Miscellaneous

We still have no news about when we can go back for our daughter. All we can do right now is pray that it will be soon.

Now that we are home and have access to DSL, I wanted to post some things that I would like to remember, but didn't have time to post while in Ukraine. They do keep you fairly busy there with all the adoption stuff. Just some miscellaneous things that hopefully will be helpful to someone along the way.

1. McDonald's is just as expensive in Kiev as here. To be fair, we did only visit the Independence Square one.

2. Computer keyboards are the same as here. They just add small Cyrillic letters onto the keys. I think that would make it harder for those who use the Cyrillic alphabet.

3. Downy Wrinkle Release was a lifesaver for us. We used it for our SDA and court clothes. Which did happen to be the same;)

4. The Kiev sites seen on blogs are even more beautiful in person!

5. In the Independence Square underground mall (go down the entrance close to McDonald's) we saw a phone store that sold a Kievstar phone for 69rph (greevna) which comes to around $14USD. SIM and minutes are extra. This was in December 2007/January 2008.

6. This applies to a Kievstar cell phone (but may also apply to all phones): to call the US, dial 815 then 1 plus area code and number, just like dialing long distance here.

7. Everyone brings their own bags for shopping. This includes the grocery store, bakery, etc. Except maybe the mall. We didn't buy anything but food there.

8. We used bungie cords for drying our hand-washed clothes. Very sturdy. We bought one of those Lewis and Clark clotheslines with the suction cups and clips. If you have somewhere to clip the line, it might work okay, but it is still not sturdy enough for very heavy clothes. The suction cups don't work on tile.

9. We were not given washrags in the apartments we stayed in, just hand towels and bath towels. Most were thin, so if you like fluffy, thick towels and washrags, bring your own. Though they won't be so fluffy after hand washing and air drying.

10. For some reason, we were stared at a lot. My husband said it was my cream colored scarf. (see video)