Ukraine - Kiev to Odessa - Monday 9 -24, What a day!

Monday was a long day. We had to meet with the SDA in the early afternoon. Oleg met us for our meeting with the SDA after lunch, and our meeting went fine. We were given permission to submit our paperwork to the regional director in Odessa where Vladik attends secondary school. After our meeting we decided to take a hired car with our facilitator Natasha for the 300 mile journey to Odessa. (The overnight train did not leave until 10 pm or so, and we were ready to proceed with the next part of our journey and get to Odessa). The five hour car ride was interesting, as once you leave the city you are stepping back in time 40-50 years. The roads were fairly decent, but the futher you got away from the city the more rural it became, with houses not more than huts in many cases, with many places without electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, etc. Paying 20 grivna to use the "facilities" along the way was interesting to say the least. We were fortunate that Dima had secured a very good driver, with a minivan in excellent condition, for the journey to Odessa. I have been very impressed so far with the professionalism of Oleg's team and their desire to answer our questions and help us in any way possible. Additionally, the people of Ukraine, while reserved and cautious, seem very nice and personable once they get to know you.

Ukraine - Kiev - Saturday / Sunday Sept. 22 - 23rd

We arrived in Kiev early Saturday evening after traveling from Omaha through Cincinnati through London (Gatwick). Note - if you are traveling through Gatwick and have to change terminals, you are only allowed 1 carry on. This created a bit of a problem as we had laptop bags and backpacks. Somehow, we managed to shove all our stuff (laptop bags) into our backpacks. dont ask me how we accomplished this, but it got done.

Kiev was in the midst of some sort of festival and we stayed downtown in an apartment adjacent to the main square. Great location, but our apartment required some adjustments.... Hot water took 10 minutes or longer to warm up, and our electricity was limited to 3-4 lights or appliances at a time or the breaker would trip. Glad I had seen the breaker box near the door and didnt get electrocuted. Our apartment is the top balcony on the right.

Sunday morning was an excellent time to be in Kiev, there was an organized street festival of sorts and a lot of political demonstrations, apparently elections here are within the next couple of weeks. Many families were out enjoying a beautiful fall day with temperatures in the mid 60's.