Saturday, September 20, 2008

Time Stamp

Somehow our computer has the dates all wrong so the posts are not correct. Angela's notes is actually posted at 1:00 PM Sunday, September 21st!

Angela's Notes

While I've been updating this blog, Angela has been posting to her "myspace" and she's included all the travel trials, etc. Here are her postings regarding the trip so far . . .

10:08 PM - RUSSIA TRIP Current mood: adventurous
Okay this is for everyone that has been asking how it is here in Russia & about how the trip has been so far.
I am going to subtitle stuff so that if you only want to know about some things you don't have to read it all……
Oh, and for those of you that don't know, I am here helping a friend bring home twins that she is adopting.

THE FLIGHT, AIRPORT IN MOSCOW & ARRIVING IN EKATERINBURG

We left LA at 6:30pm Monday the 8th. Entering the gate area we had to present passports so Lori gave the guy Katy's Russian and US passports. He stared at Katy's Russian passport for a long time comparing it to the US one and finally said that something was wrong with it. There was a K or something missing! The Russian passport is written in the Russian alphabet so there was a lot more than a missing K - once we explained that to him he let us through. The first flight went well Katy did really well especially for being 3 years old. Our flight from LAX to Moscow was 12 hours and then we had a 6 hour layover (not as bad as it sounds), we only spent about an hour and a half actually waiting.

First we got to Moscow and had to go thru some passport thing to be signed into the county. we stood in line (well if that's what you would call it as there are no actual lines for anything here in Russia. People just kind of herd around and push and shove to get to wherever they need to go. Standing there for like an hour we got no where. It was getting a little frustrating and Katy was getting a restless. There was another area that was just for Russian citizens to go thru and a man behind us suggested that we go there to see if they would let us thru because we had a child. Luckily they did let us thru (who knows how long we would have had to wait). So we got our luggage, met up with our translator (Jane) who drove us to a different airport.

At the next airport we found some seats and Lori and Katy sat. Jane took me to exchange some money and explain how we check into out flight and how we can tell if it is our turn to go thru security (it is very different in Russia then in the US). Jane left after everything was explained. Lori, Katy and I just sat and waited for about an hour and a half.

Finally it was our turn to go thru security. It took about 5 minutes for the security lady to figure out our tickets and we moved on to the next step - actually getting thru security with 5 checked bags and about 4 carry-on bags and a kid (we don't travel light). Not knowing exactly what to do, Lori and I are trying to get everything on this belt to be x-rayed and no one was helping. They just looked at us and smiled as we looked like "idiots" (and we probably did) because we don't speak Russian. Finally we get thru there and move on to actually checking our luggage and getting our boarding passes. Not an easy task because one, we don't speak Russian and two, Katy has dual citizenship. We don't know what passport to show the lady to check us into our flight, so we just show both. She started looking around for a fourth person to be with us. Although I am pretty sure that when I handed them to her I showed her both US and Russian passports of Katy's and pointed to Katy. Then I showed her mine pointing to me and Lori's pointing to her. Once the lady figured all that out, I told her we were checking 6 bags (we decided to check one of our carry-ons). She looked at me like I had four heads and put up six fingers and then counted all the bags to make sure she had it right. So all in all it took us about 30- 45 min just to get thru security and check in our bags even though there was no line or wait. Good thing we had a red eye and the airport was pretty empty.

All checked in finally we found our gate and sat and waited for our flight to board. Katy fell asleep when we were waiting for our boarding passes and I was getting really tired. I had not slept any of the flight and had at that point been awake well over 24 hours and we still had a two and a half hour flight to Ekaterinburg (Ekat). Even though Katy was awake all of that flight, I got to sleep most of it :o). We got to Ekat at 5:30 am Wednesday the 10th, came to our flat at about 7ish, ate (airplane food is horrible not that you already didn't know that) and slept until two in the afternoon. :o)

BEING COLD


Mostly it is cold. We really were not thinking it was going to be this cold but we have enough layers to keep ourselves warm enough to not be freezing. There is no heat in our building. We are told that each building has its own central heating for the whole building and the government controls when it is turned on. Yeah, kind of weird. One of our translators said that they start turning on heat in different parts of the city on the 15th of September. Different parts have different priority and we must be in the part with not a very high priority. We have been to quite a few shops in different areas of the city that are heated (maybe they're just trying to get people to shop, who knows).

