I feel like venting

This is a rant.  And also a prayer request.  (See how I got all spiritual there?).

It's time to renew my Temporary Residence Visa to live here in Ukraine.

Last month, you might recall, I left the country for a few days to visit Kyrgyzstan.  At that point, I had already begun the process of renewing my Visa by leaving my Temporary Residency Card with my Attorney.  Now...I took a picture of it so I'd have a copy, but guess what?  I accidentally deleted it.

So, upon trying to leave the country, the Ukrainian Border Guards claimed I had "overstayed" my Visa (the 90 Day Tourist Visa).  That was absolutely not true, of course- I just didn't have my Card with me indicating that I was good for a whole year.  You would think it would be as simple as typing my name and US Passport Number into a computer to realize that I was completely legal and had not overstayed my welcome!

That's what reasonable, normal people would do.  They weren't reasonable or normal.  They fined me $100 US and then let me leave the country without further ado.

Fastforward to ...yesterday.  My Attorney informed me that the Immigration Officials here pulled my "file" and saw that I had been "fined" and "charged" with overstaying my Visa last month.

Funny.  The computers don't work at the nations biggest airport to check my Immigration Status, but they work fine here in the hinterlands of Ukraine.

I was told by my Attorney that an unnamed government official indicated the situation could be expedited for a "fee".  I declined.

Furthermore, and this is mostly my fault, apparently there was an "appeal" procedure I could have taken to prove that the fine was bogus...but of course, I missed the deadline.

So there's my Attorney speaking with the "Director" of some Govt Agency...he's looking at my VISA which clearly shows that I was NOT in violation last month, he's looking at the "citation" that was bogus.  But because the deadline for appeal has passed he says he can't do anything about it.  Sounds like a "Director" that doesn't have the authority to "Direct" to me!

So we're are starting the process to receive a Visa all over again.  Just like last year.  I will have to go to the Embassy in Budapest all over again.  I'll have to spend all that time and money and energy all over again and this is a really bad time for me to be caught up in all of that.  I go back to the States in 2 weeks (for 2 weeks).  I'd like to get it all done before then.

Oh Ukraine.  You model of efficiency, you!

At least I can blog freely about it.  If I had written this in a letter home I would have to go to the Post Office and the clerk would have to record the purchase of the Stamp and the destination of my letter on three forms that require official stamps in duplicate.

A nice little excursion

This is my best little bud, Rostik.  Turns out he must be everyone's best little bud (among those of us who regularly visit the abandoned babies at the local children's hospital).

His story is a little unusual.  Babies end up here because they are out and out abandoned; sometimes they are given-up by a parent or parents that can't take care of them.  Sometimes the "State" removes them.  One kid had a single parent being treated for TB so they had the baby for the time being.  Little Rostik is caught in the middle of a custody dispute and so he's a Ward of the State until the issue is resolved.

He's not overly emphatic but then again a lot of the babies here are fairly lethargic, I think due to lack of stimulation, at least until they start to approach being about a year old at which point they ship them off.

Anyway, he was removed a couple weeks ago to everyone's dismay.  In the year or so I've been visiting the children's hospital, it's pretty much unheard of to know whatever happens to them when they leave, until now.  Apparently some of the girls have been questioning the hospital staff and they were sympathetic to our cause and told us how to go see him at the Regional Baby Orphanage (for kids up to 3 years old).  A church here in town also had some connections with the Orphanage and they put in a call on our behalf.

Yesterday my friend Anya called and invited me to go with her and some other girls today to try and see Rostik.  We left town at 8 am on public transportation to Svalyava, about an hour and a half away.

We had an amazing time.  It's a bear to get there and back, being almost 2 hours away, but worth every minute.  There are about 100 kids at the facility.  If you think holding babies is fun, try chasing a dozen toddlers!

I will say this: the toddlers LOVED the girls and took to them instantly.  No so much with me.  My guess is that they don't have too much interaction with men.  I don't know if I'll be able to visit often enough to change that, but I'd sure like to.

One kid in particular stuck out to me: Her name is Bogdana and she has a cleft palate.  I didn't get a chance to question any of the nurses about it.  I suspect it's something that be surgically corrected pretty reasonable over here plus I know at least one American Dr that might be able to point me in a direction.

Oh, and we didn't find Rostik.  They said he is in the Hospital in Mukachevo, so maybe we'll see what we can find out.

I didn't want to pull my camera out on my first visit, but one of the girls, Maria took a few pictures.

Here's Anya, one of the child-magnets that went with us.  She's the one that invited me to go.

This is the only one that seemed to really like me on the first visit.














Thanks Anya and Tonya, Maria and Katya for letting me tag along today!