Our First Day in Kiev

The train arrived in Kiev a little before 6:00AM. The boys were both easy to wake up and even woke up with smiles on their faces. When I told Tolic that we were almost there, he was so excited and a huge smile covered his whole face.

We got our shoes and coats on and met our taxi driver outside the train. It was the same guy that had taken us to the train station the last time we were in Kiev. We crammed all the luggage in and headed for the apartment. The boys were amazed at all they were seeing. It was still dark so the lights on the building and some leftover Christmas decorations were catching their attention. They just couldn’t take it all in. Everything was so new to them and they asked if we had things like this in America. The drive from the airport home is going to be so interesting for them.

We got to the apartment and they were amazed. It is a pretty large apartment with two separate bedrooms and even a living room area. The toilet is in the same room as the bathtub so it is pretty big too. A lot of Ukrainian apartments have the toilet in one room and the bathtub in another.

We all took showers and got ready for the busy day ahead. Not long after we were finished, Nina and our taxi driver were back to pick us up. We had to take the boys for another medical exam that is needed for the Embassy. We waited for a little while to see the doctor. Lance went in with them, because they had to get undressed for part of the exam. Lance told me that they were pretty good in the exam, but nervous when they had to take their clothes off. They are so small that they just had to pull their jeans straight down without even unbuttoning them. Dima had on size 10 jeans and Tolic had on size 8 that were falling off of him. I imagine that when we get them home and they start eating a variety of fruits and vegetables they will grow a lot. Then, Lance said they were told to take off their underwear and were extremely embarrassed and asked, as if to make sure they heard correctly.

The appointment was over and we had something to eat in the cafeteria. We hadn’t eaten since the night before on the train and we were all hungry. Once the paperwork was completed, we left the hospital to go to pick up the final translation of the court decree that we would need for the Embassy. It took a long time to for Nina to get this and the boys fell asleep in Lance’s lap. It was so sweet, and so quiet. The boys had nervous silly energy at the doctor so a little bit of quiet was nice. I think Lance and I even dozed off a little.
Once Nina came back, we headed to the Embassy only to find it closed for the day. Apparently, they were having some kind of staff development. So, we went back to the apartment and then headed outside to see what we could find. We walked to the main square in Kiev, which our apartment is close to. There was a McDonalds outside and the boys wanted to grab a snack there, but we told them no, we were going somewhere else. We went to the underground mall and you should have seen their faces when they walked in and saw all the fancy stores. They just kept looking all around in amazement. Then, we got to the escalator and they had no idea what in the world to do. They were a little afraid, but watched to see what to do. Then of course, they didn’t want to get off. Just like all kids when they experience an escalator for the very first time.

We went to the food court area and they couldn’t believe their choices. They settled on a drink and then some fries from McDonalds. Surprise, surprise! There was wi-fi at one of the restaurants in the food court, so Lance logged in to make sure we had copies of our last six months paychecks in case we needed those for the Embassy. I walked around a little with the boys and let them choose a couple of pieces of candy from the candy stand. By this time Lance was done, which was good because the Internet was in and out the whole time.

We walked around the stores some and then went outside and walked around there. We went to another large store with small stores inside and looked around. We found a toy store and of course, they wanted everything inside. We had wanted to buy another game to play together, but they were so expensive in this store. We walked around outside some more, and Dima spotted a kiosk selling phone sim cards. He wanted us to buy him a sim card so that he could call his friends. We told him no that he was too young to have a cell phone and that it wouldn’t work in America anyway. Of course he argued both of these points. We told him he could use Lance’s phone and his friends could call that. This was an argument we have had several times a day for several days running. It was nice to find out that Dima did leave his cell phone for Babushka the night before. We didn’t know this until today while waiting for the doctor.
We decided to go to a small store and get some drinks and stuff for breakfast. The store I had seen in the morning on our street, was actually out of business. So, we walked over to the street we had stayed on before and to the store we knew was there. We bought a few things for breakfast under the watchful eye of the store workers and headed home. By this time, it was getting cold and slippery again. We went back to the apartment and played a little before leaving again for dinner at this great Ukrainian restaurant up the street. Dima was quiet on the way there, we thought because we had to ask for Lance’s cell phone back that he was playing on before we left and he again asked for his own and we told him no.

Tolic, however, was enjoying the walk to the restaurant because he was having a blast throwing snowballs at me. When we got to the restaurant, Dima had decided he didn’t want something to eat and was sitting and pouting. We asked a few times if he was sure and he said no. So, we let him sit there and pout because we thought he was just mad over the cell phones again. We got our food and offered him some and he just pouted even more, so we just left him alone. As we were eating, he was just staring at the food and we knew he was hungry. The waitress asked a few times if he was sure he didn’t want to eat that the food there was very tasty. I think she was a little worried about him. We of course, ordered a little extra and were saving some for him. Finally, he spoke up and asked for some of my blinchicki that I wasn’t going to eat and my borsch as well. Lance told him of course, he could eat, but that when he had a problem or was upset that he needed to let us know. We can’t solve a problem if we don’t know what it is. We love him and of course we will let him eat. A few minutes later, he said that he was just sad and missing Babushka and that when he is sad, he doesn’t want to eat. We said we understood and knew how hard it was to miss Babushka and that if he didn’t feel like eating right then it was ok, but he needed to let us know what was going on. He was so excited to eat and cleaned up everything left on my plate and the rest of my borsch. He loved the borsch and said if we come back there again that he already knew what he wanted to order. Then a few minutes later, he looked at Lance and said, “Poppa, I’m sorry for earlier when I wasn’t sharing with Tolic and when I didn’t listen and give you the cell phone when you asked.” Oh my heart! Some parents never get that kind of apology from their kids. He did this on his own and we did not force him to. What a blessing! Another kind heart we have been given the pleasure of raising. Lance told him we accepted his apology, kissed him on his forehead and told him we loved him. He then turned to Tolic and apologized to him.

We walked home in the cold and snow and continued to have our snowball fights. I told Tolic that if he hit me with a snowball that I was going to sit him in a big pile of snow. He continued throwing them, and one time, tagged me right in the forehead. Ouch! You little rug rat, that hurt! I chased him, but couldn’t catch him because, 1, he is fast, and 2, I can’t run well on the snow! By the time we had gotten back to the apartment, we were being watch by police that were walking around the area, so Lance wouldn’t let me sit him in snow! Man! He’s no fun! So, I grabbed a hand of snow and as he walked in the apartment, got him on the head. We all laughed and it was fun.

The boys then showered and we had our Bible reading and prayer time. This time, they decided we would all pray, but as it turns out, Lance and I were the only ones praying with a few phrases being repeated by one of them. Lance had prayed for success at the Embassy and asked the boys to pray when they went to bed that we get our visas soon so that we could go home.
We took the boys to bed, kissed the and tucked them in and told them to go to bed. Yeah, right! Lance had to tell them a few times to stop laughing and being silly and go to bed. I’m sure will be one of the first of many times we have to tell them this. Lance had fallen asleep and I needed to get something to drink. When I got to the kitchen, Tolic was sitting at the table with his heads laying on his arms just looking around. A few seconds later, Dima came in and said that they couldn’t go to sleep because they had slept on the train and also had fallen asleep in the car that morning. So, I talked to them for a little while and then said, they could come sleep in our bed. I figured if they got still for a few minutes that they would fall asleep.

When we got to the room, Lance had heard the conversation and said, ok. I was right. Tolic was asleep in less than five minutes and Dima wasn’t far behind. It wasn’t long until the wiggle warts had pushed me to the edge of the bed and I got up and went to the boy’s bed where I had lots of room to myself!