So, I think I am going to Russia

I know, I've been talking about it for a long time - but I really think I have all the details worked out to go to Russia in December.

Funny thing - rumor had it that traveling in winter is cheap in Russia. Which made good sense to me. Who wants to go to Siberia in December? Well - that isn't exactly the case. But - I'll work it out.

I am going alone - Marty will be in India at the same time I am going to be in Russia. I've been to Russia by myself before - so I am OK with that. Also, some of my friends might be in the region at the same time I am there - so that is a bonus.

I have nothing going on next week - so this is going to be the week I sit and go through ALL of our documents. I am definitely going to make sure that my Visa is good for a few days longer than my actual trip. You might remember the nightmare we had getting home last year from Russia.

I have thought of a few things I can pass off to someone (who is creative) to help with. We have to submit photographs of all our interaction with Anya - well, we have a lot of photos. It would be great if someone with some digital photo skill could help.

Please pray for all the details to work out...and for our finances to be able to withstand a trip to India - and a trip to Russia on top of the other pressures.

Anya and education

I've been thinking a lot about how much Anya has changed in the past 3 years. Gone are the days when she had chubby cheeks, and barely spoke a word.

Education in the orphanage is a little different than what we would consider education. Anya is very smart. She is quite an artist, can recite poetry, knows several dances. She has no problem singing songs in front of her group.

There is a lot of emphasis on the arts as opposed to science. She can count to 10, but then needs help. She can't write her name, and can't read. But - she loves to 'read'. She loves looking through books, and being read to. This shows me that she is hungry to learn.

When we were there a year ago - she couldn't count to 10. I think maybe we were the first ones to really count to 10 with her. She could count to 3, but then got confused (and it was like 1-2-3-5-6-4-8-7).

Anya also has some natural athletic ability. I've never seen the kids being schooled in the finer points of athletics at the orphanages...but who knows. That little girl can throw a ball, and catch it like you wouldn't believe.

Anya is very concerned about her appearance. One day, we got to the orphanage a little early - and she was outside playing with her group. She saw us, and RAN inside to "look pretty for mama and papa". It bothers me a little, that somehow she has learned that she has to look nice for us...which of course she doesn't. But, when a new 'mama and papa' come to the orphanage, there is talk among the caregivers about how they have to 'make the children look beautiful'. The kids do put on nicer clothes, bows and ribbons in the girl's hair and so on.

Kids are kids, I guess. And they pick up things, and learn things you wouldn't think they were paying attention to.

If other moms and dads are on this board, and can chime in on this Russian institutionalized education thing, I would love to hear what your experiences were.

Anya's English Lesson

Anya Fun Video

Anya Good Bye Movie

I love this video - it was taken on our last day in Irkutsk (last Saturday). In the beginning, you will hear Anya say "ya tibya loobloo" That is 'I love you' in Russian.

Also, when she is on the phone, she says "hello - how are you" and 'paka' is good-bye.

Just a little helpful translation!

Good Things About Russia

I feel like I have been doing a lot of Russia-bashing recently. I kind of feel bad about that - because there are things about Irkutsk I really like. So, in the interest of 'fair reporting', I thought I would post a list of those things I do like and miss about Irkutsk:

1. Anya (duh)

2. the water - I don't know what it is about the water, but it does wonders for your skin and hair

3. Anya (double duh)

4. Walking. We figured that we walked about 5-6 miles a day - which is why on day 1, my feet hurt so bad! But thanks to the Adidas store in downtown Irkutsk, from that point on - I had happy feet!

5. OK, the Adidas store!

6. Since we're on shopping (something that I consider myself an expert at)...boots and shoes. Irkutsk has the greatest shoes - and there are more shoe stores there than anyone could ever visit during one trip. I will say that the 2 boots I got on this trip are some of my favorite (leather, hand crafted for about $35 each!)

