The Final Countdown to Court

Major events of the day: Countdown to Court 7 of 7 (Tomorrow’s the Big Day!), Meeting with our Attorney, Final Preps, and Snow Flurries

Morning weather report: 27, feels like 20. Projected high: 41 with light rain in the afternoon.
Meanwhile back in Memphis: Overnight low of 52, heading to 60. (Cooling off back there too!)

After staying up late writing about last night’s adventure, we both slept in until almost 8 am. Our internal clocks have definitely adjusted to local time. We’ll set the alarm for tomorrow!

It’s cold outside campers! This morning there was a wintry bite in the air. Not only is it colder, but it’s damp and breezy. Masha tells us that “normal” weather for this time of year has finally arrived. We really felt it when heading over to the Iceberg to pick up a loaf of bread and to print a couple more pictures for our court photo album.

Just before rounding the construction barricade around the new building next to the Iceberg we noticed several construction-type individuals milling about with a confused look on their faces. We shuffled by, turned the corner, and walked up to the door. Nothing. There was a handwritten sign taped inside the glass which must have explained the unexpected closure. All we understood was the “Closed.” There were no lights on inside the building. Perhaps the workers cut the power cable? They sure looked guilty…

We had to wait to print pictures, but at least the adjacent open market offered everything we needed: Bread from the “Hole in the Wall,” and “Kazakh Belly Bombs” for lunch. The past few days we have noticed the prices on produce creeping up. It won’t be long before supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables dwindle. We sure have seen a lot of people carrying 50 lb sacks of onions around!

After dropping groceries and having some quick lunch, Bill headed out again, remembering another photo development place a little past the Iceberg. The crowd of workers had dispersed and power had been restored. Amazing what difference a half hour makes. After dropping off the SD chip with the photo folks, there was a little time for wandering through the shops upstairs. More treasures discovered! We also plan to visit the Birch Store in the next few days to pick up some of the little nesting dolls. Suzanne and Hilton found the perfect gift size, so we too need to gather a few.

During our in and out treks we had opportunity to observe workers “paving” the parking area of the new building next to our apartment. Now we understand why roads are so rough! The paving crew consisted of a dump truck holding hot asphalt and a “shoveler” tossing it approximately where it would go, on top of gravel that was spread around a day or so ago (on top of the dirt, mud, dust, etc). There were 3 or 4 workers on the ground shoveling the asphalt around and smoothing it with their shovels. Then there was the mini-steamroller operator who was going back, forth, sideways, etc., compacting the pavement. He didn’t seem to be following a particular path, so the new pavement isn’t very level. At least it’s hard so it won’t turn into mud! No photos of the evolution though. The predicted light rain had arrived with flurries. It sure would have made a funny fast forward or time lapse recording! Still pictures just couldn’t capture the full humor.

Our attorney, Svetlana, wanted to meet with us all together to discuss what to expect tomorrow. All we could do was wait, shuffle through pictures and add a few to our album, and wait some more while time crawled. Hilton and Suzanne wrote down a Kazakh proverb they heard a few days ago which perfectly applied, “Waiting and Chasing are the two worst things.” We’ve experienced both extremes on this trek.

When we arrived at the RBS, no one was waiting at the gate. It was definitely too cold to stand around outside. The courtyard was also empty except for a car from one of the local TV stations. We could also see students inside, still in their school uniforms… As soon as we entered the main doors, we understood what was going on. Thursday is Republic Day and the local station sent out a crew to cover a school play/presentation as well as to interview staff and students. The newscaster was wrapping up a report as our kids found us, still in their uniforms. Boys wear black pants, long-sleeved white shirts, and a sports coat. Girls wear a black dress with a lace-apron like trim on the front and little white bows in their hair. Perhaps we’ll have LB and LG model their outfits since several folks at St Francis School have asked about the differences in school uniforms… We also saw another “out of place” vehicle: a Cadillac Escalade. Almost makes you want to hum the “One of these things is not like the others” song from Sesame Street…

Having several friends who went to the Naval Academy, Bill is familiar with something the incoming freshman class goes through called “Uniform Drills.” Our two would have made the cadet commander proud, disappearing upstairs and returning in record time. Except that LG had to go back and put on a pair of shoes instead of the rubber sandals she came down wearing (similar to Crocs), and LB needed a jacket. Away they went again, reappearing even faster than their previous record times.

During our brief wait during wardrobe drills, the RBS Director came over to wish us good luck tomorrow. The Assistant Director (Miss “Cincinnati”) then came over, wished us good luck, and again made Cathe another job offer (she really has taken a liking to Cathe). Actions speak louder than words and this is the basis of Cathe’s and the Assistant Directors friendship. But we’ll have to decline. Although we haven’t seen anything yet, the weather is already cold enough to remind us that we prefer living in warmer places. After Cathe turned down the job offer, she asked if Bill can stay, “Because he’s so handsome.” Masha was having a hard time not giggling as she translated back and forth and was further surprised when Cathe caught the joke and made a witty remark in return. We all had a good laugh.

Another “side effect” of the late school program was that the kids had not eaten lunch yet. Lunch is normally served from 2-3 pm, so there was a whole school full of hungry kids. Glad we weren’t sticking around for that! Bill got to be the good Daddy and sliced some bread for Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches. He even cut them into smaller geometric shapes. LG liked hers the most, peeling the halves apart to eat the peanut butter first before re-assembling and consuming all the evidence. Cathe pulled out a couple of apples, poured some white milk and Lunch was served!

