Wednesday and You have alot of reading to do

Wednesday and you got a lot to read
I’ve downloaded to the blog everything that I’ve written since leaving the Atlanta hotel in Moscow. I know I’ve given you guy’s a lot to catch up on so what I’ll do is summarize.
We landed in Kharabosky, took a three hour car trip to Birobadijan. About ten minutes outside of town we are stopped at a railroad crossing because a train has broken down and the crossing is blocked. Here we met our new best friends the Jewish Autonomous region mosquitoes. They are big, they are mean and they are blood thirsty and hungry. We are ok sitting in our original spot on line. Our driver sees a spot closer to the crossing and moves up. When he stops we find out why the previous driver left. After twenty minutes of playing how many flies can you swat we move on. The train was still broken, but someone gave the ok to open the gate, and off we fly (hey, I made a joke).
We get to town and turn into this apartment complex and if you want to read about it go to the post, I was a little harsh on it and it did catch us both by surprise. We weren’t expecting it and when we went inside the apartment which is nice, didn’t thrill us because of the outside. We found out later that the town owns the outside and the tenants own the apartments. If someone wants to upgrade the outside they ask the town or do it themselves. Or they can form tenant associations and do it through the associations.
Inside the Apartment, a fourth floor walk up is the person who takes care of the adoptions and assigns us drivers and translators. We take care of a little business and she gives us a tour of the apartment.
On Wednesday, We meet the girls for the first time in 13 months. They were told we were coming and were prepared and met us in the director’s office. The girls for one reason or another were taken out of school so we have access to them at anytime we want. We spent several hours at the orphanage and let the kids have our cameras and they took several hundred pictures of everyone and we have kept the majority. While there and on every successive visit we fall in love with another kid and want to take them home. If any of you intrepid travelers are feeling your home is a little empty and your bank account a little to full let me know and I will solve both problems quickly. There is loads of kid waiting for loving homes here. What awaits them after they turn 18 or 19 I really don’t want to think about.
On Thursday, I put on my finest duds and go to court prepared to make my case for adopting the girls. I do my introduction and the judge asks questions, calls in the girls, asks questions of the older one, Nastia. She then proceeds to ask my wife questions and then she goes and considers her decision. About half an hour later she comes back tells us they are our children and we have ten days to appeal the decision and then it will be final. Did she know something we didn’t?
Friday, I have my melt down. Howard and Marty told us to expect your child to reach a point that everything that he or she has been thinking about suddenly becomes a reality in their mind and they go a little crazy.
Nobody told me it was going to happen to me. Well it did and I didn’t realize it until I reread some of what I wrote. I don’t really know what to say about it beyond if I insulted anyone, I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to publish it but I did.
Saturday was a better day, we spent time with the kids at the music festival (which they did not like) and walking the riverside park (they did like). It was less of a disaster then the day before.
Sunday dinner in Russia, has a nice warm sound to it. Dinner was fun. Good food, good people, good beer. I just reread the post and the day was rough on us and the girls. We have a long road ahead of us and I am very concerned. We will need all the help we can get so please don’t hesitate to ask and if we say no, ask again later. We will need it.
This past Monday, will sound like a mixture of the previous days. We are running out of places to take the girls. We were at the River walk, because we found out the underground playground is closed and we don’t want to chance bowling with the energizer bunnies. We encouraged the girls to run and Elena covered about a mile before she stopped. I think I see an athlete on our team. Nastia is going to be the actress, every time she sees a camera she poses. She will also do impromptu songs and dances.
Tuesday, if I was to tell you what we did you’d say hey are you trying to skip out on writing your blog? You’ve don’t that before at least twice and you’ve had that same fight several times with your wife. At least think up some new lies to tell. Yeah, we went to the pit stop, spent the day there, because it was raining. Had a fight with Nastia, she wanted money, ice cream, more food and Elena wanted the same (Fleas, Papa, fleas) we dropped them off and went out to dinner again.
Now Today Wednesday, the reason you know what is happening to us. We are finally in our hotel room. It is very nice; it is smaller than our apartment. Here are the pluses; we walked home from dinner, we made an internet phone call, hell we have internet access! A TV! (All in Russian, but don’t think it doesn’t matter).
We went to the bowling alley to have lunch with the girls. I felt it was going to be a disaster and said lets go, but we stayed and it was passable. The girls ate spaghetti and a hot dog each. Somehow we got two orders of meat pie so Teri and I ate some and Elena ate some but Nastia refused to she wanted more spaghetti. We then went to the square where the hotel is and walked around. We spent a little time in the room and then went back outside and the girls chased the pigeons (hey, I know I’m repeating myself but it’s what they did and enjoy) Tonight Teri and I went out to dinner alone and since we have both heard each other’s stories several times we ate quietly except for the occasional foods good, yeah, your right. Beer please, haven’t you had enough?

