Day 2- Wednesday

Well today we must have been tired because we all slept in until about 11 am Ukraine time. We woke up and ate some day old bread and nutella. We had bought some instant coffee and tea bags so we felt right at home.

I decided to wash our essentials (i.e. socks and underwear) in our micro washer in case by chance we could travel to our children's birth city after our SDA appointment. So I had bought a small package of laundry soup, just enough for 3 loads. I added it into the soap dispenser, just like the directions said (well what I can read from pictures). When I came to check the laundry I noticed water on the floor and the front was full of soap suds!! I should also mention that the washer was an Italian washer, so I could read the settings. So I set it to rinse and spin. And every time, the water would drain and the soap suds would start to go down, it would fill up with water and than it would click to end. I went through this 2 times until I decided to just get a bucket and empty out the washer, clothes, suds and water into the bucket. So I did, and I rinsed all the suds in the bath tube. Than with my super human muscles I squeezed out the water like all the babushkas before me (older Ukrainian grandma). And we dried them like anyone else would do...on the radiator.

Than after all that fun we headed into Kiev. I think this is one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen. The buildings are so different from american architecture. Everything looks old and historic but at the same time, new. We went to lunch at our favorite place..T.G.I. Fridays. The waiter, Sasha, was wonderful and spoke english. They even had their menus in english, which we are finding somewhat common here in Kiev. We had googled cheap things to do in Kiev and found out that there is "The Chernobyl Museum" in Kiev and the map said it was between us and T.G.I. Fridays. Well we couldn't find it. When we got to T.G.I Fridays, we asked Sasha and he was so nice to go and print us out a map, as well as write out all the info for us. It ended up being in a completely different part of the city, google led us astray again!!). So he said we needed to take the metro. Easy enough right????

So the metro in Kiev is like nothing I have ever seen before. There are a million people going all about in different directions. I would say the D.C. Metro times a 1000. I am not exaggerating here! And if you didn't know..cyrillic looks nothing like english..nothing. So we find the place we need to go..Kontractovia Square. It is only 3 stops away. But we don't know where we are, and we don't have a pen or paper to write the name. Tyler looked worried and kept asking me "What are we doing, do you even know where we are going" and I sweetly replied, Tyler where is your sense of adventure!!" Well when I realized that I could get us there, but maybe not home, I began to worry. And that is when he sweetly replied " Valerie, where is YOUR sense of adventure??" I guess that is what I get. In the end, being a woman, I asked every single person that went by if the spoke english and asked for directions, and we eventually made it to Kontractovia Square (this is spelled wrong but how it sounds in english).

When we got of the metro, I again asked for directions until we landed out side the old fire house that now holds the Chernobyl Museum. It was really neat. When you walk in you see all of these signs of towns. These are the towns that were close to Chernobyl and impacted the most by the radiation. When you look at the back of the sign is the same name but with a red line through it, signifying it is no more. You pay 50 grivna per person to listen to a hand held radio thing that gave the tour in english. The first part had a replica of the nuclear reactors, and showed how it all worked together. Than as you walked through it had many photographs and belongings of the people who worked at the plant that fateful night. Wedding pictures, clothes trinkets. In the middle there was a replica of Cherobyl, that showed what the facility looked like, before, during and after the explosion. You really got a good idea what it would have looked like if you were there. Than the rest of the museum is about the after affects, which you can tell has really impacted the Ukrainian people. There are pictures of thousands of children, who were impacted. There are reports of the medical damage done to the people of Ukraine, and all over Europe, from all the different stages in life. Tyler and I agree that we are glad we risked the scary trip
of the metro to come here. It was probably the most we have learned about the Ukrainian culture, and we will have many pictures to share with Asher and Emma.

After we left there, we cam back on the metro. We walked around more of Kiev and Hunter got to have his picture taken with 3 doves. Hunter thought it was so cool, but it ended up being really scary. We told one man we would pay 20 grivna to have his birds sit in Hunters hand for a picture. So we set Hunter up and I get the camera and as thats happening another guys comes and puts his dove on Hunter's head. I take the picture and the men take their birds. Well the second guy demanded 10 grivna for his bird. I flat out said NO! We had not asked him for his services, and he came and put the bird on Hunter's head just as I was taking the picture. So we started walking away and the man proceeded to demand the money and even got in my face and tried to get in my way. So I kept telling him that we were not going to pay him anything because we did not ask for his bird. Tyler told me to keep walking and so I did. The guys followed us for alittle bit, but than went back. Afterwards I told Tyler "I wonder if that boy was an orphan". So many of these kids age out of the system and end up on the streets. I saw this angry guy, and I see what happens to these kids, if no one loves them. But in the end, we have a cool picture and we have learned of more people to pray for...the angry man with the dove.

Thats it for tonight..but there will be more tomorrow!!