Svetlana has impeccable timing and arrived just as the lunch plates were being put away. The first part of her review was to once again ask the kids if they understand what is going on. “Да.” Do they like their new names and do they know them? “Да.” Do they want to be adopted? “Да.” Do they want to go to America? “Да.” Do they want us to be their parents? “ДА, ДА, ДА!” No hesitation, no nervousness. When we asked if they were more nervous or excited, they both responded, “Excited!”

They got off easy and were soon returned to playing computer games and listening to music on the laptop. Svetlana had homework for us: Think about several key questions that the Judge will probably ask and consider our responses. Shouldn’t be too hard since we’ve thought them over and over for many months: Why do you want to adopt? Why do you want to adopt from Kazakhstan? What does your family think about you adopting? Why do you think you can give these children a better life than they have (it’s not all about the material things)? We were also briefed to be ready for any sort of question based on income, job stability, marriage stability, anything in our dossier, and anything else the Judge or Prosecutor want to ask. We don’t plan to prepare note cards and hope we don’t get stage fright.

So much for getting a good night’s sleep before court! The excitement of finally getting to this point coupled with the last second worries about questions and answers will make it hard to sleep tonight! Hopefully the kids are getting a good night’s sleep as well.

Footnote: We saw the newscast on today’s program at the orphanage 8-D, but didn’t see our Pookies 8-(. At least we did see our favorite teacher, Ludmilla, during the clip. We also recognized a few children we have met during our visits to the orphanage.

Almost too much to pack into one day

Major events of the day: Countdown to Court 6 of 7, Lunch at Masha’s, Kazakh Best Buy, a trip to the Trans Siberian Railway, and stopping by Grandma’s House

Morning weather report: 31, feels like 31. Projected high: 43. Brrrrrrrr!
Meanwhile back in Memphis: Overnight low of 60, heading to 73. (Wish we were there!)

Sorry about the late and long post. We didn’t get back to the apartment until after 10 pm, following a full day of adventure.

When we were getting out of the car as we concluded yesterday’s adventure, Masha asked if we had lunch plans for today. Indicating that we had no specific plans, Masha replied, “Good! You will come to my house for lunch. Sasha will pick you up at 1:00.” Masha also loaned us some of the adventures that Lynn from Memphis had written down a year ago during her adoption trek. One in particular got a real laugh from us. It was a story about a little “plumbing incident” and the two “plumbers” who came to take care of the problem. The story itself was a hilarious adventure through communication and cultural differences. However, the part we both found funniest was how she dubbed the two plumbers, “Butt Crack” and “Butt Crack in Training,” and how she described their parts in the adventure. We’ll just leave it at that. Perhaps we’ll be able to get the whole story and attach/link it to a later posting…

Although we have not run into exactly the same issues, we too have had our own adventures. The funniest one for us was when the RBS Assistant Director dropped in to observe one of our visits with the children. She asked if we had any other children and we indicated our older son who is now 21. Then she asked, “Cincinnati?” To which we responded, “No, Memphis.” We were absolutely clueless, but Masha’s face was turning a very deep red. What she had actually said was, “Сын Женатый?” which means “Your son is married?” Apparently the Assistant Director was trying to marry-off Masha. We all had a good laugh after we explained that Cincinnati is a city in Ohio and what she had said sounded exactly like how the city is pronounced.

The morning flew by as we shuffled through photos, picking out those which we will out in our photo album for court. We also went through our extensive gift list, checking it twice, and twice again. We’re really excited about visiting with Masha’s parents for lunch. Although we did not figure it out at first, her father doubles as our driver. Sasha arrived on time, as always, and it was only a short trip to their apartment. Once we navigated the gravel driveway/parking lot in front of the building, Sasha pointed up in one direction and said, “My house,” then pointed up at another close by building and said, “My antenna.” We had heard about some sort of radio phone that you can hook into your home phone and get up to 20 km coverage, sort of like your own mini-cellular site, and thought that might be what he was indicating. We were mistaken. We knew that Sasha works for a company that installs dispatch radios in vehicles, perhaps even the “plumbers” from the story above. Sadly, the cell phone is slowly putting his company out of business.

Once we were out of the car Sasha welcomed us to his building and we headed for the elevator. For a ten story apartment building, it was a very small elevator. You probably couldn’t fit more than four adults in there at a time. We headed for the 10th floor, where we were greeted by Masha and her mother. After our introductions we presented Sasha with some treasures from America: A Tennessee t-shirt and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey. He was ecstatic. (Memphis Grizzlies hat was a gift from Lynn last year) A small gift for Masha and a small box of Whitman’s chocolates for her mother rounded out the gifts.

After a quick tour of the apartment, with a long pause on the balcony for pictures, it was time to eat, rather, feast. We enjoyed dumplings stuffed with meatballs and onion gravy, carrot salad, tomato salad, and salad made with egg, herring and mayonnaise. Masha’s mother took great pride in telling us that the vegetables were from their own dachka garden. And the herring salad was from a recipe recommended by friends and specially prepared for us. In typical motherly fashion, Masha’s mother prepared far more food then we could hope to eat and saw to it that our plates did not stay empty. When asked if we would like more dumplings and how many, Masha replied that it would be good to say “ah-dien spaseeba” which means “one please.” We quickly learned that one is just a figure and she would land however many it took to cover the open space on our plates. Good thing we didn’t say two… otherwise we would have received 6 or even 7!

To top it all off, Sasha pulled out some homebrew made with vodka and rosehips. It was smooth and very similar in taste to a good German Ice Wine. Masha’s mother toasted to good food and again to good friends and good company. We could have wrapped the day right there with a good nap! However, it was time to hop in the car to “fetch” the kids.

