I didn't visit Roman today.  I'm trying to save a bit of cash in case the letter of consent is a long time coming.  Every 3 visits is basically $100 USD and money is tight.  So we slept late this morning, then I got up and just roamed around Simferopol.  I stopped by some of the underground vendor stalls to find a wallet for Roman.  I want to put some family contact information in it, just incase we get seperated during the trip home.  I know airports can be busy and teenage boys can be overly curious.  Since he doesn't speak any English, this could be a real problem - better safe than sorry.

Loonya went to the "car mart" this afternoon to pick up oil for the car.  He still wasn't back when I returned home at 3:00 p.m.  He arrived about 5:00 p.m. with great news.  Luda managed to get the "letter of consent" signed.  At first I thought this was because the director was actually being nice.  I later found out that she was out of town, so the assistant director was processing documents.  I was told that some families had waited many weeks.  One family from Spain waited 21 business days.  Its amazing... the director goes out of town and work gets done.  I was also told that she started another new process at the NAC. After visiting and deciding to adopt a child, you must get together a lot of paperwork for the NAC.  The paperwork includes things like history of the child in the orphanage, info about their abandonment or parental rights termination, medical info, letter of conclusion from the inspector etc.. etc..  This pile of papers goes to the NAC for review and once approved they issue a letter of consent so that you can have court.  Well now instead of being able to submit these papers any day during the week, you can only submit them 2 days out of the business week.  This change can add 2-3 days to the process.  In addition the director will only sign the letter after the 5th business day that the documents have been in the NAC.  She has stretched this period of time as well.  If she finds one typo even in an insignificant word like "the" written as "teh", she denies the adoption.  At that point, the facilitators have to go back to the region, redo the paperwork, then travel back to Kiev and resubmit the new papers for approval.  Then they begin to count down another 5 - 7 business days before the director will sign.  I know prospective adoptive parents are gonna love this.

So after hearing the news that we got the letter, I thought Luda was playing with me.  I did not think after all the trouble I had in getting to see Roman that the letter would be approved on the 4th business day.  I was expecting to be delayed a week.  Loonya went to pick up Luda from the airport at 8:30 p.m.  We had a late dinner then reviewed the documents that would have to be processed after court tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be an extremely busy day. 

I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

We got up this morning and had the normal cheese sandwich for breakfast.  ugh.  Afterward Loonya took me to check emails then we hit a vendor stand nearby.  I picked up some art paper, water paints, and a book with pen.  One of Roman's friends, Andre, had wanted the art paper and Roman asked for a note book to write in.  I also grabbed a treat for Roman then we headed to the orphanage.

I visited with Roman from 11:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m.  He worked very hard trying to learn English.  That tutorial CD set that I bought in Kiev has come in very handy.  We took a few breaks to walk around the orphanage and play.  I taught him and his friends how to flip coins and they proceeded to make a game out of it by flipping back and forth to each other.  Roman's teacher, Valentina, stopped by again to hit me up for a TV set.  She is persistant.

I think Roman will do well once we get back to the US.  I just need to get him on a schedule, teach him how to ride the school bus, and get him some extra help to learn english.  My to-do list keeps growing for when I get home.  I think before we leave here, I'll pick him up a wallet and put my contact information in it - just in case.

I am having Chris withdraws.  Its bugging me that the 30 days are up and I haven't got him yet.  I agreed to wait till after Roman's adoption, then we will swing by there on the way to Kiev to pick him up.  Its an extra 500 km to drive and will require a night in Donetsk.

Luda called this morning and will wait at the NAC all day.  She says they won't tell her anything till after 5:00 p.m., but she is optimistic that we will get the letter today.  I've been through this a few times and I won't count on it.  I swear the director has it in for me.

I couldn't see Roman today.  His class was going to Yalta for a mini-vacation.  I'm glad they are taking the kids out of the orphanage to do something - anything.  So I got up and hit the internet cafe to check in with the folks.  Loonya and I went grocery shopping afterward.  There is a big indoor market about 15 minutes from the apartment.  Its an experience.  You walk into this huge warehouse size room with a very high ceiling.  Inside it looks like a fleamarket.  There are many tables setup in rows and on each table are goods forsale.  Meats are just laying there in a pile - not very sanitary and no telling how long they have been laying out.  There isn't any refrigeration for meats in these type of markets.  We picked up some cured salami (something safe) along with cheese, and some fruit.  They have some strange fruits here.  This one looks like a small seed pod from a tree.  They come in purple or green color and taste very good, like a sweet-tart.  We also picked up a large jug of bottled water (non-gas type).  On the way back to the apartment we stopped at a children's park.  Loonya wanted a beer and to "chill out".  So we sat and watched the kids for a bit.

After returning to the apartment we fixed lunch.  Their idea of a sandwhich here isn't like ours.  They just use one piece of bread and then put something on top.  There isn't a top slice of bread.  So I've gotten use to eating cheese sandwiches with butter and salami.  They also drink fruit juices here like crazy.  They drink juice like I drink ice-tea and diet coke.

After lunch I went and sat on the bench outside of the apartment.  The apartment building is off a side road in the city. Like most areas it looks like a dive.  Behind the building is the entrance to my apartment.  Outside some of the residents have taken up farming.  There are a few small gardens, flower bed, chicken coop, and sheds.  I spent the afternoon talking with an older man who doesn't speak much English.  He's a retired Russian Boats-man and has a small dog which he named "Boatsman".  The dog isn't very friendly but makes a good guard dog.  At night he sleeps outside of our door.  The old guy has two daughters.  One just had a baby 1 month ago and still lives at home with her husband.  The other lives there too but has a visiting boy-friend.  Their apartment is the size of mine which has a living room, 1 bedroom, small kitchen and bath.  I've no idea how they manage with that many people in that size of a home.  He's a nice old guy and loves to talk with me even though he knows I have no clue what he's saying. 

Oh yeah.. I finally got my cat withdraws satisfied.  There is a part grey tabby - persian cat that is extremely friendly.  I was sitting on this bench talking to the old man when this cat hopped up and crawled in my lap.  After a short period of petting, she perched on my shoulder and purred up a storm.  I miss my cat.

About 5:00 Loonya and I were bored so went for a walk in town.  We sat and watched some folks going by and all the sudden he would stop some people and ask them if they knew English and to speak with me.  I'm not sure what he was telling them!  So we had several conversations with total strangers for the next few hours.  I guess I was the entertainment for the night.  We made it back to the apartment about 8:00p.m.  I sat outside with the old guy and Boatsman for a bit then went to bed.  I'm going to have to learn what that man's name is.

====================

RAMBLING...

New folks - bring a clothes line with you.  I also found Frabreeze to be handy. 

The weather here is not predictable.  We went from hot to cold to mild to cold to hot.  We had a mixture of rain and sunny days.  So bring a jacket with a liner you can zip out if you need.  Also bring an umbrella or buy one here for about $4. 

I haven't used too many zip-lock bags except to store open food in.  The translators seems to like them and asked if I could leave the leftover ones with them when I leave.  I'll probably save 4-5 to store dirty diapers in after I pick up Chris.

I brought a nice outfit for court and the NAC.  I don't think it made much difference.  I wore it at the NAC but when adopting Chris.. things moved so fast I didn't have time to change before court.  I went in black jeans and a red shirt.  What I was wearing was fine.  Court was not very formal.  It was just an office room with a young girl who was the judge and a girl taking notes.  I probably could have been the judge's mother.  She had to lean over and correct the spelling of the girl who was taking notes.  I felt like I was sitting in a room with two highschool students.

When I see police here there are usually 2-3 just standing around talking.  They pull people over every now and then to check their car documents.  And of course if they want money, they pull you over.  Loonya was pulled over 3 times in Yalta & Simferopol when he didn't do anything wrong.  The police just wanted money so pulled him over and said they'd let him go if he paid X-amount.  They were picking on him because his license plate showed that he was from another region.  The police are very corrupt here. 

I got up and hit the internet cafe this morning around 9:30 to email the folks.  Afterwards Loonya drove me to the orphanage to visit Roman.  It costs me $30 per visit due to the distance from Simferopol.  The director got Roman out of class to spend time with me.  We spent time in the car having English lessons then took a break.  We walked around the orphanage grounds and I met some of Roman's friends.  They are cute kids.  He seems to be close to Andre.  Andre is a cute red-headed boy with freckles.

Roman went to have his lunch so I just hung out with Loonya till he returned.  His friends came back with him.  I finally got to see him interact with his classmates.  The boys like to rough house and the girls were more reserved.  Their teacher, Valentina, came by after about an hour and tried to get me to buy the class their own small TV.  I guess they think I'm made of money.  We should have waited till the very end to leave the orphanage donations.  If I can manage to access my bank account without having my ATM card, then I will consider it.  If not, I can make some kind of donation later via a missions group.

