Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Only Two More To Go! Wait Day 8

Yes, Thank goodness, the clock is starting to tick down and talks about "Gotcha Day" have begun. Two more visits to the orphanage after today and then she is mine forever more. Hooray! We have just gone over the hurdle of half way through our journey here in Russia too. We have been on this journey of love for 14 days now with 13 more to go until we leave for home. Can you tell I am getting a little home sick? It wouldn't be quite as bad if we didn't feel so confined to the indoors because of the weather. Mom and I both would have loved to see lots more of the city but it has been just too darn cold to walk around at all, except for the little trips to the supermarket and to Peppers. There are no tour bus type trips in this city, nor subway to city center or anything fancy like that. Our only transportation is taxi service , bus or the trips with our driver from our agency. Since bus service is pretty much out of the question as our agency told us they would prefer we didn't try it in the winter when it is so cold, and taxi service can get fairly expensive, we have just been stuck in our little neighborhood for the most part. The weather is supposed to get a little bit warmer for the weekend. We are hoping also for next week so we can go to the park and fountain area over by Hotel Krasnoyarsk to see the ice sculptures and a little more of the city. Keep your fingers crossed for us that old man winter gives us a little break from the Arctic air before we leave next Thursday for Moscow.

My visit with the Little Princess went very well today. No drama like yesterday! Dasha was back as our driver. Her English is also getting much better this trip than my first trip, so she is also able to interpret some of Little Princesses baby language for me while we are at the orphanage.

We had fun today with more instruments. Mama was nice and let Little Princess play with the xylophone. (Grandma said she'd put it all back together for us if need be.) We also played with Mama's camera. This little girl sure is smart when it comes to gadgets. Wow! She figured out how to use my camera, with a little help only. We have some very interesting pictures of the snow princess, as she wanted to take her picture. Also pictures of the floor, the xylophone, fingers, Mamas hair, etc.. I've already decided we have to go and get a few more toys to keep this young lady entertained during our ten days together before we get home. She already seems very bored with the little toys I was able to pack and bring with me. I only have a couple of things left here at the apartment that she hasn't seen. Dasha just told us today that there are some childrens stores over by Peppers in that little mall on the 3rd floor. We will go and see what they have tomorrow or Friday. Would like to see if they have any of the little sandals that the kids wear at the orphange as well. They are very cute and come in all different colors.

For dinner tonite we had more Deli Surprises. Went to the supermarket again after our visit with the Little Princess and found a few things to try for dinner. We have both decided that we really want to sample as much Russian cuisine as possible. This is a very inexpensive way, compared to going out to eat every night. All we have to do is maybe heat it up a little and put the food on our plates. Okay, so tonight we ended up with pork chops with tomato, cream cheese, and hollandase type sauce on top. Very delicious, but the pork was a little bit tough. We also sampled two different salads. The first salad was with carrot slivers, cream cheese, peas, hard boiled egg, and tuna. Very nice tasting. The second salad was not so nice. It had peas (I think), green beans, and liver, with some sort of cheese type sauce holding it all together. We couldn't tell that it had liver in it when we bought it, or we wouldn't have, cause neither one of us are fans of this meat. So, not too bad! For the most part we have liked everything but this one salad that we have tried.

We haven't picked a movie yet tonight so not sure if we will watch anything or just listen to Russian TV and guess what they are saying. Right now we are just relaxing playing computer games. AOL's Fishdom and Mahjong are our top favorites today.

Thanks again for everyones comments and suggestions. We love hearing from you all!

Paka!
Shannon

10 comments:

Roger and Joanne said...

I'm getting very anxious to see a picture of your little princess very soon. Drumroll, please....

Amy said...

LOL I am with Joanne! Can't wait to see pictures.

When you buy some new toys save a couple she hasn't seen for the plane ride home. I have heard this helps!!

Another great game site for you to visit on the net is pogo.com -- some games require their membership, but lots are free!!

Carey and Norman said...

Aren't you glad the wait is almost over. I know how much you are looking forward to leaving the orphanage with your daughter. We sure were! It is definitely more entertaining when you have your child with you. Of course, it is a little more tiring too :o)

So glad you are being adventurous with the food. That is something I can't hardly do (especially when it comes to meats), so I'm glad you are trying their cuisine.

Thinking of you!!

Becky and Keith said...

I highly, highly recommend setting aside "new" toys for the ride home. We did that with Andrew and it was a LIFESAVER! We would take out one toy, he would play with it for a while and when we saw him get restless - back in the bag it went! Then came new toy #2. Rewind and repeat for the entire flight. By the time you get done with new toy #8, toy #1 is new again!

Once you get to Moscow, there is a big kids store on Novy Arbat. The have tons of toys, coloring books, stickers, etc... Stickers were a huge hit because we let Andrew stick them everywhere (tray table, seat, etc...) and then he would have fun peeling them off.

Also, one of his favorite things (that wasn't so much a toy) was a belt. :-) He used Keith's belt to link the seats together, tried to buckle it, etc...

I hope some of these ideas help! The Princess sounds very active like Andrew was and we survived the flight with no issues. Oh yeah - one more thought. Before you leave Moscow, get a few different bags of snacks and a box of baggies. I made up small bags of treats to whip out every hour or so. It worked well because the food was rationed and Andrew wasn't pitching fits because he couldn't eat the whole bag of whatever it was. Alternate the food and the toys and you'll have a nice trip home (I hope!!).

I think I'll go do a post on this because a ton of people are getting ready to travel. Sorry for rambling so much - just thought some of this might help you out in 13 days! Enjoy your visits with the Princess until then!

Becky

Carolynn and Steve said...

So glad to hear that you're keeping warm and hanging in there...I know the wait must be terrible, especially since you can't get out much. But I'm thinking that I would perhaps enjoy it as much as I could, because it sounds like things are going to get very active soon. Many prayers for you and mom and the princess--and it's so fun to hear about your food adventures!

orange1986 said...

Hi Shannon! Those little sandals should be pretty easy to find, they are classic Russian childrens shoes that are worn for a large part of the year. I can't wait until you can finally post some pictures of the little princess!

Anonymous said...

Hi Shannon-

So glad things are going well. I can't wait until our first post-placement visit. If I am in the area I may have to come earlier! Can't wait to see a picture of your Little Princess......

Anonymous said...

Hi Shannon!

We also adopted from the same region a few months ago. Our little one LOVED dried fruit. We fround it at the market by the Kras hotel. It is in a purple bag (I think) and the fruits are in little diced squares. I would tell you the name of it, but since it was in Cryllic, I have no idea what it was. :) Those little fruits were a life saver on our flight back to Moscow! I have looked all over the US for some similar to it, but can't find any! :) I am so jealous that you might get to see the ice sculptures! I really wished they were up on our visit!:)

KC

said...

I am so excited that you have reached the half way point! It is hard to believe that you have been there that long already but I am sure that it hasn't seemed that quick for you. You might want to ask if there is a souvenir shop that they can take you too. I got some nice things to remember our region.

Toys are good but without a doubt stock up on snacks for Little Princess - that is what saved me on take off and landings when he HAD to have his seat belt on.

Can't wait to see pictures.

kate said...

What a great countdown! Aren't you glad you didn't have to wait ten BUSINESS days like some families?

Once she's home, she'll have all sorts of things to play with. Some new toys for the trip home would be great (along with SNACKS). The biggest hits I've heard of on the plane: a roll of tape and a container of dental floss. Seriously. Everybody loves them.