Wednesday, January 23, 2008

We are leaving Kiev.....


Tomorrow morning our facilitator is picking us up at 6:00am and he is driving us to meet the children. It's a 5-6 hour drive. We are very excited!

We did some exploring today. We walked around Independence Square and enjoyed the sunshine. The sun hasn't been out much, but today it was shining bright. The temperature dropped considerably last night so we really felt the cold today. We went to the underground mall. It's a huge mall located under Independence Square. They have every kind of trendy shop you can imagine. It's similar to the Galleria - Kiev style. We walked all through the underground tunnels and never got lost. It's like a maze. I'm surprised we didn't get lost considering we can't read any of he signs. Our apartment is right off of Independence Square about 1 block uphill. So even when it's very cold you get your heart pumping from walking up and down the hills.

The photo is of me up the street from our apartment. We are going to the small market on the right to get water.

From Tim
Here in Kiev it is quaint, but very old. The city is crowded with lots of young people. It has all of the conveniences of home. Especially traffic! There are cars everywhere. They drive and park on the sidewalk here. Sometimes it's difficult for people to walk on the sidewalk. At the McDonald's they speak English, just like we figured they would. The napkins at McDonald's are softer than the toilet paper in our apartment. We have to keep reminding ourselves that this is about the children and we will complete our mission no matter how rough the toilet paper is.

Joseph, thank you for the update on Max and Miss Kitty and for taking care of them! It is very cold here - 28-32 degrees. It snowed today.

Betty & Jim - I love the screen name! Tim emailed Bob yesterday. Did he take his computer with him to London?

Kathi & Becky - thanks for the comments. It's hard being so far away from home and we really look forward to reading your comments.

Dad - we get your comments in triplicate :-)! Keep 'em coming. Love, #2

Mom - I'm glad you finally found something to help you get relief from the ceder fever.

Marilyn - thank your for all of your good wishes and wonderful comments! We can take photos of anything and everything. At least I haven't been told not to take photos of anything yet.

2 comments:

Marilyn K said...

Another great picture! Every one is more interesting than the last. I notice the sign on the parked SUV is partially in English. I can only wonder what the sign posted on the street says - "back-in parking only"? Isn't it interesting how every single car is backed in? Do you have any restrictions as to what you can photograph or are you free to take pictures of anything and everything? Will be thinking of you this entire important day. (My word verification today is tgyFUN). How neat is that?

Betty&Jim said...

Hi Guys, So excited for you both!! I know that the car ride will seem like forever. Tim, yes Bob took his computer to London, but doesn't have the internet in his room. He was going this evening (Wednesday) and do the wireless thing in the lobby. He is enjoying his trip. Cold and rainy there too!!! (The weather is pretty crappy here too!)Look forward to more up dates! Love, Brenda and Peanut