November 6: Culture Shock!

Hopefully we're not boring you with our flash-backs. But humor me: Zack and I are really enjoying looking back and recalling everything we were doing a year ago. Besides, we didn't share much detail while we were in country last year, so you get to find out a little more of the 'behind the scenes' this time around.

11/6/07: We arrived in Kyiv around 1:00. We had lined up VIP service at the airport, and were so glad we did. We quickly found the VIP guy, and he whisked us (read: we sprinted) through the airport. Customs, baggage claim, and immigration were all a breeze. No one asked us any questions, no one looked in our bags, and we never had to wait in a line. TOTALLY worth the small price tag!

We then met Sveta (one of our facilitators) and Leonid, our driver (the husband of our other facilitator). We departed Borispol Airport, and as we were driving towards Kyiv Zack commented that other than the signs in another language (and alphabet), things didn't look that much different from home.

On the way to the apartment we stopped to exchange some money and bought some time for our cell phone. Next, we went into Billa (a grocery store) and bought a few things.

The experience of riding with a Ukrainian driver to this point was much better than I'd heard it would be. But then we got into into the heart of the city, and all rules went out the window. Lanes were merely suggestions, and curbs became launching pads. Sidewalks here were parking lots or additional driving lanes, and one-way streets meant nothing. We quickly took the advice of so many before us: we tried to ignore the driving and concentrate on the scenery! (Leonid was a great driver in comparison to many we saw and I never really felt scared. And although Ukrainians don't follow the rules like we do, you rarely see accidents.)

Kyiv was beautiful, much more modern and "big city" than I expected. The architecture was lovely, and the city was bustling with people and cars. Sveta showed us various points of interest like the famous TGI Fridays, underground malls, Independence Square, and Jacob’s department store.

We stopped by the land lady’s place and Sveta picked up a key, and then we went to our apartment. Everyone grabbed bags and trekked up the stairs. I think we were both surprised at how modern and clean the apartment was.

Sveta went over what to expect at our SDA appointment, and we learned that it would be the following day at 11:00 AM. Then she left us. ALONE. In a strange country where we barely knew the language. In an apartment in the middle of a city in which we knew the location of virtually nothing.

So we did the one thing we knew would help us most: we slept. We each took one Amb!en, and we were out in mere moments.

Side note: sometime that afternoon my friend Theresa (she and her husband, also from Georgia, were already in Ukraine for their adoptions) called on the cell phone. I apparently answered and talked to her, but to this day I don’t remember the call. There’s your warning for what Amb!en can do to you!

We got up, checked email, and unpacked a little. We talked to friends & family on Skype. We discovered that it gets dark around 4:00 and we weren’t comfortable with exploring a new place at "night", so we made a sandwich and went back to sleep. And that was our first day in Ukraine.

Click here to read our blog post from 11/6/08