It's Tuesday in Birobadijan and I'm out of witty openings 09-15-09

It’s Tuesday in Birobadijan and I’m out of witty openings
Oh, wait I just got one, let’s see if you get the reference. It’s day eight, America held hostage.


Yah, it’s been eight days in Birobadijan and I have to say I have still not met a person who has been nasty to me. They have been very pleasant and I have tipped well. Is there a connection? That’s just a bad joke the reality of the situation is we have gone to dinner with CJ and Fran and CJ has decided the tip so I guess we can still go back to these restaurants. Tonight was a Chinese restaurant and surprisingly there is little difference between Chinese American food and Chinese Russian food. Maybe they use a little more mayonnaise here. OK, cheap shot, for the uninformed Russians use mayonnaise in a lot of things. If you order a salad it has mayonnaise in it, Russian dressing has mayonnaise in it, and if you want you can get a little mayonnaise on the side with your potato pancakes which are actually very good. All of the mayonnaise based salads are pretty good; there is no salad that I have come across here that has lettuce in it. The appetizers have more lettuce in them then the salads, but it is a garnish and I’ve never been sure if you can eat the garnish. Back to Dinner, We had sweet and sour chicken, a first, it’s been mostly pork we’ve eaten, Pork and something, a noodle dish with clear noodles and a brown sauce, also good and stuffed, fried eggplant, another thing we’ve eaten a lot of was good. We asked for egg rolls and they said they didn’t have them, I thought it would be something that would have gone over big it is cabbage stuffed with pork and other things and it is fried. It should have been a hit. We had beer (CJ and I) and it was the first beer that didn’t taste good, this one was a little skunky. Dinner was quickly over so we went to a coffee shop where we had coffee yesterday and afterwards we swatted mosquitoes while waiting for our ride. It was a good, if short night.
Now about the girls, it was another repeat of the previous day. We went to Pit stop for lunch and while there (we went because it was raining) Yulila went to take care of some of our paper work for the girls visas and passports. We ate met CJ and Fran with Max there and Max and the girls went into the maze and spent enough time there to work off lunch (the girls) or to get so wound up and refused to eat (Max). CJ and Fran left and we waited for Yulila to return. We were at the pit stop until about four when we went to our apartment and received not then, but now the biggest laugh when the girls went ‘wow’ when they saw the apartment; they then proceeded to act out just like they did yesterday at the orphanage. I tried a different tack with them instead of yelling at them and taking stuff away as punishment I wrapped one of them in my arms and said in my best Russian, that Teri had to correct ‘I love you’ I then kissed them and let them go to see what effect it had. It had none. Well none visible, but I will keep trying it for now.
We left to bring them back and on the way we got them some fruit for their group. We have to figure out some way to hold the fruit and let it ripen. They get it and serve it the same day and it is not ready to eat. Maybe we can talk to them about holding it? Maybe.

