Somewhere In The Middle Lies The Truth

Dave sez, We are becoming more acquainted with the Metro subway system here in Kiev.

Taras Shevchenko National University

Today started out last evening with a phone call from Valentin. He said that we would be going back to the notary today. He asked if we knew how to get from the apartment to the notary. I told him we were kind of familiar, but not really sure where to make our turns to get there. So, we agreed to meet Valentin at the Universytet Metro station between 12:15 and 12:20 today (Thursday) Universytet station is named for Kiev's most prestigious University, Taras Shevchenko National University. Universytet is on the "Red" Metro line. There are three lines. The Blue line - which we use from Maidan to Holosiivska station, where we catch the 507 bus to the orphanage - runs North to Southwest. The Green line runs Northwest to Southeast, crossing over the Blue line one stop south of Maidan. The Red line runs West to East, intersecting the Blue line at Maidan. It overlaps at Kreshchatyk station. Universytet station, like most of Kiev's Metro system was built in 1960.

Later last night, Valentin called back and pushed it back to four in the afternoon.

Awesome!

Cathy and I went to bed with plans to head out to the orphanage to see Masha, then come back and meet Valentin and head to the notary.


click the picture to see the video!



So, this morning we headed out for our regular visit with Masha. I wrote out some sentences for her. The same sentences her brothers Ethan and Justin wrote while we were waiting for their court date and Gotcha Day. She did not want to read, she wanted to play Bejeweled. She didn't even want to play Uno much. She just wanted to play Bejeweled. Justin was not much of a video gamer. He wanted more to go outside and play soccer. Inside activities were flips. At four in the afternoon, we lost both Justin and Ethan to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Ethan was divided between playing soccer and playing electronic games. If he had to choose between the two, it would be video games. Or television. I grew up a videobot, so I totally understand. The children here are starved for that kind of thing. Cathy added some sentences to the ones I wrote out, and with a little arm twisting, she read them out loud, and I recorded a video.

We played Uno and let her play Bejeweled a little while, then we told her to go get an English book to read. She showed us a Wizard of OZ book, I can't remember if it was In The Land of OZ or which one it was. She didn't come back with that. She came back with an English learning activity book - which was even better! This book had paragraphs to read in English, and then three different activities that followed to build comprehension! The first one was about Oleh's Family. The second one was about My Friend Susan. The first activity after each one was learning the English words from Ukrainian. The second was fill-in-the-blank from the storyline and the third was rewriting incorrect sentences about the story with the correct sentences. I love English; and at home I work with Justin and Ethan on their English homework. Cathy covers Math; because my worst subject is her best. By the third activity from My Friend Susan, she was fading fast and losing interest and starving for Bejeweled. We were seeing the real Masha. With a little work and encouragement, we got through the activity and I was able to cajole her into reading it again so I could record a video of it.

Then the phone rang. It was Valentin. He asked if we could meet him at Universytet station between 1:15 and 1:20. It was 12:05. We said our "baka-baka" with hugs and told our girl we would be back. Cathy and I had been thinking that the longest escalator was the one at Maidan station. From the subway platform up to the underground mall it is two minutes. The escalator from the tracks at Universytet seemed longer and more congested. We reached the top of the escalator and found another escalator to the street level! And there we met Valentin. He told us he had a friend waiting. We followed him around to a black Mercedes Benz chauffeured mini-van. We got in and faced a very nice, smartly dressed woman.

Rick Castle: I am ruggedly handsome, aren't I?

Now, if I were ruggedly handsome as Rick Castle, and I were writing the story on this, I would start with the word, "friend"; and, I would extrapolate that Valentin is a facilitator. His friends would tend to be related to what he does. Most people's friends are. She was being chauffeured. She was wearing formal business attire; black. I would have to say that Cathy and I had the delightful opportunity to ride to the notary with Ukraine's version of M. I can now cross that off my bucket list. It really was an enjoyable ride.

We got to the notary at 1:30 from the subway station. While we were waiting, Cathy and I looked at each other. We tend to do that a lot. The light bulb went off at the same exact moment. Lunch time in Kiev is from 1pm to 2pm. Posted on every government or city administrative office as 13:00 to 14:00. We were let in to the notary at 1:30. In less than ten to fifteen minutes, we had our business concluded.

Take as long as you need to let that sink in.

I like Valentin's friends. A lot.

We walked together back past the university. He told us the story of how the building was painted red. In the early days, some said that the red paint represented the blood of patriots. Later, some said that when the building was constructed and painted, the only color that was available was the color red. He said, somewhere in the middle, lies the truth. He said there is a third theory. A simpler one. We had a good laugh over that. He had other meetings he had to get to and said he would probably see us next week. He left us with a couple of recommendations for good, hot soup on a chilly afternoon. It was an enjoyable walk back to the apartment.

We did see this on our way back.

 

In the background is the burned out Exchange building. Beyond the cars, in the middle are the remains of the Maidan Occupy movement. This is one view of Independence Square. Most of the Square is blocked off to commuters heading to the subway platform.

 

 

We are hoping that we have our court date sometime before April 25th. If you don't mind, indulge me in a request for prayers. Our children are all miracles. Every step of this journey has been through a door that Cathy and I could never open ourselves. These three children found us. Please join us in asking our Father for a court date before the 25th.

Tomorrow, we head back out to see our little girl. Saturday, we take cake and milk for her 13th birthday. Cathy's birthday is coming up next Wednesday.