Birthdays, Picnics and Cold War Bombers

Friday, July 23 was Kostya’s son’s 4th birthday. Kostya’s wife Olga and son Nikita came to Kiev so they could celebrate the special birthday together as a family. We had the privilege of joining them in the celebration.
Early Friday morning, Nikita waited patiently for us to wake up, for you see, his birthday presents were hidden somewhere in our room! He found them quickly, and was transformed into Spiderman, complete with mask, gloves, sword and cape. He also enjoyed new Nemo, Tarzan and Buzz Lightyear books. We knew it was going to be Nikita’s birthday, and so brought small gifts for him as well. He seemed excited about the children’s Christian story and song CD, and the Legos (big kid kind) we brought!
After Nikita had spent some time enjoying his new treasures, we all left for a pond/lake on the outskirts of Kiev. A driver picked us up, stopped by a grocery store on the way to pick up picnic goodies, and then brought us to the pond. It was a natural pond, complete with the finest, softest sand beach and bottom you have ever seen. The pond was quite warm – warm enough that even John went in! We spread out our blankets, enjoyed a nice picnic, went swimming, played a game of Scrabble and just enjoyed ourselves. We were there for about 4 hours. The weather was gorgeous – warm and sunny! It was indeed a special day for making new friends and forming special memories.
It was while we were at the pond that Kostya received the “problem” phone call from the NAC. Being surrounded by wonderfully supportive friends made the hurdle seem doable, and since it was the middle of the night at home, we couldn’t do anything but enjoy ourselves anyway!
This trip has been a real opportunity to just “let go, and let God!” We’ve heard that so many times in the past, but this is the first opportunity when we have had no choice but to do that 100%! Take riding in a car – no seatbelts, and the lane lines, traffic signs and rules are “mere suggestions” taken into consideration at times! Imagine if everyone in a large city drove like New York taxi drivers. Add to that swarms of pedestrian traffic, non-stop public transportation and beat-up, pothole-ridden streets, and you might have a general idea of what it is like! An interesting experience to say the least!
When we arrived back at the apartment we had a nice rest, dinner, and began working on solving our paperwork problems, without much luck, I might add. A driver picked us up at the apartment and brought us out to the airport.
The children we chose to visit are in the Odessa region (not in Odessa city). When Kostya tried to get train tickets for us to Odessa, all the trains were full. Apparently, many Ukrainians try to get to Odessa region during the summer for holidays, in order to enjoy the Black Sea. Kostya asked us if we would be willing to fly to Odessa; he was concerned we might not, as he indicated many Americans don’t like to fly within Ukraine. We said “sure!”.
After a trip to a travel agency, we had tickets in hand to fly from Kiev to Odessa – a short 50-minute flight (about $50 each, one-way – but Kostya paid for this, as part of our all-inclusive package). We could hardly complain about a 50-minute flight, compared with a long, stuffy 10-hour train ride!
And so, Friday evening we were off to the airport to check in for our flight. We checked 3 bags, and carried on 2. Security at the airport was minimal at best – the bags went through x-ray machines, but the operator was over away from the monitoring screen talking to someone else! We received our boarding passes, and proceeded into a waiting room for our flight.
About 25 minutes before our flight was to leave, they announced general boarding for the flight (in English, Russian and Ukrainian) – no one moved. Five minutes later, they announced they were closing boarding for our flight. We moved, simply because we didn’t want to miss the flight, but we were the only ones. We proceeded to the exit door, but it was locked. We tried to sneak peeks at others’ boarding passes to see if this entire room of people was maybe waiting for another flight (they weren’t – they were all headed to Odessa like us). We figured the plane wouldn’t take off without all of us, so just decided to wait. Finally, about 15 minutes before our departure time (5 minutes after they indicated they were closing boarding time!), 3 employees came over to the door. One unlocked the door, while the others watched. We all loaded onto a large bus that brought us across the airstrip to our parked airplane.
And then came the largest surprise of the Flying-in-Ukraine experience. The plane we were to fly on was a converted Cold War bomber – complete with a glass-nosed front (for guiding the bombs, John informed me!). We were happy to find the interior of the plane had been pleasantly converted to a “traditional” passenger plane! I do have to say, although I was a little nervous about flying on a Ukrainian plane, hearing it was a converted military plane, I actually felt better. I rationalized that surely the construction details would have been closely guarded and perfected for a military plane, so we must be in good hands.
The Aerosvit Airlines flight into Odessa was a wonderful flight. It was smooth and actually quite enjoyable. I count that all because of your prayers – a few weeks ago I would have never imagined agreeing to, nonetheless enjoying, a Ukrainian flight! We were served cute little lunch boxes – complete with candies, cake, trail mix, juice box and a cup for coffee or tea that they served straight from the teakettle! (Coffee here is only instant – we have never seen brewed coffee.)
After landing in Odessa, we descended the steps and boarded another bus that took us to the entrance gates of the airport. We exited the gates and began looking for Vladimir, all the while wondering where and when we’d pick up our luggage. As we looked around, we noticed a large majority of people waiting inside the gated area, and assumed (correctly!) they were waiting for luggage. So, we simply walked back into the gated area, and waited along with them. After a short time, a small luggage truck pulled up to the gate, and we unloaded our bags directly from the truck. The entire process was very laid back and comfortable.
Considering Odessa is the second largest city in Ukraine, the airport was closer in size to Lewiston, Idaho. In fact, after everyone left the terminal area of the airport, they locked the gates and turned off the lights. Apparently, we were the last flight in or out that night! For those of you traveling to Ukraine to adopt in the near future, we would highly recommend flying if you wish for quick, reasonable and quite delightful travel.