Days 5 and 6; No News

After waiting all day Friday until 7 p.m. we finally found out that we do not have our next SDA appointment scheduled as of yet. We are to go back Monday afternoon and maybe then it will be posted, so the waiting game continues. There is still hope that our appointment will be this week, even early this week, but who knows how this government thinks?

Meantime, we have taken the advice of many and tried to do some sightseeing yesterday, today, and tomorrow. If we can figure out the subway system, including how to get to it, then we may brave the elements and give that a try as well.

So today our blog will simply be about our experiences here in Kiev and a little about frustration, but we'll try to stay positive throughout this posting. We are both very enthralled by the underground crosswalks that we've mentioned before that you have to use to get from one side of the very busy street to the other. Many of these underground crossings come complete with shopping areas, sort of like small mini-malls and food court; others only have a few "street" vendors set up along the path. What a unique idea since they have a sort of captive audience since so many people live in this city and the majority appear to walk everywhere they want to go. If we continue this pace, John and I may come back two sizes smaller; at least, we should come back physically healthier!

Things we are thankful for back home: We are thankful for water that we can just drink without worrying about boiling it first. We are tired of buying water, water, water and toting it back to the second floor apartment (no elevator). We won't even brush our teeth with the water here. We are thankful for soft toilet paper and toilets you can actually sit upon and that toilet paper is provided in public bathrooms. and that you don't have to pay to use even the grossest of toilets. Even in Paris we had to pay to use the restaurant's facilities. We are thankful that the signs are in English. We are thankful we don't have to walk everywhere we want to go. We are thankful for cars. We are thankful for clothes dryers. We are thankful for grocery stores that make sense. The ones here are divided into sections like those at home, but you have to pay for different categories separately in many of them such as you pay for your produce in the produce section, the bread in the bread section, etc. Department stores are the same; you pay for the items per department. We are thankful for snow plowed streets and cleaned off sidewalks. We are thankful for ice makers. We are thankful for real milk--all we've found here are boxes of milk that isn't refrigerated which means it has to be powdered milk we assume. We are thankful for television stations that speak English. We are thankful we have a mailbox. And the list goes on and on and on. But mostly we are thankful for our friends and family back home and that we are Americans with such freedoms we take for granted!

Other random thoughts:

Security guards are everywhere--in even the smallest of stores there is always at least one posted right beside those detector doors. These guys look like mean and like they mean business too.

The dollar is worth more than the Hryvna, pronounced Grivna, about .85 equals a dollar's worth of their money. Alla told us that their money bills don't equal ours at all. She said $100.00 Grivna equals about $11.00 of U.S. dollars. There are sales everywhere too. It's fun to look around but aside from not having the cash to waste on splurge, we don't have the space in our suitcases for much anyway, though I'm sure we'll end up with a souvenir or two, or well, a few. : )

When we headed out today and got to Independence Square we heard Star Wars music playing and wondered what in the world was happening. We followed the music and the crowd and discovered ice figure skating going on in a section of the square that dipped down. I would call it theater in the round except there were no seats--everyone stood to watch. The crowd was thick, but we tried to elbow our way in enough to take a distant shot of the ballerinas. It was a beautiful sight to behold for sure. Here are a couple of pictures from that. I just kept thinking how very cold they must be out there is those beautiful but flimsy costumes.

Remember they are just finishing their celebrating of Christmas and their Old New Year, so even the Christmas trees are still all lit and we assume that's why the ballet was performed also.

Cars park right in the middle of sidewalks and drive on them too, if, that is, we understand what here is a sidewalk!

Other items to bring with you: Pepto Bismol caplets--actually, my doctor recommended taking one of those a day a few days before you hit foreign land and foreign foods as well as daily once you get here until you see how your stomach handles strange flavors. The foods haven't bothered John a bit, but can't say the same for me. Also, go to your doctor and ask for a general antibiotic and perhaps something for stomach upset problems, just in case.

And so the journey continues. . .

Also, a heartfelt thank you to each of you who is e-mailing us or posting comments on the blog; we so appreciate the kind gesture, the touch of the English word. : )