Loren's on His Way Home!

Loren's plane should be taking off right about now. He left at 3:30 a.m. to get to Kiev and get some things done at the embassy. Even though I'm by myself, it was nice knowing we were at least in the same country! The day seems a bit greyer now that he's gone. Now that I'm alone, instead of staying in the hotel on the outskirts of Poltava, I have moved to an apartment within walking distance of the orphanage downtown. The apartment is decorated very nicely, but it is an apartment used by a company that sets up (usually) American men with Ukrainian women. That's a little creepy. It does have a sauna, however. That doesn't quite make up for the missing slats in the vertical blind that requires dressing in the bathroom though. We tried to get some sleep before Loren had to get up at 2 am, but we had a noisy mosquito buzzing by our ears every few minutes. Loren finally killed it right before he left, and I thought everything was fine until I heard another at 4 am. I killed it along with a small cockroach, then mosquito number three came buzzing by. I finally ended his reign of terror (okay, that's overdoing it a bit) at around 5:30 am and fell asleep for three hours.

Before he left, we took the girls out. Jessica, Arianna and I went bowling, and Loren and Svieta played pool.

I went grocery shopping today. We have a lot of tiny shops close to the apartment, but everything is behind the counter, and I have no clue how to ask for what I need. That left me to walk a half hour to an actual grocery store I knew of. I had forgotten how fun it is to walk BACK with the plastic grocery bags cutting the circulation off my fingers. I haven't had to do that since I lived in England. I did enjoy getting out among the people and pretending to know where I was going. I picked up the video Enchanted in Ukrainian for when the girls come by the apartment tonight along with some roasted chicken potato chips. I've had some good and bad experiences with the food here. Luckily there's a pizza joint with English menus just around the corner if I need something familiar.

I look forward to getting started on the last leg of paperwork when the ten day waiting period ends on Tuesday. We have to travel to each girl's hometown again to pick up the new birth certificates so we can apply for their passports. I miss my boys terribly, so I hope everything will go quickly so I can see them again soon.

I've thought a lot about the pre-Reagan era when we were all so scared of the Soviet Union. Ten years ago we asked some Ukrainian friends of ours in Seattle whether they were as scared of us as we were of them. They said they had the same drills as we did in case they were attacked, and they were truly frightened of us! Our driver and friend, Vassily said he was down in Cuba during that conflicting time with John F. Kennedy. It really makes you think when you realize that someone that sweet and kind was there, not just a bunch of Soviet robots. Ukraine is split pretty much down the river that runs North to South through the middle of it on being pro-Russian today. The western half wants only pure Ukrainian taught and spoken and is very critical of Russia's involvement in Georgia and worried that Ukraine might be next. The eastern half primarily speaks Russian or a combination, and seems to sympathize with Russia on the Georgian conflict, especially down in Crimea, just north of the Black Sea. They refer to Russia as "Mother Russia". Our translator said you get a completely different picture of what's going on depending on which radio station you listen to, and she thinks they both have a lot of propaganda and half-truths being spoken. It's kind of interesting to get the perspective of the people here while this is all going on.

Well, I've rambled on enough for today. I'm trying to avoid my empty apartment until the girls come. Thank you for your comments. It's nice to feel connected.