The day finally arrives

Snow Sculpture (one of many) in Novosibirsk


Today was the day we had been waiting for!  After our interpreter arrived at the hotel, we took a taxi to the Department of Education to accept our referral of Eugeniy (nickname pronounced ZJAY nya).  Then we traveled about 30 minutes to the Childrens Home and walked up the snowy steps to the big steel front door.

The orphanage was very large, housing children from age 5 up.  The lower floor has offices, kitchen, sewing room, laundry, etc.  The children’s rooms are on the upper floors.  We were escorted to the psychologist’s office where we waited for Geniy.  A couple minutes later he burst through the door with a huge smile on his face.  He was talking a mile a minute.  He came right up to us and hugged us, chattering on and on about who knows what.  We were smitten with him the moment we first laid eyes on him.  He talked and our translator translated.  Within a couple minutes I noticed he said something that she did not translate, so I asked her what he said.  She was hesitant to tell me that he asked “will you take me with you?”  He enjoyed all the little gifts we brought, but mostly he liked our digital camera.  He is a button-pusher!  He’s also very bright – he showed us that he can write his name and he recited the Russian alphabet to us.  He colored in a Batman coloring book with Nick and scolded Nick for not coloring inside the lines!  He laughed about everything and kept saying Nick’s name over and over.  He likes to say Nick’s name.  He said to Nick “you are big and I am small”.

We enjoyed our visit with Geniy immensely.  When it was time to go he told us that we are invited to come back tomorrow.  We told him we would.

After that, we went with the Smiths to the Levi’s Restaurant (501) for dinner, then came back to the hotel room to figure out what we will bring to Geniy tomorrow.  We will be picked up at 9:30 a.m. and will be allowed to stay at the orphanage until 2:00.

Shari

Update

We met with Marina, our representative, this afternoon.  We had heard nothing but good things about her before we came, and now we know why.  She has all the right connections and she loves to see children find their forever families.  She is very good at what she does.  Tomorrow she will take us to the Education Department and then to the orphanage where we will meet Eugeniy.  Marina has to get special permission for Nick to go with us, but after spending an hour with Nick she said she feels she can “speak for him highly” and doesn’t think it will be a problem.  We’re hoping we’ll go in the morning, and not have to wait until afternoon.

Olesya (I spelled her name wrong earlier) took us to a restaurant called 501.  It’s a Levi’s restaurant!  We had a good meal and then went to the grocery store.  The carts at the grocery are very small (like kid-size) and the Russians took out just a small plastic bag or two of groceries each.  We actually did see two children in the store – so now we’ve probably seen five total since we’ve been here.

Before we left for lunch, Dave put a liter bottle of water in the window sill so it would chill.  Three hours later it’s nearly frozen solid!

So now we’re at the hotel where we will probably watch a DVD or two on the laptop and decide what items we will bring to the orphanage tomorrow.  We’ll report back after our visit.

Shari

Frozen nose hairs

Nick is dressed for the weather

This is winter wonderland! Another 4-hour plane ride and here we are in Novosibirsk, western Siberia. Everything here is snowed in.

Our interpreter, Karina, and her driver picked us, and another American couple (the Smiths) who we have been with since Atlanta, up at the Marriott in Moscow and drove us to the airport. Karina helped us check our bags and get to the terminal but we had to go through security and do the rest on our own. We just tried to follow what everyone else was doing. We had 1 1/2 hours wait to board the plane, so we just studied the Russians until then. Once aboard the plane, we knew we were in a foreign land. We had heard stories of terrible Russian planes, but this one wasn’t bad at all except for the 1970s décor (neon green, orange, pink, and yellow). It was obvious that the five of us were the only Americans on board and we got a lot of stares. Once in Novosibirsk, we bundled up and left the plane down a flight of snowy stairs on the runway. We boarded a bus to take us to the terminal. When exiting the bus, Alysya spotted us immediately. We asked how she knew us and she said she could see that we were “shy”. “Not pushy” is what she meant, as the Russians definitely push their way around. It was dark and snowy and we experienced a new sensation – frozen nose hairs! We could feel it immediately and it’s really weird! All this reminded me of the days when the Gestapo drove herds of people off cattle cars through the snowy grounds and through big iron gates in the dark; everyone was quiet and all you could hear is the "crunch, crunch, crunch" of our footsteps in the snow. We went into the gated area and walked indoors through a big, very old, metal door. The inside of this building was cement. We were herded in and then a machine started rolling our luggage out. There were men hollering “taxi” everywhere. They would even get in your face because the competition was fierce. We loaded the van and got to our hotel “Sibir”, I hear one of the nicest hotels in this third-largest city in Russia.

