Tuesday August 10th, 2010

I wake up about 6am local time and quietly unpack and get settled in to our new home. Today is a free day and time to adjust to the 10 hour time zone change. Tomorrow is our big day so we decide just to relax and do a bit of walking around. Actually as Emma slept until about 2pm I did a bit of walking around. Our flat is just a few blocks from the main square and the main shopping areas. The city has very wide streets with huge sidewalks filled with high end shops, outdoor cafes and beautiful old buildings. It is very hot, about 90 degrees F and quite muggy compared to the dry heat of Vegas, but the city is bustling with people off to work or shopping. Lots of benches to people watch and everybody seems happy and polite, not bad for a former communist country. I think I like this city, it kind of reminds me of Prague, but not as architecturally beautiful. I start to fatigue a bit, I guess the 8 hours sleep wasn't enough, Emma got it right with her 16 hours of sleep, so I return to the flat to sleep some more. At 3 pm Irene comes by with a local SIM card for our phone so we can communicate with her and Lesya. They really are very good at what they do and are very professional, we feel like we are in good hands here. After a few more hours of napping, Emma and I head out to get some more groceries just around the corner, then we decide to check out the Kiev night scene. Everybody is out and about and they are all dressed to the hilt, with full make up and jewelery. The city centre is alive with fountains and cascading waterfalls, where the children frolic in the cool water. I am quite impressed with the feel of the city, not at all what I expected!

We wander around some of the back streets and come across a German cafe where we have a light meal and a German beer. The currancy is the UAH or Hryvnia which is about 8 UAH to the $. So dinner comes to a bit less than 220 UAH or $30. It is a lovely evening the restaurant is outdoors under large trees with a big fountain in the middle (they love their fountains here) and our waiter is a nice young Ukrainian man who speaks fairly good English. Emma tests her Ukrainian on him but he replies 'We speak English here' but Emma insists on practicing her Ukrainian. 

 

It is getting late, big day tomorrow so we head back to the main street, buy some ice cream from one of the many street vendors, listen to a few musicians busking for cash and head back to our flat. The climb up is brutal, as we live in the upscale area, higher is richer right? Interesting side note, I tried to cash $100 at one of the many exchange booths, but he wouldn't take my money, 'too old and wrinkled', I didn't know if he was talking about me or the cash :-) Back to our flat, we get a call from Lesya that our appointment with the SDA is at 11am tomorrow!!!! They will pick us up at 10:40 OMG, here we go!!!! Tomorrow we will see pictures of the new Dannemiller(s). Till then Good Night Kiev.