Day 2 - SDA

We had our appointment with the SDA (State Department of Adoption) and learned a little more about Stas. He  was born in July of 2000 in the Khershon region to a single mom who died in 2007. He has a younger sister who was born in 2004. The sister is being cared for by either an aunt and/or grandmother and still lives in the same region. Very limited info but we should get more once we get to the orphanage. We thought Stas had two older brothers but it would appear that was not correct. Stas's mom died when she was thirty but no mention of how but the orphanage should have more info.We submitted papers today within the SDA to get approval to travel and have another appointment to pick up those papers tomorrow afternoon at 4pm.. Once we get those papers, we get on a train and travel overnight down to the Kherson region. This will be a 6-7 hour train ride with our own private compartment... that should be interesting. 

After our appointment today, we decided to walk around and see the city and this place is like no other place I've been. Streets are narrow with some shops, restaurants and apartments along the way. Parking is very limited so people just pull up on the sidewalks to park. They have street vendors that either sell coffee or beer on about every other corner. We also ran into some sort of political rally but certainly couldn't figure out what was going on. Ukraine celebrates it's 20th year since the separation from former Soviet this year so I'm guessing it had something to do with that.

We also found out that there are 4 times more women than men here which would explain the high heels, low cut shirts and the tight clothes. It would appear the women try hard to look good and the men... not so much. I did notice several men sporting the "man purse." This is such a brilliant idea to be able to hold your wallet, phone keys all in one small little compartment. I can just see myself climbing up a ladder with my man purse...

It's 2:00 in the afternoon here and 8:00 am back home. Not sure if I should stop by one of the street vendors and grab a coffee or a beer... I think I'll do the latter.