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Well we made it to Ukraine just fine and we got lucky because the child we are looking to adopt is in a Kiev orphanage. Being based in Kiev I have been able to stay on-line fairly well with a dial up Internet connection through “svit online” in our apartment which is just a block off of the main square downtown. Had we been sent to one of the outlying regions, Internet connectivity could have been a major problem from what I am hearing from our translator/guide. I am also learning how slow of a place the Internet is via dialup all over again.
The only problems so far have been getting locked inside our apartment one morning and our phone being switched to a new number preventing abound calls. If I could speak Russian I could have easily called the number on the recorded message to reactivate the phone. As it was, I needed to wait a day and a half for the apartment owner to stop buy and call the phone company from the apartment. Things move at a slower pace here – it seems everything requires an ‘appointment”.
Overall, we are finding Kiev quite cosmopolitan, but eating out is an adventure because very few people speak English and we speak very little Russian. I even had a hard time ordering a potato at the Potato House restaurant. Fortunately the guy behind us in line knew some English and I got my potato.
(and to keep this tech related, how did you ever get online over there?)
eating out is an adventure because very few people speak English
Heh. Whereas lots of waitstaff in diners in Michigan speak Russian, right? >;->
Sticky me if you need to know any Russian phrases urgently. Red tape anywhere in the former Soviet Union is a headache, but speaking even a little of Russian or the local language will make things immeasurably easier.
