Meeting the girls

On the first day we were in Ivanciv we checked into our room. We were late getting there and were to meet the girls at 2:30 pm. We opened the door to the room and pushed our bags in and left to go to the orphanage.

The next 15 minutes were very anxious for me. It was like a cross between that first date, asking my wife to marry me and our wedding . I thought all of the what if's, what if they didn't like me, what if I didn't like them?

As we pulled up to the orphanage I noticed a girl coming through the bushes ( we would later find this was a short cut for the kid's) towards the building. As I got out of the car she came to see us and I saw it was one of our girls. She saw wife and a huge smile came across her face. She gave us a hug and ran into the orphanage to get the other girl who was there. We found out we had missed the Orphanage Director by a few minutes and nobody knew if or when she would be back. Protocol was to see her first and give her some paper work and then she would bring the children in for a formal introduction. Instead we walked over to the town stadium located next the orphanage and sat in the stands with these two girls and tryed to talk to them through the interpreter. They were shy and only gave yes and no answers. A few minutes later the Director came up and we all went inside where we did it the right way.


As we headed in the two girls ran off to the school to get the other girl and bring her back. Upon her return the director gave them a pep talk about there lives would be different and that sh had met us in America and we were good people etc. She excused herself and we had a few questions asked back and forth. The youngest one was antsy and couldn't sit still. The oldest one looked as though she was going to burst out of her skin but they remained reserved. We decided to go to the market area and see if we could find some banana's. The girls came with us to show us the way. As we were walking there one of the girls gave wife a hug. That started what became love fest. Another one hugged me and it was one hug after another from then until we left them to go back to the hotel 5 hours later.

After getting a box of banana's we went back and the director brought the kids into the great room and told them who we were and what we were there to do. Most of them smiled and for the first time I felt awkward. It dawned on me that all these kids wanted to go home and some had the why not me look. The fruit was enjoyed and we saw that our girls all had a servants heart as they passed out the fruit and the candy we bought for all them.

The time flew as the girls wanted us to see there beds and the few things they possessed. They each gave us a little trinket as a gift and we gave them some things we brought for them. They would bring their Friends over and introduce us to them through the interpreter.

At about 6 pm the interpreter announced she had to leave and go back to Kyiv. We were there with only a little girl we had met in the states to help us talk with them. The girl and her brother were going to be adopted by another couple we knew. The girl had been to the states and had been taking English lessons. She could speak some and spent the remainder of the weekend helping out. One of the first questions the girls asked was what do you want us to call you. I asked what do you want to call us and they answered Mama and Papa.

That was settled and in time it was time for us to go leave as the orphanage locked down at 9 pm. We left and felt as though we walking on clouds. These children were all so loving and ours seemed to need it the most.

After cleaning up the rooms enough to get by we called it a night about 11:30 pm. At about 12:30 I was awakened as wife was shaking me and I heard someone coming in the door to our room. I looked at him and he was bobbing back and forth, obviously drunk, and I said hay!! He said something I didn't understand and backed out into the hall and closed the door. It took me a minute for it to sink and I got up and stacked the bags against the door so no else could get, key or no key. When I woke up the next morning I looked around to see if we had any other visitors.

Hilton Hotel Ivanciv

While we were in Ukraine we stayed at a little hotel in Ivanciv. This was the town where the orphanage was. The best way to describe this hotel is to imagine a double wide mobile home with another one stacked on top of each and about two long. It would shake as the trucks went by but after a week you didn't notice. The hallways were up and down and crooked. It left the feeling of being tipsy when walking down it.

On the first level there was a few rooms and the rest were used for hotel needs ie; laundry room etc. The first floor also had a restaurant. It had a small eating area inside and another one on a patio. Inside had about five or six tables with four chairs each and a small bar that seated five or six more. Every time we went there you could cut the cigarette smoke with a knife. We ate outside every time, even when the weather got cool.

The owner of the restaurant was not friendly and never smiled once while we were there. The waitress was the same. No expression, no reaction, no matter what. They had about four or five things on the menu and the best was a steak platter that had a cubed steak covered with grilled mushrooms, peppers and onions and a cheese with potatoes. It came with a salad made with green peppers, onions, squash cucumber and a light oil & vinegar dressing. It was good but it was the only thing that was.

I lost about 20 lbs. while staying there. There were no super markets as we know them.The food stores were about the same size as our gas stations. They offered a wide variety of food but in small quantities. Bread, for instance was brought in twice a week. If you wanted a loaf the day before it came in you had a choice of take it or leave it. We always left it and remembered the days it came in. There was not a lot of choice in foods and we ate a lot of bread ( which was very good) with tuna we brought with us. As long as it lasted. Then we bought chicken cooked there and made sandwich's, but that got old after a week or two. Our biggest treat was to go into Kyiv every Saturday and eat at McDonlds or TGIF's.

Now , all that being said, there was great food in Ukraine. We only found it when we moved back into Kyiv at the end of our trip. We enjoyed a few meals that were great with Friends we made in Ivanciv but the restaurants were non existent while we were there.

The hotel was filthy. No other way to put it. When we checked in the room looked as it would if you had people stay in it and didn't clean it for months. Which is what it was. They give you clean sheets and bed covers and all the dirt you want. The bathroom was so bad I was afraid to use it. We spent hours cleaning it in order to make it acceptable.


We had the deluxe suite which included a towel each, a small bar of soap each, and two wash cloths for three of us, no matter how long you stayed . There was two rooms, one had a bed dresser and amoire. The other had a sofa that pulled out to make a bed and a chair, Coffee table and end table and a book case that also served as a closet/ storage area. On the coffee table was a huge ash tray with a couple of cigarette butts left. Under the end table was an empty wine bottle. Each room had a window. In the entryway you had four doors, one to the left had the sink and toilet. The next to it had a shower. Straight ahead was the bedroom and to the right was the other room. It was set up so each room could be rented separate and you would share the bath.

Friends or ours who also adopted three girls from the same orphanage called it "The Hilton Hotel Ivanciv". They had been there, in the same room, about six months before us. We thanked them for leaving the dirt.

It was interesting to me that the girls and their Friends who came by to visit were in awe of this place. The girls wanted to be able to spend at least one nite there before we left.

We were just living it up at the Hilton Hotel Ivanciv !!