Talk about nice digs! Our hotel room is about twelve feet by fifteen feet plus a tiny bathroom, at $120 a night. There are two twin beds and we brought in a cot for Nick. A 10” television and a small refrigerator top it off. The cigarette smoke penetrates the walls and the furniture and décor is definitely 70s-style. The outside walls are 24” thick.

We’ve experienced some Russian foods. The folks here are big on raw fish, vegetables, hot tea, and breads. Their water and juices are served at almost room temperature. Breakfast is more like dinner to us, as it includes vegetables, rice, and meats. There are very few fresh fruits.

Today we are going to brave the cold with our neighbors, the Smiths. At 3:00 we meet with Childrens Hope and, hopefully, will get to go to the orphanage, but we’re not sure at this time.

Next report will be this evening. My electric adaptor set does not include a 3-prong adaptor, so I’m unable to charge my laptop. I’ll work on getting that remedied today, as we will need the laptop to watch movies on the long plane ride home (the movies shown on the airplane are very inappropriate for the eyes of a 9-year-old boy!).

Shari

Our hotel room (more like a dorm room!) in Novosibirsk, Russia 

Okay, it is now official: Nick can find a serviceman anywhere, even within an hour of arriving in Moscow! 

Its cold in Moscow

St. Basil's Cathedral - Moscow (Red Square)

It’s cold in Moscow!

We arrived in Moscow Saturday morning after ten hours of flying and NO sleeping (except Nick – he slept 3 hours). So, although we had a total of 3 hours’ sleep in 48 hours, we did not crash upon check-in at the hotel (Marriott) but instead bundled up for a walk to Red Square in the snow. Like being in the middle of New York, we saw Moscow bustling with people on foot, cars honking and screeching by each other, and young professionals always either smoking a cigarette or talking on their cell phones. We saw many a statue but could only guess as to whom they honored as we could not read Russian. We tried to speak to some of the locals, but knew we stuck out like a sore thumb and just made it worse when we tried to speak the language. But we were having too much fun!

In order to cross the streets here, you must go underground so that you don’t get run over (see photo above). The underground tunnels are a virtual mall in themselves. Dozens upon dozens little windowed stores, about 3 feet deep by 6 feet wide, one person inside (who hardly had room to move) and customers on the outside doing business through a little window. Coffee and cigarettes are available everywhere from tiny little sidewalk vendors.

The Russians are inundated with advertising. Even the inside of the jetway and the restrooms is covered with advertising. A lot of digital advertising is used, too, so the message can change every few second. Above the main avenues are banners crossing the roads so the drivers can be subject to advertising, too (as if they needed yet another distraction from the road!).

Dave got himself a Russian hat from a street vendor at Red Square and Nick, sure enough, found a couple of Russian soldiers to take a picture with him to add to his collection of pictures of him with military personnel.

Everything here is pretty expensive and most Russians make so little money. One girl told us that jeans here cost $200 - $300 a pair.

After our fun trip to Red Square, we got back to the hotel with just enough time to freshen up before our ride came to take us to Childrens Hope International Moscow headquarters for a meeting. But before the driver came, Nick had fallen asleep. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. So Dave stayed with Nick and I went to the meeting by myself. When I returned to the hotel, Nick had not moved a muscle. Dave and I went to bed at 7:45 and we were all awake again at 3:30 a.m. It’s going to be difficult to get our internal clocks set to Moscow time.

I’m hoping to get a couple pictures up. If I can’t, I’ll try to send you a link to where you can view them. We head to Novosibirsk (Siberia) tomorrow – another 4 hours on an airplane!

Shari

We're headed for Siberia!

We’re headed for Siberia!

We got travel dates today!  We’ll be in Russia January 27 – February 5.  Yippeee!