The Americans get ugly 09-14-09

The American’s get Ugly
Let’s start at the end of the day and maybe jump around. We just got back from having some cake and coffee at a shop right across from the hotel that is fully booked, but isn’t. We left the café and while walking to get a cab we decided to go and ask if they had any rooms. The lady behind the desk said yes. I am not happy. I have been living in a Soviet Union inspired flat with uneven stairs, a hallway that is both dark and cold and smells of cat pee. On top of that we are paying 100.00 American each night we stay there. The Hotel is a little more, 120-130 American a night. Now the question begs to be asked, do we want to open up a can of worms with one night left after tonight before we move to the hotel? Nadezda is the person who is paid to get things done around here because she has the connections, do you want to piss her off or let it rest until you have possession of the kids? I guess it will rest the one and only reason to go on this trip was the kids. Nastia got stuff she didn’t want to eat and gave it to her sister. We quickly gave up on the Pit Stop and went to the river walk after getting some pictures of the kids for their passports. And also Teri and I had a fight and it will be the first in a long line of how best to raise the girls. The girls chased pigeons and then we went to the river walk so they could feed and chase the pigeons. Sometimes it feels like we are adopting dogs instead of humans because if we let them run they are happier and easier to get along with. I don’t want to insult anyone, not even the girls, but they need to get out and run I think and I also think that Elena has some potential for track. When we let her go for a run she took off on this circuit that was about a quarter mile long and I thought maybe she would do it once, maybe she went around three time and then ran down to the end of the river walk. Nastia did the same distance but she stopped where Elena just ran and ran, run Elena, run. At the end of the river walk we got something to eat, a snack and then picked up some oranges and peaches for their group. On the way to the Orphanage they started cursing and we pick up on it and tried to stop it. In the orphanage they did it again and this time we told them we were leaving. They started to get hyper and laugh a lot so maybe that wasn’t the best thing for us to do. When they start to act up like that it is a sign that something is going on inside of them and it is their defense mechanisms kicking in, the way they protect themselves from hurt, embarrassment. We will try to do better next time.
We met CJ and Fran for dinner again and this time it was at a place called California. It had French fries and Beer. Beyond that nothing to do with California except a picture of maybe Alcatraz. Food was good and plentiful. We spent 1500 rubles with tip for four which in American is fifty dollars.
After that we went to the coffee shop and then the hotel. More about that tomorrow.

Sunday Dinner in Moscow

Sunday Dinner in Russia

A lunch at Pit Stop

The day started off less than stellar. The girls had more energy than con-ed and we didn’t. We picked them up about noon and were told it was almost lunch time and did we want to eat with them. We were trying to be nice and told them we would and they said the girls needed to change. They came out with different clothes on and we left.
We went to fast food; I know it was fast food because it said so on the outside of the building, not because it was. Jenya took our order and placed it. She told us she would wait outside and when we were finished she would meet us there. I like it when she leaves us alone with the girls. I don’t know for a fact but it feels like I’m being graded by her when we have the kids and she is with us. I have no proof and it is in all likelihood my imagination, but I like it better when it is the four of us. Lunch didn’t go well, Nastia got a broiled hot dog and Elena, Momma and I got burgers with cheese. Elena changed her mind and wanted a hot dog, Nastia shared and Elena refused to eat the burger, which didn’t look like beef and didn’t taste like it either. We had fries that were good and soda that was the Birobadijan normal almost cold. Every few minutes someone had to go to the bathroom. I was told it was unisex and a hole in the ground, and some of us will not go in there. After Lunch we were going to try bowling, but Nastia’s arm is still in a cast and they had too much energy to sit around when someone else was bowling. So we chose to go to the restaurant Pit Stop and they could go in the maze while Teri and I sat and talked. Yea right, every few minutes one of the two of them would not show up where they were supposed to be and I would go off looking for them. I found Nastia sitting on one of those rides that you put a quarter in and it rocks back and forth. Twice she must have gotten someone to put a coin in for her because it was going. She’s too young to have men twisted around her little finger. I also found her with gum. She assured me someone had given it to her and she didn’t pick it up somewhere. I yelled at her and smacked Elena for drinking from the bottle everyone was using. They went back into the maze and went to the room right in front of us. It was about 8 feet by 4 feet, where Nastia proceeded to jump up and down kick the wall and then fall down on the floor. None of it was directed at us but was done with us able to watch. I knocked on the glass wall and asked her to come out where I hugged her and kissed her and made nice. She hugged back and when she went back into the maze the behavior changed. I then called Elena and did the same thing, there was no change in behavior’ before or after. She went along like nothing had changed from early in the morning. She’s scary. We stayed there until it was time to take them back at about 4:30.
We went to the CJ and Fran’ apartment for dinner, they have the better apartment, and they cook some pretty good Pasta with bread and beer and other things. It was a good meal. We sat around talking until about 10:30 when we took a taxi home and again it was a nice evening.
There is something going on with our translators, I don’t know what. We were asked what we wanted to do for dinner. CJ and Fran were asked if they wanted to go for Chinese food with the Mullers?
This was before we said we were going for Chinese. Strange goings on.

