Scott and Suzanne from DE with future son Nicholas


Kola and his best friend, Mariano, who will be on his way to Italy in a couple weeks


we visited kola this morning and i said my goodbyes to some of the adopting couples we've interacted with during out visits to the orphanage. lots of photos taken and emails exchanged and we hope to keep up with a few of the couples when we all get settled. kola and i spent our last day (at least for a while) in ukraine together sitting out front watching the machinas. he pointed some things out to me and i pointed some things out to him and tho we didn't understand each other's words, it was a very warm moment. not to mention it's in the 90's again today. sig had packed his bathing suit and roman confirmed that sig would not get arrested for bathing in the fountain in the square -- kids commonly splash around in them. it's a relief to see that when the temps climb up above 80, the nylons stay home and - except in the orphanage - shoes and sandals are worn without socks. seeing all those leg coverings was making me itchy. the 20-something women are very fashion conscious (full makeup, coiffed hair, matching bags and shoes, appropriately tight fitting outfits, no jeans) and sometimes when i walk around our apt. it looks like a music video could break out at any moment. especially when i catch a rhythm of clicking heels.

The cottonwood trees here created a blizzard yesterday. we'd left our apt. windows partly open and when we got home in the afternoon, it snowed in our apt. sig had to vacuum everything, rugs, towels, furniture. This morning, trucks came to water down the trees behind our apt. i think it was by the arrangement of the outdoor cafes that are affected just below. Roman found he could light the furry part and an entire patch goes up in flames for a second and leaves nothing but a trace of small brown seeds. but we all agreed that wouldnt be a great way to clean the apt. next time. our landlady came today and her helper put paper on our shadeless windows to help reduce the sun's impact on our apt. temp. it has white paper on one side and a silver reflective surface against the window. as we walk around, we're seeing more and more silver windows.

i'll be packing tomorrow and might post again so i can absorb some AC here. i'll report from kiev on what i see on the street, but since mary's comment we did hear more about the unrest in the capitol city. it's more of the same, but the heat (ahem) is turning up between the president (v. yushenko, who represents west ukraine and aligns with western europe) and prime minister (who represents east ukraine and aligns with the soviet union - or CCCP here.) yushenko had requested the new parliment elections because basically government is in a stalemate and can't get anything done. The election date hasn't really been set and the PM and his party is pretty much trying to delay/ignore/block it. So Yushenko fired the chief of finance, which is one of the PM's posts and the chief and his staff were fighting to get into their offices, maybe you saw footage of that (it was on BBC!) . The PM controls the interior police force, which is like a small security army for ukraine with helicopters, tanks, staff...) and the PM called in some of that force to help is chief of finance get to work. the country is pretty divided on who they support, so more flags, peaceful rallies, etc. are happening as a result of this scuffle. i think i have that 90% right. more soon:) b/s