Sunday in Kyiv

Today we were on our own until 1 pm. We tried the WiFi Cafe across the street but were unable to log on with the lap top. We then ventured out and stumbled upon a large farmers market, fish market and what we would call a flee market. These women are shoe obsessed and wear dresses and highheels everywhere! That is all they sold at the flee market it seemed. When Joyce, Elizabeth and I went shopping at the mall yesterday they were all American stores! And of course the other stores sold.......you guessed it, dresses and highheels! No way Jose! While we were at the farmers market we saw bing cheeries and wanted to buy them. We tried not to talk too much so that the sellers would not know we were American and take advantage of us. It didn't work, we spent 12 dollars for a kg of cheeries! Oh well.

From 1-4 pm we walked around what we would call "Living History Farms" in Iowa. It was a very large area depicting the history of Ukraine. None of us girls were that interested in it but the boys liked it.

We are now at an underground mall at an internet cafe. It seems the malls are all underground and like a maze. We do not know when we will get to another computer so don't hold your breath for our next blog. But we do have to hold our breath in this room as everyone here has B.O. including us after walking around in the heat for 3 hours. Our apointment at the SDA is at 9am tomorrow and we plan on going shopping right after that for souvenirs.

Kyiv is very modern and not much different than New York. The food is a little different and we can't read the signs or undersatnd anyone, but many people can speak English and are vey accomadating. EXCEPT the lady in the restroom just now. We have to carry toilet paper with us everywhere because they do not provide it. So I waltzed into the mall bathroom with my own TP and the lady in the booth was right on my rear-end when I came out speaking loudly and pointedly at me and demanding 1 grivna. I had no money and I did not use her TP. It didn't matter. Luckily Elizabeth and Joyce came to my rescue with money and freed me from the Ukrainian bathroom I was held prisoner in! The bathrooms are the hole in the ground and squat kind. It was a hoot to see joyce's face the first time she saw one! LOL.

One more note; the vodka here is really smooth and no headache at all in the morning. I am hooked! Only Russian vodka from now on!

We have created a place for the photos we have been taking. You can find them here:

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj262/jhickman13/AdoptionAdventure