Comrade, I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a Vodka today 09-12-09

Comrade, I will gladly pay you Tuesday for vodka today.
I seem to be drinking a little more than usual lately. Don’t worry mom, we have a driver.
Today went a little better then the day before and tomorrow will be better then today. Even if it doesn’t happen it makes me feel better thinking it will.
Today was one of those days that makes you feel you didn’t make the biggest mistake of yours, your wife’s and two little girls lives by adopting two little girls who don’t speak much in the way of English. What they understand is Good by, than que,Fleas, Poppa (please Poppa) I would like to thank CJ and Fran for making a rough trip a little easier. It is nice to unwind after a day where you feel that you were never meant to raise kids and the ones that you chose to raise are not really kids, but your punishment for doing something really bad in another life. And I’m not saying that they’re bad kids, they’re just kids with twice to three times the energy of you on your best day twenty to thirty years ago. They’re the energizer bunny and we are not.
Another person who was very patient and helpful today was our translator Yulila, she walked and talked with the girls and every time one of them called her momma she corrected them. I did feel a little jealous when one of the girls would take her hand and walk and talk with her. I reasoned that after we leave Birobadijan the odds were that neither of the girls would save every kopek they could get their hands on to fly back to Russia to live with Yulila, because she held their hand walking one afternoon in 2009. So I let it go. This blog has become a space where if I have a thought I express it that could be dangerous.
We started the day, today at 11am far eastern time (8pm American east coast, yesterday). I just had this thought that if the world ended today like in one of those science fiction films, where aliens attack the world or a plague hits the globe, I’d be stuck over here, forever. Speaking of scary, I have seen no ice and most of the beverages are served warm or near to it. I guess they have enough of the cold to last year around. I guess it’s a lot like Montana Teri. That’s an inside joke so don’t think about it too much.
Big differences between Russia and America, There are glasses put out on the table for your vodka.
What is the same, there are more Yankee fans then Met or Red Sox fans here (In both cases 1-0) Have the Yankees won anything in the last week. I’ve been going through internet, cable and American sports detox for the last week. I did have a Russian ask me ‘how are Joba rules working out this year?’
OK, back to the point of this, we went outside to wait for our ride at about five minutes to eleven. I watched a very old cat that looked like he had mange and he looked like there was stuff stuck to his tail. He was a disgusting cat and you felt sorry for him. As I felt sorry for him I began to wonder if he was the reason for the aroma in our hallway. Living on the fourth floor of a five store walk up you get the chance to do some deep breathing and take in some interesting aromas. What was the name of the old cat in the musical ‘Cats’ that is who this cat reminded me of? Any way all the young cats were running around enjoying the warmth of the day as Teri kept saying “I never had an Orange cat, I want one so I can call him Applezeen (Orange in Russian). Oh look, there is a little kitten, I never had a little kitten, I want one so I can call him…. You get the picture. I ride was late and we got to the Orphanage a little later than we expected. The girls have been taken out of school I guess because it would require a lot of signatures and they are only going to be here for another week or so. So we get to take them at anytime we want to. Is that because they like us or they want to get rid of the girls as fast as they can? Forget I ever asked that question, I don’t want to know.
