Home for now

Well we are home from the first trip! We saw Greenland and icebergs at 35,000 feet! We don't know when the next trip will be but when we know you can read it here first. We have some more paperwork to do here and some that need to be completed in Biro before we know. Glad to be home after 14,000km one way.

Shopping and Wildlife

Last night we enjoyed the fountains and memorials at Victory Park which they remember May 9th each year. One memorial of those who died in concentration camps in gas chambers and burned alive brought both of us girls to tears, it was very moving. Jason enjoyed standing on top of a Russian tank. There is a "marriage lane" where couples on their wedding day drive down it to the memorials and lay flowers. The fountains were all lit up at night and were beautiful.
Now for a little bit about wildlife here. Some tigers are native her as well as many animals we have in Canada eg. moose, bear, deer, etc. There is also a Zoo in Moscow by the hockey arena which we haven't had time to see. However we have seen some smaller wildlife. There are grey crows here with black wings and the pigeons and sparrows are so tame they know you won't step on them so they don't even bother moving. Until now I have never seen a cockroach either. I wanted Jason to catch it under a glass so I could look at it since I heard from a friend that they hiss when they are mad. Surprisingly they are very fast and can crawl several feet up the side of a wall. Jason freaked out and killed it! He couldn't sleep without the lights cause he had the creepy crawlies after that.
We did some shopping today and got some good bargins including some nesting dolls and a beautiful oil painting of St. Basil's Cathedral in winter.

Sightseeing

We spent last night walking around Arabat street and looking at Russian eggs, fur hats, traditional dance outfits, nesting dolls and amber jewelry. Some purchases will have to wait for the next visit as I have too many things I like. We drove by the hockey arena where the Canada vs. Russia 1972 series was played and the soccer stadium. Our driver showed us some of the architecture here including some of the buildings called “the seven sisters” very beautiful with spire tops much like you would see in London.

It is 34 C today plus humidity what a great day for sight seeing! (sarcasm). Our translator and tour guide Elaina started at St. Basil’s Cathedral and walked all the way around the outside of the Kremlin. We saw Red Square, Lenin’s tomb (closed), fountains, statues, a mall and a statue of “the unknown soldier” with a flame and guards. We then went into the Kremlin but all the Cathedral’s were closed for renovations. Since Jason’s beloved camera is “too professional” looking we where not able to take it into the Kremlin and had to check it with our back pack in a locker so we didn’t get any pictures of it. Big isn’t always better! She took us for Japanese food for lunch and then through the subway (which is beautiful with statues and history) back to the hotel. Moscow is 860 years old and has so much history it is hard to take it all in in one day. Especially since Jason is a history buff and wants to see everything.

Tonight our driver is taking us to Victory Park to see it at night is very beautiful he said with the fountains all lit up with different colour lights. There are Russian tanks and memorials to those millions of Russians who died in WWII. Tomorrow we plan on shopping and relaxing. We wanted to go to the ballet but I don’t know if I could appreciate it as I should and they are renovating the Bolshi ballet stage so it is on the student stage right now anyway which the building was one of the things we wanted to see. We decided that we would rather spend that money on keepsakes. Everyone we have met and everywhere we have gone have been so great. They all want to make sure we are well taken care of, going over itinerary’s, and informed of safety issues. Even with us being hot and sticky with sweat they are welcome to hugs goodbye and can’t wait to see us again on our next trip. Sunday we stay an extra night in Toronto to see an old friend I haven’t seen in 12 years! Boy time fly’s Kristina.

See you all soon Tonya and Jason

P.S. this post is from yesterday but McDonald's is not known for reliable internet service so we are posting 2 entries today from Starbucks...

Well we were not able to find internet until it was basically time to leave so we thought we would check it out for the next trip since we expect the second trip to take 30 days total and 19 of them in Biro. So we waited till be got back to Moscow to add this to the Blog. Be prepared it is a long one…

The plane to Khabarosk was over 9 hours and we sat right behind the bathroom which would make most peoples stomach turn, however looking at the bright side we got extra leg room. It was night time the whole way and saw the Northern Lights and Ursa Major right above it. We got off the plane on the tarmack as well. The bathrooms at the Khabarosk airport are not as bad as Jason will lead you to believe. Yes, it was a hole in the floor but it was flushable and beautiful tile floors and sinks. Girls much like you would go in the bushes..he,he. We noticed that Jason’s beard he took 8 months to grow to try to fit in actually made him stick out! Natasha our translator met us there holding a sign with our names on it. She is very slim, long blonde hair and add to that slim diva style Gucci Jeans and 3” heals I was feeling a bit sloppy in my money belt, t-shirt, gym pants and crocs. Now for an almost 3hour drive to Biro which can be scary when your driver (named Dema, the guy was a boxer and know owns his own store in the market selling C.D.’s and movies) had his steering wheel on the right side of the car and they also drive on the right side of the road so passing a big truck on single lane bumpy road with no shoulder was a little tense. Along the way we saw little wooden houses with tin roofs sunken into the ground with gardens and flowers and selling vegetables and watermelon on the side of the highway. Biro is nice in the summer but hot and humid (we were lucky to have air conditioning installed the day we arrived at our apartment). All the apartments have bars on the lower window and balconies on the floors above with clothes lines hanging out from them (Jason was a bit embarrassed one morning when he saw I did laundry and hung his boxer briefs out to dry for everyone to see). We dropped our stuff of at the apartment and then on to the Ministry of Education to get a letter stating we are allowed to go to the orphanage. But not till the next morning (our Tuesday your Monday).

I am keeping you in suspense so you read the whole entry..he,he.

