We have Arrived!

It is 3am in Kiev and we are awake (don't ya love jetlag? It feels like 11am) and we are reheating the Borsht that was given by Elina and Maiyna, the two ladies who welcomed us from the ELC. Monique already has a slight flu and wants to swallow a bottle of Echinacea, Garlic, Zinc & C ;-), but will suffice with 3 tablets. Anyways, to recap the journey to Ukraine. It was 43 hours NON-STOP of traveling and right this very moment, because of that, we don't want to see another plane for awhile.

The highlight was going to the city of Zurich by train during our 6hr layover in Switzerland . We had just enough time to walk the tourist trail. It was -1 and snow was everywhere, we got to taste some great local food, the best coffee we've ever had and saw some great buildings, including the statue for the Christian reformer "Zwingly."

The lowlight of the trip was the turbulence between Sydney and Hong Kong. It happened every couple of minutes it seemed and it was quite a rough trip, glad to get on the ground! The flight between Hong Kong and Zurich seemed to never end, 10,000 kms of joy! ;-)

The trip to Kiev was great, we saw the amazing Swiss Alps rising up from the dense fog that covered what seemed most of Europe. It was STUNNING! As far as the eye could see, mountains! We descended into Kiev on sunset and it was very surreal. Meters and meters of snow covered everywhere as far as you could see. The river freezing over! We stepped off the plane and it was -9 degrees, it didn't feel that bad, but we were warned and had enough warm clothes. Its like stepping into a different world here, everything is so different!

This city is HUGE! It was dark as got here. Monique has never been in this part of Kiev either, so we are pretty much lost, but we have a map and the Metro isn't far away. We really like the apartment, its nice and cosy and the heating if fantastic. Its -11 outside right now and Eric is wearing a singlet and shorts. (lol)! We have the internet already connected (obviously) and its fast, so Eric is extra happy!

We are heading off to Church today, they said something about a pot luck after Church finishes!

Oh and also, Maryna told us it will be -20 c in a couple days!

Here's a couple pics from Zurich!

We have our VISAs

Wow, that was quick! It only took them 2 and a bit weeks to sort out our VISAs. So now we're officially allowed to enter the country for 12 months. I think it's a multiple entry VISA (hopes :P). Last time Monique went to get a Ukrainian VISA she literally only got it and her passport at the terminal a couple of hours before her flight. This time is different, thankfully! It's only 5 weeks till we leave for Ukraine, it's coming up fast, we've moved out of our rental house and staying with Monique's parents until the 22nd December. Then up to my (Eric's) parents for the Christmas week.

The 1st January is coming up quick!

No NYE Fireworks in Hong Kong

Our flight on the 31st December has now been canceled. The flight was due to leave Sydney at around 4:00pm and arrive in Hong Kong just in time to see the cities NYE fireworks! On the up side, Swiss has provided another flight free of charge on the 1st January. We're glad to spend one extra day in the summer before a -10 average winter.