After we took them Teri and I got out the magna doodles she bought for them and started drawing one them telling them they were ours. They didn’t buy it for a moment. The magna doodles kept them so quiet that I kept thanking my wife for bring them over my objections. I felt that we were giving them too many gifts, maybe so but quiet time is quiet time. We went to a place we’d been before called the Pit Stop, if you watch what you buy it will be hot or cold depending on which way you want it. They have a section of foods that they place about the steam table (it’s only a steam table because if they turned it on it could make steam, the best to be said for the food was it wasn’t as cold as the stuff above it.) I don’t want to sound like the snobby American and I guess if I keep spouting off like this I will insure myself a place if the bad guests hall of fame, but come on, I was once asked by a Ukrainian who had moved to America to go over to the Ukraine and help teach that country about capitalism, I didn’t know how bad it was over here. This place, the pit stop was very crowded. In America it would open its door on a Monday and be closed by the board of health for numerous reasons. Failing that the place would close because they know nothing about customer service. All that aside, the food is good and the food is fairly priced. It’s that cafeteria place I talked about a couple of days ago. After we ate the girls went into a maze, jungle Jim, thing like that was in Jeepers in the Palisades Mall. Cory and Ryan and maybe Bill will remember it. They spent about an hour in there, giving Yulila time to get away for a little while and Teri and I time to just veg out.
After the Jungle Jim they wanted Ice Cream and we went over to Baskin Robins. You know how to say Baskin Robins in Russian? That’s right Baskin Robins; just don’t try to order ice cream without your translator. God I didn’t realize how much I used to read during the day to just get by. When I went out earlier the other morning to get a soda, I could not read the street signs, I didn’t know where I lived, and I didn’t even know what the big yellow and red sign at the end of our street said. I couldn’t even say it was a big, red and yellow sign. I know big is bolshi, like in the ballet, but I don’t know yellow or red or sign. I am getting tired of feeling like an illiterate fool.
After the Pit Stop and Baskin Robins ice cream we went to cash in some money. For some reason 200.00 American doesn’t go very far with two kids. After that we figured we’d try the park and the music festival that has kept us out of our rooms in the hotel again. The girls had no interest in the music so we walked the riverside park again and it was nice again. Nastia kept begging for a balloon. For some reason we drew the line on gifts at the balloon. We have given them a small gift every time we have met, plus today we took them out for lunch and ice cream and it just seemed like it should end. We’ll see how long it lasts. I did make a mistake on the first day by handing out my cameras and letting everyone take pictures. I did get a lot of pictures back and I will keep most of them to give them in later years. I mistake is that every time I take out my camera Elena wants to use it and for most of the first week I had no pictures to say I’d been here. So now she doesn’t get to touch the cameras at all. Maybe once back in America I can sit with her and we can both use the cameras together. Right now they have no concept of ownership or responsibility. If I were to give the something, once they were done using it, it would end up on the floor or broken.
The one good joke to come out of this and Elena doesn’t get it is she will ask for the camera in Russian and I will say no. She will then say please, but it will come out more as fleas. I will say to her that she doesn’t have fleas so quit asking. I guess you had to be there staring into those big soulful eyes when she say with all her heart, Fleas, papitchika, fleas.
The day ended at a Korean restaurant the food was good and CJ and Fran ate with us again, it was fun. The night ended early and tomorrow we will try to have a Sunday dinner over at their apartment. It should be the last night for either of us in the apartments. The Apartments are really not that bad, it’s just that after dinner we could walk home and we could go to the stores alone and we could exchange money with the Russian mafia (I don’t know if they are, but they give a better rate then the banks and don’t reject your money if it is wrinkled in anyway) It’s a Tourists trap and that is what I want. The Owner of this apartment forgot the three rules of Real Estate, Location, Location, and Location. This place got nun of it.
Tomorrow should be fun

