We went to Chernigiv with Alona’s family as planned. The driving wasn’t as bad as I feared, Grandpa is a safe and sane driver by Ukrainian standards. We only had a handful of near death experiences. I was a little worried on the way home when I glanced in the rear view mirror and noticed he was taking a nap. We made some noise and told him we were too hot so he rolled down the window and that seemed to help.
We first went to the apartment of Uncle Wowza and wife Vita. We got to meet Alona’s cousins Vladic (8) and Milana (2) who are super cute and energetic kids. They had arranged an interpreter to tour the city with us which was very thoughtful. Vladic got to miss school and go with us so his perpetual grin got even bigger, if possible. Dad had to discipline him at one point and practically picked him up by his ear, which I thought were big enough already, but Vladic didn’t seem to mind too much.
We toured a number of churches and visited a museum. They were all incredibly ornate and beautiful. Hard to describe so you’ll have to wait for the video. We also walked through some caves where the monks used to live. Their underground accommodations made the apartment in Kiev look pretty good by comparison. They had also planned to climb a huge tower to get a good view but it was under construction so I kind of dodged a bullet on that one.
We went back to the apartment for lunch/dinner. It was another great meal similar to what I’ve described before. The hospitality can be kind of overwhelming and it’s hard to relax but we’re getting better at it. After the meal we went to a souvenir store. They had some plates on the wall with images of the churches we had visited. Diane had the great idea of buying three so we could give Alona’s grandparent and Uncle a gift. At first they were reluctant because they thought they were way too expensive but we insisted and they seemed excited about the gift.
We headed back to Schors and along the way we stopped for groceries so G & G could treat us to yet another meal. I noticed I had missed a call from Julianna and Nastya so took the opportunity to call them. Nastya had some bad news. The judge they usually have for the adoption cases is on a one month vacation. The replacement judge wants to schedule us for May 18, when we were hoping for May 6. This would mean we either hang around here, not really an option, or go home now but Diane would have to come back with me for court. Nastya was upset because they had made the court “a generous offer.” I asked if this meant they offered the court money and she acknowledged this was true. I told her to make the court a more generous offer and see what happens. She’s coming to Schors tomorrow to talk to the court so we’ll see. This has been going off without a hitch so far so we had to expect something would happen eventually. My only concern is making sure Julianna understands what’s happening. Also we promised we would go to her show tomorrow so I hope this is possible. We may be heading home ahead of schedule and returning to Schors May 18 for court.
We went back to Alona’s place for the evening meal. We were very tired by this point but didn’t want to offend anybody by going back to the hotel. G & G left to take care of the animals so I played cards with Alona and we had a nice visit. Grandpa stopped on the way back to tap a birch tree so we could have some juice. I’m not sure why I didn’t know you could do this since we had a lot of birch trees growing up in Ontario. Maybe they’re a different type here. The juice is like a mild lime juice. They add seeds to the mix for flavor, then strain them out and add sugar.
We got to see the animals and meet Grandma’s mom (84) and Aunt (80) on the way home. They had a couple cows and a new calf, baby chickens and some little porkers. I taught Alona the english word for these guys, “bacon”. The garden was huge and they had a makeshift greenhouse where they grow their sweet cucumbers.
Here’s hoping I have a good report for tomorrow but Nastya’s not optimistic.
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