Yesterday started very well. We'd all had a good night sleep and went down for a 10am nap no problem. Alina eats and sleeps well most of the time. But we went to the U.S. embassy at 2pm to get her visa (yeah...we got it), then had to go to our agency office to complete some paperwork. By the time we got home, it was 5pm and someone had missed her afternoon nap. We put her down about 6:30 and made the mistake of waking her up from that. When we put her down again at 8:30 she was up every 30 minutes all night long. It was rough. About 4am she finally passed out from exhaustion and slept through until 7:30.
We all got up and ate breakfast. We had to go to the Ministry of Education at 11am. We spent from 7:30-10:30 trying to keep a tired baby up. We succeeded, did our final exit signature with the promise to do our followup placements. Picked up McDonald's and came home about 12:30. Alina went down for a nap quickly after having a bottle. She's been sleeping for about 2.5 hours. I hope this puts her in a better mood tonight.
She's so funny when she's sleeping. She's scoots up into a turtle position and sticks her tush in the air. It's looks so uncomfortable but she always moves back into that position.
Andy says he has "nothing to say at this present time".
We probably won't blog again after today because we leave for the airport at 10am tommorrow morning. Packing is on the agenda for this afternoon. Another lady who adopted with our same agency is in Moscow today so we may visit with her and her new daughter. I think Alina would like to play with another little one about her age.
Also, those of you whom we've been doing Skype with...our skype is disabled so we won't be able to call you today with it. So don't worry if we miss you.
Much love to all.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
We're doing great!
I know everyone who hasn't seen a picture, wants to. But we aren't going to post any photos of Alina until we get home. We're being very cautious about that and I hope everyone understands.
Okay, other blog from the other day was the initial parent panic. I'm stating that right now. You can prepare with books, reading, advice, whatever but then all of a sudden this little 22 lb (we found out her current weight this morning), dark brown haired, precocious munchkin is in your care and you aren't just visiting anymore....scary. I about had a meltdown on Monday becuase I was tired and didn't want my child to starve...wanted her to sleep. Wanted me to sleep...BUT we survived day one and two.
Not that I'm an expert now or anything, but we've already got our nap routine down. We're eating great. Had our first bath last night. First poopy diaper this morning (GAG!!--literally). I know a few of my friends are laughing their behinds off right now because they know me. I have a gag reflex cleaning out the litter box...same thing with poopy baby diapers.
We're feeding Alina Similac Advance formula (thank you so much Susan for the supply) which is going down well. We have a great eater on our hands. We're supplementing with a cereal mix that you just add water two that's just like the Gerber cereal in the states. We only do that once a day because it's a little variety. We're also doing apple juice because that's what she's used to. We've already cut back on that, but it's what she's used to at the orphanage.
Normally in the morning she gets cereal, compote (juice mixture), and some kind of bottle cooked by the kitchens there. Lunch was a soup puree mixture, compote. Supper was a bottle of compote or formulish thing and dinner was a cereal, puree, cookie combo of some kind. We've simplified.
First day I tried some gerber baby type food...stuff smelled nasty...she didn't like it. We tossed that idea and we're just doing formula, baby banana stuff which she does like, and Gerber cereal cookies (thank you Christina and Tammi), etc.
I don't remember if I had a chance to type about Monday because I was kind of typing in a blur. I brought a pair of ugg type boots a friend gave me as a shower gift they were so cute....size 3...I also had a pair or slippers my Mom bought me...size three but a lot of give becuase they are soft...no way they would fit. We have big foot on our hands. I think she may be in a size 5. I know friends with two year olds that have smaller feet than that. She's got wide long feet. Andy suggested she could be a deep sea swimmer with those tooties of hers. The baby home staff were laugh at us (with us) on Monday about that so they gave us some knitted booties as a gift to remember them by.
She was apparently a bit of a favorite because they let her hair grow. That's what the doctor said. Usually they cut the hair short so it's easier to mess with and in case of things like lice and other "infestations".