I had coffee with the teacher.  She filled a jar full of bottled water then dropped a heating coil in it.  I guess the orphanage can't afford a hotpot.  So I had coffee and stale bread.  The boys then grabbed me to show me Roman's sleeping area.  A blonde headed boy named Kola was trying to get me to give him my watch.  They kept showing me clothing with english words on it so I could read it to them. Loonya called the boys "little monsters".  I think they are cute.

We left the orphanage about 5:00.  I stopped by the internet cafe to check mail then walked home.  Loonya was going to go visit a friend of his and would meet me at the apartment later.  It was about 7:00 when I started to walk home.  I stopped at a corner in the center of town which was laid out like the old fashion circle.  I bought some peanuts from a woman there.  5 rph buys what would be a large jar in the US.  Well.... There was an older man talking to the woman when I showed up.  He was late 50s and dressed well but drunk as a skunk.  I pulled out the 5 grivena pointed to the peanuts then the bill so she would know how much I wanted to buy.  Then I said "Choochoo Ruski" so she'd get the hint.  So then this old guy starts hitting on me in Russian.  I keep saying "nyet" (no).  When I started to leave he started to follow.  So I pointed to him, then the ground and said "Stovy" (stay) and pointed to me and down the street.  He said "nyet" and guestered for me to go and he would follow.  The older woman who was selling the nuts thought this was all rather funny.  So I pointed to her, then to him and made a guester that they should get together.  She then started saying "NYET!".   hehehe.  I was having trouble getting this guy to leave me alone.  He started trying to kiss my hand and I was saying "nyet nyet nyet nyet nyet".  People walking by got a good show.  So finally I told him "STOVY!", then I ducked into the underground passage that people use to cross the street.  When you get down the stairs it branches into 2 directions.  So I headed across the street... on the other side it has another fork in the passage.  I surfaced across the street and ducked behind a sign to check and see if he was following.  I managed to lose him, so I headed home.  Its a good thing that he wasn't violent or I would have knocked him on his hinnie and probably been put in jail.  Of the cities I've been in, Kiev was the safest one walking at night back to my apartment.

So I got home and about 30 min later Loonya shows up.  I told him about it and he thought it was funny.  Men!  He cooked me some dumplings for dinner and we spent the night watching dubbed American movies.

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep.  So I watched the sunrise and listened to the rooster outside of the kitchen window.  Yes.. that's right... I have chickens running around outside.  Simferopol is a small town surrounded by farms.  People tie goats and cows out here like you'd see a dog tied out in the USA.

Loonya and I loaded up the car this morning.  I had bought a couple orphanage donations yesterday during the shopping trip.  The director requested a TV and VCR player.  So I picked up a 21" TV fairly cheap along with the player.  Both of them cost me about $190 usd.  There is only one place in Simferopol to use a credit card, so thats where we went shopping.  They only sell appliances there too, so I lucked out.  I'm trying to conserve cash for the embassy and those damn expediting fees.  I really prefer to call expediting fees - extortion money or blackmail.  Yeah.. those definitly fit better.   But ya know.. I'm just glad that this director asked for something that the kids would use and not cash.  Cause when they ask for cash, they skim the top.

So we went to the orphanage.  The director recorded what I had donated.  We got to take Roman to Simferopol for his passport photos.  Loonya had to write an "application" saying he was taking the boy and would be responsible.  It was funny... we had the photos taken and Roman wouldn't crack a smile.  I think he is selfconscious about his teeth.  They do not have toothbrushes at the orphanage, so he needs a dental appointment to clean and check for cavities.  After that we ran to the open market to find him some new shoes that fit.  The ones I bought the other day were a little too small.  He wears a European size 38 which I think is about 6 1/2 or 7 US.  We managed to find some nice looking shoes that cost 98 rph ($18-19 USD).  I will just donated the smaller ones to the orphanage because you can't return things to the open market.  Those kids really need clothing donations.

Next we stopped at the pizzaria for lunch about 1:00 p.m.  Roman had missed his meal at the orphanage and I wanted to make sure he ate.  He had 3/4 of one piece - probably the size of 2 pieces from a standard large pizza at Pizza Hut.  I need to fatten this boy up.  After lunch we went back to the orphanage.  I spent a few hours there teaching Roman some English.  The other kids kept hanging around us.  Roman was getting shy.  Its like he's either too shy to answer a question in front of them or just wanted me to himself.  So we went to the playground area and had some time there together.  Then the kids swarmed again, so Roman asked to sit in the car to learn.  So that's what we did and it worked out well.  I let him listen to the English CDs and he would write down the pronounciation in Russian and then the Russian translation.  He's a bright boy and is actually further along in school than I expected.  He writes very neat.  We had a good visit together.

==============

So far I like Donetsk best with regard to being a very pretty city.  Kiev has a lot more to do though.  Simferopol is too small for me, but you'll see a lot more houses here.  I wasn't in Yalta enough to make up my mind.  Yalta is pretty though with mountains to the north and the Blacksea to the south.

BTW for adoptive parents, I will put my daily costs on file here once I'm back in the states.  I'll break it out per adoption and per the time between them.  I'll include categories for lodging, food, taxi, etc.. etc..  You should have a good idea of what you're in for.

This morning when I got up, I hit Western Union to pick up some more cash.  What I have will be cutting it VERY close. I will have to count every penny.  The government here is full of blood-sucking leeches.  Can you tell that I'm ready to come home?

After that we went to buy Roman some clothes for when I can take him from the orphanage.  I get the boy but the clothes have to stay.  So Luda and I hit the open market and picked up 2 pairs of pants, 3 tops, a jacket, shoes, 4 socks, 4 underwear, 2 small towels, and 1 large diaper pad.  Roman is a bed wetter so I have to get him home without ticking off any landlords.  They do not have matress covers or special underwear here.  It was difficult to find a diaper pad.  I think we spent more time shopping for Luda than Roman.  Luda is a shop-a-holic.  I'd turn around and she would be in a vendor stall trying on a new outfit.

After shopping we went to the pizzaria for dinner.  The place is cheap and quick.  They sell salads, pancakes, and pizza.  A big meal there will run me 15 rph (less than $3).  After dinner I called it an evening and headed back to the apartment.  Luda caught a train later that night to head to Kiev so she can try to push the paperwork through the NAC.  She told me that the director does not like to sign letters of consent until after the paperwork has been at the NAC 5 days.  The director tells people 5-7 days but sometimes she is difficult (go figure) and it takes more like 8-9 days.  So cross your fingers that she doesn't try to play any more games with me.  I really hope that after the elections on 10/30 that she is out of a job.  I've heard she is friends with the current President.  So if the candidate from Donetsk wins she probably will keep her job - he is also friends with the President.

By the way... I was told that the NAC director has been visiting the regions to talk with inspectors to try and get them to lengthen the adoption time.  She is also pressuring the court system to not waive the 30 day wait.  AND she has made herself the bottleneck in several areas of the process.  For instance now SHE is the only one to accept dossiers where as before a translator could just drop it off to anyone.  She also has set this stupid policy of only accepting certain country's dossiers on certain days.  She also insists on reviewing all of the documents that return from the cities that were prepared for the adoption.  And she is the only person who can sign a letter of consent to adopt.  Its like she is trying to justify her existance.  Everything she has changed at the NAC is in complete opposition to PowerLean business practices.  What she is doing is making Ukraine a less desireable place to adopt.

When adoptive parents pick a country they (if like me) looked at overall cost, number of trips, age of children available, and time in country.  Well you can not adopt an infant here because the children must be held for Ukrainian adoptions for 1 year before they are available for foreign adoptions.  It use to be that you would get a referral to an orphanage and could see all the kids.  Now you can only see one child in one orphanage.  If you refuse the child then you return to Kiev and repeat the process.  The director has made it take a longer time to get a 2nd or 3rd appointment.  Couples are waiting roughly 2 weeks.  You can not preidentify a child in Ukraine like you can in other countries.  Now she doesn't want to have judges waive the 30 day wait regardless of the child's medical condition.  She seems to look for any excuse to reject papers - you misspelled the word "to" and put "ta" - REJECTED! She does not seem to care about the kids but rather keeping herself indespensible and making money.

I know my letter of consent will be typed up Monday.  No telling when the director will signed it.

We got up about 8:00 this morning.  Loonya had got up earlier and went to give the inspector a ride from her home to work.  He picked up the new letter of conclusion from her for Luda to review.  I took this opportunity to walk to the internet cafe to read emails.  Loonya & Luda picked me up there around 10:30 to go to the orphanage.  We had to get the corrected documents restamped and signed by the orphanage director.  I only got to spend a short period of time with Roman.  We then hunted down the director.  She was suppose to wait for us there but got a call and ran to Simferopol.  So we tracked her down there and had her sign the documents.  The assistant director had stamped them for us at the orphanage.  When we finished, we had to go see the inspector again.  She had a typo on the 2nd draft of the letter of conclusion.