If It's friday it must be Valdgeim 09-11-09

If it’s Friday it must be at Valdgeim (the orphanage) 09-11-09


75th anniversity celibration of Birobadjahn

 Well Popischia (poppa, but with extra sentiment) has succeeded in climbing the first mountain in his way to fatherhood. He has conquered an afternoon with his new spawn and mostly survived. His wife that amazing person yesterday presented him with two daughters aged ten and nine. So filled with all the joy and trepidation of any new father he proudly took his little girls, those angels out to show off in public. He took them to the town’s 75th anniversary; you know that git to gither that has me squatting in some Soviet error (correct spelling) flat, which has no internet and no cable, those barbarians! He along with his long suffering wife have bedded down and suffered for almost a week. In his effort to keep his vast readership informed of his torment he went out and purchased an internet card only to be told it wasn’t necessary to use friendly government internet café (say friendly government internet café with Russian accent) It is only one ruble a minute, very good price (continue with Russian accent).I down loaded my daily doings onto a flash drive and take it down to friendly government internet café and get on computer, find my web site and after getting clearance from comrade Linda to use flash drive I find out friendly government internet café (again with the Russian accent ) is running window 03 and American spy in running 07,blocked again by superiority of Soviet way.
Ok, so I’m getting a little crazy with things over here in the new Russia. I didn’t bargain for living in cold war housing and not being able to hear what the Yankees have done lately. On top of that the girls are so full of energy and are testing us every minute we are with them. I know it will get better, we’ll make it to the other side, I just don’t know what the other side is going to look like and I don’t like that.
It’s five minutes to six Friday morning in New York and the east coast, If this was a week or so ago Teri would be hitting her alarm and going back to sleep, while I had my morning panic attack over my job and what disaster it would bring me today.
It’s not a week ago and it will never be a week ago in the rest of my life. The future will be Teri gets up about 6:30 and I get up and get the girls ready for school and get them breakfast. Sometime between 7am and 8am I will walk them to school, until junior high school, Oh that is assuming that they don’t get thrown out of school for acting up. The judge yesterday told us both that we can’t change our minds, there is no return policy, and you can’t get store credit. I know and I don’t want to, it’s just going to be a rough fall and winter. Things will get better after we get settled in together. Life is going to be a whole lot of fun and having the two girls will add years to our lives because of all the running we will be doing.
Now what we did today.

Mini ferris wheel ride in park

We got up around 8am far eastern time (5pm the day before in America if you’re counting) and I wrote about the day before and Teri went back to bed. She had been up at 3am not being able to sleep, so she deserved it. We ate a late breakfast of cheese omelets and Teri grimaced a little less today. Our driver and translator picked us up at 11am and we went to the internet café in the post office and tried to down load the last three days posts. It didn’t work because they ran windows 03 and we were running on 07. We then went to get gifts for the care givers and had lunch at a pizza parlor, it was ok. I’m starting to get tired of smoked meats. Oh wait that didn’t belong here that should have gone up further. After lunch we picked the girls up and went to a park after they said they were not interested in seeing some dancers. They got a ride on a mini Ferris wheel and had ice cream and chips. We walked along the water and returned the girls to the orphanage about 5:45.
We then had dinner with the Minone’s at an Armenian restaurant, it was good. Yulila told us the driver’s and translators hours were until 6pm so we tipped the driver when he came to pick us up at 7:45. It was not an awful day, but it could have been.