I have to say, the orphanage we're in was an excellent one. They have people who care and they take great care of these kids. They are very cautious about cleanliness and they disinfect the clothes daily to try and avoid problems. I don't know if all of them are that way, but the children we saw there were thriving (depending upon how long they had been there). We had several chances to talk to the caregivers of our group and another group and they were all great ladies.
Alina had her U.S. embassy doctor exam this morning and she's in good shape. Also, he gave us the name of the nasal drops to help with the congestion and with the plane. I forgot to bring some, but Andy and our guide are going to get them at the Arteka (pharmacy) today. Also, I had some Motrin infant drops and orajel which is helping with the teething. She's got 2 coming in on the bottom and 1 on top from what I can tell. She smiles with her whole mouth so it's easy to see in there.
We've learned how to Skype so we had a Grandparent visiting session yesterday with video. She likes the video and bangs on the laptop to say high...makes her grin to see people on the screen. I had heard about Skype, but now I'm a big proponent. Even when we get home we're going to use it to help with grandparents who are too far away.
Well...I'm going to close now because Alina is waking up. Tommorrow we don't have to go anywhere until the afternoon visit to the Ministry of Education. Apparrently, we have to take Alina there to show that we really got her and that we're capable of caring for her. It's the last Russian thing we have to do. Friday is the visit to pickup the visa (Andy is there now turning in the paperwork). Then we come Saturday. We will be in Atlanta by 4pm. Going to be a fun plane ride...(maybe not).
Much love to all. I'm sure Andy will blog his 6 rubles worth later.
Okay, other blog from the other day was the initial parent panic. I'm stating that right now. You can prepare with books, reading, advice, whatever but then all of a sudden this little 22 lb (we found out her current weight this morning), dark brown haired, precocious munchkin is in your care and you aren't just visiting anymore....scary. I about had a meltdown on Monday becuase I was tired and didn't want my child to starve...wanted her to sleep. Wanted me to sleep...BUT we survived day one and two.
Not that I'm an expert now or anything, but we've already got our nap routine down. We're eating great. Had our first bath last night. First poopy diaper this morning (GAG!!--literally). I know a few of my friends are laughing their behinds off right now because they know me. I have a gag reflex cleaning out the litter box...same thing with poopy baby diapers.
We're feeding Alina Similac Advance formula (thank you so much Susan for the supply) which is going down well. We have a great eater on our hands. We're supplementing with a cereal mix that you just add water two that's just like the Gerber cereal in the states. We only do that once a day because it's a little variety. We're also doing apple juice because that's what she's used to. We've already cut back on that, but it's what she's used to at the orphanage.
Normally in the morning she gets cereal, compote (juice mixture), and some kind of bottle cooked by the kitchens there. Lunch was a soup puree mixture, compote. Supper was a bottle of compote or formulish thing and dinner was a cereal, puree, cookie combo of some kind. We've simplified.
First day I tried some gerber baby type food...stuff smelled nasty...she didn't like it. We tossed that idea and we're just doing formula, baby banana stuff which she does like, and Gerber cereal cookies (thank you Christina and Tammi), etc.
I don't remember if I had a chance to type about Monday because I was kind of typing in a blur. I brought a pair of ugg type boots a friend gave me as a shower gift they were so cute....size 3...I also had a pair or slippers my Mom bought me...size three but a lot of give becuase they are soft...no way they would fit. We have big foot on our hands. I think she may be in a size 5. I know friends with two year olds that have smaller feet than that. She's got wide long feet. Andy suggested she could be a deep sea swimmer with those tooties of hers. The baby home staff were laugh at us (with us) on Monday about that so they gave us some knitted booties as a gift to remember them by.
She was apparently a bit of a favorite because they let her hair grow. That's what the doctor said. Usually they cut the hair short so it's easier to mess with and in case of things like lice and other "infestations".
