. We plan to pick up Ana in the late morning and bring her back to our apartment in a taxi (she loves to ride in cars). Then we'll try to distract her with Russian DVD's and snacks until it's time to go to the train station for our overnight ride to Kiev. Hopefully she'll be totally zonked by the time we leave the station.

[Robin]

We are now back in the apartment and talking to Colleen about her day. I have to say this is one of the unexpected pleasures of this trip. It's been fun "rooming" with Colleen--she has a super wit and is also a wealth of information about adoption. She, unlike us, researched this trip extensively and has a large network of contacts and websites to use as resources. We are sad to leave her in Kramatorsk. She is having a very difficult adoption process and may be here for a while. We are hoping something changes in this scenario---every day the information is different, so who knows, maybe something will fall in place for her like it did for Natasha. She deserves to have an unexpected turn of good luck.

[Phil]

Yes, the last thing we expected was to make new friends through this adoption process, but we have: Colleen, Kostya and Family, Konstantin and Marianna, Lydia Alexandrovna and Mama Oksana, Natasha, and of course Nikita and the other children in Ana's group (Lily-Masha included).

We'll write more tomorrow. Tonight we're off to Restaurant Premier to celebrate!

Saying Goodbye to the Caregivers

1. A view of the front of the Kramatorsk hotel--our first lodging.

2. Ana showing off her balloon crown.

3. Our favorite act from a Russian TV show--Minute of Fame.

4. Ana measuring a plastic puppy dog.

5. Phil on the way to the orphanage this morning. Beautiful misty landscape.

6. Sleepy puppies for sale at the market.

[Robin]

We went to the orphanage this morning with presents for two of Ana's caregivers -- Lydia Alexandrovna and Mama Oksana. It was a beautiful fall day. We enjoyed being outside with the kids: playing soccer, making suns with sidewalk chalk, and chasing the kids around the play yard. Lydia took one of those long balloons that Phil had blown up and made a crown for Ana. It was super cute. She pranced around in it all morning. Then we got out the measuring tape and tried to get a better idea of the size of Ana's coat. She obliged and then wanted the measuring tape for herself. She then walked around measuring everything--kids, the bench, the truck, the plastic dog. We had a hard time getting her to give it back to us when it was time to go inside.

[Phil]

Yes, and at the end of the playtime I asked Ana to please give the tape measure back to me. She said "Nyet" and then tried to walk away with it. Lydia Alexandrovna then stopped her and told her nicely to give it back to me, which she immediately did. As we were saying our goodbyes, Lydia said that she had one piece of advice for us: "Ana is very smart. You need to make sure that she does what you tell her. If she senses any weakness in you, she will exploit it". No kidding! Anyway, it was nice to say our goodbyes to Lydia and Oksana and give them a small gift for all they've done for us and Ana.

[Robin]

I wanted to be sure to post this at some point, lest people think that we haven't found things we will miss when we get back. There are some food items that are MUCH better here including: yogurt, ice cream, chocolate, Fanta, vodka, and the inexpensive kids' tights and DVD selections.

Now, getting back to the daily update: When we left the orphanage, we went to eat lunch (at the Pizza place, again!). On our way to meet Colleen at the apartment, we stopped by the kids' store nearby and exchanged the too-small red hat that we had bought for a much larger blue/white hat. The lady was very gracious and helped us to find a larger one--no sales slip needed. I made Phil say 'She has a big head" (about Ana, not me!). We giggled about this crazy translation all the way back.

After a little rest, we all walked up to the large market. Phil and I were on a mission to find a winter coat for Ana. We past all these vendors selling kittens and puppies. They were contained in buckets and boxes. They were so cute it hurt to look---what will happen to these animals? There are SO many stray cats and dogs roaming the streets as it is....

Once in the market, we searched through several stalls that had coats and finally settled on a Carolina blue one (big surprise, right?). It says 'Bob" on it. We don't know what this means but that makes it more ridiculously sweet.