After visiting the inspector we went to the lawyer and judge.  They wanted $1200 from me to give a quick court date and to waive the 30 days.  Ugh.. here we go again.  From what I hear though this is "cheap" for Simferopol.  It would cost me $2500, if the 30 days weren't waived - new plane tickets, 1 week stay, plus $1k to facilitation team.  So I opted to pay the $1200.  I had brought a credit card for emergency use and would have to use it. 

After paying the expediting fee, we went to pay the regular fee for a new birth certificate.  I sat down and figured up my remaining costs while we waited on Luda.  I need to pay another $2500 to get through the American Embassy and get the hell out of the country.  And this meant I had to put the boy's plane ticket on c.c. along with items for the orphanage (ie orphanage donation) and the hotel in Amsterdam.  Well, I have like $100 USD left plus some grivena.  I have spent like $15,000+ so far in Ukraine and between $11-12K prior to coming.  The government here is full of blood-sucking leeches.  They love to exploit foriegn adoptive parents.  So I called good-old Dad for help and prayed he would be able to get us out of Ukraine.

After paying for the birth certificate, we went to the train station to send the documents to Kiev.  Luda will have a driver, Vitalik, pick them up and then her friend Svetlana will take them to the NAC to get them registered.  The NAC usually responds with a letter within 5-7 days.  Luda will catch a train or plane to Kiev tomorrow to try and push the documents through the NAC.  Of course the director already doesn't like me because I insisted on this 2nd adoption.  She played games with me in Kiev which cost me 20 days.  So I won't be surprised if she delays this letter.

Today we got an early start and went to the internet cafe to hire a girl to retype the court decree that terminated parental rights.  Luda was afraid that we'd get to Yalta and the secretary would not want to spend the time retyping this and delay things a few days.  So basically we were going to do her job for her.  We went from there to pick up a letter from the inspector that lets us visit Roman's first orphanage in Yalta.  We need to get a document from them that lists his time in that orphanage.  After we got the letter we swung by the internet cafe and picked up the new decree, then we headed to the other orphanage.  We spent about an hour there and got the document showing when Roman entered that orphanage and left.

Finally we headed to Yalta.  Luda was right.  We got to the court house and the secretary didn't want to help us.  Luda got ticked off and went to the judge to complain.  The judge made the secretary help us.  All she had to do was pull the original decree from the file and verify that what we retyped was the same thing.  Next we got the judge to sign and stamp the new original decree.  When that was done we headed back to Simferopol to give the last of the documents to the inspector.  The inspector found a few errors on one document so we went to the internet cafe again and hired the same person to fix it.  Then we went back to the inspector to review the docs again.  The inspector had Luda check the letter of conclusion since she is better at speaking/writing Ukrainian.  Luda found errors so that would have to be retyped by the inspector.  We hope to finish up the documents tomorrow.

We had a long day of running around.  We grabbed dinner about 6:00 and then headed to the apartment for the evening.

We got up at 8:00 this morning and went to meet the orphanage director at 11:00.  Prior to leaving Loonya went to put on new rear brakes on his car.  He didn't make it back in time so we hired a driver for 162 rph for the day ($1 USD = 5.4 rph).  The director was suppose to have the secretary, assistant, and doctor come into work.  She couldn't get a hold of the secretary.  The assistant was angry that she had to come in on her day off.  No one knew how to get into the PC.  I tried but the password they gave me didn't work.  Things were tense and Luda just about put on her boxing gloves.  She was angry for the staff not having documents prepared for us prior to our arrival on Saturday and for not having a backup secretary.  Luda felt they weren't cooperating as they should so threatened to report them to the NAC.  The director assured us that they would do everything they could to help.  I suggested that since it now was a matter of just typing that we could go to an internet cafe and hire someone to draft up the documents.  So that's what we did... luckily there was an internet cafe near the orphanage so we didn't have to drive back to Simferopol.

We walked to the internet cafe which is in the loft of a pool hall.  It was closed.  The bar owner called the owner of the internet cafe business.  At first he didn't want to come in but we talked him into it.  So he took a taxi to get to work and open up just for us.  I was really surprised that this spot in the road actually had internet access.  We hired him to help type up 6-7 documents in triplicate.  You need the same document but with different header information for the Judge, Orphanage, and NAC.  So there really were 18-21 documents.  He was a very good typist and saved the day for us.  We had him burn the documents to a CD just incase we had to make changes later.  He only charged us 60 rph.  That's the best $11.25 that I've spent.

After preparing the documents we went back to the orphanage and the director recorded, signed, and stamped all of the papers.  This was a huge hurdle but we got the job done.  Now in defense of the orphanage... The NAC director didn't tell them that we were coming to adopt Roman but just to look at him.  So they weren't sure if I was going to actually adopt him or not.  That's why they didn't prepare the documents in advance.  The secretary is a student who does this job as a part-time thing.  This orphanage probably wouldn't need a backup secretary because they only had 1 adoption in the past.  They just weren't prepared because there hasn't been a need before.  I am just happy that Luda made this happen in such a short amount of time.

While the director and Luda were busy certifying the documents, I spent time with Roman.  he didn't change his mind about being adopted and he didn't look so overwhelmed today.  We met some of his friends and both teachers.  While in the TV room another boy was carrying a chair past Roman and hit him in his temple.  His teacher, Natasha didn't see him get hurt so I nudged her.  Roman didn't want me to see him cry so he went around to the backside of a column.  We followed to make sure he was alright.  He is so quiet and shy.  He walked it off with us in tow.  He is a sweet boy and I'm very happy about adopting him.

When we finished with the orphanage we met with the inspector so she could begin writing the letter of conclusion.  There are still documents that we must get inorder for her to finish.  One is a new original court decree terminating parental rights from Yalta and the other is a document listing Roman's stay at his first orphanage. We will have to go to Yalta tomorrow.

After we left the inspector we headed back to the apartment to grab Loonya for dinner.  He already ate but gave us a lift.  We met Yonna after dinner and went for a drink and desert.  Later we dropped Yonna off at their apartment and I got to meet Shalom.  He's a very nice fella who is adopting a 3 year old boy.  He's been in Ukraine 8 weeks and had 5 appointments before finding his son.  Both him and Yonna will be glad when their adoption is over.    We chatted for a bit then headed home to go through all of the adoption papers.  This was a lond day.

We got moving this morning at 8:30.  I think I got at most 2 hrs sleep.  We called the inspector and made arrangements to meet her to get the letter of invitation so we could visit the orphanage in Gvarvdyeiskoye.  The orphanage is out in a rural farming community.  Its difficult to find because its tucked behind a subdivision.  It took about 20 minutes to drive here - keep in mind that Simferopol is a small town itself.

We arrived and went to the director's office to give her the letter.  Roman was there waiting for us.  He is smaller than I expected and they had him dressed up for me.  We spent a lot of time talking with the director and Roman.  I showed him photos of the family, told him what to expect when he gets to the USA, tried to explain to him about adoption process.  I assured him that I didn't care about any health problems he may have and that he didn't have to be on his good behavior with me.  I was going to adopt him no matter what and to just be himself.  I told him to expect to be frustrated with the communication problem but that I would help him to learn English and it all would eventually get easier.  I felt sorry for Roman.  He looked like a deer caught in head lights.  He was only told about us coming 15 minutes prior.  He was very overwhelmed.  The director told us that he was very excited about being adopted.  So I asked him that if after hearing all of the things that would happen and some of the obstacles he would encounter if he still wanted to be adopted.  He said "yes".   So then we talked about the name changing process and gave him the opportunity to change his first and 2nd name if he wanted.  He decided to keep them the same.  He also agreed to let me name him Thornton as a 3rd name.  So his name will be Roman Yuryevech Thornton Nolley.

We let roman go with his teacher, Natasha while we started paperwork.  We found out that Roman was born in Yalta so that means 2 cities that we will have to process papers in.  He also had been at another orphanage from age 5 to 7, so that's an additional orphanage we will have to deal with on papers too.  The orphanage was missing some original papers.  They had a copy of the court decree terminating parental rights.  We will have to travel to Yalta to get a new original for the Judge in Simferopol.  We expressed to the director our urgency in getting the paperwork processed.  So the director was going to call the doctor, assistant director, and secretary into work tomorrow.  They usually have weekends off like we do in the USA.  We had to get the paper work from this orphanage done before we could head to Yalta.

I think Norma's girls must have been the first adoption that this orphanage has had because they are pretty clueless on what they have to do.  The NAC changes the process weekly and these folks haven't kept up because people just don't want to adopt older children and especially children in an orphanage for the mentally delayed.  The director was saying that another couple from Spain is trying to adopt a girl here and has already spent 2 months just trying to get the paperwork done.  So she was pessimistic that we would be able to get it done in 1-2 days.  Luda tried to assure her that she has been doing adoptions for 5 years and that it could be done.

