Events of the Day:

Day 4 was pretty much just family time. Our facilitators Oleg, Katherine & Julia were busy with translations, meetings & the networking required to keep the process rolling. Our new family spent time in the apartment all together in the morning. Joe wrestled with phone & Internet connections and our hot water situation continued. We resorted to heating hot water on the stove for bathing the kids & women-folk just like in the old West. Joe opted to start a daily ritual of cold showers, which were quite refreshing around noon since the apartment was not air-conditioned. Julie & the girls (Taylor, bio-kid 1 & Alyona) went with our translator, Yulia on a shopping excursion in the afternoon. Joe & Travis (bio-kid 2) took a walk around the neighborhood and snapped a few photos (see slide show).

Our section of the city was clean and had all the necessities - a few local markets, restaurants, and kiosks where money could be exchanged easily. The apartment is 2 blocks from Victory Square (Ploshcha Peremohy), which is a busy intersection of about 6-8 major streets. There are a couple of hotels on the square as well as a popular Circus and our favorite Tika Market. Joe became adept at handing over $50 bills at the market kiosk to get the local currency. Exchange rates around the city were pretty uniform 5.28-5.30 Ghrebna for $1.00 USD. Good 'ol McDonald's was within walking distance, just up the hill - a brisk 10 minute walk (20 minutes for those of us out of shape and towing 3 kids in 80% humidity). 

The Ukrainian menu in McD's was pretty much the same as in the US and the same freckled-face teenagers were behind the counter. If you can translate the Cyrillic letters into English sounds, ordering is fairly easy since most of the menu is "American-ized". McD's prices were a little high by Ukrainian standards, but we were very happy to feed 3 kids & 2 adults on ~$10 (50-60 in local currency). The local market was also a good source of predominantly western products and home-cooking became the norm over McD's.