I’ll try to provide some more detail on the areas where people had questions.

Ukrainian Immigration and Customs
 When we arrived, a small bus met us on the tarmac- and they crammed 100+ on to it-  It felt like the London Central line at rush hour.  Jake was doing his best to keep from getting stepped on by poking anyone who backed into him   It took no more than 30 minutes to get through passport control.  All the lines were open, and there were about 10 people in front of us in our line.  The airlines gave out immigration cards in flight- so we had ours completed, but there were numerous desks with copies of the form in passport control.  One guy in the line across from us had not completed his form- so the lady simply asked him to step aside and complete it.  They didn’t ask us why we were or how long we were staying- we did, however, put our reason for visit as “Adoption".  Once through passport control, we waited maybe another 5 minutes for the luggage.  There were customs forms at the end of every carousel in many different languages.  You need to fill one out per person over 16.  We declared our money and high value electronics that we would be taking back home.  We went through the red channel, and they asked us to place our luggage on the X-Ray machine.  The only question they had was about the magnetic rocks- as you are supposed to declare precious stones.  Once Paul started talking- the guard put up his hand in the ‘stop’ motion and waived us through.  From off the plane to out of the airport was maybe 40 minutes.

The Food
 Why anyone claims they lose weight here is beyond me!  The food is amazing- so far we have tried smoked salmon, chicken, beef, potato pancakes, scrambled & fried eggs, sausages, bacon et al- they were all wonderful.  The only “surprise” we got was went Jake ordered Hot Chocolate.  An espresso cup full of hot, thick fudge syrup was what appeared (see picture).  After about 3 spoonfuls, Jake pushed it away- saying it was too sweet for even him.  The boards were right about having no Diet Coke- they only have Coke Light, which has a very different taste.  The grocery shopping for Paul was an adventure.  They had no ‘loaves’ of bread- only individual rolls.  He managed to find the milk in bags.  We still haven’t opened it- for contemplation on how to keep the bag upright.

Animal Fascination
 The “animal identification book” we created for the little girl has been a huge hit with everyone we have met.  Svetlana told us to take it to the SDA appointment as well.  Having that many animals is a novelty, and folks are amazed with how large both the dogs and horses are.

The Environment
 It really isn’t as cold as we expected it to be.  Natasha was mortified when she saw Pam not wearing socks.  Jake spent most of his day with just a long sleeve shirt and his jacket flapping open in the breeze.  Our apartment, however, is on a hill…a very BIG hill.  And to make it to the shops and cafes- we travel down… but when you want to come home!?!?  You go UP- and UP- and UP.  Imagine 20 minutes on a treadmill at a 45 degree angle.  Of course Natasha is used to it- so she does the hills at 5-6 miles per hour.  She has taken to walking next to Jake- as he is the only one who can keep up with her.  They stop periodically to wait for us old folks to catch up.