Friday, 28 November, we had our appointment with the SDA. Dilemma number one… What to wear. We had brought our “Sunday best” knowing that we would need them for the court in Odessa. Dima tells us, that you won’t need to wear a tie or anything like that… casual wear is acceptable. Mari and I are firm believers that first impressions are lasting ones… That and we didn’t drag this stuff this far to wear only once… So, after fighting with the wrinkled wear in the suitcases (our Sunday best had already hung out for better part of two days), again, the command decision - wear the good clothes. We got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast, returned to the room to finish getting cleaned up and packed before Dima stopped by the hotel to pick us up at 9 am.
Okay… We have this facilitator who has been doing this for a while… We thought that he had a car of his own (maybe he does & we just don’t know it)/ Do we walk, or ride… Well, Mari has been having knee issues and the long hard walk up the hill to St. Sophia’s and back to the hotel kind of took a toll, and since we would have had to do the same thing again, we said “Ride”… So.. Dima with no wheels, steps outside to hail a cab. The second cab to stop and a few words later, we are in the cab, on our way up the hill to someplace behind St. Michael’s . Again in my finite wisdom and trying to avoid the appearance of the tourist… No camera, no pictures… Hurry up and wait… and wait… and wait…
Oleg, another facilitator, shows up and begins talking to us in rather broken English… Again he has the upper hand, since all I know right now is “Da” (yes), “nyet” (no) and ‘speciba” (thank you), Apparently my suit and Mari’s dress made that good first impression on him… He complimented us on how well our dossier looked, since there were others being submitted that had been rejected for one reason or another.. We had plenty of help and guidance… and wait some more…
Finally we get called upstairs… The hallway was actually quite well lit, despite other stories of lights out, and other parts of the building and grounds in disrepair.. I won’t argue that one… OSHA, the IBEW, and whatever labor unions handling lights, water, and varying stages of construction would have a field day finding discrepancies in this and many other places we have been over the past two days.
Anna is a beautiful woman, very neatly dressed and probably in her early thirties… Soft spoken but very polite and almost grateful that we were there. The dress clothes once again paid off… She first welcomed us and said it was a pleasure to meet us. (Oh, by the way, Dima was our translator for this meeting despite being told we would not have a translator present). She started by going through Vera’s history, her family life and her medical past. Then she asked to tell a little bit about ourselves, what we do for a living, and our children. Very briefly we filled in those blanks, then she asked how we knew of Vera… We went through the bit about some friends adopting over a year ago and they told us about her… Have we been in contact with her?? Pictures… Okay… so we stretched the truth a little bit…
She was apparently satisfied with us, and our answers, as she thanked us for coming and applying to adopt from Ukraine. After we thanked her for her time and shook hands with her. We left… Time from start to finish… About 5 minutes (not including the wait).
Now, Oleg graciously thanks us again for our efforts in adopting and returns us to the hotel. We thank him for his time as he wishes us luck, and offers any assistance if we run into difficulties. Up to the room to change, finish packing, a quick bite (tuna & crackers), and back to the lobby to wait for Dima… Still no car… Since we have successfully managed to eliminate two bags, dragging our stuff downstairs was a little easier, although the bags are now weighed down quite a bit more than the 50 lbs, the airport allowed…
Dima had purchased our bus tickets the day before (yes, bus tickets)… Probably not a smart choice… since our options were (1)take the bus - 7 hours, (2) take the overnight train - 10 hours, (3) rent a car & pay for a driver - 5 hours and $300, or (4) take the plane - 1 hour, plus a night at the hotel, plus transfer to the airport, and airfare, totaling about $450. Since it was early in the day and we were anxious to get out of the hotel, we opted for number 1... Which takes us to…
Adventures on a bus…
Starting at the hotel, waiting in the lobby for Dima and his non-existent car… Back out to the street to hail a cab… After a few choice words with a cabbie parked on the sidewalk, Dima manages to get a driver with a Ford station wagon and negotiates cab fare to the bus station.. Downtown Kyiv near independence square is very, very nice… Well, we found the dumpy part of town near the bus station…Dima, of course stayed with us, or more appropriately, our luggage as we made a mad dash to the ‘Golden Arches” once again, in search of the elusive “English-speaking cashier”… We actually found one, working next to the one waiting on us… 6 McNuggets and a cola (coke - with ice we didn’t have to ask for) later, we were back at the bus stop waiting with Dima…
How long can a bus ride be with no bathroom on the bus? Seven hours on a bumpy road for about the first 70 miles or so, then things smoothed out… Did I mention the attendant on the bus only spoke enough English to soak me for 10 hryvnia ($1.40) for two sodas, and to tell us that we were stopping for 5 minutes to use the rest room? A few stops here and there, and can’t get good pictures through the window… Things are truly indescribable… run down houses packed tightly together with no yards to speak of, probably used for gardens. Very few cars, and the road we were on was “the best highway in Ukraine”, so although there are some paved side roads, most of the roads off the beaten path were at best, gravel, or else dirt/mud..