I have to say, the orphanage we're in was an excellent one. They have people who care and they take great care of these kids. They are very cautious about cleanliness and they disinfect the clothes daily to try and avoid problems. I don't know if all of them are that way, but the children we saw there were thriving (depending upon how long they had been there). We had several chances to talk to the caregivers of our group and another group and they were all great ladies.
Alina had her U.S. embassy doctor exam this morning and she's in good shape. Also, he gave us the name of the nasal drops to help with the congestion and with the plane. I forgot to bring some, but Andy and our guide are going to get them at the Arteka (pharmacy) today. Also, I had some Motrin infant drops and orajel which is helping with the teething. She's got 2 coming in on the bottom and 1 on top from what I can tell. She smiles with her whole mouth so it's easy to see in there.
We've learned how to Skype so we had a Grandparent visiting session yesterday with video. She likes the video and bangs on the laptop to say high...makes her grin to see people on the screen. I had heard about Skype, but now I'm a big proponent. Even when we get home we're going to use it to help with grandparents who are too far away.
Well...I'm going to close now because Alina is waking up. Tommorrow we don't have to go anywhere until the afternoon visit to the Ministry of Education. Apparrently, we have to take Alina there to show that we really got her and that we're capable of caring for her. It's the last Russian thing we have to do. Friday is the visit to pickup the visa (Andy is there now turning in the paperwork). Then we come Saturday. We will be in Atlanta by 4pm. Going to be a fun plane ride...(maybe not).
Much love to all. I'm sure Andy will blog his 6 rubles worth later.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Gotcha Day!
Well, I'm sure some of you have been waiting waiting waiting for us to update. Well it's here....we've got Alina. She's was snoring softly right now in her crib (rental Pack-n-Play) when I started this and then woke up cranky cranky. So I'm cutting and pasting Andy's summary.
Sunday, we were the only couple to visit the orphanage and we had such a great afternoon with Alina. She wasn't distracted and got very comfortable with us. For those of you who are coming after us, I really recommend that you do the day before visit....it's not the same with every child but it really seemed to make a
difference with her.
Andy’s 5 Rubles (Looks like a quarter)
As most of you know we spent the 10 day wait in Moscow because it corresponded with my spring break. In other words it was cheaper, and more fun to be here than back in Bama. Not to mention no jet lag. Here’s the updates.
Thursday: We went to the Pushkin Museum. Large collection of French Impressionists. And it’s inside and therefore not freezing. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.
Friday: We went to the Victory Museum in Moscow. Museum of WW2. It has the largest park of restored military vehicles from WW2. Got to see Shermans, Matildas, and a lot of Russian Tanks many T34’s and other cool things. Got my picture taken in front of a T34 before the police got mad and shoed me away. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.
Saturday: We went to a large open air market in the mud and sureenough cold. Stacye tried to stimulate the Russian economy all by herself. Lots of souvenirs. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.
Sunday: We went to see Alina and got groceries from Globus. No Tuna Pizza. Just a well balanced meal of sausage, bread and ice cream. Alina was happy and fine and you don’t care about the rest.
Monday: We went to court and picked up Alina. She was too big for her age appropriate clothes. She didn’t fit in her snowboots. She didn’t fit in her back up larger shoes. We had to break out the 14 month clothes. She tolerated the car ride much better than we anticipated. Then she played for 2 solid hours while grandparents watched via Skype. They cared since it was about Alina. We’ll spend this week on Red tape and Red, White and Blue tape....Love, Andy
Okay, I'm back. It's Tuesday now. We had a bit of a rough night trying to get Alina to sleep after she woke from her nap. I think she's teething, congested, and generally disconbobilated (if there is such a word). We're trying to figure out the food schedule and what we can actually get her to eat. Yikes. Have to keep this short....someone is crawling this way. Much love, Stacye
Sunday, we were the only couple to visit the orphanage and we had such a great afternoon with Alina. She wasn't distracted and got very comfortable with us. For those of you who are coming after us, I really recommend that you do the day before visit....it's not the same with every child but it really seemed to make a
difference with her.
