Sunday & Monday

Yesterday, with the help of the stroller, we were able to walk a little further and actually found the street vendors we had seen on our trip to Olga's house on Saturday. We spent the afternoon on a crowded sidewalk looking at little nesting dolls, wooden plates, lots of red spoons & bowls and old military medals. It was a fun afternoon and we actually were able to take another route home and walked through some pretty nice areas. This City seems to have many more affluent people in it then Chelyabinsk did 3 years ago. There are Toyota Land Cruisers, Lexus, BMW's and Mercedez everywhere you look. The billboards advertise the low end cars for around 340,000 and the nicer cars around 740,000 but I have no idea what the high end cars go for here - but, they're everywhere. The buildings are so old and run down on the outside - I'm sure because of the whether, but are actually pretty nice inside - also different then Chelyabinsk. There are banks everywhere here and, I even found a Western Union which is nice to know about.

The last couple of days have been much warmer and the weather and the Urals remind me so much of New England in the Fall that I'm really enjoying that part of this trip. I'm anxious to see how much the trees change between now and the two weeks or so before picking the girls up - assuming everything goes well.

I was told to be ready to go at 8AM today which meant getting up at 7AM! That's like me getting up at 4AM at home because of the late hours we've been keeping here. But, I was up and ready and then sat at the door for about 25 minutes waiting. Driving out of the city at 8:30 is very different than at 12 or 1 - the traffic was crazy - grid lock in some areas. Lydia experienced a little road rage when she started yelling at a woman trying to cut in front of us. She didn't bother rolling down the window and I don't think the woman saw her but I certainly heard it all - have no idea what she was saying though! It took a good hour at least to get out of the City but the rest of the drive was nice.

I was to meet the social worker today but she had an "emergency". When we got to the orphanage, the girls' group was outside with all of their winter gear on. I was allowed to take the girls for a walk by myself which was really nice. When we got to the other side of the orphanage and met back up with their group, Polina wanted to go play so we joined all the kids. My two ran off to play on the slides, etc., but the others were all flocking around me saying "mama" and grabbing my hands. One named Elina kept hugging my legs. They were all smiling and saying mama but my two could care a less where I was - and, so it begins!

Lydia then joined me and the two of us took the girls back inside and took all their snow clothes off. I played with them in the music room for what seemed like an eternity . . . this is a big room in the center of the 2nd floor between two stair ways with openings on each side that can't be closed off. We try barricading but that doesn't work because the room is a major thoroughfare for the staff. The girls run in different directions so I was constantly running after them trying to catch one and get to the other in time. I tried a smaller room but it was filled with a crib, ladder, table and chair that they kept climbing. I tried "yum-yums" and to make them "sadeesh" (sit) and that worked for about 2 minutes before Polina was able to grab the bag of crackers and swing them all over the room. Trying to pick the crackers up and keep both girls in the room at the same time probably would have been pretty hilarious for someone outside to be watching. Thankfully, the social worker was not there to see all of that.

I was then told that we were taking the girls out of the orphanage to go to the psychologist's office. That was a surprise but today Katy and Angela didn't make the trip with me so there was room in the car to get this done. We put the boots, snow pants, parka, hat and gloves back on both girls and walked out to the car. Polina sat on my lap while Vasilina sat on Lydia's lap. The orphanage caregiver said that many kids cry during the trip as they are scared and are not taken out often. Well, I have at least one more daughter as adventurous as Katy and, possibly two. Polina laughed and giggled with every bump, turn and jerky start. She loved it - Vasilina was fine too but maybe not enjoying the rough ride quite as much. She was more curious and was trying to touch the ceiling and watching outside. Once we got to the clinic where the psychologist's office was, it was off with all the gear again, up one long flight of stairs, down another and then up another. All this for about 3 questions . . . what will I do if they don't sleep when I bring them home; what are their personalities and the difference between them; can I entertain the girls and keep their attention. That was it. Then back down the stairs, up the stairs, down the stairs, hats, pants, jackets, gloves, car . . . That was it for today.

Tomorrow I go back to the orphanage and the psychologist is coming to observe me play with the girls - YIKES - I hope it's not like today! I'm hoping to be able to play outside and am planning to bring some new outside toys to try out. If it's raining, it's back inside which is never easy.
I'm also to meet the social worker tomorrow at the orphanage so it will be a long day I think. It doesn't start until 1 when Victor is to pick me up so hopefully, the psychologist and the social worker won't want to stay that late once we get to the orphanage.

Angela's writing lots more interesting things about our trials here . . . will post those soon. She remembers all the fun little things that I'm forgetting about.