Monday - catch up

Hello all!
Well - we survived the train! It is an experience! We had to take an overnight train, so your only option is to lay down and sleep. The "bathroom" rivaled one of the worst outhouses I have ever smelled! Just disgusting! It took about 12 hours to get to the region... it looks about the same as everything else that we have seen, very industrial and drab! Today we saw about 10 minutes of the sun!
We rode on the train with Dr. Yuriy and Yana. Yana is our translator, networker extroidinaire! She has the most amazing way of getting things done! Dr. Yuriy is great! He speaks English and is very knowledgable in a way you can understand.
We got to the apartment (located in what appears to be a ghetto!) but awesomely new inside! and everyone took much needed showers and had oatmeal and hot cocoa that we brought from the states! We did some running around - paperwork - and then headed to the orphanage!
See next post!

fyi - ALL Ukraine drivers are maniacs, seatbelts??? yeah right! And Vicks vapor rub would come in handy to mask the BO smell!