LB and LG greeted us at the RBS gate and ran along after the car as we pulled into the courtyard. They were every bit as eager to see us as we were to see them. They did not have a lot of homework over the weekend so Cathe asked that they practice writing 4 English sentences. We weren’t even out of the car for our welcome hugs when both presented us with their completed assignments. Both were very proud of their efforts, as we are too. Masha signed them out and we were off to the apartment. Today is bath day and final fitting/adjustment of court wardrobe selections!

The trip back to the apartment was spent answering questions from both about the airplane trip home. They wanted some reassurance that Papa will be seated next to them. They wanted to make sure that Mama will email as soon as she gets to Memphis. They’re really putting some thought into the coming events, and we’re proud of them.

Although court isn’t until Wednesday (Now less than 36 hours away!), we will be meeting with our attorney tomorrow, so the kids need to be ready. Stressing the importance for both to stay clean, we know that the next 36 hours are going to be tough on them. In typical 10 & 12 year old fashion, they love to run, play on the gym bars, and hop into the middle of a soccer scrimmage. (unfortunately, all the above activities involve copious amounts of dirt!) They just love to play.

After everyone was squeaky clean and final wardrobe selections had been made, it was time to do a little review of the House Rules we had collectively devised. We got a good start on our family ground rules from Dee, who adopted Michael from Petro back in April. We have gained a lot of insight into the nuances of raising two older children from a different culture as we have followed her daily blog updates over the past few months. Having a set of house ground rules written in English and Russian will serve as a good reminder of the growing event we had while putting the list together. Rule #1 is to “Be thankful for every thing and for every day.” In between are important things like being respectful, learning new words every day, telling us if there is something you don’t like or don’t understand, no running in the house, etc. It was really neat to have their direct involvement in discussing and amending the list which culminates with Rule #18, “Remember our home motto: Live, Laugh, Love.” We cinched the deal with some generous slices of the cake that Masha’s mother made for us. (To follow Dee’s on-gong saga with her two children from Russia and Kazakhstan, view The Crab Chronicles at: deescribbler.typepad.com/my_weblog)

Sadly, our time went by too quickly! The short ride back to the RBS was mostly in quiet, interspersed with a couple more court questions. They’re looking forward to their last trip back and hope will come soon.

After saying our good-byes we headed over to “Sulpak,” the Kazakh version of Best Buy. We decided to buy a DVD player that doubles as a Karaoke player for the Family Group our children are in. Of course, that meant buying a microphone and a few movies to do along with it. Bill and Sasha reviewed two DVD players before agreeing that the second DVD would be a better buy because it will play both PAL and NTSC formats, so we can send DVD’s from the United States! Their English teacher will be proud of us since of course they will be in English. Check-out was quite an adventure. We decided to try our Mastercard since the logo is proudly displayed. Maybe we should have paid cash instead… Though not all of the lengthy check-out process was due to credit vs cash. Although it’s a very modern store, procedures seem to follow those of the little shops we have visited in mini-mall settings. Each “department” had to prepare it’s own “receipt” before we went to the cash register. There was one from the DVD isle, one from the keyboard isle (we picked up an English/Cyrillic keyboard) and another from the movie isle. The cashier first tallied everything in a big calculator, then entered the transaction into her computer. Two receipts were printed out (one for DVD player plus another for everything else). Then she had to go to what appeared to be a customer service counter to run our card. We were about ready to call her back to the register to just pay cash when the little receipt machine spit out two credit slips to go with the two receipts we already had. Then the signed receipts were stamped and stapled together so we could move to the next step in the process and one more step closer to the door. A technician removed our newly purchased DVD player from its box and plugged it into a small tv by the door to demonstrate it was fully functional, even plugging in the microphone. It took two tries before he could get things working because it rejected the first inserted DVD, a pirated “store test copy” of Finding Nemo. Once satisfied that we were satisfied, he handed us the warranty booklet and pointed back to the customer service counter. There we presented our stamped receipt and the warranty booklet into which the technician had copied the model and serial number information. The clerk who had run our credit card now examined the receipt and warranty booklet to ensure everything was in order. Satisfied that it was, she pulled out another stamp and gave us another stamp on the receipt and several in the warranty booklet. We then returned to the technician’s counter to retrieve our re-boxed DVD player, DVDs, et al. But wait, there’s one more step! The burly “Security Guard” who had watched the entire process which had occurred within a 15 foot radius of where he was standing, had to also examine our receipt, warranty booklet, and purchases before moving aside and allowing us to exit the store. Anyone who has ever watched the movie, “Gotcha” will understand because the transaction was very similar to the Visa scene. Sorry about the long paragraph. It actually took less time to compose, review, and creatively edit than did the actual transaction.

Shortly after being dropped off at the apartment, our phone rang. Hilton and Suzanne were at the kabob stand and wanted to know if we wanted anything. Duh! Bring two for us! Excellent dinner on top of a great lunch with super company as well.

Although it would have been a good wrap-up, the day’s adventure did not end there. On the way back from the RBS, Bill mentioned that he wanted to see the railway station on the famous Trans-Siberia Railway some time in the next few days. Masha had just picked up a passport for the newly adopted daughter of a couple from Spain and needed to take it to the train station to send it to Astana. Tonight. “Do you want to come then?” “Sure!” One interesting note is that Russia has retained ownership of the train station and the arrival/departure times are based on Moscow time, which is two hours behind Petropavlovsk. The time and temperature sign cycled between local and Moscow time, with the temperature in between. According to the sign, tonight’s temperature was 4C (~38F) at 9 pm when we dropped off the package, though we think it was reading a little on the high side. We got a few photos and a quick video of the adventure. Hopefully we didn’t ruffle any security feathers. No one said anything to us, so we made it out in one piece!