LORI'S COURT DATE AND COMING BACK HOME

Originally I had been telling people that the court date would be 9/24. Yesterday we found out that the judge moved it to 9/26 because of meetings that she has on 9/24. She doesn't want to be tired and cranky for Lori's hearing so that is why she moved the date. Good and bad. Good because hopefully she will be easier on Lori about why a single parent with one child is adopting twins (Courtney & Camryn), however , this is also bad because it prolongs the knowing if we get to bring the girls home with us or not. There is a 10 day wait after court between getting the go ahead and actually taking the girls from the orphanage.
With court on 9/24 we would get to pick them up on 10/7 so with court on 9/26 we should not be able to pick up the twins until 10/9. More good news, they do assure us that we will still get to pick the girls up on the same day as if court had been on the 24th. But who really knows if that will be the case until it actually happens. So as scheduled we should be home by October 15th, if all goes according to plan.

….More to come later - it's about 12 at night here and I am tired

An early day . . .

Today Victor picked us up at 12:30 as Lydia had said he would. We were told that we needed to go order pictures from our visits for the court appearance and that we would then go back to the orphanage on Monday. I thought it would be a quick trip out so we didn't pack any of Katy's necessities for a long day. We first went to Olga's to pick up a stroller she is letting us borrow. She lives in a really nice neighborhood. Very New Yorkish - lots of people everywhere, street vendors, great shops, etc. Really nice. We quickly drove through and then picked Angie up somewhere else in the City and went to a camera store. After choosing all of the pictures to print we got back in the car and sat in traffic for a long time. When we really started moving again, Angela and I both noticed at the same time that it looked as if we were heading out of the City! I asked Angie if we were going back to the flat and she said that we were going to the orphanage! I told her that we weren't planning on that again until Monday so we had to turn around and fight our way back through traffic.

After getting back to the flat, we put Katy in the stroller and walked around our own neighborhood. We've pretty much gone in every direction now as far as we can comfortably walk (with a 3 year old) and there's nothing for us here. We found no parks or play areas for Katy, no other grocery stores - pretty much nothing. We plan to take a day next week and spend it in Olga's neighborhood - there's even a zoo and pony rides for Katy over there. Where we are it's tons of construction. High rise buildings are going up everywhere and cranes all over the place - there's one building with a steel frame and tiny little bricks are being placed one by one all the way up. It's amazing to see high rises built out of tiny little bricks. We got a few pictures of the high rises right in front of the old wooden houses with the bright colored shutters. The "suburbs" are all the old log houses too - we'll have to get some pictures of those. They look to be hundreds of years old and to be falling down - I don't know for sure how old they are. I'd love to learn the history of the little houses and who built them. They're so tiny but seem to house entire families.

That's it for today. We're in for the night and planning an easy day tomorrow. We're not even in the dreaded 10 day waiting period yet and we're bored stiff. There is nothing to do hence the long posts! We're planning to go to Chelyabinsk on October 2nd if court goes well and then Sasha can take us to a few more places - hopefully, that will break up the long wait a little.

We're missing everyone and can't wait to finally pick the girls up and head home! It seems like it's so far away but I'm happy to be here and to be so close to finally completing this ordeal. I'm anxious to get the girls home and start living our lives again!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Postponement #1

Today we had a good visit with the girls. Victor and Lydia picked us up around 1:30 and we got to the orphanage around 4 PM. The girls were snacking so we had to wait about 20 minutes for our visit to begin. Katy did not sleep on the way so she was pretty tired (and cranky) during our visit. She fell asleep as soon as we got back in the car to leave and slept for about 1 hour. Right now it's 9:30 PM and we just got done with dinner. It will be a late night - these 7:30 PM naps for Katy don't make for short evenings.

