It's the weekendska!

Saturday morning…good news…there was some blue sky when we looked through the window this morning. Bad news…that means it is colder. We were able to link up with our former exchange student Oleg P. this morning to visit with him and for him to translate for us at the orphanage. He is at the University here in Kiev. We did not know he was in Kiev when we called him, so we were pleased to find out that Oleg was just a few metro stops away from us.

Now you have to understand that when you do not have a car, you have some choices about how to get across town. There is the expensive option of a taxi, especially one rented to an American, or you can take the public transportation. Since our facilitator had a conflict today, we chose our standard public transportation, which means a walk to the closest station (call it LA), and then a subway car for one stop, then an escalator, then stairs, then another subway car, then a shuttle bus, then a walk. 1 ½ hours later, you are standing in the orphanage gates. See how easy that was? I’m feeling hungry, how about you? Too bad, you are at least ½ hour from some food. On to the visit…

Our boys big ‘K’ and little ‘k’, soon came bouncing into the lobby. Big ‘K’ has some kind of cold, so he is not as energetic as his brother, but I don’t think he is ever as energetic as his younger brother. We sat in the dark lobby and had great conversation with them through the help of Oleg P., (no lights turned on until 4 p.m.) and eventually worked up the nerve to go outside for a little soccer action. We had brought a pair of soccer cleats for little ‘k’ and some new tennis shoes for big ‘K’. Both guys seemed happy with our choices, so happy, they haven’t taken the shoes or cleats off as of the time we saw them on Sunday(reference Sunday blog). By the way, the boys seemed to be warming up to us with every time we see them. They crack us up with their serious faces and occasional smiles. Oleg reassured them that he had lived with us and everything was great in America.

After the visit at the orphanage, we reversed the process in paragraph 2 above, except we added some steps via taxi out to Oleg V. house for dinner with him and his family and some folks from his board of directors in Nashville. It was a relaxing evening, completed by a 70 grevnia cab ride back to the center of the city, then see paragraph 2 above for the route home. We woke up Boris to let us in the door at the apartment at midnight and fortunately our friends from Florida left the light on for us. Hopefully this explains why our communication has been limited in the last few hours.

Blessings,
Chris, Vickie, and Kole
We miss you Kelsey, Kirby, Kyndal, Kyle, Karson