When we finished going over the papers, I met with Roman and he took us on a tour of the orphanage.  He said there are 16 children in his class - mostly girls.  I asked him who his best friend was and he said he didn't have one because all the children in his class are his good friends.  He wanted to take the chocolate that I brought him back to the class to share with the kids.  I also brought him a book written in Russian & English that teaches him English along with the CD lessons & player.  The director said I should take the player back with me because the older kids would just take it from Roman.  I asked Roman what sports he liked to play and he said soccer.  He has never played football, basketball, baseball, or volleyball.  He also said that his class doesn't have any toys to play with.  They just play outside.

After visiting with Roman we left for Simferopol.  Luda had to meet with the inspector to talk about the paperwork.  When we finished with that, we grabbed dinner and met with Yonna.  We finally made it back to the apartment about 8:00 p.m. and went to bed early.

Vlad was a little late this morning.  He picked me up at 10:30 and we went to the NAC.  The director wasn't there.  So much for getting the referral letter at 11:00.  The letter requires her signature.  So Luda (my new escort) and I waited at the cafe across the street.  Elena-#2 and Vlad were waiting in the NAC lobby.  Finally the director shows up and told them that she would not sign the letter until 3:00 p.m.  That means we would miss our flight.  We'd have to take the 5:00 p.m. flight to Simferopol.  We had already arranged for the inspector in Simferopol to wait for us to arrive so she could give us the letter to visit the orphanage.  On Friday's people usually leave work about 4:00 p.m. - they make it a short day because of the weekend.  So because the NAC Director is an unreasonable unprofessional pain in the hinnie, she is costing me the last day in the week in which I can get paperwork completed.  All because she insists on waiting 3 hours before spending 2 minutes to sign a letter.  That woman is on a major power trip.

The good news is that the orphanage director is willing to work with us and let us visit Roman this weekend.  The inspector also said to fax her the letter and she would draft up the paperwork and then we could drop off the original when we hit town.  So the folks in Simferopol are willing to work to help this adoption happen but its like pulling teeth to get the NAC Director to do anything.

We got the referral letter at 3:30 p.m. and headed to the train station.  We waited in line about 1.5 hours and were then told that the train was sold out.  The last flight out for the day is at 6:00 from a small airport and it was already 5:00 p.m.  So I went ahead and hired Loonya to drive us to Simferopol.  Loonya is Luda's husband and Luda is my translator/facilitator for this adoption.  I only had to pay $350 for a round trip plus adoption related driving while in Simferopol.  They know that money is tight for this adoption so discounted it $50.  Simferopol is MUCH further than Donetsk.

We grabbed a quick dinner then started to Simferopol.  When we got on the outskirts of Kiev, Luda got a phone call from another translator named Yonna.  Yonna knew we were going to Simferopol and so was she.  She wanted to know if we managed to get a train or plane ticket because she was unable to.  Luda told her that we had the same problems and were driving.  So we waited for Yonna to arrive via taxi and gave her a ride to Simferopol.  Yonna is very nice and is handling the adoption for a single man (Shilom?) in Cathy Harris group.

Luda had been trying to find us an apartment via phone since 5:00 p.m.  About 8:00 we finally got a place to stay in Simferopol at a reasonable price.  The trip down took us a little over 9 hours.  By the way - restrooms here are typically not free, nor modern.  I've even had to use the "exotic" toilet a few times.  We finally rolled into Simferopol around 4:30 a.m.  We dropped Yonna off at her apartment then headed to ours.  The landlord met us on the road and directed us where to go.  The apartment was nice, clean, and updated except it didn't have a microwave or washing machine.  At 4:30 in the morning, I didn't care.  The bad thing was that the matresses are 3" thick and rest on plywood.  So the beds are very hard.

Vlad picked me up this morning at 11:30 and we headed to the NAC.  We waited a long time in the lobby.  Elena went in and out talking to people to try and find out our status.  Finally she came out with the registration letter and said that they now want me to write a letter requesting a 2nd appointment with the psychologist so I can pick out the child I want to visit.  Good grief!  What a waste of my time and the psychologist's.  They know and I know what child I want to go see but they insist on me jumping through this paper hoop to satisfy their ineffecient massive paper system.  So fine... I wrote the letter, Vlad translated, and then we stuck a copy of his passport, diploma, and POA to it.  Elena then submitted it at 2:30 p.m. and it sat on someone desk for an hour.  About 4:30 p.m. I got to meet with the psychologist (old man).  It was a 5 minute process.  He pulled out Roman's papers and asked if that was him, I said yes.. and that was it.  So now they tell me that they won't give me a referral letter till tomorrow.  Yet again a 5-10 minute process because all of their letters are computer forms that they just fill in 2-3 blank lines by hand.  Elena managed to expedite the letter so that we can pick it up at 11:00 a.m. instead of 6-7 p.m.

After an afternoon of sitting around and waiting on the NAC director and staff, I stopped by the internet cafe near the NAC to send a note to the family.  This cafe is cheap at 4 rph/hr.  But the pc they gave me is horrible.. so no journal update today.  After emailing the family, I hit a near by chinese restraunt and got take-out.  The food here is what I would call imitation chinese.  I have yet to see one chinese person in Ukraine.  The food is something I could prepare from a Betty Crocker cook book.  It doesn't do justice to chinese food.

I grabbed a taxi back to the apartment and Liola/Lidiya (I can't get this woman's name right) was there to meet me.  I had left her $100 USD for the 3 days.  The extra $10 would go to pay any additional phone expenses.  Well now I had to pay her $30 USD more for another night.  I told her to come back at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow when Vlad was to pick me up so that I could give her the key.

Tuesday 10/5/04

Boring boring day... got up, internet cafe, apartment, metro food court, partment, bed.  That sums it up.

Wednesday 10/6/04

I've been bored silly so I decided to play around on the metro today.  I rode the metro up to Maiden which required me to swap tracks once.  I went to the underground mall there in search of a winter coat for Chris.  Its been nice today but last week it was very cold and rainy.  The underground mall is small and didn't have a children's shop.  I hung around the top of the Maiden area for awhile and finally asked a few people about a shop.  One woman told me to head to Pelcher's station which is between the internet cafe and my apartment.  So I headed back.  I couldn't find a shop so went to the internet cafe for coffee.

I asked the girls there about a shop near Pelcher.  They said it was there and to go look again.  Doah!  So I walked back (about 1 block) and asked some street vendors.  Keep in mind that they didn't speak English I didn't speak Russian.  But I got the point across and they pointed at a shop on the corner.  I finally had some success.  It was a nice shop that had everything from coats, to clothing, to toys.  I picked Chris up a coat, mittens, and longer socks.

After shopping, I headed back to the apartment.  When I entered the phone rang.  It was Vlad with some good news.  The NAC gave me a new registration number for the 2nd dossier.  I may get the letter of travel tomorrow.

I hit the internet cafe for brunch and emails today.  I'm predictable.  Afterward I hung out at the apartment waiting for word from Vlad.  The landlord came by about 4:00 p.m.  I paid for the phone bill the month (38 grivena) and $150.00 USD to catch me up to date on the apartment rental.  So far I've put out $420 USD on rent.  I guess the phone company here charges for local phone calls.  Figures... Heck they charge for ketchup at McDonalds.

After Liola and her daughter left, I got a hold of Vlad.  He said that the director spoke directly to him and said she would make a "positive" decision on Thursday.  I said, "Thursday!?  Thursday!? What do you mean positive decision."  Vlad said, "She will make a decision in our favor on Thursday.  I don't know why she is being this way.  I don't know why she waits till Thursday."  Ok, so my tolerance level is just about reached... I said, "Vlad, I can tell you why she's being this way.  Its because she's a bitch who needs to be taken to boondock Indiana and thrown down a sinkhole".  He thanked me for understanding the situation.    So I asked him what she meant by "positive".  Does it mean the director will MAKE a decision on Thursday or that she will give a "positive" decision in that "yes you can go to Simferopol".  He said, "yes, that we can go to Simferopol."  So on Thursday, if she changes her mind and says "no" or she delays this even further, then I'm going to show the NAC director what it means to "Go Postal".  I think I've been overly patient with a severely unprofessional woman that has no business being in a child services type position.  Should she and I come to blows, I won't use any profanity or raise my voice, but I will verbally peel the skin from her body and only leave her office when I'M finished.  At this point, I won't need a translator.  The director knows English very well but pretends that she doesn't.

So after hearing the news, I walked to the cafe to send out an email to the family and update the journal.  I'll grab a bite on the way home via metro food court

==============

Hrmmm I think I miscounted the days in Kiev this time around.  Court in Donetsk was 9/16 (Thursday).  We caught the Friday train overnight to arrive in Kiev on Saturday, 9/18.  So I've been in Kiev 9/18 thru 10/4 so far.  So that's 17 days.  Two of those day's rent were paid for by Elena.  The rest I've had to pay. And I'm paid up through yesterday (10/3). So I should have to pay for 3 more days (Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday) before I supposedly travel.  So that's another $90.00 USD to make my stay in Kiev cost $510 for lodging. I paid like $450 in Donetsk on lodging.  So that's $960 that wasn't expected.

