I Meet The Queen

I got up early, eager to get to the cafe to write. Victor had said he was getting up early, but he finally got up just before 9:00. He said to go ahead to the Coffee Life (Coffee As Life Style) and he will come later and give us the apartment key. We took off and I read my email, checked FB and started blogging about Monday. When I finished, Kevin wanted to use my computer to Skype Hadji because he was still having issues with hiis computer. I took this opportunity to call Jessica and tell her what I thought the plan was for today. When I finished the call, a pretty lady approached me and asked if I was Kim. I was somewhat taken aback, but admitted to being me. She introduced herself as Marina, Lisa Rochard's friend, aka "the Queen". I was thrilled to meet her. She was having coffee with Evelyn, the wife of the pastor of the Canadian church down the road.

While we were talking, Victor arrived. I introduced them and Victor went right to business. He took Marina aside and made arrangements for her to be our facilitator so he could go to Kyiv and submit the dossiers of some other families in the adoption process. He seemed very excited at this turn of events. I had a good conversation with Evelyn during this time, and Kevin was chatting away with Hadji. Evelyn informed me of one of the purposes of their church here in Zap. They feel they are here to establish a Christian trade school for the boys who age out of the orphanages. There is an astounding percentage of kids who turn to drugs and alcohol once out of the orphanage, but very many also commit suicide. They just don't have the coping abilities or the support system that kids with families have. It's tragic. I think they will made a great impact here if their vision comes to reality. They are looking to acquire some land so they can farm it and make the school self-sufficient. The soil here is very fertile, Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of Europe.

I never got a chance to catch up on my blog and write about court. Instead, we had to leave so I could get to the orphanage by 1:00 and meet Victor. I got there about 1:02 and Victor was waiting in Vladimir's cab with Kai and the school nurse. Kai was quite subdued and said he was hungry. He refused my offer of sunflower seeds. We drove to the "hospital" so Kai could have blood drawn. The US requires that he be tested for HIV, TB, and syphillus. I put "hospital" in quotations because it sure didn't look like a hospital. It was hidden through an alley and had a very small parking area. I took a picture because I couldn't believe it was a hospital.

We left there and went to a bank so I could pay for the hospital procedure. How wierd is that? The bank was closed for some reason (that's how things go in the Ukraine), so we walked down to a place where Kai could get a picture taken for his visa. Then we went back to the bank and it was open. I paid 35 grivna (about $4.50) for the blood tests. I was told the results would be back by the middle of next week. I paid Vladimir to take the nurse back to the orphanage and we 3 took the bus to a restaurant that Victor knew of.

The restaurant was buffet style, but you cannot serve yourself, the girl behind the counter serves you Busch Gardens style. I pointed to what looked good and I was not disappointed. The food was delicious. Kai had salad, soup, 2 kinds of potatoes, a chicken cutlet, a pork cutlet and lasagna. He wanted ice cream, too, but I said that he'd have to finish his meal first and see if he still has room. It was a huge amount of food and he put it all away. Victor and Kai both got ice cream. I was astounded. The meal cost me about $25.

Victor wanted to go back to the photo place and pick up the visa pictures, so Kai and I waited for the #14 bus to the orphanage. We ended up waiting at least 10 minutes for the bus and when it arrived, it was packed. We squeezed in, the door barely shutting behind Kai's back. The ride took about 45 minutes and Kai ended up having to stand the whole way. After his big meal, he was tired. I really don't think he's sleeping well. We arrived back at the orphanage about 4:30 and Victor said he'd been there for about 30 minutes already. Nikolai had been there but didn't want to wait around so apparently he left. We had a few minutes to hang with the boys before study hall at 5:00 so Victor had us play charades. The boys played, too, but seemed reluctant to really get into it and act things out with much enthusiasm. Kai used a lot of sound effects.

At 5:00 we were fixing to leave when Nikolai returned. He wanted to make arrangements for Kai to go to his home over the weekend, spend time with him, and collect his things there. I reiterated that the weekends were the only time Kevin could see him, and could he please do this during the week. He said he was agreeable to this, but we had to ask the director. Victor, Nikolai, Kai and I went in to see the director. Ekaterina was not about to bend the rules and said that Kai could leave with Nikolai on Friday after school and return Saturday, whenever I say. I suggested 1:00 and everyone seemed okay with that. Nicolai left and we began to discuss plans for a weekend outing. It was determined that we would see which day Anya was working and take some of the boys bowling, either Saturday or Sunday. Everyone seemed happy with this plan and we left. Victor and I took the bus back to the apartment and Victor had to meet Marina at 6:30 to make the arrangements for her to be hired by him to help us in his absence. Kevin and I walked to the Comfy to get groceries.

By the way, Victor explained to me that Comfy refers to the attached electronics store where we bought the headset microphone. The grocery store is actually called Amctop. It is pronounced Um-store. The "c" is pronounced like an "s" and the "p" is an "r". Store is not a Russian word, but they are writing it's sounds in the Russian way. "Am" refers to what Russians say when the food is good, like "yum" as in yummy. So, essentially, the place is called the Yummy Store. I thought that was pretty cute. Anyway, we got tons of food and went home. I played Scrabble and Kevin continued to wrestle with his computer. We both went to bed by 11:00.