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Thursday, January 29, 2004 |
Things are going well vis-a-vis the new medical form. Saw the infectious disease and pulmonology doctors last week and the week before. Have their signatures and license copies. The wonderful office manager at our regular doctors' office is helping work on the rest except the psychiatrist, which is set for the 9th. Everything is going smoothly so far, which is such a relief! The first two gave us a basic exam, listened to everything, reviewed our medical history, asked relevant questions, and had us both out of there within 30 minutes. What a relief! We forgot to ask the second one, but the first said he'd charge us only a minimal amount. Another relief.
Then, last Saturday, Eric went to the emergency room with a breathing/chest pain problem. My primary thought was "Don't have a heart attack and die! They might not let me adopt Maggie alone!" Eric's was "Thank goodness we saw the pulmonologist already and don't have to see a cardiologist." ::laughter all around:: Can you tell what's most important right now? Getting Maggie home! Whatever the problem was, it's cause is unknown and just sometimes happens to people and he should get better with heavy duty pain meds this week.
posted by AnnMarie at 9:36 AM |
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We finally got the Petition to Adopt Tuesday. Had it notarized yesterday and sent off for the apostilles. Faxed a copy to CHI, which they will send to be translated. Sometimes, the judge will accept the fax and set a court date. Sometimes they insist on the originals. That means our "average of 2-3 months" can officially start ticking. Just like the referral, however, it could be set tomorrow or it could be set in 6 months [both are highly unlikely]. My understanding from the Tomsk list is that the date will be set about 10 days in advance, and they we get called to travel right away. Some regions give more advance notice; Tomsk doesn't tend to. I guess this means I should finish up the stuff we want to do before we leave!
posted by AnnMarie at 9:33 AM |
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Wednesday, January 28, 2004 |
Maggie pictures! Maggie pictures! Maggie pictures! (maybe tomorrow I'll have real labels on them. Thought it was more important to get the link up than to wait for it to look better.)
posted by AnnMarie at 1:24 PM |
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Thursday, January 22, 2004 |
I wish we could participate in the Harvard Language Study when we return. They are study language acquisition in children adopted internationally. But, they want children who were 30 months old when they arrive. I hope Maggie's too old! But maybe someone else reading this can participate.
posted by AnnMarie at 6:30 AM |
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004 |
Did you wonder how far away Tomsk is? Use 56.5° N 84.9° E for Tomsk, but it should recognize US cities. It's 5497 miles (8847 km) (4777 nautical miles) from Oshkosh as the crow flies.
posted by AnnMarie at 7:28 AM |
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Tuesday, January 20, 2004 |
Social Security's Office of the Chief Actuary
And the Social Security's Office of the Chief Actuary provides us with a handy way to find out just how popular Margaret is over the last 12 years (#129 with 2638 girls in 2002). On the other hand, Anna, was number 20, with 10,275 girls with that as a first name.
posted by AnnMarie at 12:16 PM |
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Saturday, January 17, 2004 |
I just switched the archive to monthly. I hated the weekly version because it took forever to find a post. And the list was so long! Only the 20 most recent posts will be on the main page, still, so you might have to look at the most recent archive if I'm prolific!
posted by AnnMarie at 3:39 PM |
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Friday, January 16, 2004 |
If you were to drill a hole through the world from Tomsk to North America, you would land right about here, in a lake (zoom out to the maximum). A little bit farther north than Oshkosh, but only a little east. The longitude/latitude of Tomsk is 56.5° N 84.9° E.
If, on the other hand, you drilled the hole from our house in Oshkosh to Asia, you would land 3.4 km (2.1 miles) WSW of Sangonghe, Xinjiang, China (give or take a few inches).
I was curious last week, and this week as I tried to describe where Tomsk is. I'd say it was like Northern Canada. Now I know more precisely!
posted by AnnMarie at 6:23 PM |
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I have been working on updating the blog--got up to the time we left for the first orphanage visit. (See below--they are dated on the actual dates.) But I sprained my right wrist this morning, so updates will be slower (I can type with my left hand, but it's slower and makes my hand tired). Eric might do some typing, too.
In other news, we had our first medical specialist visit yesterday, a pulmonologist. The visit went smoothly! We're so relieved. We didn't have the forms copied correctly, unfortunately, so Eric will return next week for the signatures. The nurse was wonderful, and gushed over Maggie's pictures (I managed to print out 4 that morning). She asked if we'd bring her by after she comes home! The doc said he'd charge us minimally--another relief.
posted by AnnMarie at 8:27 AM |
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Wednesday, January 14, 2004 |
Just like we didn't count the days to expect a referral, and didn't even plan to hope until the "average" had passed, we hope to not expect a court date too quickly. I'm figuring it will be at least 3 months until we get home with Maggie.