7. Another shopping note - fur. This is the place to get a fur. I figure the last time I go there, I will splurge and get a fur...maybe a mink? Or red fox?

8. Anya

9. Simplicity. Everything seems so simple there. Our lives are so busy, and filled with junk. THere isn't time or space for junk when we are in Irkutsk. Everything is very simple. And, we get by nicely (without all of our electronics, gadgets and comforts of home).

10. The people watching. Not only the beautiful Russian women, but in general.

11. Anya (gotta throw that one in again)

12. Bread and Cheese - since that is about the only thing I eat there - I will say they have great bread and cheese.

13. Speaking of food...Fiesta (the restaurant on the walking street that is kind of like a Russian version of Panera) and the new buffet on the corner of Karl Marx and the walking street (best potatoe pancakes I've ever had!)

14. The friends and people we've met in Irktusk and Moscow. Everyone that we're working with (and have worked with) are genuinely great people. Although they don't always appreciate our American sence of humor - we love them all for all they've done for us.

15. Finally...Anya. I miss her laugh, her smile, her inquisitiveness, her mimicking everything I say and do, her hugs, the sparkle in her eyes. I miss her asking me every day if I got her some sunglasses to wear.

I think once we get Anya home, we will still remember Irkutsk with fond memories...traveling there is another story - but being there is always nice. When we were in Moscow - someone said something to me that was interesting. He said, "In Russia, it is very hard to get here, and very hard to leave. It does not make sence, even to me - one who is Russian".

...and I think that is a great way to end this post!

Fun Statistics

For those of you out there who know me well - you know that I dig stats (which is probably why I was a good media buyer - back in the day!). I have a statistics function as part of this blog, and I thought I would share some of the info:

Since mid-August, we've had 576 (as of now) visitors to the site

The visitors have come from 3 countries: USA, France, Germany. This is a little skewed since I logged on when we were in Germany (so that was me). I do have some other Irkutsk-adopted-parent friends in France - so that makes sence.

Most people log on between 7-9am, with another spike at 6pm.

Most people come here from a bookmark in Internet Explorer or Firefox. But, several people have come here through classreport.com. My high school class has a site there, and I posted a link to this site on my profile. For those Riley-ites who have visited - Hello! And thanks for stopping by! ...and Lisa B. - if it is you (I guess it isn't Lisa B anymore!) - I can't find your email address, and I need to get in touch with you! Email me! I'm coming to Ohio next week.

Thank you to all who have followed our trip - we will continue to update the blog with our progress, and any new info.

Surprise!

I just love this photo of Anya. She was sitting on my lap, and I was showing her some toy or something. Too cute!

Anya in glasses

Yes, ANya is still wearing glasses. WHen we got there - we were told her glasses were broken a long time ago...and amazingly while we were there, she got new glasses. I still am not convinced that she needs them.

GOD IS GOOD – ALL THE TIME

When things happen, like what has happened to us with our travels over the past dew days, I always start thinking to myself - what is God trying to do with this situation. What am I going to learn? Marty keeps telling me that he thinks at the end of all this, I am going to be one to help families who are adopting with paperwork and nightmares. I can’t truly help unless I have experienced everything there is to experience. Well – as nice as that is, from where I sit right now, I don’t think so!

As we are sitting on our direct flight from Frankfort to Cincinnati – I just noticed what was on the TV in the airplane…Friday Night Lights. And, what got my attention was someone saying ‘South Bend’, and the football players on the show talking about going to Notre Dame.

What truly matters in any story is how it ends. We’re not quite done with the end of our adoption story, but we are turning the page on this chapter. This chapter is going to end with us home…coming into the C Concourse in South Bend! (and right now, after 2 days with very little sleep - that thought is about to make me cry!)