The evening was wrapped up when we parked the car at grandma’s house (she has a garage where Sasha keeps his car) and walked back up Constitution Avenue, enjoying the crisp evening air. According to Sasha, it won’t be long before we see some snow.

Super Sunday Afternoon

Major events of the day: Countdown to Court 5 of 7, All day with the Kids & Church

And: Happy Birthday to Cathe’s sister, Carrie!

Today was the first time we have used an alarm clock in almost a month. We both stayed up a little later last night watching a movie and didn’t want to miss church. When the alarm beeped, neither of us was really ready to crawl out of bed since we had left the window open a little bit and the cool air made our bedroom the perfect sleeping temperature. With it not getting light until later, coupled with a thick curtain, we could easily oversleep. This is also a very nice change over our first week in the apartment since it had been just too warm.

It was another cool morning, but not as cold as yesterday. This morning we headed back to the small Catholic Church on Constitution Ave. Cathe observed that it looked like the altar was set up for Benediction/Adoration. The Sister must have overheard her whisper, because at that moment she turned around to share that we will be celebrating the Holy Day prayer service to honor Peter and Paul. It was just the two of us and two sisters. The acoustics in the small church are incredible. They do use microphones, but they really aren’t necessary. We can imagine the sounds a small choir could make in there! Too bad we couldn’t record the service because it was wonderful. They told us that regular mass was at 4 pm, but we decided to stay and enjoy the wonderful sounds. We had talked about taking the kids to church at least once before heading home so they could hear the service in Russian, hopefully making it a little less confusing when we get home.

After the morning service we took our time wandering back to the apartment and made a pit stop at the Iceberg. Since it was still early and there weren’t many people in the store, we took a few pictures.

The first section you pass through is the liquor section. There is an entire shelf section devoted to Vodka. You can pick up a 750 ml bottle for about $2 for the cheap stuff. The wines are a little more expensive, but there’s a good selection. For those looking for a taste from home (and having much deeper pockets) we even saw a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey for only 4385 kzt ($37.50) for a 750 ml bottle.

The next section we pass through is juices, with a pretty good selection there too. We even found “Healthy Choice” soup over by the cup-o-ramen noodles.

By the time we returned to the apartment and put away the groceries, it was already time to go get the kids. We pulled into the RBS courtyard at 11:15 and had to go hunt down the kids since they weren’t expecting us until 11:30. They came running faster than the kids heading to “The Forbidden Hallway” in search of the evening snack, and piled into the car for the short ride back to the apartment.

First order of business was lunch. Today we told them that we’re making a typical American lunch: Sandwiches, Chips, Fruit, and Choice of Drinks. Neither had tried a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before, but both had helped in the kitchen and got a little spoonful to try. There was no need for Masha to translate: Yes, they like the Jif Extra Crunchy we brought from home. (You can get peanut butter at the Iceberg, but it’s expensive and isn’t as good as US peanut butter) We also made ham & cheese just in case, but those just served as the second course. They also thought it was pretty cool that dad cut their sandwiches in little squares. Accompanying the sandwiches were Chicken Chips and Sour Cream & Onion Chips, apples, oranges, and a little banana thrown in for variety. The chips are a little different than what we are used to, but not bad. Although they spotted the leftover cookies from yesterday while assembling sandwiches, they wasted no time in consuming the main course. We also need to mention chocolate milk. They had not tried it before either. Both thought it was pretty good and had second servings just to make sure. We didn’t even get the slightest hint of an argument about having turned off the TV during our meal either.

After lunch, we watched Ночь в Музее (Night at the Museum) in Russian. It’s the one movie we purchased which does not have spoken English or English subtitles, but we have it at home. Neither the kids nor Masha had seen the movie. Masha though it was a horror movie, but we reassured her that it was actually fun and kid-friendly. Since we had both seen the movie, it was easy to follow along and toss in the occasional comment or body language. We kept everyone focused through the whole movie despite short attention span indications. There will be some adjusting as we go from a large group setting with constant stimulation to a small family. We’ll be busy enough handling sensory overload as they adjust to life in the US.

After the movie, we dug out a couple small project items. Bill had picked up a paper model of a hovercraft which has turned out to be a lot more complex than originally thought. Meanwhile, Cathe worked with LG on a little needlepoint picture. LB was bouncing back and forth, not wanting to miss a thing. We also had a short bout of “Camera Wars” or “Dueling Cameras” again. Thankfully digital film doesn’t cost anything to develop. They are catching some good shots though. We don’t know what it is, but Dee’s observation about her kids wanting to twist every knob and press every button is right on the mark.

We didn’t get far on either project since they are complex and require steady focus. That’s obviously an area we will need to work on. We are finding out more about their individual likes and will try to work activities around those to help build concentration and analytical thinking skills. In the mean time, we will help them become “normal” kids in as normal a setting as we can.

At 3:30 we headed back to the church, this time with Masha and the kids in tow. The same two Sisters we had seen at the morning service were present and smiled at us as we entered. This time we weren’t the only ones present though! It was a very nice service and we didn’t have much trouble following along despite the language differences. Masha commented to Cathe that she was impressed that Cathe recited the prayers in English and it was the same prayer in Russian. Also, Masha shared that it was difficult to follow the Priest, since she could tell he is Polish speaking Russian with a Polish accent. His homily focused on the black and white “God Talks” billboards you see along the highways in the US (he had seen them during a recent visit to Oregon. No idea why he was in Oregon though…).

