Trip Report- Part 1

Well we got to Ukraine in one piece with no issues - no delays, no missed flights, and our luggage even got there ok. At Newark we took the little bus thingie to JFK and hung out until our flight left. The sleep treatment Dr. Epstein (Andrew's coworker and mentor) gave us worked wonders - we had no jetlag when we arrived. Did some shopping in the Zurich airport, then finally arrived in Kyiv. The passport control in Kyiv was a royal pain in the arse - huge queues with like 2 people working at the passport counters - it took over an hour. Customs was easier- they just trust you to let them know if you packed anything valuable - Andrew was unsure about our laptop, but when he asked a guard he said, no we didn't have to declare that since it was for personal use. Get out of the secure area and find G easily and then we go outside to find a bus to the city center. After about 45 minutes we are at our flat, our host Ramon gives us a tour of the flat - he is very proud of the recent renovations he has made and his English book collection for his guests. Ramon lived on the first floor, just below our rented flat. He even shows us around the neighborhood and introduces us to his favorite 24 hour shop - Baloo Market. I think we settled in for the night at that point - some of the days blend together in my memory. The next morning we met with Dr. Andrey and his associate Irena - they are from a baby house in Kharkiv and my Andrew and I have been helping them through a charity group we know. We tried to arrange to bring an EEG machine for them (to diagnose epilepsy in the orphans), but could not get the proper papers in time for the trip. So instead we just hung out in the flat with them, drinking coffee, answering their questions about neurology and epilepsy, and making plans for Andrey to come to the US for training.Then G shows up and we head to downtown Kyiv for some sightseeing and shopping. Shopping in Ukraine is very different from shopping in the US- in the US you just hop over to Target of the local mall. Not so in Ukraine - most of their shopping is done in open air flea markets, or indoor mazes of little shops - the exception to this are the few new western-type chain stores that have opened up in Ukraine. So, we went to this market that was a collection of kids shops, went to the Ukrainian version of Office-Depot and bought school supplies for the kids, and walked around the main area around Maidan in Kyiv. That night we walked to G's island (not really an island, but a neighborhood surrounded by man-made channels, like a Ukrainian Venice) and met his wife, his dog, and his crazy neighbor. His neighbor used to be doctor in Soviet times - now he is an artist...His flat was filled with tons of paintings - mostly of sunflowers and melons. Its just amazing to see the enthusiasm in this man for his freedom to express himself, to enjoy himself, and his pride in his work. He's not painting this stuff with top of the line tools either - he paints on pieces of cardboard. I want to put together a little gift of paints and supplies for him and send it to George. We loved the area of Kyiv we stayed in - Livoberezhna. Just on the other side of the Dnieper river from downtown, away from the tourist area. We had 3 or 4 markets, a McDonalds (for coffee, not food - we loved Ukrainian food), plenty of beer tents, a cafe, an internet center and a metro station. We went to bed early that night since we would be heading to XXX to visit SnowWhite the following morning.