I got up early this morning and headed to the orphanage about 10:00 a.m.  I decided to try the metro system instead of taking a taxi.  I walked 2 blocks to the metro and took the tram.  All of the signs were in Russian so I just counted the number of stations between the river and orphanage on my map.  I got off at the 4th station east of the river, which was the right one.

There are 3 metro lines that run under Kiev.  The escalators heading down to the rail system is about a 60 degree decent - maybe 100 yards down.  The stations are long and look like a cylindrical bomb shelter.  Bogdan said that there are a lot of pickpockets in the underground halls leading to the metro.  Those same halls have a lot of little shops/stands and beggars.

After I reached my station, I exited the metro near a McDonalds.  So I grabbed a quick burger for brunch and then took bus 45a.  This was the wrong bus.  I should have taken bus 45.  I managed to switch buses when it returned to the bus station to start its route over.  By the time I got to the orphanage it was 11:05 a.m.  It took me 20 minutes to walk to the metro, ride it, and exit by McDonalds.  It then took me 30 minutes riding around and around on buses till I got to the orphanage.  It only cost me 1.5 grivena (.5 for the extra bus).  A taxi would have cost me 15-25 grivena and taken 15 minutes. 

We left the orphanage at noon to head to the circus.  The children had these transportation passes provided by the government which let them ride for free.  So we took a bus to the north metro.  Then rode the tram to near downtown Kiev.  From there we took another bus to the  theater building where the circus was (inside).  Everytime we got off and on buses/trams, I kept counting heads to make sure we didn't lose any kids.  Lanna didn't seem as concerned about it as I was.  She kept laughing at me.  Our tickets were in two different sections, so I got 5 boys and Lanna took Vitalik and the 2 girls.

The circus started at 1:00 p.m. and lasted 3 hours with a 1/2 hour intermission.  It was a one ring circus.  There were of course 2 clowns, dancers, jugglers, acrobats, and animal handlers.  The clowns were the best thing about the circus.  Of course I'm being critical because I'm use to a HUGE 3 ring circus with a high wire, trapeeze artist, etc..  This was like a low-budge movie version of a circus in the USA.  The animal acts were ok but they had problems getting the critters to perform.  The jugglers were talented but didn't do anything spectacular.  The dancers looked like they should be in vegas and not at a circus with kids.  But the important thing is that the children seemed to enjoy the show.  So after the circus we headed back to the orphanage and arrived there a little after 5:00 p.m.

I got to eat with the kids in their cafeteria.  They had some kind of bland meat loaf, mashed potatos, bread, and vegitable soup.  The vegitable soup was more like chicken broth with chunks of potato.  You occasionally saw something that looked like a part of a cabage leaf and onion.  Bread and potatos seem to be the main course from the past 2 meals I've seen.  No balanced meals via the food pyramid here.  These kids really need more fruit and vegitables.

After dinner we headed back to the classroom (living room area).  A woman named Natasha stopped by to visit.  She spoke English very well.  She had come with friends as part of mission work for a Ukraine church some time ago.  Well her friends stopped coming to the orphanage but she continued.  We had a very good conversation and she helped translate for me with Lanna.  She is concerned that this presidential election on 10/30 will lead to civil war.  She says everyone knows the candidate from Donetsk will win because he is a crook and "fixed" the election.  She says that the people don't want him in power and may rebel.  So that lead to a discussion on corruption in their government.  I better be out of here and back in the USA by 10/30 - hopefully sooner.

Natasha and I left the orphanage about 9:00 p.m.  She helped me get a taxi at a normal price rather than at the inflated tourist prices.  So I made it back to the apartment about 9:15 and couldn't get to sleep.  I was up till about 3:00 a.m.  I think my problem is that I'm just anxious to get a decision from the NAC director concerning Roman's adoption.  I'm suppose to know something tomorrow.  Of course, I've said that before!

I was lazy this morning and got up late.  So I hit the internet cafe for brunch about 11:30 and had my usual chicken salad.  I've only been eating 2 meals a day here and haven't really been hungry.  My knee is much better too,  so I'm walking more instead of taking taxis.

So after reading emails, I went back to the apartment and stopped by the grocery on the way.  I picked up a bottle of Fanta (I miss my diet coke) and Chip Ahoy cookies.   I had a craving for American junk food.  The cookies here were expensive.  I paid 18.5 rph which is $3.50 USD.  You can get a great dinner for the same price. 

About 3:00 p.m. I headed to orphanage-12 for a visit.  I always have a good time there with the kids and Lanna.  Today it was sunny but chilly.  It's been raining for about 5 days.  So we took advantage of the weather and the kids and I hit the playground for the afternoon.  Zhenia and Yura were being typical boys and showing off on the juggle gyms.  They also raced on a self-made obstacle course.  Most of the afternoon I heard, "Alice! Alice!"   They didn't know english so that was their way of saying "Alice, look at me." 

The orphanage play ground was a stretch of ground about 40' wide and maybe 150' long.  It had a serie of jungle gyms, balance beams, broken metal tables, money bars, etc.. Most of the equipment was missing parts. For instance the big jungle gym looked to be missing teeter-toters and swings. Some of the metal posts were broken and painted over.  Behind this area was 2 basket ball courts surrounded by a 10' fence.  The fence had been cut in several places like someone broke in.  The hoops were missing from 3 of the 4 goals.  The one goal with a hoop looked like someone mounted it upside down.  The backboard was longer below the hoop rather than above it.  There really wasn't enough backboard above to make a decent bank-shot.  Behind the basketball courts there was a soccer field.  Of course the goals were missing the nets.  Its like anything not nailed down gets stolen.  Bogdan was telling me that some students planted bushes along the front entrace to the orphanage (inside the orphanage walls/gates) and someone dug them up and stole them one night.

Luda and Anna were being more reserved than the boys while they played on the jungle gyms.  The other boys were off playing in the soccer field.  I was having a good time and even hung upside down from the money bars.  Lanna just shook her head at me.  She was probably thinking "Crazy American".

Later we all headed into the class room.  The kids went off to have dinner and Lanna dished up some buckwheat & sugar beet salad for me.  She also had some really good salami.  She is a great hostess and keeps trying to stuff me with food.  Bogdan joined us after a while and of course she made him eat too.   We chatted till about 7:00 p.m. with Bogdan interpreting.  Then I hitched a ride with Bogdan on the metro to get back to the apartment. 

==============

RAMBLING ....

I don't know if I mentioned this before but...  What we in the USA consider apartments isn't exactly the same here.  Ukrainians can own or rent apartments.  Yet even if they own them, they still call them an apartment rather than a condo.  Most are 1 bedroom, some have 2.  I'd say the average apartment probably has 1 bedroom, living, kitchen, and a bathroom.  I have yet to be in an apartment that has airconditioning.  The one I'm in right now is very clean and neat but it doesn't have a washer or microwave.  The water pipes are on the outside of the walls and they put appliances where ever they will fit.  The apartment I'm in now has the refrigerator in a hallway.

A word on salaries... Anastatia in Donetsk had told me that the average income is about $100 USD/month.  Lanna makes $60 USD/month.  The Ukraine economy is out of balance.  Housing, electronics, washer/dryers, and cars cost about what it does in the US but salaries are extremely low.  I was told that it costs a lot of money (ie bribes and legal fees) to start your own company.  So a lot of folks don't even bother trying to start their own business.  There also isn't any "health insurance" here.  Lanna's grand-daughter needed kidney surgery and it cost about $600 USD which she had to borrow from a friend.  Granted that isn't much to us to pay for major surgery.  But that is almost a year's salary to her.  Plus its scary to even though about being in the hospital here, especially after I was told that you can buy a medical degree.  You don't know if you will get a good doctor or not.

Ok... so since I'm stuck in Kiev until at least Monday, I might as well find something proactive to do.  I had called Bogdan late last night and told him the latest news with my adoption.  Since I'm gonna be here this weekend, I asked him to go ahead and set up a field trip for Class-5 to take them to the circus.  He will call me tonight to let me know the cost.  We will aim for Sunday since they don't have any school that day.  Orphanage classes are Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. till 2:00 p.m.

I hit the internet cafe around 11:30 for brunch and emails.  Who needs Russian?   I am doing fine getting around and communicating without Russian.  I just tell the girls in the cafe, bring me Americanski coffee.  The folks here drink coffee from a tiny little cup.  It may hold like 1/2 cup of coffee.  So between John and myself we broke them in.  They now know that American-coffee is a LARGE cup of coffee with cream and sugar on the side.  I've also introduced the waitresses to what "Tip" means.  One of them named "Hellen" speaks some English but not very well.  She was telling me that very few people here "tip".  That if you wanted to make good "tips" you'd have to work in a fancy restraunt.

