The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!

Wish I'd found this site months ago, when I started learning russian, not four days before the trip! Master Russian

posted by AnnMarie at 5:36 AM |

Found some interesting sites this morning: The 90 most poplular Russian girls names and nicknames for popular Russian female names.

posted by AnnMarie at 5:35 AM |

The International Adoption Project at the University of MN has some interesting research projects going on. I sent an email about getting on their registry. They also assist other research projects with finding participants.

posted by AnnMarie at 1:15 PM |

Well, our tickets arrived yesteday. We still have four takeoffs/landings. We fly Appleton to Cincinnati to Washington DC. Then DC to JFK to Moscow.

And they put Paulukonis Johnson as my last name. And spelled first name as Ann Marie with a space (I think. I know it's that way on the visa at least). I AM SO ANNOYED BY BOTH OF THESE. Paulukonis is my middle name. My first name AnnMarie. Why can't the agency get this right? Thank goodness my passport has Paulukonis listed (it doesn't distinguish first/middle/last) on the amendment page. It's the only ID I have with Paulukonis anywhere on it.

Since a passport can be used domestically as ID, Eric encouraged me not to make a big deal out of it. So we won't ask for it to be changed. They just better get it right for the second trip. If we even use them to make the plans. Right now, I don't trust them and I wish we'd kept control. I suspect we don't have seat assignments nor that special meals were requested for me.

And we both continue to be sleep deprived. I'm not looking forward to another week and a half of this before the flights.

posted by AnnMarie at 8:03 AM |

I thought I'd appreciate having lots of notice of the trip. The problem is that I'll will have had a month's notice by the time we go. That's a month of worrying. A month of anxiety. A month of having trouble falling asleep. I hate waking up in the middle of the night because it takes me forever to fall back asleep. It's been happening almost every night since we first found out. I hate being sleep deprived, even a little bit.

posted by AnnMarie at 6:08 AM |

Our new travel plans have us in Tomsk Jan 5-7. January 7 is Christmas! I hope we can provide a small Christmas party for the children.

Meanwhile, we're working on the new medical requirement for the Tomsk region. It's really stressed me out lately, but Eric's helped me realize we can do it! All regions require a medical form that lists our primary physician plus seven specialists. In Russia, even a baby sees specialists. In America, we only do if we have problems. So, usually, your doctor signs for all the specialists. Around Dec 1, the Tomsk regional judge decided specialists had to sign. This means that after we return, we have to see the following doctors: Infectionist, Dermatologist, Neurologist, Oncologist, Narcologist (drugs), Psychiatrist, and Pulmonologist (respiratory). Woohoo what fun. And, since we don't need to see any of these normally, none of it will be covered by insurance. I expect this to cost about $3000-4000. We're hoping they'll see us together (charging us for just one visit) and that they won't require tests (dropping the price a bit, which allows for that eventuality).

A few other couples have managed to complete this new process this month. One couple had to push back their court date a month in order to have time for it. The other one did have time to get it done. (Both had already court dates set.) For another family, their agency wouldn't even pursue a court date until it was finished.

We are getting appointments set for physicals with our primary doctors--they have to sign the form first. We hope to get referrals for the others before we leave. Some families have called a physician referral service and just gone to whoever could take them. We're going to home that our docs can recommend someone they already know. Then, if the specialist has any concerns, s/he can contact our doctor to understand why we're coming in when we don't need to, medically speaking.

My boss is the greatest. He said not to worry about any training seminars I'd be running. If we can get an appointment, we can take it. I don't have to work around my work schedule. (Yes, I'll have to take time off for it, but he'll cover if need be.) I love my boss!


posted by AnnMarie at 8:41 AM |

We're going January 2-9. They actually have tickets already, so we know this is for sure.

posted by AnnMarie at 5:45 AM |

We're not going to Russia on Saturday. The agency couldn't find us flights for the dates they gave us. So they found something for the 16-23. It included four different airlines and four different countries on the way out. We would have had to go through customs in the European cities (Stockholm and Frankfurt) as we'd have separate tickets for each segment. We'd pick up our bags and recheck them each time. This is in addition to Appleton, Chicago, and Moscow. We don't know what the way back would have been like, but it would have been Christmas Eve and the day before. The worst travel days of the year. And it would have cost a lot more.

We're going in January instead. Our visas are for a month, so we have to go early January. We should have dates and tickets soon.