Trip from H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks

I don’t think I can put into words, the feeling at the end of a trip – when you reach that point when you are just ready to be home – when you find out that you might not be able to go home (and it’s not your fault, or in your control). I am still reeling over the experience in Moscow yesterday. I swear I don’t understand why no one with any airline would help me. Here is a reiteration of one of my favorite interactions with one of the members of the Aeroflot team:

Me: “hello, please, can you help me”
Aeroflot: “what is your problem”
Me: “I am interested in purchasing a ticket to London”
Aeroflot: “it is very expensive”
Me: “Can you please tell me how much?”
Aeroflot: “Neit!”
Me: “What about Paris, are there seats available on your flight to Paris tonight?”
Aeroflot: “Yes”
Me: “how much for 2 tickets on that flight?”
Aeroflot: “it is not available”

After that enlightening conversation, I decided to call home and get some help on that end. If we could get a hold of someone who could call Sandy, she might be able to help us. I wasn’t thinking that it was Sunday morning (about 11am) at home. In order to use the phones in the Moscow airport – you have to purchase a ‘smart card’. We got 2 smart cards – good for about 6 minutes on the phone. There are about 10 pay phones. 9 of them don’t work. I found the 1 that worked, and started to try to get a hold of ANYONE at home that could help. I started with my Mom (home – no answer. Cell – no answer). On to my brother – he ALWAYS has his cell with him, and always answers it. No answer. Then – I tried to call my friend Kathy – she always answers too. No answer. The on to Melissa – Sandy is her step-mom, so I thought she would know how to get in touch with Sandy. No answer.

After a few attitude adjusting deep breaths, I started to try to call everyone on the list again – from the top down. Where in the world was everyone in my life???? This time, Mel answered the phone – but for some reason, she couldn’t hear me. ARE YOU KIDDING???

After slamming the phone back onto the wall, and noticing that all of the guards and police-types were looking at me, I thought I better take a walk and cool off. A guy came up to me, and was asking me about the phone. I wasn’t in the mood to ‘chat’. Come to find out, there was some trick to using the phone – a trick that wasn’t written in English on the phone. Apparently, when the party answers the phone, you are supposed to hit a button to activate the ability for them to hear you. So – back to the phones I went to call Melissa again. THANK GOD! She answered. I got the phone numbers for Sandy.

I slight feeling of relief came over me…I picked up the phone, and tried to call. No answer.

At this point, I think Marty was getting scared of me. I could feel that I was about at the point of losing it. You know that feeling where you really just want to cry – but you can’t? So you are using all of your energy to fight back the tears?

I walk back up to the Aeroflot counter, the ONLY one with an agent (imagine that!). Again, this woman would not help me. I don’t know if she didn’t understand English or what. I was done – totally and completely done.

Marty and our driver, Max (yes, poor Max was with us, trying his best to help) went to the counter. I told Marty I didn’t care where we went, but we needed to get out of the country – and we only had a few hours to do that.

We ended up in Munich. Of all the places we could have ended up – it was perfect. Just what we both needed. That is a beautiful airport. The people are so pleasant, very helpful, very willing to handle whatever your problem might be. A great example is when we got off the plane, and went up to the information desk. We were trying to find a hotel. Rather than simply telling us where the hotel was, the person at the desk called the hotel, got the rate, reserved the room and gave us a kind-of confirmation. By the time we got to the front desk (about a 5 minute walk), our room was ready for us – with an upgrade to a suite! Although we were only going to be in the hotel for a few hours, it was so nice! Internet access to contact our family (and Sandy) to help us figure out how to get out of Munich, a huge bed, great shower, room service with food that was some of the best we’ve had in a LONG time!

From Munich – we headed to Frankfort – and had the same outstanding experience with everyone we dealt with. If you ever have the chance to fly Luftansa, go to Munich or Frankfort – do it! And of course, call Sandy at A World of Travel to help you. She has been our lifeline over the past few days. I seriously do not know what we would have done – or even where we would have started to find a flight home. Sandy was able to give us EXCELLENT advice, and more importantly, tell us what we needed to do to get home.

