Wednesday March 19th - the day before our 2nd appointment

Hi all,

Today we were not expecting any telephone calls nor to get ready for any hastily prepared meetings. So we opted to relax and walk around our adopted neighborhood. We weren't even sure how much longer we were to be here anyway.

It was surprisingly cold and windy out with snow flurries stinging our faces but we didn't feel like spending another day in our apartment. We took a walk to St. Michael's Square and into the St. Michael Church. We wanted to start the day by offering a prayer and lighting a candle for our 2nd appointment tomorrow (Thursday). There was a Church service going on when we walked in. I wasn't entirely sure what type of service that it was - could have been a "mid day hours" service that I've seen before in Orthodox Monasteries but I wasn't sure. Regardless, we lit our candle, offered a prayer or two (or twenty), then left - stopping briefly to give a little money to a couple of local beggers. I liked the fact that the first thing these two begger women did was to cross themselves and offer thanks to God for their gift. It made me want to go back and give more. If I see them again, I will.

After leaving St. Michael Church we took a walk to the nearby Andrivcsky's Market - the same outdoor market we went to on Saturday when I posted those pictures of all the artwork. There were only a fraction of the displays out on the street today compared to Saturday. I saw some of the same paintings that I'd fallen in love with on Saturday, but that nagging logistics problem still remained; how to transport this stuff back to the States intact. There were some smaller items in other booths that we thought would make nice souvenirs and went on to check them out. The Market had its share of pullover shirts saying "Kiev" or "Ukraine" in a number of different languages. Not very original if you ask me. I'm sure that if I looked hard enough I could probably find someone in Columbus who could make a shirt that says "Kiev" or "Ukraine" in whatever language I chose. Shirley was also on the lookout for some trinkets and especially loved those nested Matrushka dolls; the kind where there is an entire "family" of dolls all layered into one. She wants to buy one for our daughter who will hopefully appreciate it when she gets older and so she was keeping an eye out for them at the market. To be honest, those matrushkas are so cute that Shirley probably oughta keep that fragile, piece of art for herself. Instead give the kid something more indestructable, like a stuffed animal wearing a Buckeyes uniform.

We browsed over to some of the smaller stands. At one point we were greeted by a young merchant who spoke English, although haltingly. He had some cute religious artifacts that caught my eye. He also had what looked like some leftover military attire from another era. They included an old Soviet army hat and an overcoat. There also looked like some military belts. There was a belt buckle and a few other items with a hammer and sickle on it. But then he pointed to a back shelf that had Shirley's beloved matrushkas. You can see them all lined up in the picture to the right. They were of varying quality; right away you could tell the nicer ones from the cheapies. The nicer dolls were handpainted whereas the El cheapoes had decals. The nicer dolls also had each doll layer painted uniquely whereas the cheaper ones all had the same basic design. They came in 5 and 7 layer dolls (NOTE; matrushkas never come in even numbers). There was one matrushka that stood out; an entire "family" of 7 dolls all within one. It was handpainted. Every family member had its own unique design. It was also "signed" by the original artist. Shirley fell head over heels for it and within minutes after we'd gotten to this kid's booth, the matrushka was her's to keep.

Plus I felt sorry for that kid. He was doing his darndest to make a sale in the freezing cold. The least we could do was help his livelihood for that day. Maybe he got to go home after we made our purchase. Who knows...

Tonight we're thinking of having an American dinner. Pizza. If we have a successful appointment tomorrow than we may be leaving Kiev shortly. No sooner do we find that we may be leaving when we discover a small pizza joint less than two blocks from our apartment. Come all the way to Ukraine just to eat pizza? Well we've done worse. Our first week here Shirley and I actually went to a McDonalds.

Meanwhile we wait and hope for good referrals tomorrow (Thursday). The more we read the blogs of other families adopting from Ukraine, the more it seems to us that obtaining a good referral is a matter of timing. Its purely hit or miss. Hopefully by this time tomorrow there will be some good news to tell.

Bye for now.
Steve

P.S. - Check out the pics of the matrushka to the right. Isn't it adorable?