She is beautiful! The first day she was having difficulties holding her head up for too long (for those of you who have seen her picture the red marks were mosquito bites and have been replaced by new ones in different spots as they like to have them sleep outside at night as it is too hot inside with lack of air conditioning) but by the time we left the second day she was reaching for things, holding her head up very well, putting weight on her legs and even rolled over 4 times. Everyone has seen a big improvement in just 2 days with us and see that we are bonding already. They all can’t wait till we return. The Canadian approved doctor has now even ruled out the question mark for C.P. and no sign of F.A.S. which is an answer to prayer! Developmentally she is about 3 months behind but with a lot of attention, massages and stimulation she should get back on track within a year at home. She fell asleep both days we were there on Jason and we felt like we were “back in the saddle again” so to speak of holding a baby and getting spit-up on when burping…

We watched more of the Olympics and since there was no coverage of Canada we started cheering for Russia. Jason loved the sight seeing tour and took lots of pictures. We went grocery shopping a few times and were pleasantly surprised at how many labels we recognize on food, billboards and T.V. Russians take English in school like we do French and they remember about as much as I do…nothing. My favourite part (next to meeting our daughter) was shopping at the market. Natasha tried to bargain with them but none would budge. However, I got a great purse, belt, toy car (for Nate), coloring book with Russian writing, Jewish Vodka (only place in the world you can buy it other than Israel but this one has a Russian label), a book about Biro (as friends who have adopted from here suggested, we are glad we did), a decorative plate, key chain and fridge magnet. Since we can only bring 20kg each for luggage on domestic flights we (I) plan on stocking up in Moscow. The flight back to Moscow is again over 9 hours but due to time zones we are there less then 2 hours later. This flight was much better as we had an empty seat beside us so we could stretch out and no where near the bathroom. Jason and I found ourselves playing pica-boo with a cute girl just a little older that ours across the isle and missing both of our kids even more. The plane was much newer however the bathroom was still very gross (can anyone hit the right spot?). Anyway we have the same driver picking us up in Moscow again Dmitriy (is the correct spelling) and as our plane was delayed by 2 hours I hope he called ahead to check arrival times. We are staying at the Belgard hotel downtown Moscow and right beside Arabt street (can we say shopping!) Tomorrow at 10am we go to Red Square. There is a Mc Donald's at the underground street crossing by our hotel with free wireless internet so we will be able to post often. I hope all of you were able to read all of this as most of you know I find it impossible to make a long story short. Tonya and Jason , I Love you and miss you Nathanael xoxo

Arrived in Moscow

We are here and other than some swollen feet and tired we are safe and sound and with all our luggage. A little bit of confusion at the duty free store in Toronto, but got that figured out and went for lunch and had a wonderful waitress that thought I had an accent from the States...he,he. Met up with a couple in Toronto also flying to Moscow adopting from the same orphanage and exchanged info. They are going on to St. Petersburg first to tour around before heading east to meet their baby boy. Demitri is our driver and has taken good care of us. Our hotel is a five star Presidental Hotel! Beautiful room with an entrance, bathroom, living room, bedroom and walk out balcony. The view is beautiful with lots of maple, birch and weeping birch trees towering everywhere. Our driver and lady at the hotel desk both speak pretty good English which has helped. Jason even got in a little of the Olympics on T.V. here (it was the only thing on he could figure out what was going on..he,he.) We are close to the airport and Demitri will be here to pick us up at 3:00pm and take us to the domestic airport tomorrow afternoon. We will spend the time sleeping finally and taking in everything to see. There is a wedding here today and we even snapped a picture of the bride and groom. We will be in a different hotel in down town Moscow on the way back through that we hear is even nicer but less trees. Right now it is 4:53pm and home is 6:53am both on Saturday. Love you Nathanael and miss you already! Hope to have access to the internet in Biro but if not we will when we get back to Moscow.

Getting Ready to Fly!

I (Tonya) wanted to get in and post my thoughts. I can't let Jason have all the fun. We were awaken early today from our agency giving us an update of how she is doing and there are some health concerns but we will have to wait till we get there and see our Canadian approved doctor to decide if they are too severe for immigration purposes. Nathanael will not be coming with us due to the trip being apx. 10 days and apx. 6 of them are in airports or on planes. We all decided that he would not have much fun and Grandma and Papa's would be much more up his alley.
Packing is interesting as we will only be able to take 20kg/person on the domestic flight in Russia and some that is taken up with camera, laptop, paperwork and a generous donation from Robeez of 25 pairs of shoes for the orphanage. Thank goodness we will be able to do laundry there. I bought some new clothes for the trip... "expecting" clothes that I can wear after too..he,he. On the international trip from Moscow home we will be able to load up with 20lbs/person extra in keepsakes. I'm just so excited to meet her I can hardly sleep or think about anything else! Thanks to everyone sharing in our excitement!

Biro, here we come

Well, it is one week from today, we are heading to Biro. For those who are wondering why... it is because we are adopting a baby girl. It has been a long and tough process, but, perhaps the end is near.

Where is Biro? Well... it can be found here: Biro


How do you get there? Well, a VERY long trip. We are flying from Regina to Toronto, and then o Moscow. We overnight in Moscow, and then fly to Khabarovsk. From there, we take about an 3 hour overland drive to Biro.

Do you want to know more about Biro... here is their city's website
What else can I say right now... not sure but I will let you know soon.

Our First Blog

Well, this is our first blog. As this is the interweb, I thought that it would be best that we keep the personal stuff down to a min... well you know, as much as possible.

The one thing that I ask is that if you do post anything to this blog, please use first names/initials only... my little pet peve... that is all.

Thanks!!!