Andy’s 5 Rubles (Looks like a quarter)
As most of you know we spent the 10 day wait in Moscow because it corresponded with my spring break. In other words it was cheaper, and more fun to be here than back in Bama. Not to mention no jet lag. Here’s the updates.
Thursday: We went to the Pushkin Museum. Large collection of French Impressionists. And it’s inside and therefore not freezing. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.
Friday: We went to the Victory Museum in Moscow. Museum of WW2. It has the largest park of restored military vehicles from WW2. Got to see Shermans, Matildas, and a lot of Russian Tanks many T34’s and other cool things. Got my picture taken in front of a T34 before the police got mad and shoed me away. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.
Saturday: We went to a large open air market in the mud and sureenough cold. Stacye tried to stimulate the Russian economy all by herself. Lots of souvenirs. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.
Sunday: We went to see Alina and got groceries from Globus. No Tuna Pizza. Just a well balanced meal of sausage, bread and ice cream. Alina was happy and fine and you don’t care about the rest.
Monday: We went to court and picked up Alina. She was too big for her age appropriate clothes. She didn’t fit in her snowboots. She didn’t fit in her back up larger shoes. We had to break out the 14 month clothes. She tolerated the car ride much better than we anticipated. Then she played for 2 solid hours while grandparents watched via Skype. They cared since it was about Alina. We’ll spend this week on Red tape and Red, White and Blue tape....Love, Andy
Okay, I'm back. It's Tuesday now. We had a bit of a rough night trying to get Alina to sleep after she woke from her nap. I think she's teething, congested, and generally disconbobilated (if there is such a word). We're trying to figure out the food schedule and what we can actually get her to eat. Yikes. Have to keep this short....someone is crawling this way. Much love, Stacye
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Saw my cutie pie today :)
Well, our extremely long 8 days ended today as we went and saw our little pumpkin. :)
She was feeling very poorly last Monday when we saw her and she's still a little congested, but is doing better. I can't do anything about it until she's mine for good on MONDAY!! MONDAY is our gotcha day.
We went this morning and bought some swings for the orphanage. They wanted swings and we tried to find wind-up infant swings but had terrible time looking. So we bought swings that are for about 1 year olds. They said they can use them for the older group (1 year+). But we had brought a pyramid of clothes we dropped last week that will work for Alina's age group. It ended up being a pile about as high as my knee (two suitcases worth...thanks to all my friends/family who gave us clothes for that purpose).
Anyhow. She was so fussy today. She's definately teething again and we think she didn't remember us much. Took her about 45 minutes to warm up this time. Too long between visits. But what can you do. She looked like a pickle when she came in and they gave her to us. She wasn't much into going to those strangers in the loud room. We had another couple playing with their little boy and the translators were talking. So she just wanted to be held. After a while everyone left and it was just the three of us and she warmed up because she relaxed. I found out if I fake that I'm going to eat her foot...she just thinks thats the funniest thing. We actually caught her on film with a full on 7 tooth smile. She even giggled outloud and started cooing a little. She's not a very verbal child yet, so that was a great step to me.
We only got two hours with her, but at the end she was in a good mood and we'd had a chance to talk at length with her caregivers and her attending doctor about her sleeping schedule, feeding schedule, and what they actually feed them. Apparently, they usually feed them pureed food they make in the kitchen of the baby home. It's a conglomeration of meat, potatoes, squash, carrots, etc. Her bottle last week smelled like tomato soup or vegatable beef, now I know why.
As for Tuesday, we went to the Pushkin Museum and the Church of our Savior Christ (which was bombed out by the Soviets and rebuilt by the Russian Federation). Yesterday, we had our last major out of town excursion. We went an hour north to Sergiev Posad which is a very historic monastery which has housed several of the Russian Orthodox churches patriarchs (equivalent of the Catholic pope). It was founded in the 15th century by St. Sergiev as a hermit and then a town grew up around it because he was said to be able to perform miracles. The monastery that grew there also housed a theological school as well as an Icon artistist traininng center. It was shut down in 1930 by the Soviet government and turned into a dormitory for the students of the local university. But in 1985 under Gorbachev, they church was allowed to reconvene the school returned to it's original purpose. The site actually houses novice priests and monks. Priests must marry. Monks don't. Interesting.