Again, it would have been wonderful to have recorded the service. On the walk back to the apartment there were several questions from both kids regarding how they will learn what to do and what church means. We reassured them that we will be there to help them understand. Cathe asked Masha about certain parts of the mass and vice versa. Masha explained that the Sisters cued the priest a few times, so maybe he was new. By the way, they also do announcements at the end of Mass (next week there will be a Pot-Luck dinner). Some things are universal!

After another quick wardrobe adjustment, mostly swapping items to be washed, we were back in the car, heading north. The topic of discussion was our plan for tomorrow. We promised the kids that we’ll bring them back to the apartment for showers and practice fitting of their court clothes so that they’ll be ready for Wednesday morning. They’re both getting really excited about going to court and letting the judge know that they want to be part of our family. Time to get this post on the wire so we can hang our laundry to dry on the hi-tech, energy conserving folding rack!


Cathe’s Interesting observations to share about church:
- When we went to the altar for communion, the children also went up for a blessing by the Priest. This is a common thing for non-Catholics and young children to do instead of taking the Host. The Priest wasn’t sure what to do and quickly gave Cathe “What should I do?” look. Cathe (being an experienced Eucharist Minister) quickly motioned to the Priest what to do and he obliged. Perhaps we started a new trend since Cathe observed another child receive the same blessing after us.
- Communion has been different each time we have visited. The crowd is mostly “old school,” so The Body of Christ is not delivered to the hand but on the tongue. Also, this time the Priest dipped The Body of Christ in the wine, something neither of us has seen prior to today. The parishioners do not reverence the Body of Christ just before receiving it.
- When we showed the Sign of Peace, we both wondered what the other parishioners were thinking when we were saying it in English. Cathe recognized some familiar faces from other visits, so they’re probably getting used to “Those Americans.”
- No one joined hands during the Our Father prayer.
- It’s pretty obvious that people have their particular spots where they always sit. We probably bumped some from their space with the large crowd we brought today. The benches are narrower, the kneelers are permanently down, and the seats are harder, thus the “dedicated regulars” have staked out their spots by leaving custom seat cushions in their favorite pew.

Out and About

Major events of the day: Countdown to Court 4 of 7, A Little More Shopping, Dinner with Friends, and An Evening Stroll

Sorry about the late post today. It’s well after 11 pm local as we write this entry since we had a long dinner with friends and didn’t get back to the apartment until after 10:30.

This afternoon was cool, but according to Masha, still unusually warm for this time of year. Since it was so nice, we went out and took a few more photos, capturing the Skif sign which we didn’t post yesterday (now posted in yesterday’s entry). We’ve also seen several American cars, such as a couple PT Cruisers, a Hummer H1, a Dodge Ram Pickup, and even a new yellow VW Beetle (we weren’t quick enough with the camera to catch that one). There are also several cars sporting a license plate bracket with “In God we trust” on it. We’ll keep our eyes peeled and camera ready to capture that one too. We also saw a store called "Amigo" across from the Skif which sells furniture. Notice the every-present steam pipes running right through the building?

LB will be able to wear his jeans to court Wednesday. They’re a little darker color and he has a nice shirt and shoes to go with them. LG was another story. Although our attorney says that jeans are fine for her too, we wanted to dress her up a little as well, so this afternoon’s adventure was an off-campus trip for some shopping. Again, Masha the holder of great knowledge in the shopping department took us to a nice store with reasonable prices where we found a skirt ensemble that is dressy enough for court, but casual enough for everyday wear. Bill even helped by selecting a perfect pair of boots from the shelf which completed the look.

Then it was time to reward LB’s efforts in English with a stop at the Bliney Café. (Recall his efforts in forming a complete sentence yesterday…) What a tasty treat! “Blineys” are Blintzes, a thin pancake/crepe with various fillings or toppings. They even make a bliney pizza if you’re that adventurous. There were many families ducking in and out, so it must be a very popular thing to do with the kids. We’ll have to look for something similar back home.

After Blineys we headed back to the apartment to unwind for a bit until we had to return to the RBS. Being Saturday with no school tomorrow, we were able to keep them a bit longer. Both wanted to know if they could stay overnight. Sadly, not yet. Soon though! Masha was quite surprised at the unexpected question. Although the kids don’t dislike the RBS, it’s obvious they like being with us more.

They accepted the answer and quickly moved on to other activities. It was only a couple minutes before they discovered our back-up camera and a toe-to-toe photo shoot ensued. LG eventually commandeered the camera while LB dove into the computer. Both had a great time, and soon the time to return was at hand. Side note: LG was REALLY enjoying the shortbread cookies we found at the Nan (HAH) store yesterday. No doubt they’re one of her favorites. On the short trip back to the RBS we made plans to come early tomorrow and have lunch at the apartment. They both want to watch Spiderman even though the copy we have is only in English (we brought that one from home). The fall-back will be Night in the Museum (in Russian with English subtitles). And if the weather cooperates, we’ll even get out in the park for a bit.

Another great day for the record book.

After dropping off the kids and returning to the apartment, it was time to dash off to meet with Suzanne and Hilton to celebrate completion of their 14 days of bonding on Thursday. It was a nice evening walk to the Slovenian Inn and this time, the English menus re-appeared (we think Marina and Irina were having fun with us last time). It was a most enjoyable meal and because there was an empty table, we lingered and talked over coffee and more water. The coffee was very good, but even better with a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream added in. We could have stayed there a while longer, but there are blogs to write and bedtime was approaching.







