Sunday, October 17, 2010

Have Referral, Will Travel

October 15, 2010

After our SDA appointment, we were told to return at 3 pm the following day to pick up our referral.  We arrived on time and met a few other families from the U.S. that were also waiting to pick up their documents.  Talking with other people going through the same process definitely helped to pass the time while we anxiously awaited the outcome of our appointment. 
At about 4:15 a woman emerged at the top of the stairs carrying an armful of documents.  Every referral is accompanied by the approved dossier (with a Russian-language translation), so the 10-15 stacks of paper were quite a load in her arms.  We were the third family called, so thankfully our wait in the rather small area ended quickly and we had our referral to go see Katya at the orphanage in Donetsk.
Later that night, we boarded a flight from Kiev to Donetsk for the next part of our Ukrainian adventure.    The trip was uneventful, and Ukrainian International Airways got us to our destination right on time.  Unfortunately, the taxi driver initially took us to the wrong hotel, allowing us to see more of Donetsk that evening.  You could really smell the coal that night.

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