Vasilina had obvious signs of a cold coming on and I'm sure Polina will also be getting it. I'm really hoping Katy doesn't catch it too. Polina has a very strong personality and held her own with Katy today. At one point, Katy was asking her to get out of a stroller she was playing with and when Katy became a little forceful, Polina really yelled at her. Katy started crying right away - I think it really shocked her. But, Katy was so tired to begin with that she was pretty sensitive about everything during the visit. We were in a large music room today with two exits that the girls are constantly running toward. It's really difficult to keep them in there and we find that we're chasing them around more than actually getting to play with them. There's a smaller room that works better but today it was filled up with things so there wasn't room to play in there.

We're taking the next few days off from visiting although Monday I'm to meet the social worker and someone else - both at the orphanage. That will be challenging with Katy so we're working on options for handling that.

Once we got in the car tonight for our return trip, Lydia advised us that the court date has been postponed from Wednesday to Friday the 26th. However, she says that it won't prolong the 10 day wait and we'll be able to pick the girls up at the same time as if it would have been Wednesday - not quite sure how that works out but, I'm hoping it's true. Apparently, there are 3 election related hearings the judge will be holding on Tuesday and then she will have meetings all day Wednesday regarding those cases. She explained that she would be too tired and that she did not want us to have to suffer due to her being tired - Lydia said she apologized for the delay. I suppose I would rather have her in a good mood on Friday then tired and cranky on Wednesday but I was disappointed. I am anxious to get the court appearance over.

Lydia described the kind of questions, etc. that the judge normally asks and told me that I will really be drilled on being single with 3 children. She gave me a few other areas that the judge will "torture" me over but, when I asked if anyone had ever been denied at that point, the answer was no. So, that was good and hopefully will help with the nerves when I go in. 2 hours of questioning is a long time but if I'm not feeling "threatened" then I should do okay - I hope anyway.

Tomorrow we're off to print pictures of the visits to take to court. Olga is bringing a stroller by so that we can take Katy for longer walks around the City. Apparently, there is a shopping mall fairly close with a cafe and play area - looking forward to finding that for Katy. It's pretty cold out and I need to get some warmer gear for Katy and for me so we can stay out comfortably. Sunday is a day off and then Monday it all starts up again, hopefully with resolution on Friday - that would be very nice!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Another quiet day in Ekat

Nothing new to report today. Yesterday was a quiet day - probably too quiet for Katy. I think she's going a little stir crazy sitting around so much. Her only play time is with the girls. We did go for a very long walk yesterday and found the Arbot here . . . not sure what it is called in Ekat but that's what they call it in Moscow and Chelyabinsk. Just an open shopping area shut off to cars. The shops seem to be pretty high end but we did find a good bakery and a little gift shop with cute Russian puzzles. That took up a few hours yesterday but then, back to the flat.

I downloaded all the pictures yesterday of the girls - they are so cute and their big brown eyes just pull you right in. They both look so happy & healthy and, they both seem so smart. My favorites are of the 3 girls together - the way they look at each other and communicate. I'm really going to enjoy watching their relationships grow too.

While I'm struggling with a few Russian words, they're already saying a few English words themselves. Mainly cracker - it's so cute when they say it. Also a big one for them is "yum-yum". We're having a little trouble with the name changes - right now we're using their Russian names while trying to teach them their English names. I know it will come in time.

Both girls seem very attentive although certainly not attached. I don't anticipate even working on that until we're home but, it's nice that they like to be held, look you straight in the eye and are eager to communicate. All healthy signs I think although they don't seem to know how to be held. They don't latch on when you pick them up which I remember was an issue with Katy at first too. The carriers will really help in getting them home and getting them used to being carried. They're definitely attached to their home however, and we're constantly having to stop them from running back to their little group room. They point to the outside a lot and I think our visits make them miss their outdoor time which isn't good.

This orphanage is so different then Katy's was. At Katy's I wasn't allowed to bring anyone in with me until after court, I wasn't allowed to wander the orphanage at all, I was required to wear booties at all times and, I was never left alone with Katy - there was always someone from the orphanage with us. We've been able to see lots of different areas of this orphanage which has been both good and bad. Some of the sights have been pretty sad but others are of happy kids playing inside and out. It's been nice that we're left alone because I don't feel like we're being watched all the time. Also, during Katy's adjustment, it's not always pretty! She's had a few little outbursts and mopes around a bit while there but, then as soon as we start leaving she talks about missing her sisters. I know it's going to be a tough adjustment but it will be so good for her. Angela's a huge help while there because all 3 are going through different things and "containing" them all at the same time would be extremely difficult!

