Embassy

It is not hard to adjust to the quiet sleeping room (compared to the noisy 5^th Army St we listened to for two months)!

We were all awake by 6:00am today – Genya apparently all slept out but until it got lighter outside we told him it was still night… but once he saw the lighter sky he said "good morning". Brian again went to get us some donuts for breakfast and Genya ate some of his big apple he has yet from last night, banana and some cereal we had also bought last night. As I told my mom last night, having English on the TV, no matter if it's usually the same news over and over, makes the time go much faster when in the room.

Yesterday when we were leaving the hotel I asked at the front desk if they could adjust the heat in our room (make it cooler). I reminded him we were used to Siberia (!) so he said "no problem, we'll change it to -40!" I replied "no, -20 will be fine!" LOL They have really nice people working here! I rode the elevator with the assistant GM yesterday and complimented him on his employees.

We went outside to walk a little before finding a place for an early lunch. The streets here all run on angles, similar to Irkutsk, so we know we have to be careful thinking we know where we are walking! We went a few blocks off the main street our hotel is on and eventually just doubled back to it. On the way there were some men on the street crew pressure washing the light poles. We had stopped so the water wouldn't hit us as then as we walked by they asked Genya if he wanted to do it! So he did that for a little bit and Brian got a few pictures. Genya thought he was tough stuff then! Lol We stopped at a coffee shop that is a chain (located every few blocks). It was good food but expensive! (as EVERYTHING in Moscow is)… 1000 rubles with the tip but I had good coffee. Brian had brought donuts in from the grocery again this morning and I had coffee from the lobby so my good caffeine level is getting up there again! Tomorrow we think we'll get bakery from this coffeehouse tho as it's just a little more money but sounds much more delicious – almond croissant anyone??? Lol

Walking back from the café Genya threw an absolute fit – all because I wouldn't let him leave the bookstore on his own!! He was very, very naughty but eventually apologized to both of us, in English. We met Philip in the lobby at 1pm and headed to the embassy. By now Genya was more his normal self, even quiet!

Going into the embassy is like going through an airport security – take off your coat (shoes don't come off tho), show passport, go through metal detectors, nothing sharp allowed, etc. It wasn't bad. It is a beautiful building and I wish we could have taken pictures but cameras are not allowed inside. We went to pay our visa fee and my credit card was declined! I checked later and there is "no credit left" so the hotel must have it all blocked!! Good thing Brian had his other card along – all of a sudden I'm having numerous credit card issues! We do have some cash yet tho so will be changing some of that for rubles tomorrow! We got called for our interview and it was Mark Seibel, from the Dept of State, who did it himself. He's not really responsible for that anymore since it's changed to the immigration service but he wanted to meet us, etc. Very nice man! Transferring to El Savador at end of month I think so we're probably the last IRK family he'll have helped personally through the end of this. Confirmed the spelling of Nathan Eugeny's name, went over paperwork with us, explained things, etc. Then shook our hands, congratulated us, and said the visa will be ready in about 30-minutes. There were 3 other American families there today – one from New York, one Alabama and one Mississippi (and then us). The other kids were all 15-months and younger…two girls, one boy. Nice families. They all said they won't complain about anything with their adoption after hearing our story! The passport/visa was then ready so we looked it over and it looks fine. We got our paperwork for immigration and were free to go. We met Philip and the driver Vladimir at the van. Showed the visa to Philip and he said "very good" and took some info he needed for the Russian Consulate registry off it. I thought we'd be doing that tomorrow but he said that we'll be doing it from home as otherwise we'd have to stay until Tuesday and he didn't think that was the right decision for us! Wow!! But then a few minutes later he said he would go to the Consulate tomorrow and explain our story and see if he couldn't get the registration done before we leave so we'll see what happens. Worse case he fills out paperwork for us again and we send from home. He also said his wife will be taking us on a walking tour tomorrow so we'll meet in the lobby at 9:15am - yeah! We'll learn more about what we saw on our own the other day!

Back at the hotel we were just hanging in the room when the computer became open so I was going to go down to check emails and quickly blog. I saw a lady heading into the hallway with a little girl and thought she looked like the picture Philip had shown me earlier of another BCS family who came in from St. Petersburg last night…well, it was! So I hung out in the hallway visiting with Caroline and her daughter Emma Alicia for a long time, a man from Massachusetts, Kim (dad) and his son Ilia and later the mom Jackie came by also. We just visited and told stories for a long time. Genya spent his time running the hallways – was his face red! Then Caroline and Emma and Genya and I went to the 4^th floor by the computer where the kids played with balloons and I blogged. Emma was laughing so hard!

It was almost 6pm by now so we headed upstairs to go out to get dinner. Genya then threw ANOTHER fit so Brian stayed in the room with him and I walked to the KFC for chicken sandwiches for dinner. (Genya had eaten some in between this all so low blood sugar was not an excuse for his behavior today!) By the time I got back to the hotel he was making up to Brian and then to me. We continue to tell him we love him but don't like his behavior when he's like this! Genya decided to eat yogurt and cereal instead of a chicken sandwich so that was his dinner tonight.

We watched some TV and Genya fell asleep about 8pm – not surprising considering all his running today and his outbursts. Brian's napping also but I'm trying to stay awake for awhile!!

And yes, our flights are confirmed for Sunday. We will arrive in Chicago at O'Hare at scheduled 4:30pm but have to clear customs and immigration so it will probably be closer to 5:30 before we see JJ again but it will be great!! We leave Moscow at 1:30pm local time, fly 11 hours and arrive 4:30pm Chicago local time… how is that for a day's "work"?