Although cooling off, it was still a very nice evening and we noticed that the Dept of Ed and the statues across from it were lit, so Bill captured a couple nice night shots. We said our goodbyes and headed back toward the apartment. Cathe thought it would be nice to add this picture of a tree stump in the middle of the sidewalk. We haven’t figured it out. Maybe they’re waiting for the stump to rot away before repairing the sidewalk?

Communicating

Major events of the day: Countdown to Court 3 of 7, A Little Walking, and Makin' Mama Proud!

Pretty chilly outside this morning! Between the lingering dampness from yesterday’s rain and the cooler temperatures, we’re going to break out some warmer clothes today. According to MSN weather, this morning’s temperature reading was: “28 degrees, feels like 23.” At least it’s sunny and the wind died down.

Although we want to get out and do some sight seeing, we have not done much walking since the weather has turned cooler. It still warms up a little in the afternoons, but it gets dark shortly after we return from our afternoon visits to the orphanage. Today we did go for a short walk and wandered over to the Skif and visit with Elizabeth from Richmond. It was our first venture in that direction, so we walked right past the hotel since the only sign on that side was for a café. Not knowing exactly how far it was, but suspecting we had gone too far, we turned around then saw the sign on the side of a building down a wide alley. Fortunately we have been working on our Cyrillic alphabet or we would have never found it since the sign was in script form instead of the block letters we are accustomed to reading.

While we were out and about we walked past an older Russian house (now a shop) of a log cabin design with very ornate woodworking around the windows and door. We’re not sure why there would be a water pump along the sidewalk, but it appeared to have been used recently.


On the way back to our apartment we passed by the old mosque. We wonder what the neighbors think when they play the call to prayer five times a day…

We also forgot to mention all the mud each time it rains. To further complicate matters, most of the driveway crossings end up looking similar to small ponds. Don't forget your waders.

We stopped at the HAH Plus (pronounced “Nan”) store on the way back to our apartment since Masha recommended it for having a wide selection of fresh-baked breads. It is somewhere between a convenience store and a small grocery store with a bakery section in the back. We’re not sure what the business arrangement is, but the bakery has its own cash register, so you pay for baked items separately from the rest of your items. Although it is close to our apartment, it was good that we only picked up a few things because when we paid for our groceries there wasn’t a friendly bagger, nor were there bags for our groceries (must be a bring-your-own-bag store?). Good thing Masha wasn’t with us! We do enough without trying to amuse her….this certainly would have had her in stitches.

Sasha met us at our normal time, but Masha surprised us by letting us fly solo since she had some documents to file with the Department of Guardianship. Traffic was very light today, so we arrived a few minutes earlier than usual, so the children were not waiting for us at the gate today. Instead, they were just inside the main door and surprised to see us since we were early.

First thing on today’s agenda was to go outside for a few minutes since it warmed up to about 50 this afternoon. One of LG’s friends came along and we enjoyed watching everyone swing on the bars. LB told us he wanted to go find a soccer ball and quickly scampered away in search of one. He came back empty handed and disappointed that he couldn’t find one. Despite the slight chill in the air, the mosquitoes were swarming. They must know really cold weather is coming soon and were trying to get that last drop of blood out of us before the cold gets them. They didn’t get much out of us, but did send us back inside to play some Uno and review some English.

LG still wanted to play, but came along. LB wanted to ask Cathe what was on our agenda as well as a couple other questions. What he was really trying to do was to negotiate the order of English and computer time. He is quickly learning to use the Russian-English dictionary and is trying hard to communicate. While Bill and LG were taking more pictures (we’re now well over 1,000 shots taken since arriving), LB quickly pulled Cathe aside to discuss his important questions. LB is excited that she tries so hard to understand. Cathe in return told LB how proud she was that he was using the dictionary to communicate. LB beamed with pride while Cathe was misty eyed! They had a nice talk.

Since a few more of LG’s friends came in and LB was working so hard to communicate, we never did get to the intended Uno game. There will be time for that later. Meanwhile, we made some serious headway today in the communications and understanding department. Both LB and LG are very bright and eager to learn. We’re very happy to know that there is already a circle of friends back home that are just as eager to help too.

Side note: LB and Cathe used the dictionary together last week when we were flying solo. He’s quickly catching on to the mechanics. The next day Masha asked LB if he had ever used a dictionary and he quickly replied, “Of course!” When she asked how often, he admitted that it was only once and that had been the day before. OY VEY!

After the discussion time, LB got to dig out the computer to the read questions and answers from students at his new school. We have been collecting questions from Cathe’s Computer Lab students and sharing them with the kids. We also asked LB and LG to tell us what they would like to know about their new school and classmates, and then e-mailed it off. Responses have been flooding in and are making quite an impression on both of them. Although they will be sad leaving some friends behind, they are already excited about meeting new friends.

Meanwhile, LG worked with Bill on the alphabet and drew a picture of her favorite part of the last two weeks. She had a little competition today from one of her friends who was “winning” more M&Ms for correct answers. She was a little miffed at first, but realized there were plenty of “rewards” to go around and got serious about paying attention. We even recorded a little of LG singing part of the alphabet song, along with the occasional pause to smile, or stick out her tongue, at the camera.

Their Learning Time was wrapped up with Cathe showing translations to the letter that LG had written to her soon to be new friend Kate. LB looked over at Cathe and told her he was proud of her. (More misty eyed looks) LB helped Cathe with the words she was unfamiliar with. So Kate will get her email later this evening. LB graded Cathe’s work and said she gets a 5 for effort, but only a 4 on the translation. She’s working on it, but the Cyrillic alphabet is still very confusing.