The really fascinating thing was the tour we had by a novice priest who was about 20 who gave us a history of icon painting. It was fascinating.
Also, housed on grounds was Boris Gudinov who was the Prince of Moscow before Mikhail Romanov came to power. Lots of the site was donated to the Monaster by Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. They hid Peter the Great during the fight for his throne.
I also had a friend of mine come all the way over from Nizhny Novgorod (7 hours away) to go with us. She used to attend UAB and we became friends. Haven't seen her since 1999. But we kept in touch and it was so nice to see her.
Here's some pictures of our trip. Hope you have a great day. Pray for a smooth week next week. We will see Alina again on Sunday. Friday we're going to see a T-34 tank at the WWII museum for Andy and Saturday we're going to the big market at Izmayilova (SHOPPING!!). Much love to everyone.
She was feeling very poorly last Monday when we saw her and she's still a little congested, but is doing better. I can't do anything about it until she's mine for good on MONDAY!! MONDAY is our gotcha day.
We went this morning and bought some swings for the orphanage. They wanted swings and we tried to find wind-up infant swings but had terrible time looking. So we bought swings that are for about 1 year olds. They said they can use them for the older group (1 year+). But we had brought a pyramid of clothes we dropped last week that will work for Alina's age group. It ended up being a pile about as high as my knee (two suitcases worth...thanks to all my friends/family who gave us clothes for that purpose).
Anyhow. She was so fussy today. She's definately teething again and we think she didn't remember us much. Took her about 45 minutes to warm up this time. Too long between visits. But what can you do. She looked like a pickle when she came in and they gave her to us. She wasn't much into going to those strangers in the loud room. We had another couple playing with their little boy and the translators were talking. So she just wanted to be held. After a while everyone left and it was just the three of us and she warmed up because she relaxed. I found out if I fake that I'm going to eat her foot...she just thinks thats the funniest thing. We actually caught her on film with a full on 7 tooth smile. She even giggled outloud and started cooing a little. She's not a very verbal child yet, so that was a great step to me.
We only got two hours with her, but at the end she was in a good mood and we'd had a chance to talk at length with her caregivers and her attending doctor about her sleeping schedule, feeding schedule, and what they actually feed them. Apparently, they usually feed them pureed food they make in the kitchen of the baby home. It's a conglomeration of meat, potatoes, squash, carrots, etc. Her bottle last week smelled like tomato soup or vegatable beef, now I know why.
As for Tuesday, we went to the Pushkin Museum and the Church of our Savior Christ (which was bombed out by the Soviets and rebuilt by the Russian Federation). Yesterday, we had our last major out of town excursion. We went an hour north to Sergiev Posad which is a very historic monastery which has housed several of the Russian Orthodox churches patriarchs (equivalent of the Catholic pope). It was founded in the 15th century by St. Sergiev as a hermit and then a town grew up around it because he was said to be able to perform miracles. The monastery that grew there also housed a theological school as well as an Icon artistist traininng center. It was shut down in 1930 by the Soviet government and turned into a dormitory for the students of the local university. But in 1985 under Gorbachev, they church was allowed to reconvene the school returned to it's original purpose. The site actually houses novice priests and monks. Priests must marry. Monks don't. Interesting.
The really fascinating thing was the tour we had by a novice priest who was about 20 who gave us a history of icon painting. It was fascinating.
Also, housed on grounds was Boris Gudinov who was the Prince of Moscow before Mikhail Romanov came to power. Lots of the site was donated to the Monaster by Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. They hid Peter the Great during the fight for his throne.
