Friday, September 19, 2008

Technology in Ukraine

I've been told to bring dvds with me to Ukraine. Will there be a tv/dvd player in the apartments/hotels? I've also heard that the facilitator will provide me with a laptop and a cell phone while I am there. So perhaps the dvd watching will be in Ukraine? We're currently signed up for netflix videos and they have some that you can play on the computer...so I'm wondering if that would be an option in Ukraine. Is the internet dial-up, dsl? Anyone know? I've also thought about bringing books with me to read during all the free time I am told I will have - but what about books on tape/cd? Any thoughts on these subjects will be appreciated! :o)

12 comments:

DoveFamily said...

We had a tv in every apartment, but no dvd player. We took a laptop with us, and watched our DVDs on it. We considered taking our little portable DVD player for the airplane then hooking it up to the TV, but we ran out of room in the suitcases.

We had dsl in both of our apartments in Kyiv. In region, we had to go to an internet cafe and use their computers.

We took several paperback books with us and read them all. Books on CD might be nice, too! Especially for traveling in car, plane, train, etc.

Diana said...

YOu know, it'a all just going to depend on where you end up. We took all the junk people recommended - dvd's, paperbacks, puzzles in a bag, travel games, you name it.

Because our kids were in 2 different cities about an hour apart, we didn't end up using ANY of it. We were there for 6 weeks and had precious little down time. When we did have down time, we were either journaling or calling home to the states from our loaner cell phone. We donated all the puzzles to the older son's internat, my bio daughter was the only one who ever watched movies, I threw the books away (except the attachment ones that I'm so glad I took with me) without ever opening them.

We had DSL in appt 1 in Kiev, and were right next to an internet cafe in kiev #2. We had NO internet access at all in region. VERY frustrating. I'd double check on the borrowed laptop thing. I've never heard of that. We did have a loaner cell from our facilitator, though. We just bought the minutes.

Courtney said...

We had a DVD player in our apt but couldn't play our DVDs from the States on it. DVDs have different regions, and you need to match the region of the DVD player with the region of the DVD. If you bring a laptop, you could still watch your DVDs on your laptop. I'm not sure what type of computer your facilitator would be providing, so you might need to ask if US DVDs would work in his/her computer.
We also took a few decks of cards to pass the time. :)

Winnie said...

Please e-mail me. We traveled in March April to where you are going I can answer just about any question you have about A baby house and vicinity. I'm just not going to put everything here.

karnesfamily @ sbcglobal.net

take out the spaces
Winnie

Arizona mom to eight said...

We had a TV in Kiev, but none had a DVD player, we watched those movies on the laptop. In Vorzel, we had no TV, and I thanked God for that laptop every day, the movies helped with the loneliness after my husband went home.

... said...

We just came back last week from Ukraine. We brought our laptop and DVD series to watch - and faithfully watched them at night. It is true that DVD's are region specific coded or unless you have an "all source" player. We had DSL in the region (Donets'k) and also in Kiev...took books but never read them. We purchased a basic cell phone for $60.00 with minutes. We used it frequently to keep contact with our facilitator and translator. If you are taking a computer with windows xp, you might consider taking a vonage USB (purchased at Circuit City or Best Buy for $40.00) for frequently calling back to home. We used it nightly and had great success with it and keeping in touch with our boys and families. We were also on the train for 14 hour rides in a first class cabin; we had tv once in our cabin and electrical outlets which actually worked only once. It's hit or miss. I believe connection to the Internet on a continual basis is dependent upon which region you are in. I have heard of some families not having connection in the regions thus relying on the cafe. Email me privately if you have any specific questions.
God Bless you as you embark on your journey to your child(ren).

schoolmother said...

Im not much of a techie so I took 3 big fat books and wished I'd taken another.

We stayed in Kiev and had internet in our apt.
Joy,RR

Tami said...

We bought a cheap, older laptop to take with us to Ukraine (so if it was lost or stolen, we weren't out much) and I never regretted it for a second. It was our DVD player when we didn't have one, our free phone connection to home (via skype) and our internet hookup all in one.
In Kiev we only had dial-up, but once we got to the region we had DSL (kind of backwards, huh.) In Kiev we had a DVD player that played US movies, but in the region the DVD player only took their region's discs.
Suffice it to say, it all depends on your facilitator and the region to which you'll be traveling. That's why I preferred taking our own laptop. As long as I could get the connections, I was set for everything.
After four international adoptions (the first three without a laptop) I have to say the computer made all the difference in the world in helping to pass the downtime. Yes, I did the sightseeing and all of the authentic restaurant going that I possibly could, but at night, when I was by myself in the apartment (my husband came home after court), it was nice to have a touch of home.

Angela said...

Hi,

We adopted our daughter from the same orphanage in April of this year! I would love to talk to you about our experience!
Angela
bradshawapril@aol.com

Lou said...

You can always put music and books onto an iPod if you have one, that would be small and easy to pack. The new ones even do videos but for that I'd rather have a bigger screen.

Karen said...

Jill, I am pretty sure your facilitator will provide you with a phone to use with her...she will help you buy time for it. Your family in the states can call you on it but it will cost them a lot.

Your facilitator will not provide you with a computer. And their will probably not be DVD players in the apartments. For emailing back to the states you can use/find internet cafes but I would highly recomend bringing a laptop - your apartment might have an internet hookup or you might be able to find wireless in a nearby hotel - that is what we did. You can email me any questions, ok?

Brenda Erickson Photography said...

Not sure if this would be an option for you but what about an ipod? they have a 120 GB one now that will hold a LOT of books on tape, videos and songs-it might help you pass the time and would be small enough to take in a carryon.