I figured after lunch I would try to find a bookstore and pick up some Russian-English tutorials.  If I'm allowed to adopt Roman, he will need these.  They will come in handy killing time on the airplane.  If I'm denied that adoption, then I'll just donate the CDs to Class-5.  One of the boys in that class is very interested in becoming a translator.  He's a doll.  He has a medical condition where his chest is convex thus pushes on his lungs.  So he can not play like the other kids.  He's a bright boy so would probably do very well as a translator and that is something he can work at instead of playing outside.

For folks who are interested in adopting older children, I would suggest asking to look at the book of kids from orphanage-12.  Many of these kids are mislabeled with learning problems.  Some of the kids do have emotional baggage due to abuse, neglect etc..  But they are good kids and have it very rough when they are turned out of the orphanage at 16.  By Ukraine law, if those kids have families (regardless of termination of parental rights) they must return to their home.  That means back into an abusive situation.

There is one child in the class who's mother abandoned them at birth because she didn't want children.  She has never visited.  But the Grandmother does visit at most once a month, but its not to see how the kid is doing.  Its to see what the child's status is.  The child is now 12 and the Grandmother does not want the kid to be returned to the home at age 16.  So she is trying to get the child transfered to a mentally retarded orphanage so the kid will be institutionalized for life.  That is so cold.  She hates her grandchild enough to institutionalize the kid for life.

Ok.. so after lunch I went to this British bookstore.  I was looking for a book with a CD that teaches Russian kids how to speak English.  Everything they had was comletely in English without Russian subcaptions.  Lilia, one of the ladies working in the bookstore, wrote me directions in Russian on how to get to an open-market that just sells books and computer/aduio CDs.  So I took a taxi to this market that is on the far northwest side of Kiev.  The place was HUGE.

I had trouble communicating what I wanted.  I ran into a few people that spoke enough English to help me out.  They wrote down what I was looking for in Russian so I just went from shop to shop and stuck the note in front of the shop owner's nose.  I picked up 2 tutorial books - one for Class-5 and one for Roman.  And an audio CD class on English for Roman.  Having some success I decided to head to the internet cafe to check mail.  From here I'll hit McDonalds then head to the apartment for the evening.

I woke up this morning and hung around the apartment till lunch, then hit the internet cafe.  I'm becoming a regular here now.  I made it back to the apartment about 1:00 and waited around to hear from Vlad.  I had managed to talk with him before I left this morning and he didn't have any news.

I finally got in touch with Vlad at 6:15 p.m.  He was fully expecting to leave tonight with a referral letter.  I even had my bags packed ready to hit the train. However, someone interfered in my adoption and have caused me a LOT of problems.  Someone called the American Embassy about my adoption.  So the Consular visited the NAC today to speak about my "case".  So now the director has back stepped and said she will make a decision on Monday about whether or not to allow the adoption.  She was already going to allow it and we were waiting on the referral letter.  So now because the embassy got involved they pissed her off.  While I appreciate someone wanting to help, you just have no idea how these people work and what the consequences are for me.  Now this adoption is in jeapordy.  So whoever tried to help, don't.  This is MY adoption and MY business.  Do NOT interfer again.  The last time an embassy got involved for a Canadian couple the NAC director drug things out for 2-3 weeks.

So after I got the BAD news and the wallpaper peeled in the apartment again, I hit the cafe to post this message.   I will call the Consular in the morning to find out who contacted them and what exactly was discussed about my "case".

I spoke to the folks about 9:30 tonight and they told me that no one from the family called the embassy.  So I'm gonna take a wild guess.. maybe it was a single woman who traveled a few weeks before me.  She had a rough time.  She was only shown very handicapped kids, delayed 2 weeks between appointments and went home emptied handed.  If I were her, I'd have contacted the embassy and complained.  I probably got drug into it because I'm also a single woman adopting.  This of course is just a guess on my part.  Regardless, the embassy getting involved has delayed my trip.

I called Vlad this morning and confirmed that they did find the medical form.  It was in Elena's apartment in Kiev.  He will submit it today at 3:00 p.m.  Hopefully we will hve a referral letter tonight or tomorrow.  After talking with him, I went to the internet cafe for lunch and emails.  On the way back, I picked up some fresh fruit as a thankyou gift for the landlady.  I got back to the apartment about 2:30p.m.

I hung around the apartment waiting for Vlad to call.  About 7:30, I started calling him but could only get his answering system.  The phone system here is HORRIBLE. So I gave up and went to the small cafe 2 blocks down the street to have dinner.  I finally had some chicken pizza that John bragged about.  It was very good.

After dinner, I returned to the apartment and relaxed for the night.  There is this really annoying little guy on one of the music stations.  He reminds me of Charlie Chapman.  The music, stage props, and him are soooo annoying.  I have the flip the channel everytime he comes on.  He does this 5 minute comedy routine then waddles off the stage.  5 minutes too long for me.

=================

Rambling...

I've had the chance to talk with a lot of people in Ukraine.  Some of the stories they tell me about the government and police blows my mind.  This place is very corrupt in all levels of government.  I'm not gonna list any names because it would be dangerous for them.  Its not any one person who tells me stuff here.. but many folks.  So I'm apt to believe the stories to be true.  Let me just put it this way.. I'm glad I live in the USA.  And for new folks traveling make sure you set up a contact system and should you fail to keep in touch with family at home, make sure they know to call the embassy here and report you as missing.

Don't get me wrong.. Ukraine has a lot of promise to truly be a democrated country.  But right now there is no justice in Ukraine.  There is only a semblance of justice.  And most court decisions that are made are not enforced.  So if you sue someone and win, it means nothing.  They can just laugh in your face and continue to take advantage of you.  This country needs to do some serious house cleaning from the top down.  There are good people in Ukraine.  I've met a lot of warm and kind people.  But those people aren't in a position to make a difference.  Its like people are repressed by corrupt officials.

Side note - If liver disease doesn't kill these people then lung cancer will.  I can't wait to wash the cigarette smell out of my jacket.  They open the vodka as early as 9:00 a.m. and a lot of the cafes are like walking into a bowling alley.

Today was incredibly frustrating.  I got up and went to the internet cafe for lunch.  I tried to read emails but the connection was so slow that it took 10 minutes to open one email up.  So I gave up and returned to the apartment.  I then called Vlad to see what time he was picking me up today for the appointment.  He said that I had to go to some medical center because my medical form in the dossier was expired.  This is when I got ticked.

I redid my medical form 5 times because the NAC couldn't make up their mind what they wanted. Two of those reworks was because they sat on my dossier so long that things were expiring.  So Vlad received a new form the first week in August that won't expire till 2005.  Then the week before I left for Ukraine the NAC changed their form again by adding a patient id number to the test section.  So I ran around like mad having it redo and brought 2 apostilled originals with me.  I gave them both to Elena at the FIRST NAC meeting.

So I told Vlad all this and asked where the hell my 2nd medical form was.  He was going to call Elena who now was in Simferopol to ask.  I call Vlad back about 30 minutes later wanting to know what he found out.  He said that she told him she gave both medical forms to the judge in Donetsk.  I was like, "What!?  Why would she do that!?".  Vlad said that Elena was going to call the judge to track down the form.  When they find it they would send it to Kiev via train.  He would call me later tonight to let me know what was going on.  So after I hung up with him, I cursed like a sailor and damn near made the wallpaper start peeling.

Since there was nothing I could do, I decided to go chill at orphanage 12.  I called Bogdan to make sure it would be alright.  I didn't want to be a pest etc..  I arrived at the orphanage about 3:00 p.m.  Lanna taught me how to do the beadwork that the kids loved.  It was tedious but fun.  I was disappointed that some of the kids were missing.  Vera was in the hospital having her medical forms updated.  Pepsi-Cola was sick in the orphanage med center.  And Vitalik was off somewhere.. I think another class.  So I threw a pizza party for the kids that were present.  Bogdan said they had pizza like one time prior.  It showed because they kept trying to eat the pizza with plastic forks.  I had to introduce them to the crude American method of just picking up the slice.

Lanna had her niece, Leva, come by to do some translation for me.  She had 8 years of classes but no prior conversational practice.  So she had some problems coming up with words and kept telling me to speak slowly.  I think Leva was somewhat bored.  It was very nice of her to come by to help.  Lanna wouldn't let me help set the table or do dishes.  She kept saying "sit sit sit".  She also kept trying to feed me.  I joked with her and said she was going to make me gain all my weight back.  So she'd say "sit sit sit" and I'd say "ok ok ok".   The kids thought it was funny.

