We're finally in Kiev!

Well, this is interesting...I am at an internet cafe, using a computer that is all in Russian, so if you see any typo's, please forgive me.  (I never realized how much those typing classes would come in handy...thank G-d I know the keyboard layout.)

Ok...so we finally arrived in Kiev yesterday afternoon at 4:30pm, local time (Kiev is 8 hours ahead of Houston). I am glad that we were wise enough to pay for the VIP service offered by our travel agent.  The VIP package consists of a person meeting you at the airport, assisting you through Immigration & Customs.  Let me just say...WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!  Our VIP guy, Alex, met us at Immigration, took our passports from us, told us to go wait for our luggage & he would be back for us (I must admit it was quite scary to be giving our passports to a complete stranger).  A few minutes later, he brought our passports back to us, already stamped, and this was before our 1st piece of luggage actually appeared.  Now, why was this worth it you ask?  Because there were at least 200 people in line at the Immigration spot.  Also, we didn't even go through Customs at all.  Our facilitator was waiting for us at the checkpoint (they are not allowed in the baggage claim area).  Then, we felt better.  So, we were off to the center of Kiev with our facilitator & the driver he had hired to take us there.  Let me just say that we are definitely lucky to be alive today.  Take every American road rule & throw it out the window here.  No rules apply.  People drive 60 mph in the city & maybe 90 on the highway.  Did I mention that the van we were in had no seatbelts?  Very scary.

When we made it to our hotel/apartment, we were very pleasantly surprised.  They had to upgrade our room because the one we had reserved did not have hot water.  We had a 2 room suite.  It was very nice.  We actually ran into a few Americans there also.

Today, we decided to stroll out into the city to do some sightseeing since we have a free day today.  Wow!  I am very proud of us.  We can't speak or read their language, so at least I can say that we haven't gotten lost.  The city is quite beautiful.  Very old!  They have an underground mall that we haven't toured yet, but will probably do a little later.  I've been trying to find an internet cafe for the past hour.

So, tomorrow we have our appointment with the SDA office & they will give us our papers to travel to Kd, where K's orphanage is.  She & her director, S, are driving up tomorrow to meet us and take us back.  She will stay with us through the weekend & will have to return to the orphanage on Sunday night so she can go to school on Monday.  Apparently, she has to continue this until she becomes ours.

Our facilitator did say that we may be able to get a court date as soon as next week.  We are hoping so.  Pray for us!

Well, gotta run so I can check email.

Until Friday.