Journey to Moscow

Our friends picked us up at 10AM for our Journey to Moscow. It was an enjoyable trip filled with stories, and questions about later trips to pick up our son.

When we arrived, we were brought to the adoption agency office. The gang there all wanted to see pictures of our boy, and they gave us a beautiful poem about adoption which I will use somhow in the telling of our adoption story.


Our driver was delayed quite some time in traffic, so we said goodbye to the team of angels and rested for a bit and enjoyed a coke. The driver called and said he would be a while, so we decided to walk to our apartment which was only ten minutes. We found the right place and were pleasantly surprized. From the outside, it looks quite alarming- the inside of the entrace to the building is dirty and run down- but the apartment itself is very newly remodeled and has everything you could need to feel at home. We even have a jacuzzi! Here are a couple of pictures for you to enjoy:

We are very cozy here and are not far at all from the New Arabat Street which is a highly tourist area. Its just one and a half blocks. There you will find TGI Fridays and other stores- almost glamorous I think- but I am from Iowa, so it probably doesn't take much to impress me! While strolling along the Arabat, there were some gypsy children who held out thier hands asking for money. One boy followed us for 30 feet begging and doing cartwheels to entertain us for a ruble or two. Sadly, we kept walking because there were a dozen other children with him doing the same thing and we didn't know how to help them all. (While in region we did give some rubles to two different babuskas sitting outside the churches we visited)

A little further down the Arabat, were about 30 teenagers on Skateboards doing flips and causing a comotion. They made me rather uncomfortable because they paid no attention at all to anyone on the sidewalks and didn't care if they bumped into you. I held on tightly to Jason's arm walking past them. We felt totally vulnerable out there! In reality, we were quite safe, but when you are in a foreign country, not sure of where you are going or how to get back to your apartment, and cannot speak the language it is incredibly intimidating. Tomorrow we will have a driver and translator, so we will feel more at home and will hopefully be able to have a picture at the Kremilin and St. Basils Cathedral.

On our way back from Arabat street, we made an effort to exchange some USD for Rubles- which was difficult because we can barely read Cyrillic (Russian) alphabets. I recognized the word for Bank so we decided to give it a try- even though we were unsure if we were even in a bank at first! Jason put down $100 bill in a little drawer and the nice man behind the glass enclosure waved a finger at us to say wait one minute. He came back then led us down a hallway to a woman in a booth. There we made idiots of ourselves because we just put the money in the drawer with our passport, and then she asked us if we wanted rubles (though at the time we didn't understand how she was pronouncing it) So I used the only russian phrase I know- "I don't understand Russian!" She didn't say anything more after that- just counted the money we gave her, figured out the exchange rate, and handed us the rubles. This was the worst rate we've gotten so far- even worse than the airport. But- we have rubles!

After our bank adventure, we got a bit more confidence and decided that we needed something to eat for breakfast and some more water. We went in, got in line, pointed and smiled and gave them our 96 rubles, or about $5.50 USD. Here is a picture of our purchase:



If there is one thing we know now- we need to learn more russian words. We were to easy on ourselves in just getting by with the first audio taped lesson and not forcing ourselves to advance our knowledge. Anytime we have even tried to say thank you, goodbye, or hello, it is met with appreciation and respect. We feel stupid saying our feeble russian words because we're not sure if our accent is okay, but its better than pointing and playing dumb!


Tomorrow we have our 8 doctor medical examination. We've been told not to worry about it, but me and doctors don't really mix- I see the white coat and the blood pressure goes up! I'll appreciate your prayers that I will remain calm throughout the drive to get there, and the examination itself. But for now, its time to tuck ourselves in and rest. God bless!