Why do I say 3 months? We can hope for 2 months until the court hearing once our Petition to Adopt gets to Tomsk. It hasn't arrived at our house, and it will take at least a week to go from us to St. Louis to Moscow to Tomsk. That's at least the 21st, if it arrives today. If we get notification in 2 months, the pre-court hearing is usually about 10 days from then, which puts us at the end of March. It can be up to 22 days in country. That's late April to come home, or about 3 months from now. This is probably a mid-case scenario--it could be a bit shorter, but it could also be longer. It could take more than 2 months to get a court date set, for instance. [I felt better when I hadn't actually put real dates onto this. :(]
posted by AnnMarie at 7:12 AM |
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Monday, January 12, 2004 |
We returned late Friday night. I was just too tired all weekend to try to update the blog with everything. I hope to do so over the next week or so, including pictures. But, in brief, the news you've all been waiting for:
We're going to adopt a 2-year old girl! Her name is Anna (pronounced the European way, ah-nah); we're going to name her Margaret Anna, and call her Maggie. Her nickname at the orphanage is Anya. She relatively healthy, although just had the chicken pox and seemed to be getting a cold as we left. She's little, about the size of an average American 12-month old. She walks, runs, and climbs. She doesn't talk yet, just babbles. The pediatrician said she needs a yard to run around and a family to talk to her and she'll do wonderfully!!! She's blonde (a few shades lighter than mine, but not white-blonde), blue eyed (the Russian blue, a steel or grey blue), and fair skinned.
She's being named after her parents' maternal grandmothers. In Russia, Rita is a nickname for their version of Margaret. Rita is my grandma's name. Eric's grandmother is named Margaret (she goes by Marty, however).
posted by AnnMarie at 5:51 AM |
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Monday, January 05, 2004 |
January 5 -- from "there and back again"
1:30 Tomsk time.
A bit more than 8 hours; more like 14. After getting here and meeting Luba (pronounced like Loo-bya), we found we're invited to come at 4pm! How disappointing!
The plane ride remained uncomfortable. Highlights: just before takeoff and landing, the flight attendant comes around with candy. They were like Jolly Ranchers, sort of. During the meal, I didn't have room for both of my arms to be up at the same time. I barely fit in the seats, and I'm 5'6" and 150"--fairly average American woman! It was also tough because my tray table slanted towards me--had to keep moving my roll before it slid onto my lap. Eric was frozen next to the window. The toilets left a bit to be desired. The water didn't work in mine. Eric felt air rushing into his. Eric's seat permanently reclined; he put it up and 10 minutes later, it was reclined again. The cushioning was worn out; couldn't sit up straight; felt metal bars in my back too. Eric has never had a less comfortable ride, including the one in the troop transport from Germany to Saudi Arabia that caught fire on landing!
We're staying in the Hotel Siber (Siberia). Were asked to pay for 2 nights, in cash! Aack--luckily we'd exchanged money in the Marriott last night. It's 5000 ru for 2 nights. Guess we got one of the best rooms. It's worth it! We have a suite with an entrance (with small fridge and closet), bath (good size, but only a shower), sitting room (two chairs, table, tv, china closet with china), and bedroom (2 single beds, table, another tv, 2 chairs). Yuri (our driver) carried my suitcase all the way upstairs (4th floor)! I didn't have the energy to protest. And I thought it was great when he carried it into the hotel! They both came upstairs with us. That was nice as Luba spoke with the floor monitor for us. This is a classic Russian hotel. We have a room card. When we come in, we give the card to the lady and she gives us the key. When we leave, we return the key and get our cards.
We chatted a bit with Luba. They hadn't bought our return tickets yet, so I asked for business class. People on the lists had recommended it, but I forgot to ask for it on the trip out.
Eric asked if she knew anything about our daughter. Earlier, she said her brithday was the 28th or 31st. She asked if we'd seen her picture [no]. Luba said the girl looks like ys. She wasn't sure, but something in Eric. Eric came back with, "She's fat and bald?" Laughter all around! She has very blonde hair, and probably blue eyes. A little skinny (of course!). Tempted to ask more, but I didn't want to risk it.
Slept for about 3-4 hours, quite soundly. Hope Eric did, too. Hope to sleep tonight. Hope we aren't too excited or anxious about our decision. [Note: the flight to Tomsk was overnight, taking about 3-4 hours. It's across 3 time zones, so we lost more of our night.]
