In Kyiv (one year ago)

We arrived without incident (other than being a couple of hours late) in Kyiv. We waited for a little while for our bags, and there were a few moments when we wondered if everything had made it, but there were many other people from our flight waiting for bags so we stuck it out and sure enough everything appeared. We went through customs without a problem--no one asked to see anything, although the guys at customs asked us twice if we had brought gifts for anyone. We hadn't--only clothes for our future children and then whatever we couldn't use to be left at the orphanage. The customs agent seemed surprised but waved us through.

We went through the hallway and the double-doors that open into the waiting area, which was filled with people. We didn't see Kostya anywhere, so we went to the windows and tried to call him. His line was busy. After about 15 minutes we finally saw him--he'd been looking for us based on our passport pictures which were 8 years old. :) Kostya had arrived in the train from his home region that morning, and he and our driver had been waiting at the airport for 2 hours. Since he'd been on the train the night before he had no way of knowing our flight was delayed. It was raining, so we quickly found Sasha (our driver) and tossed our bags in the back. He had a REALLY nice car and we enjoyed our ride to our apartment. I think on the way we stopped at the SDA to get our appointment time--Mark and I didn't go in, so I can't remember if Kostya stopped then or later.

That evening we met up with Tami and Shad and Chris and Sue for dinner at O'Panas. We were all on the Ukraine Adoption Yahoo group and had set up a dinner together since we all had appointments the same week. Mark and I walked there from our apartment (Kostya was a little concerned about us going alone but we assured him we'd be fine. ;)) It was a blast getting to meet and talk with people I'd been chatting with for months. Plus the food was delicious!

After dinner (and a long wait for the bill!) we all went our separate ways. Mark and I meandered back to our apartment, enjoying being in Kyiv and the beautiful city at night.