When we returned from the market we stopped by the grocery and bought our dinner from the deli case (potatoes with mushrooms and onions, chicken cordon bleu). We also spoke to our facilitator about this week's plans and he seems to think we are on track to leave on Sunday (fingers crossed).

[Phil]

Also, when we were at the market, we bought a very awesome soccer ball for Ana's group. It has the symbols and names of all of Ukraine's Premier League teams on it. I keep looking at it wanting to take it home myself. If we have time on Tuesday, I may have to go back to the market and get another one.

Speaking of soccer, this morning I mostly kicked the ball with the new girl, Anya. She looks like she's around 6 or 7, but she's definitely developmentally delayed. For example, one of her shoes was untied and kept flying off her foot when she would kick the ball. Finally, Lydia told her to tie her shoe. I watched her try, but she couldn't do it. It typically blunt East European fashion, Lydia said, "Anya, you're a big girl. You should be able to tie your shoes." It was very distressing. These kids need one-on-one attention, and despite the best efforts of the caregivers they will not get it in an institution. Wouldn't one of you like a little Anya or Danil or Vova in your house?

No, it's a huge decision to make, and the caregivers have definitely been doing the hard-sell on us to take a boy home as well "because Ana doesn't play soccer". We just laugh and say, "It's not that simple." But it really is hard to see these kids without parents. Almost every day after the orphanage morning visit, we go to the pizza place for lunch. It's a popular family destination, and we invariably see young children there with their families. They look just like the kids at the orphanage. It's somehow jarring. There's such a stark difference in futures between these groups of children. Like Konstantin has told us, the outlook for the orphanage children in Ukraine is very bleak indeed.

Sorry to digress on such a bummer of a topic, but it's hard to ignore here. In some GOOD news, however, we definitely think we're approaching the finish line. We should be in Kiev Wednesday morning. And the most important thing is that tomorrow morning at 8AM we'll recive the official court ruling making Ana our daughter. Everything after that is just logistics. Yay.

[Robin]

Speaking of a bummer, Colleen showed us some pictures from an older kids' orphanage for kids with special needs (cleft palate would be one of these). Afterwards, I almost wished she hadn't shown us the pictures. It was heartbreaking. I think back on when we applied for a "healthy child under 3 years of age." We had no idea of the need here. It's a personal decision, but I really can understand now how people can come back with more than one child, and especially kids with medical needs. As Colleen said, you can't just hope the next person in line will be willing to help these kids--no, you have to realize that you may be the end of the line for these kids.

I had a great call tonight with Phil's Mom and then my sister, Tina. How nice it is too hear these voices of cheer here in Ukraine. We know so many people are counting down the days with us and this is a real support line.

[Phil]

Yes, there are a lot of good things in our lives, including our dreams. I'm a sleep-talker, much to Robin's amusement, and early this morning she awakened me while I was in the middle of blurting out some nonsense. I promptly told her that she had just interrupted one of the greatest dreams ever, in which Carolina was beating Dook with a roster of unheralded Freshmen and Coach K was on the sidelines screaming at the refs while wearing a plaid leisure suit. The last thing I remember was me and my high school friend Calvin heckling Coach K while eating delicious french fries. I ask you, does it get any better than that?

[Robin]

Tina and I talked about it being the start of the basketball season when we return--yippee! I told her about Phil's dream and she laughed with me. Right now we are listening to beach music ("Let Me Down Easy")--you just can't get the Carolina out of us, even in Ukraine.

We're about to watch a DVD of "Flight Plan". This was our only option since our "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" DVD that we bought at the market (for $5) has language choices of Russian and Dolby Russian. Not gonna work for me.

[Phil]

Well, the good news about "Flight Plan" is that much of it was shot in Berlin, so we'll hopefully see some familiar sights.

I think that's all for now. We need to go to bed pretty soon so that we can get to the courthouse at 8AM tomorrow to meet Kostya and start the final proceedings.

Shopping Spree

1) The hair accessories stall. They are really into putting girl's hair up in bows and ribbons.

2) A view from the outside of the market. Lots of flower vendors.

3) The Chinese restaurant.

