Boy am I wishing I had blogged more of this as it happened. Anastasia's music teacher spent some time with us Tuesday, she played the piano and had Anastasia play the triangle and sing, it was very cute! I could tell that she truly loves the children and that she is very dear to Anastasia. We also got to meet her teacher, she does not go to school but they do make an effort to teach the children who are able the basics. She showed me some of her copy books, she had taught her to write out Mama for me, how sweet is that. She said she is a good learner, and that she is always well behaved and kind to others. She said she does not conflict with the other children or caregivers. For our visits we are put in this large music room where the have music class, and puppet shows, etc...
It is connected to a therapy room that we can also use if there is noone else in there. We spend time playing hide and seek, tag, and other games she makes up!! She has a huge imagination, and the things she say are so funny.
The one thing the music teacher did tell Oksana was that when she first came to the orphanage and was asked to sing songs she knew that they were all adult songs-not children's songs.
She eats lunch at 12 then she comes back to the room to play till 1. We laughed because the translator could hear the caregivers telling her to chew her food, because she just wanted to hurry back to us. When we leave each day she asks many times if we will be back tomorrow and when.
After the orphanage we went back to the apartment and checked in, and took a nap.
We woke late, around 8 pm maybe, and decided to walk and look for something for dinner.
Oh< I almost forgot about lunch. My blood suger dropped on the way back to the hotel and it was taking everything I had not to vomit in the car, so asked if we could please stop to eat. They took us to a place called Schtolle's they serve pies. Basically pie is not just dessert here. And this place is supposed to be one of the best here. They have the pies set out on the counter and you tell them what kind you want and they cut it for you. I got a chicken and a apple, Gary also got a chicken and a lemon. It was very inexpensive, all 4 of us ordered 2 plus a drink and it was around 23.00 for everyone. Nothing here has as much sugar as things in America. But they were very yummy. I took a bite of Gary's and could barely get myself to swallow it, it was very bitter, like they had used the a lot of the peel, but he was a trooper he ate it.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
More Tuesday
At the orphanage on Tuesday we sat in the director's office waiting for Nahstya. She had many questions for us-just out of curiousity she said, she is not a judge and just wanted us to be sincere. She said it is very hard for Russians to understand why people who can have their own children would want to adopt,especially if they already have children. She also was curious as to why we choose Nastya, especailly due to her disability, even though she also said that her disability is minor and that she thinks she will do wonderfully with a family. I will post more about this after our adoption process is finished
She also wanted to know how the economy effects us Americans, if there is really a difference. I gave her a run down on mortgages and what foreclosure was. She was surprised mostly to hear that the magority of our money at the beginning of the loan goes toward interest. She said that Russians thinks they have it worse, but that she thinks it is better because at least 50% of their payment goes toward the payment of the loan. That does sound more fair doesn't it?
I can't recall all of what we talked about but it was very interesting. She asked if we wanted to see what one of the groups looked like and we said of course!!! Basically the children are split into 4 groups. And each has their own play area, with tables to eat their meals at, a bathroom, and bedroom. I cannot tell you how surprised I was by how nice it was. I was told that her orphanage was much nicer than others, but it is nicer than most American preschools! And very clean. We had to wear covers on our shoes, we had to wear these also when we went to the clinic.
The walls are all painted there are many toys, and child sizes furniture. They each have a small closet type space where they keep their coat, boots, hat, mittens, etc... for going outside. We also gave them the bag of donations, they were especially thankful for the small underwear-thanks Lynn!! And after seeing the children I would say that they could use very small-like 2T size boys underwear the most. Most of the employees we came in contact with were very nice, they would smile and greet us, we were especially fond of the paperwork lady and the music lady.
She also wanted to know how the economy effects us Americans, if there is really a difference. I gave her a run down on mortgages and what foreclosure was. She was surprised mostly to hear that the magority of our money at the beginning of the loan goes toward interest. She said that Russians thinks they have it worse, but that she thinks it is better because at least 50% of their payment goes toward the payment of the loan. That does sound more fair doesn't it?
I can't recall all of what we talked about but it was very interesting. She asked if we wanted to see what one of the groups looked like and we said of course!!! Basically the children are split into 4 groups. And each has their own play area, with tables to eat their meals at, a bathroom, and bedroom. I cannot tell you how surprised I was by how nice it was. I was told that her orphanage was much nicer than others, but it is nicer than most American preschools! And very clean. We had to wear covers on our shoes, we had to wear these also when we went to the clinic.
