Hotel Montecristo Dnipropetrovsk

One day I went for a walk with my interpreter, Irina, and she showed me all around Poltava. It was a Saturday afternoon, and we saw about 10 weddings going on! We went to an area where the bride and the groom walk around and have their pictures taken. There was fabulous designs on the bride and grooms cars, which you can see in the picture.

Irina said often she sees the bride looking very happy but the groom looks sad. I guess that's because the ...

... and goes topless. The stripper also gets a guy from the audience to dance with her. The first time I went it was a girl, and the 2nd time I went the stripper was a guy and danced seductively with a girl from the club. Then later in the night they show medium core porn on the TV, which I liked, and thought was interesting as that's much different from American clubs. American clubs are either dance clubs, or strip clubs, nothing in between like this one.

... players at the table started to know me better, and decided to have some fun with me. They decided to get me drunk - but at their peril!

They kept offering me vodka shots. I refused at first because I didn't want to get drunk and play poker. But eventually I gave in and we toasted with the vodka shots. That vodka went down so smooth and it was so good! It also soothed my throat a little as I had a cold and sore throat. Well, at ...

I had such a good time at this social, I decided to stay in Poltava and get an apartment. Apartments are also cheaper in Poltava than the other big cities I went to. Poltava has about 300,000 people. It has several nightclubs, and even a casino where I can play poker. On a side note, I've been doing well at online poker even though I don't have much time to play, and it is more than funding my trip.

I felt like Brad Pitt at the social here. This was the last social I went ...

During the last adoption, pretty much everything went smooth. Not this time! During a court hearing there is a "prosecuter". Well, before we even had a court hearing the "prosecuter" said he reviewed our homestudy and we were approved for up to 2 kids- not 3. We may not be able to adopt these three kids. We are talking about what our options are at this point.

Our facilitator will be meeting with the judge today to see when our court date will be. Yesterday, we ran around taking paperwork here and there. We get to meet with the kids from 4-6 P.M. each day. Everyone at the orphanage has been real nice and they allow us to take the kids outside to play. The two boys are a bundle of energy. The girl will be a big ...

We have met with the kids the past two days and it has been very fun. The girl is quiet and very nice. She loves to draw. She has said that she wants to be adopted by us already. What a relief! The boys are playful and crave guy time. No problem with them wanting to be adopted. The youngest is 5. He saw a picture of ...

... next to the plate of holushky! An historical note: there was at some point an architectural competition in the town and a Swede and a Turk competed. The Swede won and had a fabulous and colorful building next to the local poets cottage. We treated ourselves to coffee at outdoor cafes, and a lovely dinner at a nice restaurant! It was wonderful to see Judith and her of her plans and adventures in Poltava while she settles in for the next two years ...

After a 9h train ride from Feodosia, in a small cabin, Ksucha and I finally arrived at Dnepropetrovsk. The train was exactly how I imagined a communist train to be and it felt really special to travel in such a way. I felt very grateful that Ksucha was with me, as I don't understand much of Russian, not to say any. We arrived at 6 am at the train station and it felt amazing ...

We left at 6am on Tuesday morning to go via Charles De Gaule to Kiev then catch a flight to Dnipro to be there for 10PM. We actually left at 6am to try to get to Charles De Gaule, took off late, missed connection and got to Kiev via Moscow (naturally minus our bags) to late to catch our flight to Dnipro. So 1 500km taxi and 8 hours ...