First Day in Moscow
So we were standing there looking like idiots just staring around and the few people there kind of looking weirdly back at us. We thought maybe he was running late, so we sat down in the chairs for a few minutes. Then I walked around for a minute to see if he was elsewhere, but nope. We had a number to call so I went to the kiosk to ask if they had telephone cards (no) or if there were telephones anywhere in the airport (no again). I went back to Brent and then this guy walked up who looked kind of like Captain Ron and introduced himself as Dima, our driver. He apologized profusely and told us that terminal one and terminal two were actually in different buildings, and that’s why he was late. No matter, we said, let’s just get to our hotel.
He helped us load our luggage into his van and we were on our way. SVO airport is not exactly inside the city of Moscow, and Moscow is a very big place, so expect to drive at least a half hour to get anywhere. I think it took us about 45 minutes to get to the hotel, and Dima is an exceptionally good (and fast) driver. He dropped us off and helped us bring our luggage in and told us he’d be there at 9:45 AM the next day, so be ready. We checked in and finally after 25 hours of travel, laid down and went to sleep. I had the alarm set for 8 AM but my body must have decided that 6 hours of sleep was not enough and I hit snooze a few too many times without realizing. I woke up for real about 8:45 and yelled to Brent that we had to get going NOW. We both took quick (but long-awaited) showers and threw all of our luggage back together and ran downstairs just in time, and found Dima waiting again for us.
Then we went to the coordinators house, Marina. We met the other family traveling - the Bradshaws, and their two pre-teen daughters. Then Katja (the other coordinator) explained the fees and things we’d have to do for paperwork, and Marina gave us coffee and juice and a snack. Then we left for our doctors appointments.
For Russian adoption, you have to be checked over a million times by your own doctor, and then you have to be checked again when you get to Russia by their doctors. Dima came along and acted as our translator. We ran into another adopting couple there too, but the husband was from Russia so they didn’t have a translator or anyone with them. They looked just as tired as we were.
The first person was an oncologist who asked about our family history, if our parents were still living, why we wanted to adopt (?), how often I go to the gynecologist, and some other things I don’t remember. Then we saw a therapist and she asked us a bunch of questions like if we smoked or drank, if our parents smoked or drank - she asked Brent if when he drank, if it made him happy or sad, if we had ever seen a therapist, and some other things. It seemed there was no set questions because everyone got asked different things.
Then Dima told us that they used to do physical exams (as recent as a month ago) but now they realized that the American doctors do a good enough job so we wouldn’t have to do that. So we waited around some more, then Dima came out and sheepishly said that we would have to have one more exam, he was wrong.
So Brent and I went together and Dima told us to take our shoes and… and … (he was getting red faced) so I nodded that I knew what he was talking about and Brent and I both took our shirts off and poor Dima spent the rest of the time talking to the wall. Dima was embarrassed for us, but we told him we had heard from the other families that this was coming, so don’t worry about it. There were three doctors in the room and they checked our reflexes and we had to shut our eyes and touch our noses. We had to put our feet together, and they knocked us with hammers. They pushed on our stomaches and asked if it hurt. It was kind of comical. I’m not really sure what they gathered from all of this, but at the end they let us go.
Then we paid them and got our paperwork for the judge.
After that we went back to Marina’s house for dinner. The Bradshaws were staying with Marina and we had no place to go so she thankfully let us hang out there until we had to get the train. We had soup and salad and pasta and chicken, and Marina told us about some Russian traditions (you MUST drink 3 times….3 is the Holy number!) and we all had a wonderful time.
About 7PM it was time to go and catch the train to Shumerlya so we packed up and were on our way.
He helped us load our luggage into his van and we were on our way. SVO airport is not exactly inside the city of Moscow, and Moscow is a very big place, so expect to drive at least a half hour to get anywhere. I think it took us about 45 minutes to get to the hotel, and Dima is an exceptionally good (and fast) driver. He dropped us off and helped us bring our luggage in and told us he’d be there at 9:45 AM the next day, so be ready. We checked in and finally after 25 hours of travel, laid down and went to sleep. I had the alarm set for 8 AM but my body must have decided that 6 hours of sleep was not enough and I hit snooze a few too many times without realizing. I woke up for real about 8:45 and yelled to Brent that we had to get going NOW. We both took quick (but long-awaited) showers and threw all of our luggage back together and ran downstairs just in time, and found Dima waiting again for us.
Then we went to the coordinators house, Marina. We met the other family traveling - the Bradshaws, and their two pre-teen daughters. Then Katja (the other coordinator) explained the fees and things we’d have to do for paperwork, and Marina gave us coffee and juice and a snack. Then we left for our doctors appointments.
For Russian adoption, you have to be checked over a million times by your own doctor, and then you have to be checked again when you get to Russia by their doctors. Dima came along and acted as our translator. We ran into another adopting couple there too, but the husband was from Russia so they didn’t have a translator or anyone with them. They looked just as tired as we were.
The first person was an oncologist who asked about our family history, if our parents were still living, why we wanted to adopt (?), how often I go to the gynecologist, and some other things I don’t remember. Then we saw a therapist and she asked us a bunch of questions like if we smoked or drank, if our parents smoked or drank - she asked Brent if when he drank, if it made him happy or sad, if we had ever seen a therapist, and some other things. It seemed there was no set questions because everyone got asked different things.
Then Dima told us that they used to do physical exams (as recent as a month ago) but now they realized that the American doctors do a good enough job so we wouldn’t have to do that. So we waited around some more, then Dima came out and sheepishly said that we would have to have one more exam, he was wrong.
So Brent and I went together and Dima told us to take our shoes and… and … (he was getting red faced) so I nodded that I knew what he was talking about and Brent and I both took our shirts off and poor Dima spent the rest of the time talking to the wall. Dima was embarrassed for us, but we told him we had heard from the other families that this was coming, so don’t worry about it. There were three doctors in the room and they checked our reflexes and we had to shut our eyes and touch our noses. We had to put our feet together, and they knocked us with hammers. They pushed on our stomaches and asked if it hurt. It was kind of comical. I’m not really sure what they gathered from all of this, but at the end they let us go.
Then we paid them and got our paperwork for the judge.
After that we went back to Marina’s house for dinner. The Bradshaws were staying with Marina and we had no place to go so she thankfully let us hang out there until we had to get the train. We had soup and salad and pasta and chicken, and Marina told us about some Russian traditions (you MUST drink 3 times….3 is the Holy number!) and we all had a wonderful time.
About 7PM it was time to go and catch the train to Shumerlya so we packed up and were on our way.
posted by Tracy at 10:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home