The walls are all painted there are many toys, and child sizes furniture. They each have a small closet type space where they keep their coat, boots, hat, mittens, etc... for going outside. We also gave them the bag of donations, they were especially thankful for the small underwear-thanks Lynn!! And after seeing the children I would say that they could use very small-like 2T size boys underwear the most. Most of the employees we came in contact with were very nice, they would smile and greet us, we were especially fond of the paperwork lady and the music lady.
Tuesday
After showering and getting ready for the day we walked to the bakery that we had eaten at the morning before but they were not open yet, what bakery is not open at 8:30? We didn't have a lot of time so just decided to walk and see what we could find. We found a coffee shop that seems to be a chain here. It is very yummy, and worked out better, because they were able to do my cappucino to go. We got a pastry that has berries and one that had ham and potatoes, both very good. There was a young man working there that spoke a little English and you could tell that he was very proud to be the one to step forward when we asked if anyone spoke English.
From there Oksana and Sergey picked us up and we drove to the orphanage, we have been very fortunate with the traffic, it can take up to 3 hours to get to the orphanage from the city center, but it has not taken us more than 1 hour and 15 minnutes, good not only because we are not stuck in traffic, but we would be paying our driver for that time also.
Also I have to give our driver Sergey props, he has got some Mad Driving Skills!!!
The driving here is crazy. I asked if there were rules and Oksana said yes, but that people just don't follow them. What looks like 2 lanes is often made into 3 or 4, with cars trying to get around each other. And Sergey is very good at getting around other cars, cutting them off in as safe a way as possible. We have seen what I call a "crunch" at least once a day, it is basically a minor accident caused by two cars cruching into each other because they just haven't given in, and noone gets the right of way! The cars drive very close to the pedestrians as well when they are crossing. There are very nice crosswalks and light to let you know when to cross. But for the most part Russians do not look at each other-you know like the other people they are walking near or the cars. So when they cross they just walk and the cars will drive very near to them, but not hitting them-not sure if this happens very often. So that is why I say you can tell I am an American because I actually look-and hurry when I see a car coming too close-although I am getting better at it.
From there Oksana and Sergey picked us up and we drove to the orphanage, we have been very fortunate with the traffic, it can take up to 3 hours to get to the orphanage from the city center, but it has not taken us more than 1 hour and 15 minnutes, good not only because we are not stuck in traffic, but we would be paying our driver for that time also.
Also I have to give our driver Sergey props, he has got some Mad Driving Skills!!!
The driving here is crazy. I asked if there were rules and Oksana said yes, but that people just don't follow them. What looks like 2 lanes is often made into 3 or 4, with cars trying to get around each other. And Sergey is very good at getting around other cars, cutting them off in as safe a way as possible. We have seen what I call a "crunch" at least once a day, it is basically a minor accident caused by two cars cruching into each other because they just haven't given in, and noone gets the right of way! The cars drive very close to the pedestrians as well when they are crossing. There are very nice crosswalks and light to let you know when to cross. But for the most part Russians do not look at each other-you know like the other people they are walking near or the cars. So when they cross they just walk and the cars will drive very near to them, but not hitting them-not sure if this happens very often. So that is why I say you can tell I am an American because I actually look-and hurry when I see a car coming too close-although I am getting better at it.
Tourists for the afternoon
After that we went to Pizza Hut to eat, we still didn't know our way around very well so we knew at least we would know what to order, and we were starving. The lunch combo came with a pizza, soup and salad bar. The pizza was pretty much same as here, the soup was a fish based creamy soup-customery for here, and very yummy to me.
The salad bar was different it had cabbage, shredded carrot salad, peas, and several other things, and 2 dressings to choose from, one was similar to Thousand Island, the other just looked like mayo..
After this we walked to the Church on Spilled Blood, it's about $10.00 per person to get in. It is breath taking on the inside and outside. There is a little market type flea market on the street near there, where you can barter with vendors selling nesting dolls, jewelry boxes, dolls, amdber jewelry, etc... There was a funny old man that was a lot of fun to barter with, the others were rude and short with us, but I spent a lot of time with this man going back and forth in a fun way. He would tell me "look at this price, it is very economic"
We went to bed early and slept really well.
The salad bar was different it had cabbage, shredded carrot salad, peas, and several other things, and 2 dressings to choose from, one was similar to Thousand Island, the other just looked like mayo..
After this we walked to the Church on Spilled Blood, it's about $10.00 per person to get in. It is breath taking on the inside and outside. There is a little market type flea market on the street near there, where you can barter with vendors selling nesting dolls, jewelry boxes, dolls, amdber jewelry, etc... There was a funny old man that was a lot of fun to barter with, the others were rude and short with us, but I spent a lot of time with this man going back and forth in a fun way. He would tell me "look at this price, it is very economic"
We went to bed early and slept really well.
try again...and again
Ok, this is my third time trying to post more about Monday, it just won't go through when I go to post it. So, here I go again.