I left the orphanage about 7:00 with Bogdan.  The class had to go serve dinner to the other students and I was tired of being beat in checkers by Lanna.  So it was a good time to head home.  Bogdan introduced me to the metro system.  It only costs 0.50 grievna to ride it.  Bad thing is, there isn't any signs in English to help you know when you've arrived at your stop.  The metro is very close to my apartment in Kiev.

When I walked in the door, the landlord was there to meet me.  I had thought her name was Uda because that's what I swear Elena told me.  Well her name is really Liola.  Liola was wanting to get paid because she had rented the apartment now for 11 days.  Elena had paid her for 2 days only.  Vlad had told me that if the 2nd adoption was approved that my fee would cover this apartment.  Well I guess things have changed.  And really with how long I've been drug along by the NAC, I don't blame him for wanting me to pick up some of the costs in addition to the 2nd adoption fee.  I will pay him that fee once we are approved.  Of course the mishandling of my medical form kinda was eating at me during this discussion.

So Liola got Elena-#2 on the phone to translate.  Elena-#2 told me to go ahead and pay her for the 9 days which was $270 USD.  I tried to get more info out of Elena-#2 about my medical form but her English isn't as good as Vlad's.  The jist of what I understood was that Elena's sister found the medical form in their apartment here in Kiev.  She said Vlad would call me at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow to talk about the adoption situation.

So Liola left for the night. She is a very nice lady and I know she misses her apartment.  But she is making very good money off the rental.  I also think she was nervous that she wouldn't get paid.  I don't think she knows my facilitation group very well, hence her uneasiness.

I was being a bum this morning and slept late.  I got up about 9 and hung around the apartment till 11:00.  Then I went to the internet cafe to read emails and have lunch.  When I finished I went to the huge underground mall in the center of town.  I picked up a birthday gift for Vera since I will not have time to mail it after returning to the USA.  Bogdan will hold it for me and give it to her on Nov 26th.  I also tried to find dishes for the orphanage class but struck out.

So I headed back to the apartment and called Vova to see if he would translate for me and take me shopping.  Vova is the translator that worked with Terry & Mike (Canadian couple).  He is a studen at the university, studying languages.  He does free-lance translation on the side for $10USD/hr which is expensive for Ukraine but he's a gem so worth it to me.

We drove all over Kiev, visiting supermarkets and 2 open markets.  Its very difficult here to find dishes similar to Corelware.  The closest I found was Luminar from France.  But the problem is... I can't find it in an amount greater than 6 place-settings.  I need 12 for the class.  And if I find some that's nice looking, its WAY over priced.  We finally found 2 matching sets in an open market.  Its not as pretty as I would have liked but it fits the bill.  I bought 2 large boxes - 48 pieces per box to make up 12 full settings.  They were 200 grivena a box prior to haggling.

I also wanted to find a Russian-English CD for the kids so they could learn English but we ran out of time.  So we ran by my apartment to pick up the packages that I bought earlier today then were going to the orphanage.  I also picked up a gift that Terry had left for the girls.  She had left with me some nice scented hand/body lotions.

We got to the orphanage about 7:00 p.m.  Bogdan went with us to the class room where I left the dishes with Irena-#2.  The kids went nuts over the dishes.  American kids would have been like... "oh.. umm.. thanks." then left the room as soon as possible.  These kids were genuinely excited.  I gave the girls the lotion from Terry and they weren't sure what to do with it.  So we had a lotion 101 class.  We take a lot of things for granted in the USA.  Lotion here is apparently a luxury.

We couldn't stay too long because the kids had to go eat dinner.  As we were leaving the kids all gave me a kiss and thanked me.  I left with Vova to go back to my apartment.  I was happy that he got to meet Bogdan.  Both of those guys really want to help the kids and I think they'd be a good team.

After I returned to the apartment, I went to the cafe down the street for a quick dinner.  I'm looking forward to the NAC appointment tomorrow.  I hate being in limbo concerning Roman's adoption.

Today was fun. I went to the internet cafe for breakfast and to read emails.  Terry and Mike met me there about 1:00 p.m. (Canadian couple).  They spent some time doing emails while I finished breakfast.  We chatted a bit over coffee then headed off to orphanage 12.  Mike took their new son, Sasha, back to the apartment for his nap while Terry went with me.  Mike was initiated via changing his first diaper.

We took a taxi to the orphanage.  The drive was interesting.  He said he use compete in motorcross before becoming a taxi driver.  So he knew some English, French, and I think Italian.  Its about a 20 min drive to the orphanage from the cafe.  I didn't think he was going to let us out of the taxi.  For knowing a lot of languages he didn't seem to understand "Pull over here.  Really this is fine.  That's the orphanage.. Really, that IS the orphanage.  Pull over!".  It was rather amusing.

Bogdan gave us a tour and introduced us to several classes of kids.  I think Terry was impressed with the size of the orphanage.  She seemed interested in helping the children out.  We ended the tour at my class (#5).  We hung out there for a bit as we discussed what to do about shopping.  The weather wasn't very good today so instead of taking the entire class we would take the biggest girl and boy.  I guess they are out growing their clothes.  Bogdan was going to babysit the rest of the class while Lanna went with us.  He also arranged for a graduate named (Luda) to go with us as a translator.  She knows English fairly well but its still awkward for her.  Another graduate named Maximus bumped into us while we were heading out the gate so he tagged along.  He knew English very well - including slang.  He was practicing on me by saying.. "What's up dude?"  Kid wise.. Vitalik and Vera joined us.  Vitalik is very quiet and carried the packages for me.

We hopped on the public bus which costs 0.50 grivena to ride.  We were packed like sardines on the bus.  Thank god Lanna knew where we were going because there isn't any street signs around here and I didn't know the bus routes.  I wasn't too worried though because I had my "cheat" notes on how to get back to familiar places.  We went to this "department" store.  The first level was house hold items like washing machines, cosmetics, dishes, electronics.  The 2nd floor was boys/men's clothing.  The third floor was girls/women's clothing.  On the stairs between the first and 2nd floors was a video booth.  It was like 4' wide and maybe 15' long, completely enclosed with glass.  It had a small window where the transactions were handled.

So we bought 6 boy's shirts that were oxford style (school clothing).  The shirts ran 45-75 grivena.  Then we went to the next floor for the girl's shirts. These were a bit more expensive because they were more stylish.  We picked up 3 shirts there at 72-75 grivena.  On the way back down we bought 3 movies for the kids. They ran 22 grivena each.  We tried to find some dishes for the class but Lanna felt they were too expensive here.  They ran 250 grivena.  I tend to agree with here.  I will see if I can find some cheaper tomorrow.  What they need is something like Corelware.

Washing machines here were about 2000 grivena or a bit more.  They are also 1/2 the size of what the standard USA machine is.  Bogdan was telling me earlier that they have 1 wahing machine for 96 students.  So when the class sends clothing out to be washed its a week before its returned.  When the kids were showing me their lockers they maybe had 2 changes of clothing in it  not including what they were wearing.  All of their personal items fit in a locker that is about 16" wide by 5' tall.

When we finished with the department store, Terry had to take off.  Her son was due to wake up from his nap and she wanted to be there.  Lanna hailed her a taxi and told the driver where to take her.  I was trying to get Lanna to go find the dishes she wanted but I guess she didn't understand.  We ended up back at the orphanage.  I spent some time with the class while they watched one of their new movies.  I headed off at 5:00 p.m. to meet Terry & Mike.  They were nice enough to invite me to dinner.

Lanna helped me with taxi and I took off to the internet cafe where I called Terry for directions to get to their apartment.  It was about a 8 minute walk from the cafe, towards the center of town.  Their apartment was nice with a lot of updates.  By nice, I mean with respect to other apartments that I've been in while in Ukraine.  It had a small kitchen, bath, entrance hall, living room that doubled as a sleeping area, and then a bed room.  None of the buildings here have been handicap accessible.  Mike and I joked about the elevator.  You had to walk up about 6 stairs to get to it on the 1st floor.  You could fit 2 people in it comfortably.  I would bet it hasn't been inspected for safety in MANY years.

I had a good visit with them.  Mike cooked some Ukraine pasta (looked like tortellini), green beans, and mashed potatoes.  The food, wine, and conversation was great.  Terry & Mike are a great couple and I'm very happy for them in that they found an adorable 15 month old boy to adopt.  Sash is adorable and seems very healthy.  He's a tad underweight but Terry is already working on fattening him up.  Spending time with Sash made me miss Chris though.  I can't wait to pick him up from Donetsk.

 We got up early this morning and repacked/shuffled around items.  John was getting ready to fly back to the USA today, so he'll tote back some of the suveniors that I bought.

I called Bogdan and made sure that I was still set to visit the orphanage today.  I also told him about John leaving.  Bogdan is so nice.   He offered to help John get through the airport since he had to go there this afternoon anyway to pick up a friend.  So Bogdan will pick John up at 2:00 p.m. and they'll head off to the airport.  Bogdan will meet me at the orphanage once he gets his friend settled.