We did see some semblance of agriculture, with what appeared to be winter wheat popping up out of the ground as well as some corn being harvested. Depending on where one was at in proximity to major towns, the effects of modernization appeared in the fields.. Newer tractors, combines, and implements, but still driving 50 year old trucks to haul grain.
We did manage to make several stops on the way for bathroom breaks, stretch the legs, etc… And I found a “new best friend”. A man in my best guess was in his early to mid 50’s started talking to me… Well, of course I cannot understand him and gestured as such… He seemed to ask questions I still didn’t understand, and when I said “American”, his demeanor did not change, in fact he seemed a bit more friendly… In all of his ramblings, all I caught was “Odyesa” (Odessa), and I could only respond “Da.. Odyesa.” (Yes, Odessa).
Seven hours, three American movies dubbed in Russian (‘Along came Polly’, ‘Sahara’ and something else) along with part of a variety show I didn’t get a whole lot out of, we arrive at the Odessa bus station. As we exit the bus, I am greeted at the door by a female voice, “Brad?” I respond in kind, and the young lady introduces herself as Alyona and her assistant (read, “husband”, “driver”, “bodyguard”, etc) Slavik. Three bags and a 5 minute walk later, we are loading up their car, and we are getting carted off to the Odessa Executive Suites. It’s almost a couple steps above Hotel Khreschatik in Kyiv… except for no carpet and we have a tankless water heater that will provide hot water to last about 30-45 seconds (can you say “combat shower?”). We unpack, give the Pushes a call, and meet up with them briefly to give them their things, and Ed took me down the alley and around the corner to the market to get a couple of things to hold us over until Saturday…
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6 comments:
So now you have experienced the 5 minute SDA appointment. I remember being told that it would probably only take that long, but it still seemed a little strange. And the bus ride. We took the bus when we visited in May 2007. I think that we saw "Erin Brockovich" dubbed in Russian. We are glad that you are safely in Odessa. God Bless.
Hi guys!
How are you? I wanted to let you know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. I have been following your page every day. Would like to see more picutres if possible. Talk to you soon,.
So you tried the bus. If there were no on-board facilities, it must have been a different model than the one we took. I didn't check it out for myself, but I was told there was a tiny little bathroom off the steps down to the door at the middle of the bus--ether under or across from the attendant's workstation.
I'm curious, were there a couple of policemen by the door of the Kiev bus depot when you were boarding the bus? I was never quite sure whether the officers are always there or if their presence was because someone was afraid that a group of unhappy supposed-to-be-airplane passengers stuck on a bus might become unruly?
I forgot to say to tell Vera and our friends hello. I'm glad you're safely in Odessa.
I'm glad to have found your blog and that you're safely in Odessa. We are praying we can adopt the sweet girl we hosted this summer; she is in your daughter's internat. Hope we can follow your lead early next year!
Hello, I have been so anxious to write to you. I tried with wordpress but couldn't get it to work. I was in Odessa from August until Nov. 13 adopting our son's (he is 5, we adopted him when he was 2) two brothers 14 and 10. We stayed with Michelle. I was lucky enough to spend time with Vera and her cousin, sister and brother. She (and them) are the sweetest kids. I hope when you get home that we can meet. Please tell Vera hello from Cara, Jeff Matthew, Vasya and Sasha. We miss her and hope she is feeling better from pneumonia (sp)? Car
www.norbycjukraineangel.blogspot.com
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