Quick Note: checking in...

Sorry folks, but we are in country in the most southern part of Ukraine so close to Romania, from the orphanage you can see into Romania.  We are in a small town so small the only hotel in town is a old army barracks they converted rooms into a hotel. No WiFi and as for how many stars rating this joint gets.. Oh just forget about stars; we are counting ants on the sofa which probably came in from all the windows being left open with no screens. With room rates so low & so few frequent flyers visiting it, it seems like they fired the cleaning lady. Nevertheless, the air conditioner works great, the bed is decent & electricity is always on. No phone or internet in this joint. Kinda feels foresaken but I give Ukrainians credit; folks are still in era where anyone has time for anyone. Folks sit, stand and talk to one another. We had to stop the car because two elderly farmers were sitting talking on their old nameless beatup blue tractors. You see horse and cart, old 1960s tractors, 50yr old trucks  & 1970s Ladas are the norm here. Roads are so bad here on such remote townships that all your doing is dodging potholes/craters just like in Haiti. If they were adventurous they would gravel it and grade it. As per their stress level I suspect its much less then ours or at least on a simpler level, simple enough that anyone you flagged down passing through a village or on a lonely country road stopped and answered your questions & exchanged pleasantries.
The pic for this post was carefully chosen to represent as best I can the mood & culture of this region of Ukraine.