We left late but we had some administration to do until nine such as mail all of our presents back home as they were starting to pile up and added about 2kg to our bags. I wasn’t sure if I should mail the homemade cognac so I kept it in the front bag just in case of emergency. We were really sorry to leave and I think that so was the staff of the center.

They were good to us but we had to move on to the next town. They followed us for about a km tightly packed in a little red car that could barely support their weight. But it was touching to have them there with us or the first km.

The day advanced and we ended up at the checkpoint where the staff from the Boyarka center was waiting by the side of the road with banners and balloons. We followed them into town and through what is known as Kiev. Let me explain a little about the traffic in Kiev...

Although there are white and yellow lines painted on the road their significance seems a little foggy to me right now. From what I have seen, when you get onto the road in Kiev and you are in the left lane you have a great power and it is only the right tire which tells the car next to you how much of the next lane it can take. The car in the right lane has to share this lane with the car on the right of him because he must move for the oncoming traffic that crosses the lines. But the center car can not take up too much space because there is some kind of secret lane that is only usable by people who can actually see the invisible lane. They are the people with their heads out the window yelling at the people who are driving on the sidewalk in the wrong direction. From what I have seen these rules apply to a one lane road.

This is actually the only rule that I have seen to be followed by everyone: do not drive the wrong direction on the sidewalk, I guess it’s rude.

Anyway we finally made it to the center with the help of our pace car which patiently led at a speed of 20km/h and carried our bags. The center was next to a hospital and we were greeted by about 10 - 15 people who were dressed in traditional Ukrainian costume. We sat down directly to eat as we had made them wait for us for a couple of hours. There was of course everything to eat and we were overwhelmed with the hospitality again. There was a huge table and we had our translator with us to talk with everyone.

We then toured the center and saw the dieren room and activities that the center was involved in. It was again pretty impressive. But we were tired so we went to our house and relaxed where I could type up a couple of missed days for the site.