After the orphanage we went to the apartment where we had reservations but noone was there. There was someone there and she invited us in, we told her who we were and she was very apologetic. She said if we would wait she would call the owner to come talk to us, she could be there in about 10 minutes. So we sat and she made coffee while we waited. It was the owner's daughter who came, she is college aged and speaks very good English, she was so sweet and apologetic. She offered us a discount if we would stay with them for the remainder of the trip. She showed us the rooms, and there was free breakfast and in room internet so we agreed. Our translator thought we were crazy and wanted to know what percentage discount she was offering us..LOL
After the orphanage we went to the apartment where we had reservations but noone was there. There was someone there and she invited us in, we told her who we were and she was very apologetic. She said if we would wait she would call the owner to come talk to us, she could be there in about 10 minutes. So we sat and she made coffee while we waited. It was the owner's daughter who came, she is college aged and speaks very good English, she was so sweet and apologetic. She offered us a discount if we would stay with them for the remainder of the trip. She showed us the rooms, and there was free breakfast and in room internet so we agreed. Our translator thought we were crazy and wanted to know what percentage discount she was offering us..LOL
Monday, March 16, 2009
Gas or no gas???
Ok ,that's what they ask me whenever I order water, carbonated or non? Funny to me.
We arrived on time, our flights were great. We flew Lufthansa and they were beyond friendly, and had wonderful service. Our layover was in Frankfurt, which was pretty cool. Upon arriving in St. Pete, our translator met us there, and we drove to the hotel/apartment to check in. Well, there was noone there, and this was after carrying our luggage up 4 flights of stairs. I knew it was a hole in the wall place on the outside, but the pictures showed that the rooms were nice online, and it had great reviews. Well none of that mattered because noone answered the door. So we went down the street to the Petro Palace to see if they had any rooms, this is where we originally wanted to stay, but it was all booked up. Well with our translator's help they said they would give us 2 rooms, so we took them. So far I am loving jet lag, I normally take hours to get to sleep, well recently anyways. But I was asleep by 10 and didn't wake till almost 8, we slept great. The hotel breakfast is very pricey so we walked to a little cafe down the street that people had recommended. Very local place, noone spole English. We ordered what looked like a cinammon roll and a pastry with pear. Well, we still do not know what the cinnamon roll looking thing was, but we can confirm, that it was not what we thought it was.
Our translator met us in the lobby and we went to the committee. This is where they give us the basic info. on Nahstya and give us permission to visit her. We were only to answer yes or no, which we did and we got permission, easy. We then drove to the orphanage which was great because there was little traffic which is unusual. Also it is unseasonably warm today, and not windy. The orphanage is North of "the city" in a very pretty rural place. Upon going in we went into the director's office and greeted everyone, everyone was very nice, and we saw Ekatrina the assistant director we had spent time with this summer. Then we were taken to the music room where they would bring Nahstya in to interact with us in front of the orphanage social worker. The social worker asked us several question that she felt that they would ask us in court, such as why we wanted to adopt when we already had children. How we would handle her disability. How our children felt about the adoption. But more than anything they all seemed more curious about us Americans, what does our beach look like, do we have farms with cows and horses? Upon us telling them that where we live is very warm and almost never snows our coordinator joked that she always wished she would be adopted, so she could go to a place like that!
They were surprised by how excited Nahstya was to see us and how comfortable she was with us. We had a great visit, we were contained to that one room. But Nahsta made up games for us to play, and her and Papa rough housed a bit. She also just wanted to cuddle a bit.
They spoke to us about her medical and family history in front of her, which made me uncomfortable, I didn't feel as if this should be discussed in front of her, but Gary took her to the other side of the room to play.
Basically they said she was born at 28 weeks which is what would have caused her CP. They said her record indicated that her mother never took her to the doctor, but that the doctor came to her house several times, and offer the opportunity for her to be treated for her disability but that her mother always refused. This could be true or untrue. Sadly there is no father known. I am so sorry to hear this for Anastasia that is a huge part of her that will always be missing. She has been in the orphanae almost 2 years, basically upon her mother's death in 2007. Her grandfather brought her to the orphanage and gave his permission for anyone to adopt her and he has never been to see her. So the visits she tells us about are all fantasy. This also is sad, but common in chidlren like this. We visited for several hours and will go back tomorrow, from about 10-1.
I will write more tomorrow about our day today after the orphanage, I am sleepy, which is a good thing.
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