4) The doorway into our apartment. Note the wiring!

[Phil]

So the good news is that no one appealed the court's ruling yesterday, and on Monday morning Ana will officially be our daughter. All that's left now is the logistics of getting all of us back to the States. It looks like we have some errands to run on Monday and Tuesday, but hopefully we'll be in Kiev and getting Ana's visa at the embassy on Wednesday. We still hope to return to NC very late on Sunday the 28th,

So today we went to the Big Market and went a little crazy. I'll let Robin explain:

[Robin]

Colleen, Phil and I went to the orphanage and then the Pizza place (yes. they know our order by now). Then we took a taxi to the big market (the small market is by the courthouse). We got there and went on a buying frenzy once we got to a stall that displayed kids clothes. Really cute tights with teddy bears, stripes, hearts, flowers, etc. Phil helped Colleen and I ask questions (Do you have this pattern in a bigger size, etc.) and then with the sales transaction. We walked away with two new pairs of tights and a pink corduroy jumper. Then we walked onward and found another stall with all kinds of slippers. We bought Ana some yellow daisy slippers (for her lounging on the train!). Then we hit the jackpot for DVDs in a stall. The sales person was very friendly and tried to help us buy some pirated Winnie the Pooh.

[Phil]

Oh yeah, that guy had everything. He asked whether I wanted the Russian Winnie-Pooh or the Disney one. I said "Disney". He said that the Russian was much better and started rummaging through is huge cache of DVD's. Keep in mind that none of these were legal whatsoever. They were pirated double-sided DVD's that had like 8 movies on one disk. In any case, he seemed to take a personal interest in our quest for classic Russian cartoons and went through 4 or 5 before he finally said "This is the best!". I also asked him for an mp3 CD of current Russian pop hits, and not 5 minutes later 13-year-old girl tried to buy it. He was all"I'm so sorry; this is the only one." I was like "Score!"

[Robin]

The guy put the pop music CD into his player and ran through a number of selections (bopping his head to the rhythm). Sounded liked all the selections at Restaurant Premier, so we were like "yes, we want it." He also invited us to a DVD party next Saturday that will feature vodka and beer. Then the ultimate sales moment--he sells the stuff to us and tells Phil that I have a "nice smile." This was all translated to me after the fact. I would have bought some more CDs had I been able to understand him :)

One interesting note, every stall that we went into and looked at items was then besieged by other Ukranians. I turned to Phil at one point and said, "Look, anything we (Americans) find interesting will draw a crowd." We started a virtual run on tights and DVDs.

[Phil]

So after the market we walked back to our neighborhood and bought some gift envelopes for the orphanage people that have been helpful to us. It's hard to belive that tomorrow will probably be our last day on the playground.

In any case, Ana and her whole group were in good spirits tonight. We played some soccer, blew balloons and bubbles, played on the see-saw, etc. We then left Ana in good spirits and had dinner at the Chinese restaurant. This time there were a few other patrons besides ourselves. The waitresses were very helpful and steered us in the right direction. Who would have thought Szechuan pinto beans would be good, but they were!

[Robin]

The "satay" chicken was actually deep-fried chicken (delicious!) with a sweet-sour dipping sauce (no peanut butter!). We had a really good time and laughed over dinner. It was nice to relax. When we got back to the apartment, we traded photos on flash drives and talked about trips we have been on (lots of pictures on our laptop from Florence and Berlin, etc.). It was a nice end to a good day.

[Phil]

So tomorrow may be our last full day in Kramatorsk. I'm somehow melancholy about it. (I have now been drowned aut and ridiculed by Robin and Colleen). But seriously, I kind of like it here, but definitely not enough to live here. In general, the people have been very nice, like the woman at the neighborhood shop tonight who asked where I was from after we bought some chocolates. I told her that we were from America. She then asked why we were here. I always thought I would lie about this, but instead I said "to adopt a daughter". She said "Wonderful. I wish you the best." I said "same to you". And she's not at all an anomaly: the people at the market have been very nice and I haven't sensed them giving us the "Foreigner Price".