The Mosquito Diaries

I hope the roving gang of mosquitoes that made a meal out of me are happy. I do tend to exaggerate, but this time, I promise that I am not stretching the truth. I have roughly 25 bites. I do not understand how I can have all these bug bites, and Marty has none! The other odd thing is that I didn’t feel any of them! At home, you can generally feel a mosquito attack…in Russia, they’re like ‘no-see-ums’.

…and of course, since we left Russia, I have not had any kind of bug bite me!!!

Getting out of Russia

Well, we have had one HECK of a time trying to get out of Russia. Our flight was delayed by 8 hours, causing us to miss our connecting flight home. With the help of Sandy from A World of Travel (and everyone should use her for travel needs!!), we booked a flight from Moscow - Rome - Paris. Well.....those darn Ruskies, we missed that flight too. And wouldn't ya know it, NO ONE in the Moscow airport could help us. We spent roughly 2 hours going from desk to desk, asking for help. We tried to get a ticket to Paris - and were told 'no'. No one would help us. The ONLY place someone would allow us to buy a ticket to was Munich - so that is where we are - Germany...

Why not overnight in Moscow? Well, our Visa was only valid through Sept. 9 - so we had to get out of the country by midnight. If we were there any longer, we would not be allowed to leave - and according to the Embassy, it would take at least 5 days (up to 20) to get the right documentation to get us home. UGH! Not allowing us any leeway on our travel dates is another "thanks Russia" thing. Our Visa came directly from the Russian consulate in Houston. They required that we only have a visa for the exact dates of travel.

I don't even want to think about how much time, money and frustration this is causing us. We've been awake for about 27 hours. I've not eaten (Aeroflot doesn't serve food I can eat...nice!)...so we're a little DONE with this traveling thing.

We're heading to Frankfort tomorrow a.m., then catching a flight home. We will post again once we get home.

Praying for safe, efficient and hassle free travels!

-Kathy and Marty

Anya

Anya was asking a lot today if she could go with us. She asked Julia (our interpreter) several times when she was going to go with us. We still don’t think she completely understands the whole concept of being adopted – but she does know that she is going to go home with us – although she thinks ‘home’ is like where she is now. I think I had a worse time leaving today than Anya did. As we were leaving, she asked if we were coming tomorrow…we said no, but we would come back one day. She kind of sighed and said that she would be waiting, and would miss us. My heart broke. Every single one of her caregivers has asked us when we are taking her home. I know they have no idea what is going on with the court and the Judge.

In Anya’s daily English lessons, we taught her to say I love you. Today she was putting together ‘I love you mommy’ and ‘I love you daddy’.

We’ll have more photos and video to post next week when we get home. We leave Irkutsk tomorrow morning at 8am.

THE THING ABOUT RUSSIA

There are a few things about Russia that I can not understand. I’ve been here 4 times, each visit, I stay at least 7 days…and I still can not figure out why texi drivers and clerks at stores (specifically at grocery stores) get peeved when you don’t have the exact change. It makes no sense!

I also don’t understand the driving here. It is like one of those crazy video games – in real life. It is unusual to be here for any length of time and not see a fatal accident. Which brings me to another oddity of Russia. When there is a bad accident – no one seems too excited about it. We saw one (again) today, there looked to be a dead guy in one of the cars…and no one was really doing anything. A few people standing around and a police officer measuring something on the road. Odd.

Wearing the same outfit for days on end. Maybe it is because of what I do for a living, but I don’t get it. Apparently, Russians wash out their clothes at night, and wear the same thing the next day.

Beer…everywhere beer. Not vodka – beer. Beer in the hands of everyone on the streets; kids, grandmothers, amputees, men, well dressed women. Everyone!

The inequality of good looking people. As I mentioned in another post – there are a lot of beautiful women here. Even those girls who are ‘ok’ have striking features. Men – not so much. I think I’ve only seen maybe 3-4 good looking men.

