Last night was a long night and not because we partied all night welcoming in the New Year. We did stay up until 12:30 so that hopefully we could see fireworks from our flat. We were able to see them reflected off a 20 story building made of all windows. Haha! Then at 12:30, this mean mom said it was time for bed. However, the fireworks continued. We could hear them coming from all directions and at times they were so loud, it literally sounded like bombs going off. For a split second, I wondered if we were in a war zone and then I remembered it was New Years. I finally fell asleep after was seemed like hours only to be woken up to another bomb....ahem, I mean... fireworks going off right outside our flat at 3:00am. Good grief. The past three hours worth of fireworks weren't enough? So, next time our neighbors decide they want to shoot off some firecrackers at 10pm, I am going to remember being woken up to bombs at 3am in Kiev and realize firecrackers at 10pm isn't so bad after all!
We ended up sleeping in this morning until 10am and then we got up and got ready to spend the day with another adoptive father and his two girls. We met at Independence Square; which is about a 10 minute walk from our flat and took the subway to Dream Center. This is a huge building that has shopping, food courts, ice cream, ice skating, roller blading, bowling, movies, etc. We grabbed a quick bite to eat; which wasn't so tasty and then headed to to the skating rink. Alex did not know how to Roller Blade at all and wanted to stop many times. He was getting frustrated and kept saying "Alex no more". But he really didn't mean it because he got up and kept going. He finally got the hang of it enough to go around at his own pace. He often went in the opposite direction of traffic but he was finally having a good time. So much so that he asked if he could have a pair of roller blades in America!
Lilya loved it. They roller bladed for about 2 1/2 hours when Shane's two girls and Alex got off the rink and sat down but Lilya stayed on the rink. She'd probably still be there if I didn't say, "let's go". They both rode the bumper cars and then we got an ice cream cone.
After that, we got back on the subway and grabbed a bite to eat at Pizzata Hata, a Ukrainian Cafeteria Style Buffet. There was a long line - I've eaten a few different Cafeteria Style Buffets but never had to stand in line. We waited for probably 30 minutes before finally getting up to choose our food.
After we ate, we got back on the subway to get off at Independence Square and wow, there were a lot of people! I've never been anywhere where there were that many people at one time. It looked something like Times Square in NYC on New Year's Eve before the ball drops at midnight. We started walking back to our flat down Khreschatyk Street when I heard some chanting and I saw people lined up along the street. Well, I wanted to see what was going on, so we lined up, too. All of a sudden, I could see what looked like a parade of people marching down the street but it wasn't a parade. I believe it was some type of protest. These people marching were holding torches and chanting. They were in groups and in front of each group they were holding a banner. There must have been over a thousand people marching. The media was there running in front of them taking video and photos and we decided to video, as well. It was interesting to say the least. We decided to leave and head back to our apartment and lined along some of the stairwells going down underground were police officers.......probably 40 or 50. At that point, I must admit, I got a little scared. I am now happy and warm in my flat! Ready to take the kids for their medicals and head to the US Embassy to obtain their visas!!
We ended up sleeping in this morning until 10am and then we got up and got ready to spend the day with another adoptive father and his two girls. We met at Independence Square; which is about a 10 minute walk from our flat and took the subway to Dream Center. This is a huge building that has shopping, food courts, ice cream, ice skating, roller blading, bowling, movies, etc. We grabbed a quick bite to eat; which wasn't so tasty and then headed to to the skating rink. Alex did not know how to Roller Blade at all and wanted to stop many times. He was getting frustrated and kept saying "Alex no more". But he really didn't mean it because he got up and kept going. He finally got the hang of it enough to go around at his own pace. He often went in the opposite direction of traffic but he was finally having a good time. So much so that he asked if he could have a pair of roller blades in America!
Lilya loved it. They roller bladed for about 2 1/2 hours when Shane's two girls and Alex got off the rink and sat down but Lilya stayed on the rink. She'd probably still be there if I didn't say, "let's go". They both rode the bumper cars and then we got an ice cream cone.
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| She's beautiful even after roller blading! |
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| I didn't get a photo of Alex on the bumper cars but here is one of Lilya |
After that, we got back on the subway and grabbed a bite to eat at Pizzata Hata, a Ukrainian Cafeteria Style Buffet. There was a long line - I've eaten a few different Cafeteria Style Buffets but never had to stand in line. We waited for probably 30 minutes before finally getting up to choose our food.
After we ate, we got back on the subway to get off at Independence Square and wow, there were a lot of people! I've never been anywhere where there were that many people at one time. It looked something like Times Square in NYC on New Year's Eve before the ball drops at midnight. We started walking back to our flat down Khreschatyk Street when I heard some chanting and I saw people lined up along the street. Well, I wanted to see what was going on, so we lined up, too. All of a sudden, I could see what looked like a parade of people marching down the street but it wasn't a parade. I believe it was some type of protest. These people marching were holding torches and chanting. They were in groups and in front of each group they were holding a banner. There must have been over a thousand people marching. The media was there running in front of them taking video and photos and we decided to video, as well. It was interesting to say the least. We decided to leave and head back to our apartment and lined along some of the stairwells going down underground were police officers.......probably 40 or 50. At that point, I must admit, I got a little scared. I am now happy and warm in my flat! Ready to take the kids for their medicals and head to the US Embassy to obtain their visas!!
