Well, I’m not sure if it was the de-stressful realization that court is over or that we’re finally used to the beds here but we actually slept in today. Tracy elbowed me and said “it’s 10 o’clock, get up!” Too late for the breakfast buffet, so we started packing our luggage and went down for lunch instead.
We decided to leave all our English language magazines with another family down the hall, Jeff & Jane. Unfortunately, they got stuck an extra 5 days due to the holiday this weekend. Saturday is International Women’s Day, Russia’s version of Valentine’s Day. We found out that Valentine's Day isn't recognized there because it is considered a Catholic holiday. That means all government offices close early on Friday and all day Monday. Well, they had to pick up their son’s passport at 2PM on Friday and then get it stamped at another Russian office that was expected to close at 1! Needless to say, they were expecting to have to finish up on Tuesday and then fly out on Wednesday.
After lunch, we took a quick walk around the area of the hotel. We had read on frua.org that there was a nice grocery store around the corner so we decided to find it now. This will make life easier for Tracy so she will not have a potentially uncooperative little girl with her wandering around lost. Turns out it is only a 2 block walk. It’s not large, especially by American standards but it was a nice store. The word is that the bakery and deli is quite nice there. They did have a good selection of local juice boxes and snack items. They also had a bunch of candies from all over Europe and a couple from America. What really surprised us was the liquor. We picked up a 0.5 liter bottle of vodka for under $4. American liquor on the other hand was VERY EXPENSIVE! We did the conversion on a small bottle of Jack Daniels that wasn’t much bigger than a 12-ounce soda can and it would’ve cost almost $25!!! One big discount item compared to the US was the cigarettes. Marlboro Red in a hard-pack was just under $1. The local brands were even cheaper. Now I see why nearly everyone there smokes. We also bought a pack of Crayola crayons and markers to take with us today.
We headed back to the hotel and it was checkout time. Ran into a problem there. Seems that some of the information we were given from the “generic” Marriott reservations didn’t hold true. First, we were told that the breakfast buffet was included in our room price – NOPE. They have other room rates that do include that, but not the government rate that we used. Second, we were told that Marriott does not offer an “adoptive family” rate – again, NOPE. Turns out that rate is specialized and we have to call the hotel directly for that. Central reservations cannot book it. Oh well, good thing we budgeted extra money for this trip!
Due to afternoon, holiday traffic, we got to see Allyson at the orphanage around 4:10. This time, she was happy to see us. Hindsight tells me that just prior to lunch and nap is NOT the time for lots of excitement. Ally immediately started playing with Tracy and I broke out the drawing items about 5 minutes later. That was it… toys were pushed to the side and the doodling began. She wasn’t too sure about the markers, though. We bought the color changing kind – inside the package is a white tipped marker that, when drawn over one of the colors will chemically react and change the color. Black became orange. Yellow became pink. They were really cool, but I don’t think she caught onto the concept quite yet.
Before we knew it, it was 5:15 and Helen and Slava wanted to leave for the airport early because of the holiday traffic. What was 40 minutes coming in was expected to be 1 ½ hours going out! So, Tracy & I packed up the drawing stuff and I carried Ally upstairs. Once there, she was VERY excited to show off her drawings. She was also extremely possessive of the markers and crayons. A few of the kids wanted to see them but she wasn’t going for that idea at all. The only way we got those out of her hands was by giving them to her caregiver to put up on a high shelf. After a few more hugs and kisses, we said our good-byes. This seemed a little easier on Tracy knowing she’ll see Ally again in 10 days. For me, it’ll be closer to three weeks. What keeps going through our minds is wondering what’s going to be going through her little mind. She’s just started to bond with us and now she’s not going to see us tomorrow or the day after or the day after. What is she going to think?
Luckily the ride to the airport went fairly smoothly. Once we got outside the metro area traffic, we had smooth sailing. In fact, we got to the airport about 30 minutes earlier than expected. Since we couldn’t check in at luggage/ticket control until 2 hours prior, Tracy & I went to have a small bite to eat. Helen departed us on the way so they could get home for their holiday plans as well. We were told that Helen will be Tracy’s translator on the next trip, but she would most likely not have Slava because 1 adult will not need the use of the van Slava drives.
2 hours before we leave Moscow. First stop is Customs. We got in the line and just kept going. I really don’t think they cared about our form. If Tracy hadn’t asked where we needed to go with it, no one would’ve touched it. The officer made a cursory glance and threw it in a big pile. That was that. Next stop, luggage and ticket control. Slow but no problems there. Finally, passport control. This is where the fun begins! While we were in line for luggage, we saw them open two new lines on the other side of the hall. There was an initial rush of people crossing the room trying to get through quicker. Most of them just ducked under the barriers and formed some semblance of a line. When we headed over, we actually formed into the serpentine line properly and found that the herd had formed on the wrong side. We were trying to remain calm and polite, but a gentlemen (he had a Germanic accent) behind us asked us to move forward and fill the space between the hard barriers. I ended up behind a rather large man who didn’t seem to move much at all. When we were just about to the opening of the barriers, he decides he’s going to be the "politeness police" and let all the herd “line breakers” go and use his big butt to block those behind him from going. After a few minutes, it was plainly obvious what he was doing and some of us started getting vocal. The Germanic gentleman behind us started in English asking what he was doing, why won’t he step out of the way, etc. I ended up starting also. Next thing I know, he’s turning around and literally pushing me back. Realizing this guy’s at least 3 times bigger than I am, I’m not sure if I really want to get physical, especially in a foreign country. After a few more comments, he finally went ahead and processed out. All I could picture is my luck lately… I truly feared this guy would end up being my seat neighbor on the plane. Luckily, I didn’t see him again after that.
An uneventful flight home and an easy drive completed the trip.
Tracy returns to Moscow on the 16th and she’s promised to e-mail her daily reports to me so I can continue the journal.
