It's Christmas Eve here in Kiev - so we get to do it twice.  We wandered to another shopping mall that we heard about called "Globus"- and managed to find a Rainforest Cafe...eh..Ukrainian style.  The menus may have been in "English" but that didnt help much.  Pam ordered a Demfry- to receive potato pancakes and sourcream.  Paul ordered Potted Meat- and received pork and potatoes stewed in a pot.  (Paul got the better end of the deal!)  The menu did not reflect any Rainforest Cafe we have ever been to- with the primary meals being sturgeon, eel, caviar and squid.... eh- no.  Everything closed at 8pm and won't be open tomorrow- so we went to the grocery store to ensure we had enough to keep us fed tomorrow!  Paul wants to get out tomorrow morning and take pictures when no one is up...  by the way- the temperature has continued to decline- with the average low being -17C and the windchill being more than -25C.  Anyone with travel in January (TAMI!)- had better pack warmly!!

We decided to take some presents for all the children in Katya's group- given Monday is Christmas here.  We bought some dolls, dinosaurs and matchbox cars at the Black Market yesterday- and then took them with us today.  Katya's teacher (Mikalina) said we could given them out- and it created an absolute chaos.  Katya helped us give them out- and before you knew it, the kids were ripping into the packages, throwing plastic and paper everywhere.  Out of nowhere, Olga appeared- and was clearly dismayed that we had caused such chaos- and we were quickly escorted out of the room.  It was pretty final- as Mikalina told the children to "thank Katya's mother and Father".

We played and goofed some more- and at the end of our time, we headed back to her room.  When we opened the door, all the children were sitting quietly on the floor.  The moment the children saw us- it absolutely erupted in the room.  Children started shouting and jumping- running up to us- running around the room looking for their toys.  Did I say LOTS of shouting!?!  Mikalina (nor ANY adult) was anywhere to be found.  One little boy bopped Katya right in the nose- and it started to bleed.  She immediately ran right behind Paul, screaming at the little boy who had chased her there.  Pam took a deep breath and separated the two- lifting the little boy back into the room with 13 other screaming, jumping, punching, CRAZY children.  She shut the door behind her- locking her in with the other children.  Paul blocked the other side of the door, helping Katya settle down.  Luckily within about 5 minutes, Mikalina arrived with the lunch lady (and their lunch).  She IMMEDIATELY regained order with about 3 words.  Once the children were eating, she came outside- and busted up laughing with us.  It was a new moment of appreciation for her job!!  We decided to buy her a big box of chocolates to go with the necklace we bought... she deserves it!!

For those of you asking about the orphanage, we've included the nameplate and pictures.  Don't ask me to pronounce it!  The orphanage is comprised of 6 buildings that all look the same, surrounding a giant playground, and cares for about 200 children (aged 1-16).  The bottom picture is Katya's building- and the lower floor windows closest to the camera is her group's room:

In our research, we found a new type of market... the "Black" market.  Literally...  Randolph would have shuddered at the blatant lack of regard for copyright laws...  If one were inclined, you could purchase 15 movies for $5  ($.33 each!).  And I am talking new releases which are still in the theatre.  We were able to find "I am Legend", "National Treasure", as well as many others.  On the next row- Versache, Polo, you name it- it was there- in all of its fakeness!   Then you came to the software section... Windows- sure $10...  Adobe- no problem $10...  You name the software.. server or PC- the latest and greatest version- $10.  The market went on for miles and miles- row after row.  Kitchenware, office supplies, electronics, clothing, music...

We have an ETA now for next week.  It appears that we will collect our court order on Wednesday and take it to the registry office.  We will need to get her new birth certificate and national ID issued.  Once we have this, we can go to the passport office on Thursday.  Natasha thinks it will take 4-5 days to get the passport.  Once we have that, we need to get her physical at the American clinic- and take the documentation to the embassy.  They require 3 days from submission to visa- so we are looking at being done on the 21st or 22nd!  (amazing given we bought our plane tickets for the 24th!)