Fish for breakfast. I know that this is a ‘thing’ at home too (I watch Martha Stewart – and yes, I know she has salmon every morning). But common – yuck! A little fish with your corn flakes!?

Why are there SO MANY ½ built buildings all over the place…but a ton of new construction going on?

And I really do not understand how I got SO MANY mosquito bites all over my arms and hands! UGH!

I do understand feeding children tea, pushing and shoving instead of orderly lines (to get on an airplane, pay for something, walk through a door…), and how ridiculously hot it is in the mall. The bottom line? There’s no place like home!

IRKUTSK

For any of you who have been to Irkutsk – you will appreciate how much it has changed. When we first came here (3 years ago), very few places took credit cards, and the only familiar place was Benetton. Now, there is what appears to be a Domino’s Pizza, Burger King, and most places take credit cards.

There is construction all over the place - lots of new buildings and places to go. It's like a new city!

Anya's mama and papa

Anya has gone past calling us mama and papa. Now, we’re officially mommy and pappy. More specifically – HER mommy and pappy. Anya goes back and forth to who is her favorite. Today – I was her favorite. Everything I did – she did. It was so cute! She asked me to get her 2 lipsticks, because I had 2 lipsticks (her lipstick is Pooh chap stick). She wants sunglasses because mama has sun glasses. She wants earrings, because I have them (we have those play stick on earrings…yesterday she had 4 on each ear!). She likes her red shoes because Mama has red shoes. She has taken to mimicking everything that I do…I stand and put my hand on my hip – and so does she. Whatever I say – she repeats. Needless to say, I probably need to be careful about the words I choose!

Little Stinker

We are back at the apartment for lunch after our time with Anya this morning. When we got there, she was being taken into the doctor's office for some kind of finger-prick. She was not happy about that!

After she calmed down from that - she was in a mood! I don't know what they fed her for breakfast, but it really wound her up! I seem to remember during our last trip - toward the end of our stay, she started testing her boundaries and so on. One good thing is when she starts acting up (throwing toys, climbing on furniture etc.), we tell her no - and she does stop. It's easy to redirect her attention to something more productive.

We brought some string and beads with us today so Anya could make necklaces for all of the kids in her group. There are 10 children - 3 girls and 7 boys. All of the children loved their new bead necklaces! It will be interesting to see how many of them survive lunch.


more later!

Document update

Before we head to the Detski Dom today, I thought I would post a quick update on our paperwork.

The statement from the Judge was interesting. The main problems she has with our documents is our Indiana State apostille. I did work with the State Department to have them change it, however, apparently it is not a PERFECT square (something that you could only find if you measured it with a ruler...by eyeballing it, it looks like a square). She is also saying that the way the apostille is attached to the document isn't legit. Whatever that means.

We will need to find the Russian version of the Hague detailing the 2003 (I think) update/revisions. We just need to show her that the things she is asking for are not the law.

Other changes are minor. Nothing we can't take care of swiftly. We have until September 25th to comply. Our lawyer said that typically, families do not comply with every change detailed in the Judge's first statement. Some of the things the Judge asked for in the statement, she was provided - which means that our lawyer needs to go back to her to show that we did provide that. Once the lawyer and Judge agree - the legal statement is revised, deleting that point.

This morning I will need to get a hold of our friends in Moscow to help us redo some medical forms, and to redo a letter from the Embassy. The Embassy provided us with a standard letter that is used throughout Russia...but of course, this letter isn't good enough for the Judge.

Like I said, the changes are minor - and a matter of "majoring in minors". The most concerning thing I can see is the apostille. Gathering all 125 documents last time for our dossier about sent me over the edge. I can't imagine having to do that again. I will...but the thought of it makes me want to curl up in a corner and hide.

Please pray that we can quickly find the information on the Hague in Russian. I have a weblinnk - however it is in English. If anyone out there has a link - please forward it to me!