Waiting
for the flight to Moscow
Alexander and Daddy
Alexander and Mommy
Jayne and Tanya
outside the Gusev Baby Home
Our third and last visit
Happy boy
A Family
|
|
Journal
of Trip 1
|
May
22, 2004
|
At
about 9:15am we board our plane for New York. Our friends Brian and
Rachael were kind enough to take us to the airport. We have a 4 hour
layover in NY...we played cards, had a glass of wine and met a nice
couple with a 6 month old baby girl whom they adopted. We board our
flight for Frankfurt.
Sometime later we arrive in Frankfurt totally exhausted and have about
a 2 hour layover before catching the flight to Moscow. We meet a couple
from Wisconsin on their way to Russia to complete the adoption of 2
children. The description of the orphanage they are working with
sounds bleak.
|
May
23 - 8pm Russia Time
|
Coming
in to Moscow we find out that we need to 'declare'
any money over $3000 cash.......this is a little bit of a
concern....our agency didn't prepare us for this. Thankfully we talked
with the nice couple from Wisconsin who explained the ropes.... We
sailed through imigration and customs, our bags were amongst the first
off the plane and we were out in the lobby waiting for our coordinator
within about 10 minutes of landing. The easiest international entry I
have every experiened.
We
arrive at the Moscow Renaissance hotel - a pretty nice place, very
comfortable. Moscow is busy like any other city; we didn't really see
any point of interest. We'll do that next trip. At this point we have
been up for about 29 hours straight and the exhaustion sets in. |
May
24
7:30am
|
Our
driver (Vladamir) picks us up and we head out for the airport again (a
different one this time) to make our flight to Kaliningrad. Lena our
coordinator/translator helps us with pre-boarding and makes sure we get
to the gate. The flight is delayed by about 1 1/2 hours and we get a
little confused/concerned, but we eventually make the trip.
We arrive in Kaliningrad around noon and meet Tanya - our translator
extrordinaire. A quick trip to the Ministry of Education to get the
official referral of Alexander and we express that we do wish to meet
him. Then off to the apartment where we will be staying (the apartment
is Alexi's , our Kaliningrad driver), some lunch prepared by our "cook"
(soup and some breaded chicken and potatoes - quite good, but by the
end of our trip we are really craving vegetables), the finally we take
the 1 1/2 hour drive to Gusev to meet Alexander.
The countryside is very beautiful, it all looks like what we expect
Europe looked like pre-WWII., lots of old farm houses and green fields
that go on forever. Tanya points out the many stork nests on the
power poles - the babies will have hatched by the time we return.
Finally we get to the Gusev Baby home (a baby home is an orphanage for
newborns - 3 years). We have a long chat with the orphanage director
and the social worker. We learn a great deal about Alexander's mother
and his life up to now. Then, finally after waiting and waiting they
bring him in. What a sweetheart. They hand them to me and he give me
the biggest grin - I'm sold! We get to visit with him for about an
hour; it was great. He is engaging and playful and a joy to be around.
Eventually we have to give him back... :-(
and we head back to the apartment for a quiet evening. |
May
25 - Jayne's Bday
|
We
have an appointment with Alexander's doctor at the hospital where we
learn his full medical history. No surprises here - he has some delays
which are typical of an institutionalized baby, but nothing that good
nutrition and a loving home won't cure. Afterwards we run a few
errands and go to the store where we pick up a few baby toys.
We see Alexander again today, but he is a little slow on this visit. We
think they woke him up from his nap so we could see him; he seems so
out of it - we worry that he is not well.
Later that day our driver, Alexi, Tanya and Niole our coordinator give
me some roses and a gift and wish me a happy birthday. This was
unexpected and sweet.
|
May
26
|
Alexander
is having a final checkup today so we wait at the apartment for him.
Around 11am Alexi comes through the door with a "surprise"! Our baby
boy, and he is alert and happy. This was the best visit yet. He got to
play with us on on the bed for about 1 1/2 hours. We loved it. He is
seeming to be more familiar with us, though he still seems to respond
best to someone speaking Russian. We played and he made us laugh out
loud.
Saying good-bye this time was very hard; we won't see him for about a
month. He'll grow, and he won't recognize us, and we will miss him
terribly.
Later this day Tanya and Alexi take us sight-seeing. Kaliningrad is
going through some major reovations everywhere. There is a huge
celebration in July for their 750 year anniversary, so the whole city
is getting a face lift all at once, this includes the roads too, so
getting around is a little time consuming and frustrating (but nothing
like bay area traffic).
We visited a Russian submarine, where for 50 rubels ($2) each we could
don a Russian uniform and have our picture taken. Later we visit a
Scientific Research ship (the one that was used in the movie Titanic).
Then we visit an old church where Immanuel Kant has been layed to rest.
|
May
27
|
It
is our last day in Kaliningrad - our flight leaves at 4:30pm. We make
one stop to the Ministry of Education to make our formal request to
adopt, Niole has set up our court date - July 4th at 2pm. Then we're
done; all our business is finished until we come back for court.
Before our flight we do a little more sight seeing, a visit to the
amber museum. Apparently Kaliningrad has 90% of the worlds amber. Later
we drive out to the coast (about 20 miles) to visit the Baltic and have
lunch. Before leaving we take off our shoes and step into the
Baltic, just to be able to say we did. :-)
We now have to catch our LOT Polish flight to Poland, it's hot and
about a 1/2 wait before boarding. Our seats are for row 2, hmmm. that
sounds good. But this is a Polish flight....the plane boards from the
rear and business class is the last few rows. Oh well, it was a pretty
decent flight anyway.
A 3 hour layover in Poland then on to Frankfurt. Overnight at an
airport hotel - not one that we would stay in again. It was very hot
and muggy and there was no air conditioning. And, if we left the window
open the planes flew through our room all night long. UGH!
|
| May
28 |
A
10am flight from Frankfurt to SFO - a 10 1/2 hour flight and we are
finally back home. We get here at about noon and climb into bed around
6pm.
We leave for our second trip on June 26th. We'll visit St. Petersburg
for 2 days then on to Kaliningrad to finalize the adoption. Check
back after July 10th or so for the next update in our Russian Adventure.
|
|
|
|
The Baltic Sea
|
The Kaliningrad
International Terminal
|
|
|
|
|
