In spite of a lot of waiting, we had a very productive morning! We spent the entire morning in the back seat of the car in the orphanage parking lot waiting for our guide to get the completed documents from the various staff members whose reports we needed. The orphanage is the large brick building with the large white and green porch. It is very large and the nicest building in the town. It is very old but neat and tidy. At the end of the day we got all of the documents needed from the orphanage and turned them in to the inspector. Our guide said he got done in one day what can take up to a week! Praise God!

After waiting in the car for hours (literally) we decided to brave the freezing weather and see what was around the neighborhood. Right next to the orphanage was a flea market. These stray dogs, which are everywhere, were hanging out there.

This is the entrance to the flea market as best we could figure.

We could have taken so many more photos of the poor conditions in this town, like the piles of garbage that are everywhere, but clearly the people are not accustomed to having people take pictures of such things and we got more than a few looks, so we decided these would have to do for now. Not all towns in Ukraine are this dirty, but for some reason Makeeva is. These conditions only make us more appreciative of the US and so happy to get Ivan and Nastia out of here!

You cannot tell in the photos, but the roads are terrible! Drivers literally veer into oncoming traffic to avoid the potholes which cover the streets. There are no lines in all but the downtown areas of the towns and even then there are very busy areas even in Kiev where its every driver for himself!

Our guide explained to us that people are just so used to ineffective community management that they rely on their own wits and don't complain- they just deal with it. We have not seen one person yell or honk at another either.