It was a very difficult decision to make.

posted by AnnMarie at 5:15 AM |

We'll travel Siberia Airlines from Moscow to Tomsk. They have an English site with their timetable of flights. We're likely to leave at 11 pm Sunday. It's a 3-hour flight, but arrives 6 hours later (due to the 3 hour time difference). And they serve supper on the flight! The return flight arrives only an hour after leaving, but is listed as a 5-hour flight. the return leaves either in the evening or in the morning. I wonder which one we'll have?

posted by AnnMarie at 6:27 AM |

I've wondered how well the language learning is actually going. I've been pleasantly surprised the last few days to realize how much I can recall! I just hope it still happens when we're actually there.

posted by AnnMarie at 5:56 AM |

I'm so glad we have quiet Christmases at our house (so far that is; we expect it to be much livelier next year!). This means that we don't have any Christmas shopping left (except Eric still has to buy me a little gift, but Christmas Eve is his favorite shopping day anyway); we purchased everything else this summer or fall. We didn't plan to decorate. I was going to make cookies for a cookie exchange, but I don't have to do that anymore. Maybe I'll make some after we return. If we decide to have a ham on Christmas Day, there's still time to defrost it after we come back. And we don't have to have a fancy meal that day; it wouldn't bother me at all.

posted by AnnMarie at 7:40 AM |

Yesterday, I tried to figure out how we were getting to Russia. We had three options, each of which had pros and cons and I couldn't figure out what was better (save money, use the Discover card, control when and where, stay an extra day in Moscow, overnight in Europe, change of plans means extra cost, change means no cost, change means we have to deal with it, change means someone else deals with it, and more!). So Eric took it over. I was so relieved! And I'm not even going to know any of the details. Otherwise, I'm going to worry about whether our layovers are long enough, are these good seats, what will my meal be like, we have to get up at what time???? Instead, I'm slowly but surely attacking my lengthy list of things to get done this weekend. It just keeps getting longer, and longer, and longer! But I hope to relax with a movie tonight. Picked it out last night and I can't remember what it is. But it's on at 7 pm. And I'll crochet a baby hat or two while I watch it!

posted by AnnMarie at 7:11 AM |

A nice, compact guide to Tomsk from the Trans-Siberian railway. Haven't even had time to read it yet!

posted by AnnMarie at 6:02 AM |

Recommended book from the FRUA-WI newsletter: The Russian Way, Second Edition: Aspects of Behavior, Attitudes, and Customs of the Russians by Zita D. Dabars, L. L. Vokhmina (Contributor).

posted by AnnMarie at 5:58 AM |

We're going to Russia!!! Yesterday, we got the call; a girl has been identified for us. We leave Dec 13! TEN DAYS! We are expected at the orphanage on the 15th. We should return on the 20th or 21st (getting to the US on the 21st or 22nd).

The worst part about this: Eric's in New Jersey. He left yesterday morning and returns Monday afternoon. I told him, about an hour after I found out. He hadn't gotten to his parents' yet when I heard so I had to keep it to myself for a whole hour. I was jumping up and down in the kitchen. I did tell the cats and dog about it, too.

We so didn't expect to have only 10 days notice. And we never expected it to happen so soon. There are so many things I've put off (photo album, luggage, fruit leather, batteries, etc.). And now they have to be done or purchased NOW.

Wow oh wow oh wow! We're having a kid!

posted by AnnMarie at 5:18 AM |

Thanks to a recent thread on the FRUA chat boards, I took a few minutes to check into how the Family/Medical Leave Act (FMLA) works at my university. Just as I had been planning, I can indeed use sick leave to make my guaranteed 12 weeks of leave paid leave instead of unpaid. (At least, part of it. I do not have 12 weeks of sick leave accumulated.) I can also use vacation days to make it paid; however, I do not have to. I do not have to invoke FMLA until I want to--which could be after my vacation days run out. It is advisable, however, to make sure my supervisor can make do without me for as long as I hope to be off. (That is, if I planned to take 2 months vacation then 3 months FMLA, I better be certain Nick's okay with that! Technically, he can't complain, but it's a good idea to check out such an extended absence.)

I can indeed take my days sporadically, or part time, or any such plan I work out with Nick. If it's this spring, and I'm still President of the Senate of Academic Staff, I hope to work 2 afternoons a week on Senate business. My last month of leave I hope to come in half days all week. This will ease the transition for all of us. It will be interesting to see how much these plans change once we have her home!

I can also, interestingly enough, invoke FMLA as soon as we travel to Russia. It doesn't have to wait until the day of adoption. However, I can't use FMLA after 12 months have passed from the day of adoption or placement. (Of course, I can use it for another reason after that time.) I've been banking the prior year's vacation days each year, so I plan to use up vacation first. So I won't invoke FMLA until the vacation days are gone. Or nearly so--I might save a few to use during the year. I don't want to use it all up for maternity leave then have no days off (except legal holidays) until the following July.

posted by AnnMarie at 12:34 PM |

The Lonely Planet will be guiding us through our trip. I purchased their Moscow guidebook and the Russian Phrasebook: With Two-Way Dictionary (from my local bookstore, however). And I got the Russia & Belarus guide through interlibrary loan. It has a grand total of 4 pages on Tomsk (one of which is a map of downtown). Not sure how much we'll get to see or do in Moscow, but there should be some time. If nothing else, the book gives me background and info about being a tourist in Russia.

posted by AnnMarie at 5:38 AM |