I arrived in Krasnoyarsk on Monday, safe and sound, just very exhausted. It has taken a couple of days to figure out how to establish an internet connection so that I could update the blog. Here I am finally connected and it is Tuesday evenning, so I will back up my story for a couple of days.
Saturday 9/20/08, I left Detroit as scheduled flying on Lufthansa airlines with connection in Frankfurt. The flight over to Frankfurt was very smooth. No complications what so ever, just very cramped for space on the plane making it impossible to get any real rest. The flight was about 7 1/2 hours. The second leg of the journey from Frankfurt to Moscow was also very smooth with no problems. My layover was minimal with only about 30 minutes to wait before boarding the next plane. The terminal was fairly easy to manouver through to find a connecting flight, just large. They have a tram or monorail type vehicle to get you from one terminal to the other. This flight was about 3 hours long maybe a little less, again no sleep. I arrived in Moscow at 1230pm on Sunday 9/21/08. Once off the plane it was time to go through passport control. The line was long to get through and somewhat confusing, but after about 15 minutes I finally just went and stood in a line. Most books and information that I had received about passport control, all said to go to the right for foreigners, but on this day, they had everyone go to the left, foreigners and Russians alike. Anyway, 1 hour later I was through. My translater made it very easy to find her with a sign for CHI, so no problems after that. Once I found my agency representatives I found out that the itinerary that I was given in the US was not the one to be used for this trip. No problem, I can be flexible... so on Sunday night I flew out of Moscow and to Krasnoyarsk. The flight was a "red-eye" flight leaving at 9pm and arriving at about 6am on 9/22. The plane was very nice. This time Aeroflot and a new plane. I did manage to sleep about 1 hour, but that was about all. Now remember, I left Michigan on 9/20, now I'm arriving in Krasnoyarsk on 9/22 at 6am with only 1 hour sleep. Oh boy!!! and I still had a whole days worth of meetings to go to. Luckily the adrenalin of going to the Ministry of education (MOE) and meeting my referral kicked in to help me through the day.
Monday: meeting with the MOE went very well. I didn't know what to expect, but the two ladies that work in the department were very nice. I think I relaxed a little after the first 5 minutes. While at the MOE you are asked some basic questions about yourself and what you do, and why you want to adopt. After the questions the ladies give you the referral that they have chosen for you, along with some basic information. You are then asked if you would like to meet this referral. Of course I said yes!!! I was then given permission to visit my little one that afternoon at the orphanage.
After a very nice lunch of typical Russian cuisine (very delicious might I add), we were off to the orphanage, Oleg our CHI representative and Sveta my interpretor, and myself. First stop was at the orphange directors office to speak with the social workers. I was given all the information that they had on how my little one came to be in the orphanage, family background, etc... Once this meeting was over, we headed to another building where my little one is living. Here we met with the orphange doctor to discuss her medical information and then to speak to a caregiver as well. During the discussion with the doctor, they brought in the sweetest little girl all dressed in a very cute little pink and white dress with big white bow on top of her head. This precious little girl came walking right up to me and held out her hands to sit in my lap. That was it.....seeing those big brown eyes of hers melted my heart and in that very instant I knew she was to be mine. Nothing else the doctor said after that made any difference. Sveta did have to take her from me for a few minutes so that I could finish up with the doctor and also ask a few questions of the caregivers. After the formalities, we were able to sit on the floor and play for about an hour before our time was up and my little princess had to go to her groupa. It was so cute, on the way out of the orphange the caregiver had little princess hold my hand and walk me to the door. Little princess didn't want to let go. It almost broke my heart to already have to leave her behind.
It was back to the Hotel after the orphanage. We tried to get my computer to connect to the internet that evenning but no such luck, so I just sent out a couple of emails from the businesss center, had some dinner at the hotel cafe, and then back to my room to crash for the night. Sleep...finally sleep.
Tuesday: That brings us to this morning... I woke up at 5:15am and was unable to sleep anymore. Both anxious to go back to the orphanage and wanting to get the computer to work. Tried again with the computer..no luck. Had breakfast at the Hotel, which by the way, I am staying at the Hotel Siberia, and a large breakfast buffet is included with your stay for those travelling to this region. The Hotel is very nice and new. It is actually part of a new convention center. This week is a big meeting for the military people here, so lots of uniforms walking around. I was wondering what was going on up until someone told me today. :) I thought there seemed like a lot of military personnel for this one area of town. I think I was just too tired yesterday to really put it all together.
Anyhow, at 930am my driver Dasha arrived to take me to the orphange for my visit today with the little princess. Today I was by myself with no interpreter as she was busy with another family that is here. The orphanage staff are all very friendly and helpful even if we can't speak the same language. This morning my little princess came to me all dressed up in her winter coat and hat and cold weather clothes so that we could go outside for a walk around the orphanage. Originally I thought they told me I could take her for "a walk around the orphange", thinking around the block. Whoops..not exactly what they meant. after a few frantic hand gestures, I realized that I was not supposed to go outside the fenced in area. I quickly brought the princess back inside the fenced yard and we played on the outside play equipment for a little while until we were both cold and noses starting to run. Once inside we played in a very small office for about an hour. Unfortunately the orphange is being renovated right now so play areas are very limited. It will be very nice when it is all done, just lots of painting and dust, and furniture all moved around right now.
As for the Little Princess, she was much more playful and active today. I even got to see several big smiles. She loves to put things together and take them apart. She is very smart (mama bragging already) and has the cutest giggles. Can't wait until our visit tomorrow, although it will be the last for a couple of months. I am not looking forward to the next wait. I am already praying that I can complete the next set of documents in lightning speed so that I can receive a court date very soon.
After the orphanage, I came back to the hotel and had a nice nap (almost 3 hours). At 445pm the phone rang and got me up out of the bed, thank goodness, or I would have missed the whole rest of the day. The call was from Sveta that she was here with the other family that is here from CHI that I was supposed to travel with. ( I'll tell that story in a different post). Anyway, finally got to meet them along with another CHI family here on trip 2 (another single Mom). We all had coffee here at the hotel, then time for the one family to call it a day. The family for trip 2, myself, our interpreter and a couple family here from Spain all went out to dinner at the German restaraunt downtown by the Hotel Kras. we had a great evenning sharing stories and good German food, all speaking in Spansih ,Russian and English. Quite interesting!!!! :) I had a really nice time and enjoyed all the company. Once back at the hotel we were finallly able to get help in getting me online. So here I am, and after a very long post I now have you all caught up to date.
It is now 1230am and I must get some rest as I have an 8am pick up time to make in the morning for the orphanage and my last visit with the little princess.
paka for now....
Shannon
Just a couple pics to share as my camera battery decided to die before the gift openning began. I need to get the rest of the pics from my sister-in-law. Thank you again Jill, Jane and Candy for such a wonderful party for the Little Princess.
This is the Hotel Sibier where I stayed
and the new Fountain by Hotel Krasnoyarsk
