Well we are into our final full week here and still don’t feel like parents. I am getting so tired of waiting and telling people we will have her soon, but we will. It is Sunday here in northern Russia and the sun finally came out after a few chilly, gloomy days. I felt like taking a few pictures. These are pretty much local scenery around Arkhangelsk. Some of the highlights from our week include; Thomas trying caviar for the first time on Friday and finishing our 1,000 piece puzzle. We did a bit of shopping, but not too much. On Friday, to celebrate our ten business days being over, we went with the other family to a new Armenian restaurant. It had the shislek or grilled meat that we had at the beach last weekend. It was pretty good, but more of a bar/club atmosphere and pretty smoky. That is where Thomas could cross caviar off his life list. He thought it was a bit salty and weird to break open/chew the little eggs. He had enough. He will try just about anything though.
Some days were pretty slow and we just ventured out to find dinner or do a bit of grocery shopping. We have pretty much accepted being here and don’t feel nervous going out anymore. People look at us, but just out of mild curiosity. Thomas has been writing a survival guide and will post when he is finished. One thing that makes me a bit sad is all of the stray dogs around here. Most of them look like German Shepherds so it breaks my heart that I can’t help them and makes me miss Moffitt more. I guess she is having a good time with Grandma and Grandpa and riding in the boat.
We have all day today and then tomorrow we can start paperwork. Our representative is flying up from Moscow today to help us get thru all that stuff this week. Tuesday night we fly to Kotlas and drop off clothes for Ally at the orphanage. Really early Wednesday we pick her up and go right to the airport for an 8 AM flight back to Ark. It is sort of annoying in the fact that with the hotel and Visa registration we have to check out of this hotel and then check back in. So we have to pack up all of our stuff just to be gone for about 14 hours. Luckily only one of our friends is going to Kotlas so the husband and little girl are letting us keep our stuff in their room for the night. We are hoping to just take a couple of small bags with us and keep it simple. This is the older smaller plane and will be a bit of a nervous flight. I am sure it will be fine though. We are also nervous and excited to finally get Ally. I am sure we will learn really fast how unprepared we are. I have not been able to pick up as much Russian as I will need so will be carrying papers around with me for a while I suspect.
Anyway, we then have the rest of the week in Ark to wait on her passport. Then a week from today we fly down to Moscow and get thru the last steps before coming home. The US Embassy trip is the last part. We should have a bit of time for sightseeing there and then we can’t wait to get home and join in the summer.
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