I also had a friend of mine come all the way over from Nizhny Novgorod (7 hours away) to go with us. She used to attend UAB and we became friends. Haven't seen her since 1999. But we kept in touch and it was so nice to see her.
Here's some pictures of our trip. Hope you have a great day. Pray for a smooth week next week. We will see Alina again on Sunday. Friday we're going to see a T-34 tank at the WWII museum for Andy and Saturday we're going to the big market at Izmayilova (SHOPPING!!). Much love to everyone.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Our weekend...
Well, we're back in Moscow safe and sound. Had a nice weekend with the my friends parents who live in Yaroslavl. It was about 4 hours on the train to Yaroslavl which is north of Moscow and its about 6-10 degrees colder there. Friday in Moscow was about 32 degrees (1 to -1 C) and then in Yaroslavl it got to -10 degrees yesterday morning. BURRR...but it made for some very beautiful weather attributes I've read about in Literature and never seen called Hoarfrost.
I want to tell you about what we did Friday and then about our weekend.
Friday, we went with our new friends from Washington, DC to see St. Basil's in Red Square. It kept being closed when we tried to see it, but we hung outside until they opened at 11am with Paul and Donna. We really clicked with this couple and they are so sweet. I hope we get to see them again before we leave when they come back after the 10 day wait. They just had court last week on Thursday, but decided to go home between.
St. Basil's was beautiful and interesting building. We also saw the sun come out which was so nice.
Our hosts met us at the Train station on Friday and we took a taxi to their home. They live in a small apartment in the edges of the city and Alexander works for one of the local universities as a historian. Andy and he got on beautifully becuase they could talk history all day. Larissa is a school teacher and was extremely sweet. Both were so generous with their time and energy. They cooked us all the meals while were there and it was SOO good. It was nice to have home cooked food and not restaurant food or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
aturday we went to the Yaroslavl Jazz Festival. They had 3 sets of players of jazz. Set 1 was a local band from Yaroslavl, Set 2 was a Moscow Free Jazz Band, and the 3rd group was an excellent ensemble from Moscow and the US. Their pianist was a guy named Keith Javers from Philadelphia. Guy could majorily play the piano. The tenor sax was played by Oleg Kireyev who has the #1 jazz club in Moscow. They are headed on tour to Europe and the U.S. Keith was so suprised so see someone who was American in Yaroslavl (he didn't speak any Russian himself)and so pleased to talk to us. He signed my CD I bought and his buddy Oleg gave us two more of his CDs to take back to Alabama. He plays world music as well as Jazz. So that was very cool.
Alexander gave us a tour of a few historic churches in Yaroslavl which date from between 1682-1692. Apparently during this period, Yaroslavl was a huge funnel from west Europe for trade traffic and made their fortunes that way. Other centuries the city had mercantile success with grain and tanneries. They lost all of that when St. Petersburg was built in 1703 and the traffic from Europe came through there and then lost the mill trade after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 because there were so many aristocrats and bourgeousie. Before 1900 they had a about 100 beautiful churches in the city, but they lost many to fire and many others were bombed out in WWII. About 30 are left in the city. Interesting thing about the church in these pictures is that the big building is for worship in the summer and the smaller white building is for worship in winter. Has 3 foot thick walls.
We also saw the Yaroslavl montastery and walked along the Volga on Saturday. Then walked along on Sunday morning when all the Hoarfrost was out which I just thought was amazing.
It was neat to be outside in this freezing weather and see the activity of the average Russian people as they walking along the Volga embankment. Kids on skis doing cross country type skiing, parents pushing children in sleds (no way to use a regular stroller when the ground is iced 3-6 inches thick), people out on the Volga with large augers cutting holes in the ice for fishing, kids tobogganing. That was fun. Unfortunately, my coat zipper has died. It won't zip and it was REALLY cold. So we went into the Yaroslavl city museum where they had wonderful Russian artwork.
