We got off of the train in Mykolayiv at 6a.m. in the morning after a 12 hour trip. We couldn't visit the orphanage until we got approval from the Municipal Council - which didn't open until 9 a.m.! So what do you do?? First you lug all of our luggage off of the train. Your tired, you stink, you look like crap and your legs wobble when you walk because you can't shake the feeling of being on a moving train. Then with wobbly legs you (and all of your luggage) climb 4 flights of stairs to walk across a bridge and just walk back down. We then had to pay to sit in a waiting room so that we could try to take a nap. Every time I closed my eyes, I got "train" spins and I was sicker then hell do to low blood sugar. At this point, we had not eaten anything of substance since dinner on Monday night (it is now Wednesday morning). We hang out for a few hours then we decide to take a taxi into town. There is a McDonalds there, so Gene wanted to get a bite to eat and at least wait where it was warm until the M.C opened. We hail a cab, put everything in the trunk, and take the ride through Mykolayiv. This is where the reality sets in. Kiev is so much different then typical Ukraine - as you drive through the town, you see how Ukraine's majority lives.
We get to McDonalds and they don't open for another hour, so we sit in the outside court yard, freezing our butts off. When they finally opened, we rush in and all of us are starving so we go to order. The menu is a bit different there though....no breakfast. Yep, we scarfed down a double cheese burger at 8am in the morning, and I have to admit it was probably the best dcb I have ever had :)
At 9a.m we hail another taxi, go the the Municipal Council, unload the luggage again. We go in, taking the luggage with us and Gene takes us into this office that I swear was no bigger than my bathroom. It is packed with 4 desks, 4 ladies with an ungodly amount of perfume on, filing cabinets, stacks and stacks of paper everywhere. We figured we would wait in the hall....oh no, come on in, and don't forget the luggage! Good grief! and to top it all off - they ALWAYS close doors in a room. Now the claustrophobia kicks in :) Just kidding. It was fine, but pretty comical. They were very nice to us, and babbled on in Russian all the while just smiling at us (hhmmm, wonder what they were saying??) but we got what we needed and got the heck out of dodge.
Now the fun begins. It seems that the taxi drivers in Mykolayiv require no common knowledge of City and the places that are in it. Our first experience with this was finding the "desky dom". After we leave the M.C, get another cab, get our luggage in, again... we're off to the orphanage. But not before spending 45 minutes, driving through woods, back alleys, dead end roads, construction sites and only God knows where else, we FINALLY arrive. Unload the luggage drag it into the orphanage, just to find out that the director just left for court about 5 minutes before hand. We have to wait for her to return before we can see Olena. So we wait, we wait and yes, we wait a little more. There is a nurse that keeps walking back and forth between one of the rooms and the exam room, each time with a different little girl or boy, and each time having them say "Dobry den'!" (good day!). Some would smile with pure joy and obey her command, others would give us a laugh by purposely defying her and acting silly! Olga, the director, finally returns after about 2 hours. She has us follow her up to her office (still dragging the luggage) She welcomes us in, has us sit down, goes over a few things about Olena and her birth parents. Then is asks us if we are ready to meet her. If you recall from our original post, we were introduced to the wrong little girl first. There was another Olena K. who was a bit older, the error was discovered fairly quickly though. All laughs aside, and now more tense then ever, we walk back through the halls and through the doors of the toddler room. They were eating lunch. She points to Olena and said that's her. OMG! the most absolutely gorgeous little girl I had ever seen in my life. I was bawling my eyes out before I even realized it.
Those next 30 minutes were and are the most magical moments in my life. I will never forget them.
we didn't think to bring out the camera, so Gene was taking pictures with his camera phone.This was taken within minutes of meeting her.
We took these pictures when we returned later that night to visit her again.
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