Around 3, we got up and got ready to meet Luba at 3:40. We spent the 40 minutes getting ready, and getting nervous. Headed down with 5 minutes to spare. In the lobby, I realized I'd forgotten my money, passport, etc., and ran back up. Anxious in the lobby, the minutes ticked away. Why were they late? Suddenly, I realized the clock on the wall read almost 3 not 4! We got the time change wrong. We'd seen clocks, but never compared them to Eric's watch. We were an hour early! Watched what appeared to be Russia's Funniest Home Videos on TV and got nervous again.
posted by AnnMarie at 5:37 PM |
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Sunday, January 04, 2004 |
January 4 overnight-- from "there and back again"
I'd swear I read that the airport (Demodedorovo) was in poor shape. Not as far as we've seen! The bathrooms are spacious and clean--although they sport large windows from floor to ceiling. In the mens room, the urinals are in view! The seats are roomy and comfy, including tall backs with headrests. Wish we had these in American airports. One could easily nap here.
On the plane: Now we are having an adventure. Eric noticed that our gate was different from the others--we didn't have a walkway just stairs to outside. So we put our coats on in line. The bus took us out to a plane. We all got out and clustered (no lines) near the stairs, freezing. Five minutes later (it was clear the plane wasn't ready and something was announced) we headed back to the bus. Which took us to the RIGHT plane!
After finding our seats--window for me and middle of 3 for Eric, I noted that Eric actualy had the aisle as requested [Note: later, discovered the seats are lettered differently depending on whether you look to the front of the plane or above the seats]. The overhead bins have no doors; hope there's no turbulence! I had no leg room; my backpack didn't even fit under the seat. Eric found his tray table barely came down and it was so close it hit him! So we traded. Didn't want to bother the guy on the aisle, so I stood and Eric slid. And I climbed, for his knees reach the seat in front so there wasn't room for mine. I was laughing the whole time, for it was quite silly of us! Now I have leg room (lots more space for this seat's bag) and Eric has a tray table. Eric's still in trouble, however, if the man in front of him wants to recline his seat! The row in front of us has two empty seats. But no one from a full row (like ours) has moved to take them; wonder if it's not allowed. Don't know if the seats recline, although they can fold forward. Both of us accidently knocked one over.
4-5 hours to Tomsk. 8 perhaps until we meet her....
posted by AnnMarie at 9:02 PM |
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January 4 -- from "there and back again"
Handwashing some clothes wasn't too bad last night. Had one problem yesterday: My MasterCard was rejected at the hotel. Aaack! Luckily, Eric's Visa was. I had called my card and told them to accept charges from Russia. [Note: lucky thing Eric's card worked. No one accepted Discover, so it was the only one we had the whole trip. We only used it a couple times, however.]
After the buffet breakfast, we ended up napping. Luckily, I suggested an alarm. Two hours later, I had just awoken when the alarm went off. We had 40 minutes to finish packing and check out! After storing our luggage, we went to Patio Pizza for lunch. I ordered a lovely salad. After one bite, Eric remembered we're to eat no uncooked food! A $30 meal and we ate barely half of it. :(
Spent the afternoon on a car tour of the city. Had a few places where we got out. One was a beautiful hotel (Sofia?) and a view across the river. Next was at the war memorial. At the 3rd stop was a ski lift. Olga (our guide) said it was ~a 20 minute round-trip. So we went. Today being Sunday in the middle of winter holidays, the wait for the return trip was LONG. My toes were painful by the end. Neither of us wore the right gloves. We never expected to be standing so long. I purposefully never asked the time, but I think it was ~45 minutes. On the ride up, Olga passed us--she'd gotten worried, of course. Oh, what an adventure! We got to experience a classic Russian event: queuing forever!
Right afterwards, we had a stop for vodka (I passed. Eric found it "Potent. You would have died. I'd still be pulling you off the floor!"), toilets (thank goodness!), and souvenirs. Bought a few items, spending ~$60--overpriced, I bet. But it was a great tour and I wold have paid $10 to just use a toilet by then! We got a set of ornaments (Grandfather Frosts), a matryoshka-like doll (it's just one, not the stacking kind, with a musical noise inside that sounds when you shake or tip it--a child's toy), a small painted box, and a Christmas stocking for our daughter.
The final stop was the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. I bought a picture of it in winter. It was torn down during the Soviet era. A swimming pool was there instead--open air, but heated. Swimming lessons were given even in the winter.