We left on Sunday evening and arrived back in Moscow about 9pm. We came out a Belorusakya and we saw the KFC...so we broke down and ate there. That was actually the first time, but it was inexpensive and really good. Actually better than I have had recently at home. They play techno music and try to make KFC look cool which is kind of funny.
We got back to the hotel to a call from the other couple we had met at the Baby home last week. They are from Toronto Canada. They are adopting a 15 month old little boy who runs around and is very stable on his feet. They are also staying for the 10 days wait like us. They are getting their son the day after we get Alina. So we decided to meet them for lunch and as today was Monday all the Museums and major attractions are closed. So we did a tour that was in their guide book looking at the metro stops.
Many metro stops in Moscow are considered major works of art as they were decorated during Soviet times to commemorate WWII, the bolshevik revolution, Soviet unity, the arts, many other things.
Well, hope you enjoyed our update. Tommorrow we're probably going to either the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum or the Victory Park and WWII Museum. Love to you all.
I want to tell you about what we did Friday and then about our weekend.
Friday, we went with our new friends from Washington, DC to see St. Basil's in Red Square. It kept being closed when we tried to see it, but we hung outside until they opened at 11am with Paul and Donna. We really clicked with this couple and they are so sweet. I hope we get to see them again before we leave when they come back after the 10 day wait. They just had court last week on Thursday, but decided to go home between.
St. Basil's was beautiful and interesting building. We also saw the sun come out which was so nice.
Our hosts met us at the Train station on Friday and we took a taxi to their home. They live in a small apartment in the edges of the city and Alexander works for one of the local universities as a historian. Andy and he got on beautifully becuase they could talk history all day. Larissa is a school teacher and was extremely sweet. Both were so generous with their time and energy. They cooked us all the meals while were there and it was SOO good. It was nice to have home cooked food and not restaurant food or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
aturday we went to the Yaroslavl Jazz Festival. They had 3 sets of players of jazz. Set 1 was a local band from Yaroslavl, Set 2 was a Moscow Free Jazz Band, and the 3rd group was an excellent ensemble from Moscow and the US. Their pianist was a guy named Keith Javers from Philadelphia. Guy could majorily play the piano. The tenor sax was played by Oleg Kireyev who has the #1 jazz club in Moscow. They are headed on tour to Europe and the U.S. Keith was so suprised so see someone who was American in Yaroslavl (he didn't speak any Russian himself)and so pleased to talk to us. He signed my CD I bought and his buddy Oleg gave us two more of his CDs to take back to Alabama. He plays world music as well as Jazz. So that was very cool.
Alexander gave us a tour of a few historic churches in Yaroslavl which date from between 1682-1692. Apparently during this period, Yaroslavl was a huge funnel from west Europe for trade traffic and made their fortunes that way. Other centuries the city had mercantile success with grain and tanneries. They lost all of that when St. Petersburg was built in 1703 and the traffic from Europe came through there and then lost the mill trade after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 because there were so many aristocrats and bourgeousie. Before 1900 they had a about 100 beautiful churches in the city, but they lost many to fire and many others were bombed out in WWII. About 30 are left in the city. Interesting thing about the church in these pictures is that the big building is for worship in the summer and the smaller white building is for worship in winter. Has 3 foot thick walls.
We also saw the Yaroslavl montastery and walked along the Volga on Saturday. Then walked along on Sunday morning when all the Hoarfrost was out which I just thought was amazing.
It was neat to be outside in this freezing weather and see the activity of the average Russian people as they walking along the Volga embankment. Kids on skis doing cross country type skiing, parents pushing children in sleds (no way to use a regular stroller when the ground is iced 3-6 inches thick), people out on the Volga with large augers cutting holes in the ice for fishing, kids tobogganing. That was fun. Unfortunately, my coat zipper has died. It won't zip and it was REALLY cold. So we went into the Yaroslavl city museum where they had wonderful Russian artwork.
