Me Radi Tebya Videt!!

The past 24 hours have been quite an adventure!  We were fortunate to get first class tickets for the 15 hour train ride, so instead of just enduring the experience, we sort of almost enjoyed it.  Last night, before we went to sleep, our handler came into our cabin (is that what it's called?) and relaxed and visited with us for awhile - it was nice to get to talk with him in a situation that was not official.  The train pulled into the station at 11am, and we were off again - new city, new driver, same story.  Sit in the back seat, don't ask questions, try to relax, and roll with it.  

It is impossible to do justice to this experience.  If we tried to be in control, we would not last a day.  We have become really good at just sitting, not asking any questions, and just doing what we are told.  It is such a treat to look out the window, try to sound out the signs we see (all in the cyrillic alphabet, which makes an awesome secret code, by the way).  Many of the words, once we sound them out, are recognizable in english.  things like super-market, theater, cafe, coffee, internet, etc.  None of these LOOK like english words, but if you can break the code, they SOUND like english!  good fun!  As an interesting footnote, the words "Strip Club" are always in English for some reason.  Go Figure.

All the while, we have the pleasure of listening to the handler talk w/ the driver in the front seat.  Just two relaxed russian-speaking men having a pleasant conversation at their office (which happens to be the front seat of the car we are being driven around in).  Driving is definitely a specialized skill in these cities.  These guys take their cars places that i would be so sure they would not fit!  And there is a constant game of "chicken" with other drivers, and pedestrians.  Oh, and have I mentioned that none of the seatbelts work?!  But alas, we are rolling with it!!  :o)  We are often told to wait in the car without explanation.  There are just so many complicated steps to this process, and honestly, I think we've become really comfortable with not knowing.  It's kind of a relief to just trust these guys to do their jobs and to concentrate on our part - being the submissive, non-russian-speaking adoptive parents who just sit there and look pretty and every now and then answer a few questions or sign our names.

We had to wait a long time at the inspector's office, and it was pretty intimidating.  lots of people speaking russian.  i think we were the only people in the building wearing blue jeans!  When we finally got to meet the inspector, she was stern and seemed to run a tight ship, but she was polite to us and we tried to be meek and not make too much (but just enough) eye contact.  she asked us to tell her a little bit about ourselves - how long we have been married (eugene got it wrong, saying 19 instead of 18, but i decided not to correct him)  :o)   she wanted to know about our jobs and whether we had any children.  when i told her we had three little boys, her eyes got big and she looked at us like we were insane.  "Three boys and you want to adopt two more children!?"  she asked how the three boys felt about the adoption and we told her, "very excited."  she kind of made faces that indicated, "oh boy!" and then gave us the referral and wished us luck.  WHEW!  we were glad to have that finished! 

after a very good bowl of some sort of lamb noodle soup at a tartar restaurant (with lots of fresh garlic!), we drove out to the orphanage, feeling a little smelly, but very excited.  while we waited in the lobby for our handler to talk to the director, vitalik just strolled (totally accidentally) through the lobby... and we were all like, 'woah!  hi!  happy! etc.etc.'  after a lot of big hugs and pats on the backs, i put my hand on his shoulder, looked into his eyes, and recited the line i had been rehearsing over and over in my head, "me ra-di te-byah videt" -- we are very glad to see you.  he smiled, nodded, and said some appropriate response, which i, of course, did not understand!  it was all very exciting. we said things like "how are you - good - awesome. etc" then he left us for a minute, saying in english, "2 minutes" and while he was gone, we were called into the director's office.  she talked with us a little bit and then called both lera and vitalik in.  lots of hugs and happies and just really cool moments... but with so few words... very strange and very special and very crazy.  we had spent so much time anticipating this moment, it was kind of a relief to have it really here!  intense!  :o)

there was a lot of just sitting and waiting and exchanging a few words here and there.  eugene practiced counting in russian, which was fun, because of course, it's so easy for Lera and Vitalik, who were happy to help teach him.  He also tried out a video game vitalik was playing on a cel phone he had borrowed from a friend.  Finally, the director gave our handler a key to a classroom upstairs where we could visit... so we all went up 2 flights of stairs, lera insisted on carrying my backpack, and vitalik carried eugene's very heavy one. 

Once in the classroom, we got out some photos - they really liked eugene's ipad which lets them scroll through photos with the slide of a finger across the screen.  we had to leave again to go (without the kids) to the director's office to meet with the medical representative - she had a little booklet for each of them, telling about various tests, screenings, what vaccinations may be needed before entering the u.s.  and any medical issues that they are aware of.  all of the reports state that they are happy, lovely, polite, wonderful kids.  after finishing her report, the medical lady said, with a tear in her eye, "If you take these children, you will not be sorry."   the social worker who is close with lera and vitalik chimed in a few times with affirmations about them and definitely looked like this was an emotional moment for her as well.  the director also said some very affirming words - clearly these kids have been really loved by the staff here - we are so thankful!  it was really special to get to be the family that was finally coming for them.  we truly are the fortunate ones in this situation!

We went back to visit for a few more minutes, we all said, "Da Zavtra!"  which means "See you tomorrow"... We asked them, "Happy?" and they both answered in the affirmative with a big thumbs up.  It was a good experience, and I'm happy to say that I didn't break down and cry like a  baby!

Our handler has a LOT of work to do and we are just letting him take care of it and tell us when it's time for us to do something.  There were several additional stops on the way home.  He no longer even tells us to wait in the car.  We just know that unless he tells us to "get out" we stay. :o)  There was some crazy driving to get us back to the inspector's office just 1 minute before it closed.  I mean really crazy driving!  We only knew what was going on because when the driver was left alone with us, he laughed and explained in russian that he had only 5 minutes to get here.  We all laughed and cheered and said, "Mala Dyets!"  Good Job!  It is really fun talking with the drivers when the translator is not around, because they know almost no English, but are kind and friendly.

So here we are in Simferopol.  A new apartment - much less cluttered than the one we had in Kyiv.  Eugene has already gone out on foot to the nearest little market, bringing home the odd assortment of bread, cheese, mango juice, and dill pickles.   We are so thankful to have made it to this point in our adventure, and are filled with hope and joy as we go to bed tonight.