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Hey Everybody! This is my second attempt at this post. The computer died as I hit the publish button. Ukrainians now know some Canadian vocabulary. I want to start by telling you a bit about Kiev. It's a nice city that is a combination of old and new. There are many old decrepit buildings around the city that locals don't maintain because they are left from the Soviet days. Urkraine became independant in 1991. There are also many new modern buildings and lots of construction. There are more cranes working here than in Winnipeg. The people are very fasionably dressed Corrine says the place looks like a huge model runway! There are also the typical Bubbas in Bubushkas selling fruit and veggies. One of my favorite sites was 3 Bubbas selling liquor from the back of a 5 ton truck! Many of the old churches and palaces are 100's of years old but in excellent condition. The presidential palace was built in the 1700's.

Our travel day to the new city started at 5:15AM when we got out of bed, over to the train station from 6:30, and off the train at noon. The ride was nice, but we were tired and each took a short nap. Upon arriving at the train station we went straight to the inspector of juvenile affairs office for a letter of approval to go to the orphanage. From there straight to the orphanage. When we arrived Vitaliy had a very long conversation with a guy from the office. It was driving us crazy listening to this very long conversation in Ukrainian. (There is no such thing as a short Ukrainian Conversation) We were told that the director was out not knowing we were coming, and they were unable to reach her because her cell wasn't working. Fortunately she showed up 15-20 minutes later, and another "short" conversation began. We were then taken into her office and had everything explained to us in English. (Translated) 5-10 minutes later they brought in the kids. Bart is blond, blue eyed, and shy at first, Lisa is brunette with brown eyes and very very shy. They stayed for 10 minutes then were whisked away. We made an appointment to come back later, and booked a hotel room for the night. I desperately needed a shower and Corrine wanted the treat of a comfortable room for the night. (I didn't argue) When we went back the kids were outside playing and ran up to us right away. Bart is a typical busy boy, Lisa was still shy, but Corrine had her laughing very hard in no time. She even called Corrine Mama at one point and the tears were at the surface barly being held back. Later we had a quick meal in a very nice restaurant then went to bed having only 8 hours sleep in the last 48 we were exhausted. We are waiting until Monday to make the final decision. (We couldn't over the weekend anyway)

A quick note about Vitaliy. He's the best he treats us like family always looking for the best deal, making breakfast, offering to make borsht, or many other treats. doing dishes until we stopped him, and making every arrangement you can think of. He gets us across safely yelling "JUST WALK" and yes they do drive on the sidewalk. Crossing the street is like a game of frogger.

We'll post again when we have more news or the internet is available.
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