So, we off to see them again today . . . I hope Katy does well on this drive - it's getting harder and harder on her. 5 hours in the car is way too long for her but we don't really have options. Thank God for my little IPod with all her favorite Scooby-doos on it. The novelty of that may be wearing off though and I'm running out of distractions for her.

On another note - some emails seem to be taking a couple of days to get here. We're thinking maybe it's when responding with the reply button but we haven't figured it out. If someone isn't getting answers to emails that's why! You can always post a comment on here and Angela and I will both be able to get those consistently - but, don't give up on email - we both really like getting them and look forward to them!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Hello from Ekat!

We finally have internet! The email doesn't work very well - at least Yahoo doesn't but this seems to be okay.

Things here are great! As Lynn posted, we have a court date of 9/24. I know from receiving other emails that it is still possible that the judge can and, is likely to, postpone that date for any reason. But, I'm hopeful that everything will go well and we can be done with all of this.

Our travels, thankfully, were uneventful. Katy did great and has been a real trooper. We arrived around 5AM on Wednesday morning (9/10) and were taken to our first flat. It had no heat, no hot water, no internet and, no keys which made it impossible for us to leave unless accompanied by the agency. But, it was clean and brand new. We stayed there 2 nights and then moved to another flat just down the street. This is also a new building but has two rooms, a great kitchen, washer (no dryer) and, a grocery store on the ground floor. We're still waiting for heat but it's not that bad. Apparently, the whole area is on central heating and the City starts turning it on 9/15 with schools being the priority. Hopefully, they'll be getting to the flats soon as it seems to be getting colder and colder. The flat has worked out really well though except for the internet. The agency reps worked hard on getting a computer and internet for us as my Mac won't work so we are grateful for that.

We've been to see the girls 5 times already. We're taking a break tomorrow, planning to go on Friday and then again on Monday to meet with the social worker. The drive is 2 1/2 hours each way and Katy has done really well - until today when she was a little cranky. Our visits have been cut down from 3&4 hours to about 1 1/2 which is so much better for all of us.

Lynn mentioned in one of her posts that Courtney was a mini-Katy which was the opposite of my first visits. Well, it turns out that Courtney is actually Camryn! The first two days we had the girls mixed up and now that it has been corrected the personalities fit the names. Camryn (Polina) was the more dominate, outgoing one on my first visit and is still although Courtney (Vasilina) is holding her own. It's easy to tell them apart now because Courtney has a few whispy bangs and the rest of her head is pretty much shaved. Even without the different hair styles, the girls are easy to tell apart now. They look similar but also very different. They're about a head shorter than Katy but their hands are bigger (no surprise to Lynn!).

We've adjusted to the time difference here and have become used to the late hours. The sun doesn't set until 8:30 or so. We're having dinner around 9:30 or 10 and going to bed probably around 11:30 or 12. Katy is sleeping until 10 AM everyday which isn't a problem since nothing seems to happen before noon around here. We're going a little stir crazy though and are going to need to find something entertaining for Katy to do soon.
Speaking of Katy, she is now wandering around the flat looking for something to do so I'd better go attend to her. It's only 11PM so we have another hour before bedtime!

More later . . .

Lori

Monday, September 15, 2008

September 24th!

It's the day we've been waiting for!  The judge is back and has issued a 9/24 court date.  If all goes well, they'll be in Moscow on 10/7  and home from there within a week.  (The internet is still not available so this is Lynn posting for Lori again.) 

They've visited Camryn and Courtney a total of three times so far and hope to see them again tomorrow.  The internet issue is still not resolved but other than that, everything is going great.  They found a grocery store at the base of their building and scored with Honey Nut Cheerios (an exciting find I'm sure!).  The streets below their building are loaded with shops and restaurants, likened to Rodeo Drive, so probably not that appealing to our girls.  That's all for now.  I'm counting the days as I'm sure you are too!  Keep checking back because I'm sure Lori will be writing within a couple days.