We left on Sunday evening and arrived back in Moscow about 9pm. We came out a Belorusakya and we saw the KFC...so we broke down and ate there. That was actually the first time, but it was inexpensive and really good. Actually better than I have had recently at home. They play techno music and try to make KFC look cool which is kind of funny.
We got back to the hotel to a call from the other couple we had met at the Baby home last week. They are from Toronto Canada. They are adopting a 15 month old little boy who runs around and is very stable on his feet. They are also staying for the 10 days wait like us. They are getting their son the day after we get Alina. So we decided to meet them for lunch and as today was Monday all the Museums and major attractions are closed. So we did a tour that was in their guide book looking at the metro stops.
Many metro stops in Moscow are considered major works of art as they were decorated during Soviet times to commemorate WWII, the bolshevik revolution, Soviet unity, the arts, many other things.
Well, hope you enjoyed our update. Tommorrow we're probably going to either the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum or the Victory Park and WWII Museum. Love to you all.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Today...
Russia apparently doesn't buy into coin laundry or do it yourself laundry. The hotel will do laundry (dry cleaning)...how about $3.00 for a pair of socks or $13.00 for one shirt. So we revolted. We did it ourselves in the bathtub. Fortunately, I had purchased liquid tide in travel sizes.
Imagine us with a unmentionables hanging all over the room and jeans stretched out over every suitcase we brought with us. We put the do not disturb sign on the door so we would freakout the poor floor maid. After we got up, some things were dry so we redistributed it around the room. Only the jeans and big sweaters will take two days to dry.
We didn't get out of the hotel until about 1pm and took it easy as was suggested to us. We took the metro over to Novy Arbat and Old Arbat which are basically shopping streets. I bought a cute little Russian dress for Alina that she will get to wear once and we can have pictures that everyone can say....'Awww' and then we will mothball it...but I couldn't resist. It's the traditional style and it's much cheaper here than at home.
We ate at TGI Fridays...I know...cliche...but we were hungry and it was right there. They had a great mushroom soup, a nice salad, and the nastiest cheeseburger I've ever eaten. Andy had a Quesdilla which he enjoyed. I just did the salad and soup and the cheeseburger remained...um...you know uneaten.
We came back to the hotel and called it an early night. I ate peanut butter sandwich...Andy had another Crapdog...he loves them. I can't quite stomach them.
We won't be blogging for two days because we're going out of town for the weekend to a town called Yaroslav. I have a friend who has parents there and we were invited to stay with them. Apparently we're going to a Russian Jazz Festival on Saturday. That should be fun and a great distraction from the waiting.
Love to you all and we'll blog on Sunday to let you know we're okay and back safely.
Imagine us with a unmentionables hanging all over the room and jeans stretched out over every suitcase we brought with us. We put the do not disturb sign on the door so we would freakout the poor floor maid. After we got up, some things were dry so we redistributed it around the room. Only the jeans and big sweaters will take two days to dry.
We didn't get out of the hotel until about 1pm and took it easy as was suggested to us. We took the metro over to Novy Arbat and Old Arbat which are basically shopping streets. I bought a cute little Russian dress for Alina that she will get to wear once and we can have pictures that everyone can say....'Awww' and then we will mothball it...but I couldn't resist. It's the traditional style and it's much cheaper here than at home.
We ate at TGI Fridays...I know...cliche...but we were hungry and it was right there. They had a great mushroom soup, a nice salad, and the nastiest cheeseburger I've ever eaten. Andy had a Quesdilla which he enjoyed. I just did the salad and soup and the cheeseburger remained...um...you know uneaten.
We came back to the hotel and called it an early night. I ate peanut butter sandwich...Andy had another Crapdog...he loves them. I can't quite stomach them.
We won't be blogging for two days because we're going out of town for the weekend to a town called Yaroslav. I have a friend who has parents there and we were invited to stay with them. Apparently we're going to a Russian Jazz Festival on Saturday. That should be fun and a great distraction from the waiting.
Love to you all and we'll blog on Sunday to let you know we're okay and back safely.
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