I carried on an hour long conversation with a few guys in Donetsk who didn't know a lick of English.  So I'm sure I will be fine with the ten kids until Bogdan arrives.  I had one boy, Yura, play me in Ukraine checkers the last visit.  They have different rules from our USA checkers.  In Ukraine checkers once you have a king it can move all the way across the board to make a jump.  And non-king checkers can move forward and backwards.  Also you have to take a jump if its available to you.  I managed to beat him but then the class teacher cleaned my clock in a game.  She joked that we will lose the sponsor (aka me) now that she beat me.  Today, I plan to get revenge now that I know the rules.

Bogdan picked us up and we headed to the airport.  Bogdan helped John get on his way while I headed to the orphanage.  I stopped the shops across the street from the orphanage and bought some chocolates, banannas, apples, and oranges then headed to see my class.  When I walked in the building they were waiting for me.  The lady at the desk took me to the class room where the kids had cleaned it up and had a table prepared for a party.  The kids were so good. They took the fruit and washed it while the teacher (Lanna) and I chatted.  Bogdan showed up unexpectedly.  He decided to come back to the orphanage to kill time before meeting his Dutch friends.  He translated for me as the kids took turns telling me what kind of things they liked to do.

Lanna had made fresh bread and cheese pastries for the party.  They were very good. She spread some fish and chicken patte on the bread.  Errmmm I ate it and thanked her.  I'm not a fan of liver an especially not fish.  The kids are great though.  I let them play with my digital camera taking pictures of themselves.  Vitalik is an acrobatic ham.   He is one of the older kids in the group.  They are fighting for him to stay at the orphanage longer because he's very delayed.  So I spent the time playing checkers with Lanna and Yura.  Yura is a cute boy but rather petite in stature.  A lot of children here are and I think some are effected by poor nutrition.  The kids watched a Russian dubbed version of Shrek II while Lanna kicked my butt in Ukraine checkers.  Please note.. I taught her US checkers and returned the favor of butt-kicking.   Visiting these kids just makes me want to take them home with me.  I'm looking forward to corresponding with them over the next 3-4 years.

I stayed at the orphanage till about 7:00 p.m.  Then I hitched a ride with Bogdan back to the downtown area where he dropped me off at my apartment.  Tomorrow will be interesting.  I'm taking a Canadian couple to the orphanage for a visit.  I will also be taking my class shopping.    They need some shirts for class.  And yes... their teachers are going with me - its a shopping field trip.

 We didn't do anything adoption related today.  The big event for today was to get my plane tickets changed to 10/19.  After several failed attempts to get online help through the NW site and their support emails, I asked the folks to do it from the US side.  The local phone numbers I had for the KLM office didn't work and I couldn't get the "right" ones out of NW/KLM online support.  So once again google.com saved me.  I just did a search on KLM in Kiev instead of Northwest.  Then I took a taxi to visit them in person.  I got the ticket changed in their office without any problems.  While there I met two American couples who were trying to get home. They both had very successful adoptions.  One was a cute little butter-ball boy between 1-2 years old.  He looks like he had a cleft-lip surgery.  The other was a cute dark-haired little girl that looked to be between 2-3 years old.  One of the couples was from Indiana and had adopted using a Christian organization.  I can't recall the name.  They had a fairly quick adoption process.

After getting the ticket problem resolved that afternoon, I hit the internet cafe to let the folks know.  While there I met Terry (Canadian) again.  She and her husband were the ones that adopted a very cute little boy with big brown eyes and brown hair.  They are making great progress in getting through their embassy paperwork and should be heading home on Wednesday.  Very nice couple.  They cave me their contact info so we could hook up during their last days here.

Early evening time frame, I called Bogdan to make sure I could visit orphanage 12 tomorrow (Saturday).  I wanted to take some fruit to the class I'm sponsoring.  I had talked to Terry about that orphanage and she was interested in visiting. So I took the opportunity to try and set up a tour for them on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Other than that.. my day has been pretty quiet.

I didn't sleep much last night because today is when I'm suppose to have the meeting at the NAC to find out about Roman in Simferopol.  Of course I've said that like 2-3 times already. I called Vlad this morning and he will pick me up at 2:00 p.m. at the apartment.

John and I headed to the internet cafe for lunch and to read emails.  They sure like pancakes in Ukraine but its not "our" kind of pancakes. They are more thin (less bready) and often have stuff cooked in the batter or they are used to wrap stuff up. For instance I ordered "pancakes with meat" for lunch. I get these two burrito looking things that are pancakes folded around some cooked mystery meat.  They served it with sour cream on the side.  It was good. They stuff other type of things inside of pancakes too.. some vegitables, fruit, even chocolate.  I'm also fond of this "Bel Coffee" which I won't drink in the US because I work most of the time.

Its just Bailey's Irish Cream in coffee with whipped topping and chocolate sprinkles.  They serve it hot and stick a straw in it.  This is the first time I've been offered a straw with hot coffee.

Its noon now, so I'll head back to the apartment to wait; until Vlad picks me up.

So Vlad picked me up a little before 2 and we heaed to the NAC. Elena-#2 was there to meet us with all the paperwork. We waited and waited and waited.  Finally we were told that the director wasn't here.  She had left at 11:00 a.m. and canceled all of her appointments for that afternoon. I was pretty ticked-off because she was blowing me off again.  We started to leave at 3:30 p.m. when we passed the director on the stairs.  So Elena-#2 made a few phone calls to try and have someone talk to her about seeing us. We went back up stairs and waited some more.

Around 5:00 p.m. she agreed to see me.  Its been several days since our last scheduled appointment, so I had this big long speech all prepared to try and persuade her to let me adopt Roman.  So we enter her office and the phone rings. Then someone comes in the door and leaves.  Then I'm asked to tell my story.. I get one sentence out and 3 more people come in the door.  So the Director says she doesn't have time to deal with this and refers us to the Deputy Assistant Director.  So I was rather annoyed but was assured that the Assistant was a nicer person to deal with.

She told the Assistant to review the case and then advise her.  Well the Assistant already reviewed our case on the last visit.  So 5 minutes later she goes in to talk to the Director.  Ten minutes later she comes out and tells the pyschologist to track down the file on Roman and confirm that the papers she read were true.  We had submitted the email letters from Norma that told about Roman and his sisters along with the letter she posted to the mail list.... and photo of Roman and his sisters.  So the pyschologist dug up the paperwork and proved that everything we had been telling her was true. Next they wanted to track down my 2nd dossier.  This is where it got really stressful.

I submitted 2 seperate dossiers in December. They only assigned 1 registration number which is standard practice but they screwed up and only enter 1 dossier as being received in their log book.  Well both dossiers were translated on the same day and submitted the same day.  I assume the NAC just stuck them both in the same folder. So then late July when I submitted the update for ALL of the documents in both dossiers, they stuck those in the same folder.  And again when I showed up at the NAC office for my first appointment, I brought 2 new medical forms that had the patient number listed.  They stuck those together in the same folder.  Why the heck would I bring 2 of everything over and over if there wasn't 2 dossiers.  Someone should have caught this long ago.

We couldn't prove that both dossiers were submitted at the same time.  So now I had to write a letter requesting permission to submit the 2nd dossier and ask for the Director's help to expedite the process.  Vlad translated it on the spot as the security guard was trying to throw us out (6:30 p.m.).  The Director granted me permission to formally submit the 2nd dossier.  We will do that tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.

Both dossiers are exactly the same but they insist on reviewing the documents again.  Also the agency license in the home study will need a new translation that shows the current date so they know when we submit it that its still valid.  This is silly because the license states on it the date that it expires in Indiana. But the good news is that the Director approved us to get a 2nd registration number.

They will review the 2nd dossier on Monday. We have another appointment with the Director on Tuesday to get approval. If all goes well and I'm approved, we hope to expedite the travel letter and have it Wednesday.  What's in my favor is that Ukraine has a law that they want to keep siblings together. Since they didn't do that in Roman's case, allowing him to be adopted to a family which will foster that sibling relationship is the next best thing. The psychologist proved that;our story about Roman is true. And, they normally expedite the adoption process for older children.

We made it through a major obstacle today. Vlad and Elena-#2 were great and I couldn't have gotten this far without them. They are the dynamic-duo.  Persistance, Patience, and Politeness works. Things are looking good now but I won't count my chickens until they hatch. When I get a travel letter in hand to go to Simferopol, then I know this will really happen.

John and I left the NAC about 6:30 and headed to the internet cafe for dinner and journal time. This has been a very stressful but successful day. I will have to call NW airlines tomorrow to change my flight from this Saturday to 10/19.  John will probably fly back because he already has stretched his vacation policy. I will be fine without him and at least can have control of the darn TV remote for once.

Wish me luck!