The Art of Cramming

Today was a very busy day! In the morning, I went with one of the other Americans to pick up our daughter's birth certificate and adoption certificate. Then we went back to the hotel, finished packing and loaded the van. All of us were crammed into the van (both families with new daughters) and we stopped by to pick up the girl's Russian passports. This was quite an experience...we get there and about 30 people are outside this little tiny run-down building, all waiting to get inside to work on getting passports. We met our coordinator Yuri there, talked for about 60 seconds and the door opened. As everyone crammed to the door, Yuri walked past everyone else, told the guy at the security counter who he was and we all just waltzed right passed the whole crowd. We could here some of the people yelling and asking the security guard why we got to jump ahead of the line. I literally walked into the room, signed my name in two places, they handed me Aeniah's passport (which was already completed) and walked out. It was very cool...but I could kind of feel the stares on our backs as we walked out of the building.

My daughter has a Russian passport...how cool is that?

We immediately got back into the van and went to the airport. It's about a 30 minute drive that seems like 60 because of the mass of potholes. I learned that if you drive fast enough the tires "will indeed" float across the air to the other side of the pothole with minimal dipping. I always wondered until today.

At the airport, both families together went through 3 sets of check points...none of which are large enough to hold two people leave alone six with luggage. But since we've been here for what seems like an eternity, we have truly learned the "Art of Russian Cramming." We waited for a short while in the airport...again the waiting room is much too small for this number of people...and Natasha walked around introducing herself to EVERYONE and their dog..and cat. Yes, there was a dog and cat on our flight. After cramming the entire plane load of people onto just one bus (see previous posts in February for an explanation of this) we all stuffed into the plane...which was a very nice plane by the way...much like our first trip here.

Aeniah/Natasha (we still waiver on what to call her...she's going to have identity issues when she grows up) was very excited to see the airplanes (semilote in Russian) and go inside one. She did very well and was quite pleasant for the whole trip.

So now we are in Moscow...whew! Moscow is getting ready for the big soccer game this weekend so the streets were pretty crammed. We met with our Moscow coordinator and made arrangements for the doctor visit for Aeniah tomorrow morning. Then we'll go to the US Embassy to get her entrance visa to America on the next day. I've been told we'll be with a bunch of other people and that the room we'll be waiting in is pretty small.

Oh, for the art of cramming..........

From Russia with love,
Nate