Last Day in Ukraine ~ Day 33

Our last day in Ukraine. You would really think we had a lot of plans to fill being our last day and all, but really they all seemed to fall through. It didn’t seem that Vika cared much to really do anything other than watch TV today. I wanted to visit the Water Museum and spend the day just enjoying and walking around Kyiv. We kind of compromised on the plans. I had a few errands and souvenirs I wanted to try to find. A lot of the places I wanted to find were stores to get things for her! She wasn’t really thrilled to leave anywhere though. The weather was freezing which really didn’t help my case much. She hasn’t been eating well and I kind of decided that if she at least eats one good meal and keeps drinking I’ll be satisfied and tackle that battle when we get home.

We walked over to St. Andrew’s Cathedral one last time.

This is where the row of souvenir vendors is as well as the SDA and Pizza Celentanos. I went back to the guy who was ‘saving’ the nativities I wanted. He is the same guy Spencer and I bought all of the souvenirs from the first time we were here. He remembered me finally and was really nice. He found me just what I wanted and we were very fast with our shopping today. He even threw in a Kyiv shopping bag for free! He said ‘consider it a good luck gift from me.’ It was very nice of him.

It started to snow while we were standing there. That never helps the argument for staying outside! It was a perfect time to go into Pizza Celentanos for one last meal here. She seemed OK with that. Meal time is actually our best time together. We are the most interactive during our meals. It was a lot of fun. I got a phone call from my friend/Zaporizhya roommate Kim saying that she was done with all of her post waiting period paperwork in Zaporizhya and got to come to Kyiv tonight! I was so excited for that news. They really got her stuff done so fast I can’t even believe it.

I had been hearing about this really cool mosaic ‘Tile Park’ from the Cooks and really thought that would be fun to find on our walk home. My souvenir guy gave us directions and we found it. We have walked past it and missed it by a block almost every day we have been in Kyiv.

It was so darling. I would have loved to spend more time here but the freezing cold made it impossible. There were some really fun sculptures. It really was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The part of it I really liked was that it was just tucked back in a neighborhood like it was their own private park. I would have expected this type of park to be in more of a public area where it would get more attention. There was a great view from the park and it made for an enjoyable walk in a new place in Kyiv.

 
 

Before we went home we walked back through the mall and I was able to find a DVD store to buy the movies in Russian I was wanting for Vika. She’s so funny. She won’t make any decisions on what she wants or even give me the slightest indication that she is even interested in them until after I have paid for it and we are leaving the store. She was pretty excited that I got her more Russian DVD’s. Now we could go home. She asked me every corner we would turn, ‘home?’ When we got home to the apartment we just relaxed in silence.
We walked past this building on our way.  Don't know what it is, but it sure looked important!  And it was pretty.

I wish more than anything that I had a translator to just be in the room with us sometimes. This was one of those times. She was totally silent and somber. She has been most of the day and I wish I knew what was going on with her. I just kept telling myself that we just have to get home. Things will get better when we are home! They have to, right? I’ve had great moments here with her, but I’ve mentioned before it’s like Groundhog Day! We have to start over getting comfortable every day and by night time we are good again. I won’t have time for that sort of thing when we get home. It really is starting to worry me, but I am trying not to let it panic me! I have mentally just had to stay so focused on getting the Ukraine part of this adoption done and now am starting to look more into the future at what in the world I am going to do when we get home! Today was a hard day to say the least. I really just want to be home. I love it here in Kyiv, but I really miss home. I want to see my husband again and my sweet boys. I start to tear up just thinking that I get to see them so soon! I can’t wait.

She watched TV and I knitted some. We were supposed to meet Natasha in the afternoon to spend some time on our last day, but she had a family emergency and was unable to come and meet us until later. I finally said that we needed to get out and go eat dinner somewhere. Vika was not happy, but I can’t seem to win that battle here. I asked her to tell me where she would like. She just kept pointing for me to choose. The thing that I find so interesting is that I don’t even know which places are restaurants! Why does everyone ask me what looks good, or where should we go!? I just browse through a menu, maybe some of it is in English, usually it’s not though, and hopefully there are pictures! I could care less where we go because I don’t have a clue what my options are. That is not something I can get through to her in our little form of sign language. So, I chose. She didn’t like my choice and I didn’t feel very bad. It made me feel closer to home than I have felt in over a month! We went to TGI Friday’s! In America I would NEVER go here, but I wanted to order from a menu I understood and eat a good last meal. It was by far the most expensive place we have eaten, but surprisingly when our bill came it was about the same as we have been spending for dinner! She was so uncomfortable ordering a meal that cost so much that she couldn’t bring herself to order dessert. Besides, American dessert menus are about a quarter of the selection that Ukrainian dessert menus are. Natasha was right. The price of going out to dinner is actually pretty close here than it is in America. Here you have to order everything in courses if you want them. You have to order every side as its own dish. It all adds up. I think this was the first meal I have actually been stuffed after eating. She actually really ate well tonight.

We walked to the grocery store and bought a ridiculously embarrassing amount of chocolate to bring home. The last thing I wanted to find for her are the CD’s she wants. Her favorite singer is Maxiem. Apparently she isn’t everyone’s favorite because a lot of stores didn’t carry her albums. We finally found them and I bought her all 3 CD’s. She was the happiest little thing I have seen all day! She kept hugging the CD’s and mumbling things to herself. Spencer would say that when she and her girlfriends were chatting and girl-talking they sounded like the ‘minions’ from the movie, Despicable Me. How right he is! It’s darling and makes me smile to hear her.

One last 'accessible' picture.  The area is gorgeous, but I had to get a picture of this handicap lift!!  Look at that!  You can go to the mall if you can't walk! 

We finally met up with Natasha for one last visit. I love her and I wish our timing would have been better to get to spend more time with her. She’s a lot of fun and a great friend. I will miss her dearly. Back at the apartment we packed up our stuff and Vika skyped with her brother. He had a little speech prepared to say to me in English. It was very sweet and thoughtful of him. He wanted to tell me himself how grateful he is for us taking Victoria to a better life. How he thinks I am a very nice person and she is lucky to have me. He said thank you and good luck several times. It made me realize so much more how much someone really does appreciate the effort of speaking to another person in their language. It meant so much to me that he would take the time to learn to say those things so he could personally tell me what he felt. We got to bed and tried to sleep. I was just too excited to be very successful!