Forming a family through international adoption.
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!
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