Day 11

Today we received our SDA referral document which will be placed in the hands of the local social workers. On the way over to the SDA, we met a Nebraska couple who is in process of adopting their 4th child who happens to have Down’s Syndrome. We boarded the train, which seems to be old; old enough to be from the days of the USSR. We got 2nd class tickets and sweated until the train pulled out. The train rumbles and rocks like you're out at sea. We left at 6:40am and arrived around 6:20am the next day in Kramatorsk. We slept in the bunks and took Benadryl to help get to sleep. But before we knocked out, we got to see a lot of Kiev and the countryside. I should mention that we had frequent stops. At a few of them, I spotted ladies setting up portable tables of home-made food. Then as soon as we pulled out, they moved to the other tracks and waited. The bathrooms on these were slightly larger than airplane bathrooms. Be careful when you flush as the waste drops down besides the tracks and you can see the ground fly by. The countryside reminds me of Bakersfield with occasional small communities with large gardens. They put my garden to shame. We also passed by graveyards and very humble homes with dish receivers. It's 5am now and we are approaching Kramatorsk (Donesk region). We passed ceramic and cement factories - some of the major sources of income. Our local facilitator and translator, Marsha, says there are about 300,000 people in Kramatorsk.

Marsha looks like a Russian Cameron Diaz. At one point I told her that and confirmed that it was a compliment. She’s been told that before. I have to admit, the first time I saw her I was surprised. We were getting our luggage together and she popped out of nowhere speaking in English that we have two minutes to get off the train!