I was up at 6:30 this morning; time to get some reading done before the boys wake up. It is our first morning with the boys. What will today bring? It is Saturday and we'll attempt to get our plane tickets for the boys to travel to Moscow. I'm not comfortable with not having the tickets as this late date. We also need to confirm which day we'll return to Moscow ... Wednesday (as planned) or Tuesday?
The boys were up around 8am and were as excited as ever to be in Mama and Papa's room. Of course, we were thrilled that they were here and were so happy. We started what we hope to be the morning ritual ... up, make beds, get dressed. All this worked somewhat smoothly as they needed to learn where THEIR stuff was located and how they would make their new 'temporary' beds. Breakfast was served at 9am and the boys, utilizing our Russian hosts in the eating area, took advantage of their Russian and ordered what they wanted. They ate a LOT. It was their first meal in what I'll call FREEDOM. No more Orphanage food, rules or other children to compete with today. At least that's what I thought they were thinking. We'll reset the rules tomorrow and ensure the expectations are known. :-)
After breakfast cleanup and brushing of teeth (they love doing this) Carol, CK and the boys headed to the nearby kids park for the swing, teeter-totter and some sand action. They actually enjoyed the gate to the park more than anything. It didn't exactly close correctly and someone had tied some elastic rope to one side. The boys were facinated at how it worked. Of course, one had to locate the nearly empty beer bottle by the fence and see what it contained. We were fortunate nothing was consumed.
Around 10:20 Misha, Natalia and Alexander arrive to help with the travel tickets. Natalia tells me that Svetlana (Agency lead in Moscow) has determined that will travel to Moscow on Tuesday. I attempted to ensure that we weren't changing plans just for the fun of it but met little success. There was no reason given why we should change other than it would give us more time in Moscow than currently scheduled. I was not particularly pleased as the nights in Moscow were at least twice as expensive as those in K'grad. But, I didn't pursue it any further and agreed to the Tuesday flight plans. Alexander said we needed to have color photos of the boys for their US Visas so everyone headed for a photo store near town square. Another 280 rubles later we had enough photos of the boys to give us one extra. Next we headed for the travel agent but Carol, CK and the boys were taken back to the hotel as we guessed it may take a little while. They were correct. We arrived 15 minutes before they opened (11am) so Alexander, Natasha and I went for a cup of coffee and confectionary delight at Moscow Hotel. We talked a bit and I learned a bit about Alexander's military history. He is a retired lieutenant colonel (equivalent in US Army), last serving in the Soviet Navy. He was very interested in my Navy background as well so we had a nice time while sipping coffee and tea. I also shared my pictures on my IBM T41 laptop. Alexander and Natasha were very interested in the laptop and commented they wanted to purchase one but didn't know how to go about it. I'm actually surprised they didn't have laptops already given all the work they do.
The travel agent was unable to sell us tickets for the boys' flights since we didn't have passport numbers to include during the process. However, they made the reservations saying we could return on Monday and claim the tickets if we had the passports. They were also unable to change the three tickets (Carol, CK and I) claiming only Aeroflot offices could do so. This caused us to visit the Aeroflot office at town square. Their connections to Moscow were down at the time so another delay was endured. During all this time Alexander continued to talk about purchasing a laptop so he took advantage of the delays to march me to three different stores around town square to view the selection of laptops; only one of which carried DELL machines, none carried IBM. I recommended the DELL Inspiron 5100 at $1375. I suspect they'll return and purchase one each as the clerk said if they both return they'll receive another 10% off the price. Good sales guy.
On the way back to Aeroflot I exchanged another $100 as I'd have to pay for the change of flights. Only $40 total to change this time for all three tickets. That's better than the States ... would have been $300 on most airlines today.
I finally made it back to the hotel around 1:20. Carol was surviving at this point. I was really glad that CK was around to help her with the boys. This being their first day away from the confines of the Orphanage they were letting some attitude hang out. I rounded the boys up and we headed to the hotel grounds for some kick-ball. Zhenia on one side, Sasha on the other, we kicked the ball to and fro for about an hour. Mama enjoyed her break!
Mama came outside later and gave me a break ... I did need to sit down and recover a little bit. The boys continued to play and we were able to observe a few more attention demanding behaviors. As we returned to the room there was the obvious need to begin grocery shopping ... but where? The nearest market was but a block away but I had not been there yet. The boys eat a lot of fruit and vegetables so I'll have to venture out and discover what I can buy given everything I'll read will be in Russian. I decided on the nearby market. The market vendor was pleasant. Once you say YA ameriKANits, they smile politely and try to help you. This has been the best thing to say throughout the trip. Trying to fumble my way through Russian without identifying myself as American has been a mistake. The Russians get testy and nearly impolite. The clerk helped me with the water and meat selections and they print out a receipt to show you the numbers so you know how many rubles to pay. Things are cheap here by American standards, probably 70% of what I would have paid at home. Outside the market is where another vendor has a fruit stand. He is from the southern portion of Russia and knows a little English. He was very interested in why I was there and surprised we were adopting two Russian children. He was complementary and urged me to buy more fruit! The bananas were good and the boys love them. I purchased a few extra.
By now it was nearly time for supper and we had decided to walk to town square and eat at the cafeteria that we've been to several times already. They have a great selection and the boys will get to have food similar to that they've had for years. The walk was pleasant and uneventful. The boys did real well. They were very attentive and crossed the streets with care. They are actually sticking to us like glue while away from the hotel room. Supper was good; Christina ate well again as she and Carol made good exercise of the greasy french fries. The boys had chicken soup and cabbage rolls. We stopped by the town square market for more water (larger STILL water bottles) and a Coke for Mama. The trip home was relaxing and uneventful.
The boys were very excited to be back in the room again. Behaviors abounded. They were just too thrilled to be away from the Orphanage we imagined. They got their first baths from Mama, just a clothe washing, and then prepared to bed down. They wanted to sleep in our king bed but we only allowed them to be there for bed-time reading ... Dr. Suess Alphabet. They made it through the L's. Afterwards we had a couple of time-out episodes before finally getting them settled around 10:20pm. Our first full day together had come to an end. Mama and Papa were mentally worn out. Yes, things are surely different now as we begin to count the days until we get to go home.
Tomorrow's plan:
+ Breakfast at 0900
+ Zoo sometime