Well We Finally Did it 09-10-09

Well we finally did it and god helps us. 09-10-09
Everyone tells us we are doing a great thing and some will go on and say we are blessed. I hope so. It’s one thing to think about the reality of in the distant future of taking the care and feeding of two human lives’s and the reality of really doing it. We are at the point now of being the directors, of being in the driver’s seat, whatever expression you want to attach to it. We hold the fate of these two young girls in our hands. We have sat on the side lines critiquing the way other people have raised their kids and constantly asked the question why they did that, or what’s wrong with them for allowing that to happen. Well I have the feeling we are going to get the answer to those questions real soon.
The day started out like any other day in the last few, I woke up in Russia and it was real early in the morning. I was not sleepy and it felt like I was never going to get back to sleep. I let my mind wander and at first it traveled toward my job and I felt that it was a mistake to think about something that was out of your control and to just hope for the best and that things were working out for the best. I then wandered over to thoughts about the days coming events and began composing my speech for the court. I said a lot of really good things in it and promised myself that I would remember them all when I woke up. Which I didn’t, all I remembered was that I had some really good ideas and if I could only remember.
I woke up late in the morning, I think it was now 5:30, and felt I had slept all I could and began to write what happened the previous day. I began to experience a caffeine headache and knew the only way to get rid of it was to go out and get caffeine. Teri said it was foolish to go out into a country where you could not read the language much less speak it, had no phone, not idea what the address was and even if you did you could not pronounce it. So with all that encouragement what else could a man do but deify his wife and go out anyway.
My wife has asked me how I manage to make it through the day without her and have been told that is a major topic of conversation among women.
I tell my wife I’m going to go out the door to the street and make a left turn and head toward in that direction. She replies that every time we go out we head right. I was very tempted to go to the left but I didn’t want her to be able to say I told you so when she came to get me from the police. I went down the stairs to the road made a right, make a second and was suddenly in the middle of morning rush hour. It was so different from anything I’d ever known. It was people gathering at bus stops, walking here and there. Going into business to get a morning cup of coffee, or as in my case a liter bottle of Pepsi. I find a shop that is open, I go in and try the door to the Pepsi cooler and it won’t open. I try the other side and it doesn’t either. So I leave, victory stalled. I’m walking back without my trophy thinking I was defeated by a stuck door when I get the bright idea to try another street. About half way down I find a store that stocks Pepsi free (again no diet Pepsi) the girl behind the country says something and I reply like I know what’s up and say a bottle of Pepsi. Then my nightmare begins, she says something I don’t understand. (Later it turned out to be 27 rubles please) I panic and tell her I don’t understand Russian, she giggles again and says something, I repeat I don’t understand and I smile. At that point an older lady brings over a calculator which reads the number twenty-seven and that was how I paid for my soda. My trip back to our flat was with minor difficulties, easy. I found the purple wall, the yellow sign and the old brown building. My only problems was when I arrived at our, I guess you would call it our driveway and saw it from a different angle and it didn’t look like it should. About half way down the block I realized that none of the building looked familiar and if I didn’t figure out my mistake I would prove my wife right that it’s a wonder I make it through the day without her and I shouldn’t have gone out in the first place. I turn around and start heading toward the last familiar sign and I’m thinking that I made a turn too early and I need to go over a street when I come across this corner building that from this angle looks like our flat, minor problem solved.
Our Translator, Jenya, that’s how it is said not spelled, picks us up and takes us over to court at 9:20. We arrive nice and early for our court session at 10am. Our support, of Nina from the Orphanage, who is on vacation, arrives, the women from education dept. arrive and we are all set to go.
At ten, we go into the court room and it is small with new dark wood floor white walls that go down to a chair rail and over across from the door is the cage for prisoners. We had been told about the cage and I’d seen enough foreign movies to know about it, it was just odd to actually see it in person and up close. We sat and waited for the Judge to enter the prosecutor came in first wearing a blue color, not exactly powder blue but a light color suit with epilates you know those things that all military people have on their uniforms and he had one star on them. I guess he is part of the military in Russia. He sits down in his chair to the left of the judge’s chair and across from the cage.
