Day 3 - Our first appointment

Today we had our first appointment at the SDA (the formal presentation of files of children). The meeting was short because they presented only one file; a young boy who after a call to the orphanage was confirmed to have HIV and therefore unacceptable. We did anticipate this so we are not very surprised. Now that the formal first appointment was concluded, we have been put onto a special registry (this appears to be where our facilitator earns his keep), we will recieve a call back for a second appointment when a child which meets our criteria becomes available. The SDA only does internal business on Fridays and is closed on the weekends so we know we will not be called before Monday. So now the waiting begins...again.

On a positive note, Luftanza found our lost baggage and returned it to us. As well, we went to 5:00PM mass at St. Micheal's Catherdral and it was spectacular. St. Micheal's is a 900 year old working orthodax church. It is busling with monks, priests and visitors. We have never seen such a beautiful church and grounds.

During our travels, we realised that Kiev is full of women in mini-skirts and thigh high stiletto boots, men with Ukrainian hockey hair (Lisa thinks some look like Baryshnikov so it's not too bad) and is a city built over a very large hill. Lisa and I decided to walk down the far side today only to find that you can spend 2 hours getting back up it. We could not understand how the women walk up and down these hills on coble stone roads dressed this way.

We plan on becoming tourists for the weekend and exploring more of what Kiev has to offer.

For Daniel: We are still looking for the beech!