A Day In Odessa

Oh my, what a week and it's only Wednesday! Monday evening our beautiful Anastasia joined about 30 classmates in a graduation ceremony/entertainment extravaganza. We didn't know what to expect and left totally amazed at the talent and potential of these kids. Lately, we've mentioned some of the "challenges" that older adopted children present, but Dana and I were just blown away by the graduating children of "Internot 4." I hope that some of our blog postings in the last month will encourage others to think about adopting or helping these kids by other means.


Meanwhile, Dana and Christian had to be rerouted through Kyiv and will now fly home on Friday. We made a mad scramble to the Odessa train station last night, just in time for them to make the overnight train. Saying goodbye was so hard. After putting their bags in the train car and making sure they were OK, I sat down to pray for them and all I could do was cry. We're not used to being apart, and I still don't know when the girls and I will return.


It felt so strange coming back to the apartment where we've spent the past month. Dana and I got up every day and drank coffee together and shared some of the best weeks of our 11 year marriage. Christian was amazing this trip and I miss my little man terribly already.


But I didn't have any time to feel sorry for myself because the events of today were enough to write a lengthy adventure story about. Despite the fact that the ten day waiting period expired on Friday, we are not able to get the girls' passports until their miniscule personal bank accounts are resolved along with their small stake in a family apartment. This is where you encounter the surly Soviet style beauracracy that citizens of Ukraine have been dealing with their entire lives.


What it amounts to is that we actually have to pay an extra $1000 cash to get it "settled." Then there's the other interesting problem of changing Nastia's name on her Ukrainian passport. This is another lingering practice from the days of the police state when Ukrainian citizens 16 years and older had to carry a passport with them everywhere (in fairness I should say that the beaureaucrats in Richmond and Washington aren't exactly a model of efficiency either).


Fortunately, the woman directing all this frenzied activity was our excellent translator/facilitator Alyona, who is extraordinary. She speaks fluent English and deftly goes back and forth between two languages while answering two cell phones and all my dumb questions. Dashing and darting through every corner of Odessa and more than a few alleyways, we jumped from taxi to taxi, and on one occasion bailed out of a cab and hoofed it for at least two miles in less than 20 minutes. I'm used to running long distances, but I was struggling to keep up with Alyona who was dodging traffic, jumping over mud puddles and jaywalking like a champ, all in high-heels! Several times we blew off the elevator and ran up four or five flights of stairs.


The highlight of the morning was when I attempted to strike up a conversation with our first cab driver who appeared to be in his fifties. I went for the military angle and inquired about his service with the Soviet Army, then asked if he had used a Mosin-Nagant rifle and could shoot as well as Zaitzev, the famous WWII sniper. He started laughing as he shook his head yes, then reached into the console, pulled out a loaded 45 caliber pistol, slid a round into the chamber, and handed it to me! "Very nice, very nice," I said. He wouldn't take it back until I looked through the sites to demonstrate my approval, and fortunately, did not insist on me doing any target practice. He just threw it back in the console and lit up a stogie.


Understand that this guy was the only real taxi we used. When you hail a cab here, you are basically just hitch-hiking. Anyone will stop and pick you, usually in a 35 year old Lada without seatbelts. If you are lucky and happen to find one with something that resembles a seatbelt, they get offended if you try to put it on! Earlier this week, some guy told me at the end of a long day that the seatbelt was "not important....." I was not in the mood for his attitude and looked right at him and said "Ya Amerikanitz.....Important for me!"


Oh, while I'm at it, the driving.....brace yourselves folks! These guys make Dale Earnhardt, Sr. look like Little Bo Peep! The driving is aggressive, fast and not for the faint of heart. Although interestingly, I will say that they are actually very skilled at scaring you to death. I spoke to Nelson Calzadilla about this at length. He and wife Karen are also here adopting and Nelson is a surbuban Chicago policeman so he has seen alot of bad driving. He agrees that it seems out of control and admitted to being spooked at first, but observed that you see very few dents in the cars, and he also said that they pay attention to where they are going and use the horn the way its supposed to be used.


But that really doesn't prepare you when they decide to cross lanes illegally and pass cars on the sidewalk! This actually happened to us last week. Pedestrians just got out of the way and no one seemed to mind.


The truly hilarious part is that all this crazy driving takes place with the backbeat of the constant thumping and pumping of that ghastly EuroTech dance music. Believe it or not, George Michael is still a superstar here and it doesn't matter how old your driver is, they all listen to it, cranked up very loud! More than once today I laughed as I pictured myself in a speeded up Russian music video.


Another memorable moment occured as we were getting into one of the "private" taxis. Alyona looked at me and whispered, don't speak! Nothing ever stops me from speaking, even when I can't speak the language, but I obliged her request and kept my mouth shut for an hour as we whizzed through rush hour traffic. It was a wild lady driver who made alot of pedestrians and other drivers very mad at her so I was thrilled to get out and walk in the rain, and besides, seeing one cabbie pull a gun was enough for one day. Alyona informed me that the reason she gagged me was that we would have been charged double if the driver knew I was a Yank. I honestly think I would rather talk and pay double any day.


Meanwhile....Thursday and Friday are Ukrainian national holidays, so it looks like the girls and I won't be able to travel to Kyiv until Monday night and do our business with the US Embassy on Tuesday and Thursday because the embassy is closed on July 4th. I'm gonna have to stay in Odessa eating cheap gourment food and ice cream for another five days. I might even have to smoke a cigar or two.


Prayer request: I would appreciate your prayers for Dana and Christian's safety while in Kyiv and for their return flight on Friday.