Which reminds me of a few things Olga told us about school. The school day lasts until 1 or 2. Then comes homework--lots of it. First form has ~2 hours, 2nd form 3 hours, 4th form 4 hours. I'm not sure what grades these correspond to. English begins in the second year. A second (third) language before high school.
We asked about Christmas traditions. Christmas trees are generally in homes. However, they decorate them with sweets, not ornaments. This year the mayor declared no live trees are allowed. (I suspect it's like America--the fire danger.) Because Christmas was suppressed, New Year's is more prominent; this is the gift-giving day. Christmas is making a comeback since religion can be openly practiced. Grandfather Frost is the equivalent of Santa Clause. This year, it was hard to find Grandfather Frost items. Most products were imported from China, etc., and they were Santa Claus!
posted by AnnMarie at 5:11 PM |
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Saturday, January 03, 2004 |
January 2-3, 2004 - adapted from "there and back again" (my journal)
What an adventure! We traveled Delta (ComAir) from Appleton to Cincinnati to Dulles. At Cincinnati, we saw a princess! A wonderful Mom allowed her daughter to dress up in a pretty princess dress, including a pointy hat! I want to be a Mom like that.
At dulles, we got our luggage and checked into Aeroflot. It wasn't too much of a hassle. The flight went first to JFK, where we had about an hour layover to pick up most of the passengers. Already realizing I could have pared down my carryon, but the slippers and pillow were definitely appreciated! The flight was uneventful. I did have a Russian man next to me. He tried to talk to me a lot but I understood nothing.
Janaury 3: Customs and passport control were fairly easy in Moscow. The hardest part was filling out the forms. The passport one had tiny spaces and I filled it out in-line. They didn't hand out any forms on the airplane. The customs form was harder. They had a sample in English, but no English forms. Eric collected the luggage while I did this. I spent most of the time in the airport filling out forms, so I have no idea what the airport was like! Because we had a few thousand dollars on us, I had heard we had to declare it. But the signs said the declaration line (and form) was only necessary for over $10,000! (This was found only after I filled out the forms, two for each of us!) CHI had said we had to declare our money, and they recommend only $2700.
We were confused by the time differential. I had heard it was 8 different from Central, but it turned out to be 9. Luckily, they let us know the time before we landed so we were okay.
Our translator, Sasha, met us at the airport. We were one of the last to come out, so it wasn't hard to figure out we were the CHI family. We were the first ones of the year! We headed quickly to the Marriott Tverskya. Usually, CHI families stay at the Katerina; it must have been full. We have a lovely room with two windows. Eric gave me a wet willy from snow on the window ledge! (I'll have to get him in Tomsk!) Lots of snow outside; across the street is an apartment complex. Two children are playing on a slide. They hit the bottom and slide a ways on the snow!
Continues to be an uneventful trip. Wait--that isn't us! or will this trip be notable for its ordinariness? "Ordinary" as far as first adoption trips can be!
We went out to dinner at Rostick's, fast food chicken. The provide menus in English. But the girl who took our order wasn't familiar with it. We aren't sure if Eric ordered the wrong item or she didn't understand, but he got a Happy Meal! Not quite as much food as he expected. But he got a toy with his first meal in Russia!
Some really neat trees are up as Christmas decor around the city. Eric said it best--it's like a Christmas tree crossed with a May Pole. Had a snowflake on top instead of a star.
Just before we got back to the hotel, Eric took a detour. I didn't ask where we were going. He walked us to a swing. We sat briefly in the dusk; it was quiet. It was lovely.
Note to self: In other countries, don't reach out to touch strange metal bars in the bathroom; you might burn yourself! Looks like we have a towel warmer, to my initial dismay at the pain but also my delight. I wonder if we could dry a shirt on it overnight or if that's a bad idea? Probably not something to try tonight. [current note: I did try it, but worried about scorching it. Dried socks and undies instead. Wonderful! I also forgot my warning and nearly burned myself when we returned to Moscow at the end of the trip.]
[note: much of these posts are taken from my journal of the trip. Some is direct quotes, some is compressed, some is additions.]
posted by AnnMarie at 12:53 PM |
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Thursday, January 01, 2004 |
This is it. We leave early tomorrow morning and arrive in Moscow just after noon on Saturday (Moscow time--4 am ish Wisconsin time [ooops, I shouldn't have tried to figure that out. That's awful!]). I hope to make some entries from Moscow and from Tomsk, but no guarantees. In either case, I will post a lot once we return!
posted by AnnMarie at 6:00 PM |
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