hello again!

I am back at the internet cafe. we had a good visit today with Artiom, who we will call Ari for short. he is a very happy little boy, he especially loves Rich and Shane because he is facinated by men i think. today the nannies told me 'no more eat, no more drink" apparently the box of raisens i gave him yesterday worked their way through and they decided i couldn't feed him anymore :) they also said the dr was mad that he sat on the floor in the music room. they watch you like a hawk when they go through the room,and they don't smile either. i went to a little chicken vendor this morning and bought a chicken leg for the dog at the orphanage, i gave it to her (the dog) before we left, it was smoked, so i hope they give it plenty of water!

Ari loves playing with the cars i bring, he zooms them down the piano, and we zoom them back to him. our cabbie was late today, so our visit was only 1 1/2 hrs. i thought for sure we were going to die today on the way to the orphanage, our nascar taxi driver was the craziest yet. seriously. i figured i had a 50/50 chance of making it to the orphanage today :) crazy.

so about our apartment. I really like it, its very conveniently located to shops and vendors and a bank. there are always lots of people out and about. we do have to go down a kind of dark alley to get in, but so far no problems. the beds are sort of gross too, like a big peice of molded foam in the shape of a bed... blankets are pretty bad, so we don't look too closely. and i have to say there are cock roaches. that was unexpected, and a little creepy at first, but then i caught one and put it in a glass and said it's my only pet in ukraine :) there are only 2 bowls and 2 towels so we all have to share. BUT its cheap. $50 a night, verses the Intourist is 70 for small , really small room and 117$ for a medium. to me i would much rather be in our own apartment living like everyday people here. I have to say, i don't think i would ever have my child escorted home (not that you can here) because its really important to experience where your child is from, the people , the culture etc.

still have not heard about interpol. serge said call him tomorrow, maybe he will know something then. we didn't bring as much $ as we probably should have, and we had a MAJOR unexpected expense the other day for being in this region/court, so we really have to watch the grivna. Our new motto is 'GOTTA WATCH THE GRIVNA'.

I will have shane post some more pics now. I miss being caught up on all the RR news, I don't know whats going on and who has families now. I am still waiting for serge to come to the orphanage so I can show him the pics of the kids on my list. its a good thing i have the pics because when i told him the names the other day, he shook his head and said they aren't the real names and he didnt know who i meant. For Naya's mom, I did say the little girl with dwarfism and marina perked up and asked "she got a family?! Oh, thank God".

more later.

jodi