It's All Over But The Paperwork (HaHa)

[Robin]

We both worked this morning and then got a call from Kostya saying that he received the draft of the court's decree awarding Ana to us, which will be formally handed down on Monday. The good news is that there haven't been any appeals so we are "officially" in the clear to get Ana. How great is that! She was SO cute today.... giggly and yelling "papa" to get Phil's attention. That is music to the ears.

[Phil]

Yes, all that's left is getting her birth certificate from either her hometown or the District capital (Donetsk), and then we go to Kiev to have the medical exam and get her passport and visa. We have tickets home for Sunday the 28th, but that could change if there are hold-ups next week. Please cross fingers, burn candles, pray, etc. that we don't encounter too much red tape.

So, as Robin said, this was basically a work-filled day, which is too bad because the cold front finally left and we had a beautiful Indian Summer day. I finally finished my translation around 5:00. and we headed out to the orphanage to see Ana. When we got there, we were very pleased to see that Mama Oksana was the caregiver for the evening. She came up to me and said that she had been worried when she came to work in the morning and saw that Ana was still here. She was afraid that we'd had a paperwork (!) problem or something. I explained to her that it was just that our 10th day of waiting happens on a weekend, and thus we can't take Ana until Monday. She was very happy about that and told us that we got a wonderful child. She's so awesome. We're going to bring her some kind of nice present this weekend.

[Robin]

I've been reviewing our posts and I don't think the way we feel about Ukraine/Ukrainian people has been properly acknowledged. When you walk around and see the people (and cats and dogs) on the streets, you realize just how much we take for granted in the States. They make do with so much less here. You really admire the people for their perserverance and their ability to be good-natured. We witnessed a wedding today where they were taking pictures of the bride and groom biting pieces of bread from a braided loaf held on an attractive Ukrainian cloth. They were having a great celebration with their family and friends and it was a joy to see. I also washed my dirty clothes in our apartment sink and hung it to dry on a drying rack. It took me over an hour to do about 3 days worth of clothes. This is exhausting and not something I can imagine doing every week (this is effective birth control -- if you had more kids, there would be more washing).

There is such a distinction between the have and have nots here. There are older women sitting out on the sidewalks with pretty little tablecloth-covered "stands" selling bowls filled with tomatoes or cucumbers or potatoes. There is only one building that is under construction in this town within walking distance. They have no laundromat. They have bathrooms with the "feet" rather than a toilet. But, they do have three internet cafes. They do have a department store filled with DVD players and digital cameras. They have lots of cell phone shops and ATM machines. There are people driving expensive German cars and others living in crushing poverty.

[Phil]

Yes, and as Kostya says, Kramatorsk is pretty nice for a Ukrainian city, and I agree. We see much worse on the roads between the major cities. Still, yesterday morning I saw an old woman picking grass/greens from the local park, and I can only imagine that she was going to either try to sell them or to make a soup(?). It was pretty odd and disturbing. We've also seen old women picking the nice flowers at the memorials to sell at their sidewalk stands. Everyone pretends not to notice.

Robin just mentioned another thing about public life here: a lot of the young people hang out in the parking lot in front of the big supermarket "Arbat". I'll let her explain:

[Robin]

My friend Claudia used to talk about when she grew up in Albemarle and there was nothing to do except cruise the Food Lion parking lot on weekend nights (she couldn't wait to go to college at Carolina). I was reminded of this when we saw various groups of teens/early 20s hanging out in groups in front of the local supermarket. Apparently this is the place to hang out with your friends and be "seen" -- drinking, smoking and laughing. There is definitely a lot of bling and high heels on display for the girls; the guys wear black leather car coats and talk on their cell phones. They are hanging out to get away from their families (they most likely live with their parents and grandparents), and this is where they all meet.

[Phil]

Yes, but the nice thing about these shiftless youths is that they don't bother you at all. Can we export that to America?

Also, thank you to Susan for letting us know about the Burrito. I hope it's former staff who are going to keep it going.