The real topper for today’s learning session came when LB asked a complete interrogative sentence, “Tomorrow will Mama, Papa, LB, LG and Masha go to the Café?” This certainly caught our attention since it was far from the subject at hand, but has obviously been something on both their minds since we went there two weekends ago (has it been that long already?!?!?). LG perked up since Bill and I smiled. Looks like we’ll just have to go now to reward his attempt at communication!

Ludmilla, the teacher whose classroom we have been occupying in the afternoons, has absolutely great timing. She brought us four little pieces of birthday cake as we were wrapping up. Since the cake was in her room, our guess is that it was in her honor. We’ll have to pick up a card tomorrow while we’re out and about. Although we cannot hold a conversation, she and Cathe have really hit it off. (you know how Teachers can be when they get together!) Anyway, the cake was very tasty and had a spongy graham cracker taste. It was obvious the children enjoyed the cake and left to wash the sticky glaze/icing from their hands.

On another side note about teachers…a few days Bill was telling LB and LG about their new school and mentioned that he had heard that their new informatics teacher (computer teacher) is a pretty hard teacher. LB smiled and said “I heard the same thing too!” (he catches on quickly)

Five o’clock comes too soon each day, and it was time to leave. One thing we have not mentioned in detail so far is that the kids are not sad to see us leave (although both caregivers have related to us that the kids miss us later in the evening). The reason is that 5 pm is “Snack Time!” We know the hour has arrived because we can hear the voices and activity in what we call, “The Forbidden Hallway,” where kids duck into the cafeteria to get a bread roll or piece of fruit. (Cathe calls it the forbidden hallway because our kids follow the others down the hallway for their snack, but we don’t see them come back.) If it were Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, we would say it’s pretty close to a feeding frenzy, so don’t stand in their way!

Sasha was waiting for us, so we were soon on our way back to the place where we are staying until the day when we can all go home together. Another great day to report for the blog.

Dinner was another adventure in guessing. We bought a frozen pizza yesterday at the Iceberg. How hard can that be? We do take-and-bake pizzas from Costco all the time and the picture on the box looked pretty appetizing. Are there any indicators on our mini-oven for temperature settings? Nope! And since the stove does not have a pilot light or electronic ignition, we had to light the oven the old fashioned way. Thankfully there is a box of matches in the kitchen, and Bill remembered how to do that from a very long time ago. We started on LOW setting and worked our way up the dial until it came out just right, and very tasty. Other than adding a little leftover onion from last night’s salad, we didn’t do a thing to it. Thankfully, primarily due to Ludmilla’s birthday cake, we were not very hungry because the pizza was a lot smaller than the box it came in.

Shopping and Missing the Kids

Major events of the day: Countdown to Court 2 of 7, Shopping and Missing the Kids

More rain overnight and temperatures have dropped. It was so nice to fall asleep to the rustling sound the raindrops make in the fallen leaves outside our bedroom window. There’s a definite chill in the air today. In a few more days all the leaves will have fallen from the trees.

One down note for the day is that our court date has shifted back to the 24th. With all of the waiting periods, we’re going to be on some tight timelines. Keep us in your prayers that the roadblocks are moved and the process goes quickly.

This morning’s adventure was a shopping trip to search for the last of the personal gifts. As we were headed out the door Masha asked if we had hats. This was her subtle way of suggesting that we pull out the warmer accessories, or at least start considering them. Cathe’s brought a very warm, but utilitarian, plain black fleece hat, which will be fine for Bill according to our fashion observations on the street, but not for a woman. It’s just another way we less fashion-conscious Americans stand out! The ladies hats are form fitting but they sure are just as stylish as the boots. Once it gets a little cooler, the real high fashion fur hats will start appearing. Bill wants one of the Russian fur hats men wear in the movies (we’ve seen them at the flea market too). There won’t be many occasions to wear it back home, our part of Tennessee just doesn’t get that cold… but it will be a nice souvenir.

Before leaving the apartment, we felt like Santa’s Elves, checking our shopping list twice. Although we brought some gifts with us, there were a few “adjustments” to make. We had gotten some info about the Judge and Prosecutor in Airtau, so we brought some man-type gifts. Turns out that the Judge and Prosecutor in Petro are of the female persuasion… As our good friend Paul would say in his best Homer Simpson impersonation, “Doh!” Fortunately, those gifts won’t go to waste since our list has grown each day as we met and got to know more of the orphanage staff! It is easy to see how much they all genuinely care for the children.

At this point, we really have to pay another compliment to Masha, our translator, cruise activities director, and shopping coordinator extraordinaire. She took us to a great shop where we found very appropriate, stylish, and very well priced thank-you gifts. Cathe observation is that Masha knows the local shops inside and out and knows where to find quality at low prices. We concluded our shopping venture with a trip to the small indoor marketplace next to the Iceberg. Bill found another souvenir to add to our growing collection: Kazakhstan Chocolate Bars. The Kazakhstan Chocolate Bars come in a turquoise blue wrapper with gold lettering, like their flag. He’ll put them in his suitcase right next to the “For Men Only” chocolate bars.

Today is the first day we have not gone to visit the kids since meeting them 15 days ago. Thankfully, today was one of only a very few days we will not see them before we all go home together. It was hard watching 2:30 come and go without hearing the buzz of the doorbell to let us know our ride was here to take us to the RBS. Although not easy, today really confirmed our feelings for these two children and consider it an important part of our growing and bonding. In just two short weeks we have meshed together in a most amazing way. The emptiness we feel today in missing the children makes it all so clear that we really have found our children. We hope that all is well for them today, can hardly wait for 2:30 to arrive tomorrow so we can see them again.

