Day 37 - Our new apartment - Monday Oct. 24

Some of the kids, including Yarik, had to be back for school that morning, so I woke up for a little while when they made noise getting ready to leave. I was too tired to be up for the day, and we were just having milk and cereal, so I did not have to worry about cooking anything for breakfast. I fell back asleep and rested well. Somewhere between 9 and 10 I woke up and got dressed. I organized all my belongings to take home that day. We had our devotions together and talked about the plan for the day. Then I went down to see what I could do to help.

19 people in the 11 passenger van

We put out the breakfast cereal and milk, the bowls and spoons. Since about half of the kids had to be back at school, we just had the kids come and eat when they were ready. After they ate, the Ukrainian leaders had one final meeting with the kids. While they were doing that, the rest of the team and I were cleaning up. We packed up the kitchen stuff and cleaned floors and tables. Got all of the dishes washed and put away, etc. The plan was to have a large van take half the group to the nearest bus stop and from there each one could take the bus to where they needed to go. Sergei and I were in the first wave and Anika put us on the bus that would take us back to the center of town to meet Ksenya who would take us to our new apartment.

I was so excited to have a place to set up life with my two boys. We would be able to stay in the apartment until it was time to go to Kiev before going home to America. Sergei and I got off the bus at McDonald's where Ksenya had arranged to meet us. It was about 12:30, and we were both hungry, so I went and ordered us some big mac meals. When we were just taking our last bites, Ksenya arrived and we loaded our stuff into the taxi. The apartment was not far from downtown, so it took us just a few minutes to get there. We were right across from the larger Celentanos Pizza place and a Billa grocery store was across from that. I knew that Celentanos had wifi and with a grocery store across the street, we would be set.

The landlord met us outside the building and took us to the fifth floor where our apartment was located. We went over the terms of the contract and I paid for two weeks and a small deposit. The apartment was just right for us. We had a stove, a washing machine, a bedroom for me with an enclosed balcony, the living room had a couch that folded down into a bed, a sofa and a desk. I also asked about getting internet, and the landlord explained to Ksenya where to go to find out about hooking it up.

Sergei waiting to eat

Our first dinner at our new place

I was very excited! The landlord left and Ksenya pointed out the general direction of things and she left while Sergei and I went to the grocery store. We got water and supplies to make dinner, lunches and breakfast, and of course lots of apples and juice. We were waiting to hear from Yarik. Ksenya had given him instructions on which bus stop would take him to our apartment, so when walked by the bus stop, Yarik was there and saw us. He joined us as we walked back to the apartment. He liked our apartment and was glad that we would have this place to live for a while. He had been talking to Vitaly on the phone to give him instructions to get to the apartment.

Yarik had talked to his teacher and told her about Sergei. She said that Sergei could not join us for dinner at her house that night. I had Anika translate for Yarik to make sure he explained to his teacher that Sergei was with me for good and I could not come without him. So Yarik called his teacher and she said that her house was too small to do it that evening and would have us over a different day.

So Vitaly arrived to visit for the evening. Sergei and I made dinner for the three boys and myself. Sergei had chosen some pelmini and little sausages. It worked out pretty well.

Vitaly had brought his sister's laptop and we were trying to get internet working on that, but the aircard was not working. So we went over to Celentanos to get dessert and use the wifi. Ksenya had gotten information on setting up internet, but had not been able to have someone come and hook it up for us. At Celentanos, we got some fruit and nuts with whipped cream and the boys ordered 2 blinis (crepes) with chocolate. We were able to talk to Darren for a while and chat on Facebook. The restaurant was pretty loud, so it was hard to communicate. At least we got to have a little virtual time together. The guys all came back to the apartment and we put in a movie. Yarik and Vitaly decided to sleep over, so they took Sergei's spot on the fold out bed. They were ready to sleep, but Sergei wanted to keep watching movies. He and I came to my room and watched the rest of the movie. I was ready to get to sleep, but he wanted another movie, I put in one of the batman movies and he watched that while I drifted off to sleep. He woke me at the end of that episode and wanted another. I got that one going and then after the next episode, he woke me again to turn it off. He went back over to the living room to sleep on the small couch. We did not have anymore blankets. I was sorry that he got stuck on the small couch with no blankets, but he did not care. I planned to get to the open air market and get him a blanket the next day!