My trip to Ukraine

So, things are finally settling down after my trip to Ukraine and I've had time to digest everything that happened....I am also now coming down with strep throat - a gift from the little orphans LOLMy adventure started on Wednesday January 25th when I arrived at the Atlanta airport in the evening. Bags were checked and I made it through security with no problems. Got some Starbucks and waited to board. The flight to Paris was long, but they had nice movies to watch and the flight was empty enough I could stretch out and sleep a bit. Arrive Paris - Thursday morning. By the time we landed and they bused us to the terminal, the flight to Kyiv had already closed! To top it off, there are no signs tellilng you where to go in Paris and there were no more flights to Kyiv that day. I was in hysterics on the floor. The French are very rude and have absolutely no concept of customer service. Thanks to two orthodox jews who were also trying to get to Kyiv, I got onto a flight to Prague, which would then connect to Kyiv that same evening. I had Andrew call Dima and let him know the change in arrival time. I get to Kyiv and they have lost both my checked bags with my gifts for the kids in them. Dima is waiting for me and takes me on a short driving tour of Kyiv and then we pick up the key to my apartment. I settle in and go to sleep, finally at my destination. Yura arrives at 7:30 am the next morning to pick me up and take me to the Big Family Chairty offices so we can get on the road to Pryluky. At the office I meet Sasha (cutie!) and we drink good strong coffee while waiting for Dima and Olesya to arrive. Once everyone was there, we all loaded into two cars, packed with parcels, and drove the two hours to Pryluky. We stopped at one of the only gasoline stations in Ukraine that has a mini-market. I get a Vanilla Coke, an Energy drink to bring back to the states for my husband (he lives on Monster energy drink), and three Ukrainian rock CDs (for my mom). I start filming the village of Pryluky, and the approach to the orphanage - I probably filmed the car seats as I was learning the buttons LOL. The playground was buried in snow and the enterance to the orphanage was unassuming - like many things in post-soviet Ukraine. The caretakers and director are there to greet us, and the boys begin bringing the parcels in to the lobby in front of the director's office. The caretakers then gather the parcels for the children in their classes and return to their classrooms. Olesya then gets permission to bring me to meet my angel, O . We go upstairs as her class has been merged with another groupa due to the lack of heat in her normal classroom. Standing at the classroom door, they call her out - up walks this TINY little girl with long black hair, pulled back in a pony tail, in a fluffy red sweater! Then she asks the most heart breaking question possible -"Are you going to be my Mamma and take me with you?" - I was almost in tears! I had Olesya tell her, "no, I wish I was your Mamma and could take you with me, but I'm not allowed to right now." On top of my luggage being lost, Big Family had mistakingly given O's December parcel to the kids at Borzna! So I had no gifts for O, except what I could scroung out of my backpack. Thankfully, I had made sure to put her necklace in there for safe-keeping! I also had a game-boy that I gave her. Olesya explained to O that the necklace symbolized my relationship with her - two hearts connected forever! O liked her gifts, and we went out with her caretaker to locate a jacket that we thought may have been from the misplaced parcel. O is a very stubborn and spirited child! Just like me...LOL. The jacket was not the one I had sent, but during the search I learned alot about O - no one is trying to adopt her, according to the caretaker. She also doesn't remember any parents and has no idea how long she has been at the Detsky dom - for as long as she could remember she said. I also gave my disposable camera to O and she loved taking pictures with it - I took the camera when she was done, and told her I would get it developed and send her copies of the pictures. I gave her tons of hugs and kisses and Olesya took tons of pictures of the two of us together. The kids then ate lunch and laid down for a nap. We all waited in the directors office, discussing the kids, and cataloguing the "all children" gifts. I then tried to video as many of the groupas as possible as they were waking up from their naps - but the camera died! I still visited many of the groupas and talked to the kids - to get impressions and stories to bring back to their sponsors. We all then said good bye, and went to the village for lunch.Olesya helped me order, and I got borscht and fried potatoes (hashbrowns). Dima also ordered Vodka. Sahsa played bartender, and Dima taught me the "proper" way to drink vodka - straight, chased by warm borscht! My eyes were watering and I almost coughed. I was tipsy the whole was back to Kyiv. Back at my apartment I watched Ukrainian news and music TV, took a bath in hot brownish/yellow water, and then went to bed. Continued in part 2.