Today was a good day to review all the pictures we have taken and to reflect on just how lucky we have been to find the right children.

Shifting Gears

Major events of the day: Countdown to Court 1 of 6, Meeting a lot of kids and welcoming a New Arrival

It's hard to believe all 14 days of our bonding period have already flown by. We're now transitioning into waiting mode while we count down the days until court.

This morning brought a little rain, so we lounged around the apartment catching up on correspondence from work, emailing friends and family. The rain stopped around 11 and by noon the sun came out and dried everything off. A couple days ago we did some movie-swapping with Masha, so Bill started “Hidalgo” and we watched it right until it was time to head out for our visit with the children. The “Other 22 hours” as another family called them go by relatively quickly because we spend the time sleeping, walking around the city, grocery shopping, writing for the blog, and especially now that the number of daylight hours has decreased.

Despite the earlier rain, it was very pleasant afternoon when we went outside to wait for Masha and Sasha, probably around 60 degrees. Today will probably be the last “warm” day we have for a while. Projected highs for the rest of the week are upper 40s. We’re ready for the cold weather, but won’t miss it once we head home!

First order of business this afternoon was to tell the children that we have now moved into the next phase in our adoption process: the countdown to court. Tuesday, Oct 23rd won’t come fast enough! We won’t see them tomorrow due to conflicting schedules, but will definitely make up for that over the coming weekend. Tomorrow will be the first day since we met the children that we are not going to visit them. LG started to get a bit teary eyed when she heard this, but the tears quickly dried up when we told them we’ll be there on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and finally early Tuesday morning so we can all go back to the apartment to change for court. Monday will also be a new adventure: we will bring them to the apartment to shower and make final wardrobe selections so they’re squeaky clean and properly attired for court on Tuesday. We’re sure LG will like using Cathe’s soap and shampoo! Side note: Bath day occurs once a week and happens to fall on Tuesday for our two.

Masha brought the teacher’s record book so we can see the children’s progress. Students are graded on a 5 point scale (5 = excellent down to 1 = unsatisfactory). In the last two weeks, all of their grades (except LB’s Kazakh) have improved, confirming what the caretaker told us yesterday about LB and LG putting more effort to their school work. Overall the children’s grades are 3’s and 4’s, with a several 5’s scattered in (no 1’s or 2’s). While telling the children that we will help them make improvements, Masha looked away when she overheard a child telling a teacher in the room that school doesn’t matter because family is more important. How does one respond to this? Fortunately our kids are eager to please and will have the benefit of both academic success and family.

After reviewing progress reports, LG wrote a note to her soon to be friend, Kate, back in Tennessee. Cathe had fun translating LB’s letter to J.D. last night and will spend time later this evening doing the same for LG’s letter. Masha gave Cathe a 5 for her translation efforts. We asked LB to draw a picture of what he liked the best about our time together over the last two weeks. He drew a picture of our Central Park venture last Saturday when we visited the amusement rides.

After the serious part of our visit, we broke out the Uno cards. (LG rejoiced that there would be no flashcard drills today). Cathe noticed a new face at the door and invited Nadia to come play Uno with us (we have gotten good at asking for names). Nadia was a quick learner and won the first game. By the end of the second hand, we found out that this was Nadia’s second day at the RBS and she is separated from her other siblings. From the bits and pieces we surmised that the RBS is her third orphanage.

After letters and drawing, LB dove into his favorite activity: playing on the computer. Meanwhile, LG took control of the camera and got busy. Today’s digital photo tally: 111 pictures. Just as LB and LG got into their favorite tasks, the room exploded with activity. LG got a little "reminder" that there are other people to take pictures of (I think she took about a dozen of this teacher because LG really likes her).


Today was a “Sibling Reunion Day” sponsored by Antares Orphans. There were siblings visiting from two different orphanages. They were passing out stuffed toys, gathering coats, and Boris, the local Antares coordinator, was busy taking pictures. No doubt he will have duplicates made and pass them out to the siblings who have been separated. They were also reviewing artwork for next year's calendar... Seeing activities like this are by far the most difficult for us emotionally because we feel that a child should not have to be without a family. Children are very fortunate if they get to stay together since they are often separated due to space limitations or significant age differences. If Cathe had her way we would leave all our worldly possessions behind and fill our suitcases with more children to bring home.

We were very proud to see how well LB and LG interacted in a group setting. In the midst of chaos, they both stayed focused while involving the children around them. Another great visit!

This evening we went back to the Italian restaurant for dinner with our friends Hilton and Suzanne. We also got to meet a new arrival to Petro, Elizabeth from Richmond. As conversations go, we were discussing foods that we have discovered our children like or don’t like since Elizabeth is also adopting older children. Somehow we figured out that she and Cathe both have Polish ancestry, so foods will be similar. We also discovered that she and Cathe are Michigan natives. Go Blue! (Cathe’s input there)

We again relied on the Italian we knew to order. Bill threw caution to the wind and ordered Rigatoni, a dish none of us had tried yet. Cathe played it safe by the Penne pasta she had last time. It was all a little different than we’re used to back home, but very tasty. This weekend we plan to hunt down the German Restaurant or maybe head back to the Slovenian Inn. We certainly can order Rouladen or Schnitzel, hopefully without the Russian translation now that we have figured out the right hand gestures and animal sounds to entertain the wait-staff but still get what we’re expecting!