In about 21 hours we'll be on the plane heading to London on the first part of our trip. Tonight, we are both pretty tired, but are just about set for leaving for Cleveland tomorrow.
We'll drive to my sister's to drop off the dog and the truck and they'll give us a ride to the Cleveland airport. We fly out at 7:30 eastern time and will arrive in London early the next morning. We are switching airlines in Gatwick after going through customs and will continue up to Edinburgh.
I'm hoping to sleep for most of the flight to help with the jet lag, but that might be a long shot. We'll have to wait and see.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Last Weekend at Home
We finally got our packet about traveling to Ukraine today and I read it while eating lunch. We were supposed to get this at the start of June and it arrived today only 50 some days late by my estimate. On the plus side it has some very good info in it. I especially like their recommendations for dealing with the NAC and trusting our facilitator to make the decisions on negotiating.
There is a section on culture shock that I found interesting. The discuss how people tend to get a brain overload from trying to take in and comprehend things they don't understand. This applies to written and spoken language, but also to customs, mannerisms, food and accomodations. Everything is different and you can get fatigued from trying to understand even a part of it.
They suggest taking refuge in the familiar (which we are prepared for naturally). They say that listening to familiar music, watching familiar movies, reading books and other entertainment is a good way to relax and decompress. They also talk about getting familiar foods in Kiev. If we've been out to a remote region for a few weeks, getting a cheeseburger and fries will be like a plate of ambrosia.
Ray
Here's a link to a site with some pictures of Kiev (Kyiv) Click Here
There is a section on culture shock that I found interesting. The discuss how people tend to get a brain overload from trying to take in and comprehend things they don't understand. This applies to written and spoken language, but also to customs, mannerisms, food and accomodations. Everything is different and you can get fatigued from trying to understand even a part of it.
They suggest taking refuge in the familiar (which we are prepared for naturally). They say that listening to familiar music, watching familiar movies, reading books and other entertainment is a good way to relax and decompress. They also talk about getting familiar foods in Kiev. If we've been out to a remote region for a few weeks, getting a cheeseburger and fries will be like a plate of ambrosia.
Ray
Here's a link to a site with some pictures of Kiev (Kyiv) Click Here
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Appointment in Kiev
Our appointment with National Adoption Center is scheduled for August 8th in Kiev. Since this may be our only chance for visiting Europe, we are going to take some time and go to Scotland, London and Paris before getting to Ukraine.
We've got our reservations planned out for just about everything and our facilator, Tatiana will be arranging an apartment for our stay in Kiev. Any other travel and lodgings in Ukraine will also be handled by her.
Our job now is to make sure we're well prepared for an extended trip, but trying to keep the luggage to the minimum possible.
We've got our reservations planned out for just about everything and our facilator, Tatiana will be arranging an apartment for our stay in Kiev. Any other travel and lodgings in Ukraine will also be handled by her.
Our job now is to make sure we're well prepared for an extended trip, but trying to keep the luggage to the minimum possible.
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