still blasted hot but moving forward

We are in ptown. We have received birth certificates for each child. And all tax codes are changed. tomorrow we can take the children and have passport photos made and apply for passport. Will take the children back to Kiev until passports are finished. They can spend some time with Dima this weekend hopefully. If we apply tomorrow we should be able to go back for them on maybe tues or weds. I am going to request the apartment John just vacated as I am not planning to spend much time there. The chairs pull out in to bed. I know it has internet.

So the last couple of days….we have spent in the car or waiting,…in the car. We traveled to Dasha’s city and then on to the place of birth of Diana and that was VERY FAR away. It was a gorgous ride. And we stopped at a little side of the road middle of nowhere place to eat and it was SO QUIET! Absolute silence except for the occasional passing car and us talking. It was all woods all around. A little dog camped out at our table looking for handouts and making us feel welcome. Our driver gave her some bread and she turned her nose up at it waiting for the good stuff. She did like my Tilapia. While we were there in Diana’s home city we had to change her tax code as hers was issued there the others were issued in ptown. We had to pay the expedite fee in every city. It was a lot of money! Much more than anyone expected.

Then on to Andre’s place of birth which was smallish town and we got there late as it was so long driving all over the country to Diana’s place of birth and it seems to take a very long time to change the name on a birth certificate. In Andre’s town the girl was new and was a nervous wreck to do it right. It took forever. We ended up staying over night in that city. There was but one hotel choice. It was not very nice. In fact there was a strip joint next door. Hotel Ptown looks positively palatial after that. Not even a shower curtain in that place! And you had to turn in the remote for tv when you go out. And I am certain there were roaches as it was NOT clean. And they gave us a little “plug in” to catch insects. There were TWO choices for eating. One was having a “gypsy gathering” of some type we were told so we went to the other. Flies flies flies. But the borcht wasn’t too bad. Except for the mayo….I thought they put sour cream in borcht? We were not able to get Andre’s birth certificate until midday today Thursday. Then on to Ptown. Another very long windy ride. I have nearly finished my second book this week and Cody finished his. He will have to reread one he already read since he doesn’t have another. I have one more in reserve but tomorrow we will pick up the children and I don’t think I will have much time for reading.

We went to the orphanage and found Natasha the attorney. She is such a beautiful young woman. She gave us everything we needed to change the tax code. Normally they do not do this at the tax office past one oclock. It was WELL past. About 330 or more. Our driver who says he is not david copperfield went in there and convinced them it MUST BE DONE NOW. And they did it. In a matter of minutes. Took way longer at Diana’s place of birth to change just HER tax code than it did here in Ptown for THREE of them.


We checked into the Ptown Hilton after that. Seriously compared to last nights place, the room we got here for the same cost is incredible! Huge huge huge! We have stayed in APARTMENTS smaller than this! My only complaint is there is no AC in the bedroom. Oh well.( We didn’t even HAVE AC in that little dive we stayed in last night. It was so blasted hot in there and we were not supposed to leave the window open at night because of insects. About 1 I said either I open the window or I cant guarantee I can behave civilly. A nice breeze cooled things considerably and we slept well for a few hours until it was time to get up. We had Fornetti for breakfast/ it was this pastry with a tiny bit of meat like hot dog inside and mustard. wasn’t BAD but not something I would choose to eat often. When Americans think Pastry we think SWEET! Fruit! Yum! This was not sweet and not fruit and therefore a little disappointing as it wasn’t what I was looking forward to. But we ate it and chalked it up as another adventure. )

I digress. We went to see the kids and they are so wonderful. Diana told me she will take her name Diana Claire and I hugged her and told her she was a love and a good girl. Dasha had been there yesterday and said that they are excited and also worried and nervous and sad to leave. All sounds perfectly normal to me! Andre veritably JUMPED into my arms and spent much of our short time there IN MY LAP or in my arms. And he was full of kisses. he also was very proud of his new name and says Jonathon very clearly which is surprising since he is missing most his teeth! But he wanted to go in that car! And NOW!! Jaeger didn’t even say hello until I tracked him down and hugged and kissed him. He was busy with a remote control car. He was a bit of stinker while I was there wanting to grab my hat. We went out tonight to the store and bought each boy a NYC hat. Both red. I hope he will love that. He wanted a new hat. We got some very cute sun hats for the girls as well and some yogurt for breakfast.
We went to Stairy Drar for dinner. Was a little more than we have been paying but since I stayed in a dive for my birthday I figured what the heck. for THREE of us it cost about 25 dollars us. Here I had heard good things about this place and Eric and I walked past it every single day here not knowing it was there. EVERY DAY! Twice a day! Our waiter was extremely shy! I think waiting tables is probably not the best job for him!

So tomorrow we bust the kids out of there. If we get everything done here in Ptown, like signing papers, and applying for passport dossier or something of the like, and changing the kids bank accounts over the to the orphanage We will go to Dasha’s city for passport photos. Then back to Kiev where we hope to see Dima. Tomorrow is Friday so if we don’t get to the passport stuff tomorrow we cant until Monday. So I am hoping all gets done. Maybe “david copperfield” can work his magic.