Mon., Tues., & Wed. - April 19, 20, & 21

Here is the condensed version of the last few days. Monday morning we went to the courthouse to pick up the final court decree – it was not ready(big surprise) – waited about 1.5 hrs to get it – then to orphanage for the final “signing out” of Ira. We left Balta about noon! Started to drive to Reni (Ira’s birth place to get birth certificate) – it took about 7 hours which was better than we thought – but we were exhausted. This was a hard back road drive – which is true of most drives in Ukraine unless you are on the only “highway” from Kiev to Odessa. We had cows crossing in front of us, sheep, goats – you name it. The road are indescribable and mostly are full of “eruptions” in the asphalt on one side with “potholes” as deep as 2 feet on the other side. Much of the time is spent on the side of the road. Anyway we arrived that evening in Reni - a very small town - and checked into the one hotel. It was decent but very small. We found the one restaurant and had dinner and a cold beer!!! Dima, Ira and I were all exhausted from the day – ½ half running all over Balta – second ½ was hard long driving for hours with nowhere to stop. We had lived on chips and water the whole day so the dinner was good not to mention the cold beer!!
The next morning (Tues) we headed, in Reni, to the Admin Bldg. to get the birth certificate – that took about 1 hr. – by then it was 10am. Then we headed back out in a hired “taxi” towards Izmail – 2 hrs. away & in between Reni & Odessa, to a notary to notarize the final documents. From Izmail we headed on to Odessa for the passport. We arrived in Odessa @ 3pm – of course the passport was not ready. We were hoping it would be and to catch a 4:30 bus to Kiev. The day had been rainy all day – the drive the same as the rest – long, hard, beyond bumpy and no place to stop. So we had about 5+ hours under our belt in the car in the same conditions – not to mention the day had started @ 7am. Plus during the trip yesterday and today I entered Moldova – saw the Danube and also saw Romainia. 3 countries in one day with insane conditions and a crazier schedule!
Without getting into lots of details – we finally got the passport about 5pm (Dima was working serious overtime on that one!)– that meant we could hustle and try to catch the 6:30pm bus to Kiev. We DID make it!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness we did and that were 4 seats left or we would have been on the overnight train!! Actually our bus was quite nice and a decent ride compared to the 2 days of back road, cow crossing, sheep crossing, rooster crossing, eruptions and potholes that we had been beat to death with. We arrived in Kiev about 12:30am!!! Got to the hotel about 1:00 am and finally got to bed about 2am!!!
Ira and I had to be up about 7:30am to meet Dima at 9am for the Embassy paperwork. I was so exhausted I honestly felt worse than jet lag from the trip here from US. But we got it together, met Dima and went to the Embassy. That actually took only about 30 minutes and all seemed to go well. It was a little intimidating because you have to do it alone – just Ira and me – no Dima allowed. But we got thru it ok. Then we left w/ Dima and headed to the medical checkup for Ira – all went fine there. We were through with all of it by about 12:30 so we had the rest of the day free. By then – even though completely exhausted – we were both feeling better because the stress was once again melting away. So we spent the afternoon exploring Kiev – Ira had a ball – we walked, shopped, went out to eat – it was a lot of fun. I realized how much stress she had been feeling as well once all of this was over and it was explained to her that this was the “last” and we would now basically be free to explore, have fun and go home on Saturday. All afternoon and evening she has been getting sillier and sillier and more and more giddy and happy as we get closer and closer to leaving. She keeps telling every “goodbye” – “leaving for America”!!!
Tomorrow we go back to Embassy @ 2pm to take the medical report and then the Embassy gives us the “final” sealed packet to give to immigration to both leave Kiev and enter US!!!! That is all we have left and it should be short and sweet!!! So tomorrow morning we are sleeping in – taking our time with everything up until the 2pm appt. Then we will play some more and Friday is a complete day off to explore and play before leaving here very early Saturday morning for home!!!!
These last 3 days have been very exhausting beyond description – both physically and emotionally, stressful and at the same time stress relieving as we got to the end of it! I think Monday and Tuesday was the hardest trip I’ve ever made physically in my life. I just can’t describe the hours, the distance, the “taxi”, the roads, the pouring rain, the never ending rush for deadlines, the time crunch – the constantly being on a deadline and in a time crunch but at the disposal of others and their own timing. It was a “hurricane” the likes of which I’ve never been in before and don’t wish to be in again. But – now – finally – it is over and we are 2 short days to go from going home!!!!!!!!!!!!