We were excited to hear the sun was due to make an appearance today (given we have not seen it since our arrival)- and awoke to big fluffy snow flakes pounding outside.  But something happened to that LOVELY -4C we had been living with....its now -11C with a wind chill of -20C (for you non-metric fans, that equates to -3F!!)  As we walked to the orphanage- both of us pulled up coats to our eyeballs and hats to our nose- leaving about a 1/4inch gap to see through....  DANG!$#^#&$  Neither of us are very fond of the cold- and laughed all the way during our 2 mile walk about how neither of us could feel our fingertips or toes....  Yes- Mom- we have pulled out the silk undies!!

The visit was in itself pretty much the same- although Katya seemed a bit miffed at us for not visiting yesterday.  We played catch and then started singing the "ABC" song- after the 4th rendition, Katya joined in to our surprise.  F seems to be a sticker coming out as 'eh' and no distinction in the LMNOP bit... 

We chatted at lunch over Sue & Chris' most missed list on their blog- and came up with our own.  Given we have been in Kiev the entire time, our experience is much different than the average adopter.  We have not had to suffer through no hot water or lack of edible food; we've had fabulous toilets and washing machines everyday- and most of the local menus are available in English... although anywhere in the Ukraine, the milk is extended life and tastes pretty horrid.  There is something unnatural about having milk sit in a cabinet and it being drinkable 3 months later.

Given Jake is obviously at the top of the list- we will shoot for the Top 10 more obscure things we miss:

1)  Getting a group hug from collectively 20,000+ pounds of horse(s)
2)  Getting woken with a cold nose in the morning
3)  Being out in the country, where it is quiet- and at night, dark
4)  Being able to confidently tell the difference between a carton of milk and a carton of sour cream..heck- we miss just plain old fresh milk
5)  Amjad's breakfast and Babe's chicken
6)  Good Mexican Food
7)  Pillows that you can lay on without getting a quill stuck in your ear/eye/cheek/neck
8)  Wearing 2 or less layers of clothes to stay warm inside
9)  A milkshake that has more than 1:5 ice cream to milk ratio
10)  Not having to change the language back to English every time we change the TV channel
 

So sayeth Natasha- when we asked if we could return the clothes we had bought for Katya- given we found they were too small.  So we started out at 2:30 with the thought of leaving at 3:00 to go see Katya with her new clothes...  when we finally walked out at 4:50....  maybe I should recount our adventure?!?

We walked into the store, laughing about the "We speak English" sign on the front door.  We stopped the first 2 or 3 store help we found and asked in Russian "Do you speak English?"- we received numerous "Nyets".  We finally went to the children's department and asked "Do you speak English?"- and received a "stop" hand sign in our face- then a motion to follow her.  We went into the toy section, where we were introduced to a young lady who spoke perfect English.  Easy- we thought!!  We explained to her the situation, and she said they would be happy to exchange the clothes and lead us to the clothing department.  She explained to the clerks what the issue was- and smiled, telling us they would take care of it.  The clerks found the next size up for one pair of jeans and the coat- the other pair of pants and two shirts were not available.  The clerk told us (in Russian) to find something else.  We were able to find the replacements in about 10 minutes.  Then the saga began.  The English speaking clerk returned to tell us that they needed to "credit" the pants and two shirts and then repurchase them.  For some reason, the clerk didn't seem to know how to do it- so she fetched another clerk to help her.  After about 10 minutes, they went to find a third clerk- who seemed to know what she was doing.  She pulled out a piece of paper that required massive amounts of information.  Pam pulled out her passport which seemed to confuse the clerks more- because the form didn't foresee the returnee to be anything but Ukrainian.  About 15 minutes later- we were able to fill in enough of the information for the process to take place.  The clerk ran our credit card- giving us the credit and charging for the new clothes... Easy!  "Thank you"- "Nyet- nyet moment!"  So we waited...and waited...and waited.... the clerks were dialing on the phone and finally sent a page across the floor- Floor Manager required.  About 20 minutes later, the floor manager arrived and signed the sheet- that ALL three clerks had already signed.  Then one clerk motioned for us to follow her- and she took off across the store.  We went through the departments and up the stairs, to the store manager, who also had to sign the form.  (Yes, that took about 10 minutes) Then we were motioned to follow her again.  We went down again, through the store to find ourselves at a cashier desk.  Then we waited again....and waited.  When our turn finally came- the cashier had to refill out the form again- then enter it into a computer- but like the form- the computer was not prepared to take a return from anyone without a Ukrainian ID.  She tried several times, but the computer just rejected it.  Finally our clerk said "Just make something up, they are American and won't be back again!"  I guess she did, because she finally gave me a sheet written completely in Cyrillic and told Pam to sign it... who knows what she agreed to!!  This process took another 20 or 30 minutes.  We laughed with the clerk who was apologizing profusely- I guess she never realized how hard it was to return something at her store!!  Pray that they fit- as we don't want to go through that again!

