Today we continued to fight with the red tape. SDA received our paperwork this morning, but they didn’t accept it! Two documents out of 12 had incorrect wording. One of the documents states that we had a contact with Raisa. Apparently, this document was supposed to say that we met Raisa, and then had a contact. Tell me, how can you have a contact without meeting someone? The other document listed our social worker’s name, but didn’t have her address! So we had to go back to the inspector’s office, wait for the updated documents, then wait for the head of the region to sign them, etc. The updated paperwork is on its way to Kiev, we are really hoping it will be accepted on Monday so that we can have the approval paper from SDA by Wednesday.
The weather in Odessa is not bad – it’s about 50 degrees. People are dressed up all the time, I kind of forgot about it. The ladies’ uniform is a short skirt and high boots with stiletto heels. For example, our region inspector was wearing a see-through shirt, a very short skirt and white boots with several fur pieces on them
Traffic in Odessa is very bad, though it’s better than in Kiev. We are taking “marshrutka” bus everywhere, it’s 1.25 grivna (25 cents) average. We took taxis a couple of times, but it takes the same amount of time as a bus, so it doesn’t make sense to spend more money (better save it for the envelopes :)
The prices are ridiculous! I don’t know how people with the average salary of $250 a month can live with these prices. We went to the supermarket, and were shocked to see that the grocery prices are almost the same as back home. The clothes boutiques are empty most of the time – I guess majority of people can’t afford them. We saw $300 boots, $250 jacket, $120 purse, etc. So we are planning to go to a famous “7th km market” to do some shopping soon, we were told the prices are much better there.
Tonight we ordered a take-out “large” pizza, but when it was ready, it was the size of a small single pizza we buy at Wegmans. We noticed the same when ordering coffee. When you order a coffee, ask for “Americana” coffee: it will be less than small size at home. Otherwise they serve coffee expresso style – a very-very-very small cup.
Tomorrow is our day off, and we are finally planning to see our friends. I can’t wait to introduce Raya to them. We got her a digital camera, and she’s constantly taking pictures. She’s such a doll!
7 comments:
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear you continue to deal with red tape. I hope this will be the last of it and that everything from now on will go smoothly.
Thanks for sharing some of the details of shopping, etc. as it helps us better prepare for January.
Take care, my friend.
You're in my prayers.
I really, really appreciate that you have shared your difficulties. It helps us prepare for what might happen and help us not to panic. It will get done somehow. It probably helps you to get things out also.
It seems like all involved would be happy that Raya is being adopted by loving relatives. We'll pray that things go smoothly from now on.
UGH! Darn that red tape! I'm sorry you're still having to deal with it...hopefully things will start to smooth out soon. In the meantime, enjoy your shopping...and take tons of pictures for us! ;)
That is ridiculous, it is so unfair to the children to delay the process any longer then it should.
Glad the weather if fair and not too bad.
Isn't it crazy??? How this sort of thing can slow up the process so consistenly is beyond me. Well, as of tonight we're in the same city guys! Maybe we'll meet up at the market!
I really feel for you! I guess we need to get ready for a lot of "red tape" too. I thought knowing their language will give us an advantage and hopefully some human understanding, but I guess it's still the same bureaucracy. They make you go thru hoops for such small things. We'll keep you guys in our prayers.
continue to fight the good fight!
(odessa is one of my favorite cities anywhere. i'm jealous you're there.)
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