We all rise when the judge enters, just like in America, she tells us to be seated. She is wearing a pants suit instead of robes, I don’t know if it was because this was not a trial or that is her usual attire. We sit and the judge makes an opening statement, Jenya translates.
Jenya tells me to stand and read my statement. I begin with my opening “Good morning your honor, my name is Joe Muller, I was born…”. I go right the list like I was told, name, date of birth, place of birth, where I live now and where I work. I stop to take a breath and let Jenya translate. The Judge listens and asks a question. It was what I was hoping for. I felt it would be easier answering her questions then reading a statement and then she asks questions. Her questions start easy, we had been warned that the prosecutor would be the tough questioner and to be prepared, also remember that everyone in the court wants this to happen even if foreigners are adopting their kids.
I have met and interacted with several Russian people in our travels and they have all been friendly and helpful. There have been the few grumpy ones, but no one openly hostile like that nut case Mosha I encountered back in America last year who told me only Russians know how to raise Russian children. I expected more of that resistance, but have found none. We have come across some of the people who we went out to dinner with and have been greeted like old friends and it has made our trip easier.
The Judge gets down to real business when she starts to talk about their medical issues and are we prepared to deal with them. I was under the impression and still am that all of their medical conditions were trumped up to make them available for foreign adoption. They do have issues but they are not life threatening and the worst ones the mitro valve something or other is not serious. The ones I’m concerned about are their eyes, both girls are far sighted and their teeth, Elena still have her baby teeth but they don’t look so good.
The Judge pressed ahead with her questions and I tried to answer them along the guidelines I was given and it got a little rocky but in the end I was told it went well. There was a point where I could read in the judge’s face that she was not happy and she didn’t believe what I was saying. I think it was during the medical portion and maybe that was why she pressed about are we prepared for the costs. The judge even said we were not as rich as some of the people who come into her court to do this. Which if I think about it is true, but we can and will afford this.
Next the prosecutor got to ask questions and his were easier and occasionally the judge would interrupt and expand on one of his questions or switch to some other question.
After I finished they bought the girls into the court and since Nastia was over ten years old the judge had to ask her questions. The Judge was very nice to her asked if she liked us and did they want to go to America and have their name changed to Muller. Did we send them packages and write letters during the time we were apart? She was very nice to Nastia, but she confirmed everything that I had told her earlier about the packages and the letters and our relationship with them while in America. She did a complete job. She just cared about the best thing for the girls.
Next Teri got up did her same intro as me; her name, date of birth, place of birth and so on. The judge asked her questions and at one point I think took a cheap shot at her. Maybe it was a cultural thing and not a cheap shot. The judges asked her if she would be willing to put the girls’ needs ahead of her needs. Anyone who knows Teri well would have never asked that question.
There was another point where the judge asks why are you adopting from Russia aren’t there children in America who need adopting? I was glad I wasn’t answering it because it was a tough question and I had never thought about the reason. Teri did well and got through it.
Then the prosecutor got to ask his questions, there were a few and it was over.
We all stood as the Judge left the room and prepared to wait for her decision. Jenya said we did well and everything was going well.
She was right because within about twenty minutes the judge was back and she awarded the girls to us. She also said that there was a ten day waiting period during which we or anyone else could file an objection to her decision.
It was over, so we went to lunch at the Pit Stop a kind of cafeteria where we got on line and picked food from behind glass. Behind us the Judge got on line and we waved hello and the group of us who were in court all sat together, Jenya, Teri, Me, the education ministry’s representative and Nina from the school orphanage. The five of us squeezed at one table and the judge sat alone right behind us and Teri wanted to invite her over and it would have been nice, but the table was crowded and her suggestion didn’t happen.
After Lunch we went over to the Orphanage to see the girls and we stayed there until about 5pm (2am American) and that was when they went to eat and we went to have dinner in town with CJ and Fran.
Dinner was good and again we drank beer and had some good food and talked and generally celebrated the day.
We got in to our flat about 9:30 Jenya sent her husband to pick the four of us up so there was no talk of taxis. Jenya spent about fifteen months in America and she knows about customer service.