We stopped at the Adidas store on the way home to look at picking up a Liverpool hat for Jake- only to find Paul swooning over an AC Milan coat- he did come to his senses though when he realized his father would disown him if he wore something with AC Milan on it- and decided to look for something else!

What an experience!  There were 10s of thousands of people- and loads of fireworks...

We used the high priced public transportation system again today ($.40 ea) to visit Katya. The idea that we are permanent seems to be getting across. Katya is much more content to be told 'no', without a temper tantrum. Even the mad face is only lasting about a second and a half. The clothes we bought should have fit, but Katya isn't exactly the malnourished little orphan from Oliver Twist, so we need to talk Natasha into helping us return the trousers for the next larger size.

Our afternoon was spent learning a new custom, namely pushing to the front of every line you get into. Whether you are getting on or off of the metro, trying to check out at the grocery store, or trying to walk across the street at the light, you must push everyone else out of your way as if they don't exist. Sadly, not all people partake, and it's interesting to see the other people who are pushed out of the way sort of stand and shrug their shoulders. Oddly, if you stand your ground they seem to be taken aback at first, then move on as if nothing happened.

Wishing everyone the best New Years.

We'll see it first, so we'll let you know how it starts out.

We did exactly what we planned- and then some.  We slept in and got some more laundry done- then headed down to the river to Arizona- where Paul answered his craving for Nachos and Pam had another cheeseburger.  We then decided to walk home (about 3 miles) in the warm -1C weather.  As we passed the many shops, we noticed something very strange... a plethora of mice.. everywhere. Stuffed mice, gold mice, mice magnets, mice shirts, mice mugs, mice key rings... every shop was overwhelmed with mice.  (and no- they had not been that way 2 days ago)  Even more strange, everyone was buying the mice (quite aggressively!).  When we stopped at one shop, just to look at the mice in the display, both of us were literally pushed off the glass by other people, shoving their way to the front.

We managed to pick up a few... including one- that both of us simultaneously agreed (and without previous conversation) belonged to Randolph   Attached you will find both Paul and Pam's favorites!!  Clearly they belong with the upcoming New Year's celebration to bring good fortune for the new year...

We had a 4pm appointment today because the children were out for another party this morning.  We decided to give solo traveling a try- and made our way across the city via metro and tram.  The tram was the only unknown- as we had no idea where it stopped, what line to get on, or how much it would cost.  We made our way walking down the line until we came upon a cluster of people standing next to a pole.  We hedged our bets and waited with the group- sure enough the tram came along and we got to the back of the line- watching the young men in front of us.  We crossed our fingers and watched as the tram went down the turn we needed (deep sigh of relief)! What's really scary- is to transport both Paul and Pam completely across the city and back costs a whopping $.80!!

We bought some Legos and Bubbles to give a different twist to our playtime.  The Legos were amusing for about 10 minutes- and she gained more pleasure in playing with the "vehicles" Paul and Pam were making.  Then we went to the Bubbles- which were a HUGE hit- both blowing and catching.  Then Katya decided she was going to "perform" for us- and made over 10 "takes" with the video camera of her dancing around the room- Rockettes... here she comes!

We had dinner in our local (read daily) Italian- and Paul finally bit the bullet and tried the lasagna- stating it was almost as good as he could make!  Tomorrow holds no plans-- as we are not allowed to visit Katya- so I envision sleeping in, laundry, tidying up the apartment- and maybe a hike down to the river to have a good hamburger!

We went for our normal visit today- with some concept for "hinting" at her coming to America with us- but instead, when she greeted us- she called us "Mama & Papa"... so SOMEBODY squeeled!!  Today's visit went like most others- we played and colored and goofed around.  When it was time to go, she was content that we were coming back.