Trip 2, Days 17 & 18: Paperwork, Passports and the Gotcha Day

Our last two days in Kirov were a blur of heat, paperwork, and preparation. We were quite exhausted by that time, so we did not do a lot or take many pictures during that time.

After having a chance to clean up at the hotel, we made our way back to the baby home. We were very happy to see Aleks that morning, as we knew that we were finally done with all of the hard work. He was our son, and we would be leaving for good the next night.

We played with the children in the morning, then went to lunch. Guess where we went to lunch? That's right, our favorite pizza place! Looking for something different, we tried their pasta. The pasta and toppings were good, but there was no sauce to go with it. Cooked pasta without sauce isn't very good.

In the afternoon, we alternated between playing with Aleks, and filling out paperwork. We practiced a lot more with the Baby Bjorn, and we also started getting information about Aleks' eating and sleeping habits. That day we also got Aleks' passport, which made it all seem very real. Finally, we made our way back to the hotel for the evening.

At the hotel, the three families decided to have dinner together in the hotel restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant had turned off their AC for the evening. Where it had been warm but dry on our first visit, this time the temp inside was close to 95 degrees. Luckily there was a table just outside the restaurant, where the temp was only 85. We compensated by drinking lots of beer.

After dinner, we decided to celebrate with some additional alcohol. We brought out a bottle of Vodka we had purchased, while the Irish couple brought out a bottle of Bailey's. Somehow, the entire bottle of Bailey's was consumed in short order. The women discussed important topics related to raising our three new sons, while the men discussed alcohol, US presidents, US politics (neither of these topics were brought up by Alan), and the World Cup matches that were going on that month. After a relaxing night of drinking and camaraderie, we retired to our room.

Saturday August 7th dawned sunny and exciting. It was Gotcha Day. We had spent our last night in the Kirov hotel; that evening, we would be leaving for Moscow with our son. We wouldn't be going to the baby home until the afternoon, so we were able to relax in the morning.

Alan spent a fair amount of time in the hotel lobby, using the internet connection. While there, he saw the new American, German, and Irish couples checking in to the front desk. One of the couples were very rude to the people at the front desk. They weren't happy with the rooms they were booked in, and were throwing a bit of a tantrum about it. Alan figured we were probably in the room that they wanted, so he didn't say anything to them.

After another lunch at our favorite pizza place, we went shopping. The first shopping area was the local mall. There were some clothes and souvenirs purchased by the other couples; we didn't really see anything that we needed or wanted. Our second stop was at the "baby store". It was here that our translator loaded us up with all of the essentials that we would need for taking care of a small child. Dry food, wet food, cereal, tea, diapers, wipes; we left with two large bags, and with our wallets significantly lighter than they had been when we went in.

The afternoon session with the children seemed to drag on for a long time. The group overlap meant that there were 7 sets of adoptive parents, and 7 children crammed into 2 medium sized rooms. When you add in the extreme heat and humidity, along with the anticipation of leaving Kirov soon, it made time slow way down.

Finally, it was time for us to pack up and leave. We changed Aleks' out of his orphanage clothes, and into the clothing we'd brought for him. We said our goodbyes to his caretakers, and got some final photos with them. We said goodbye to our coordinator, driver, and translator, and thanked them for all of the work they had performed on our behalf while we were in the country. Driving away from the orphanage, it began to dawn on us: We were parents, and we were CLUELESS!

When we arrived at the Kirov train station, we received a pleasant surprise: the train to Moscow was a newer train. Each of our previous trips had been on the "old" train, so this was a nice change. There were more media options, the decor was much nicer, and the AC worked a lot better (and faster).

Alan's Gripe of the Blog:
I got so flipping frustrated getting onto and off of the trains (dealing with luggage). The hallways are no wider than a standard large bag, so it's a pain to get to your room. We had 2 large bags, 2 computer bags, 2 smaller bags, a child, and his bag. There is always a rush to get on the train, so I wanted to wait and load things slowly. Kathy was holding Aleks, so she stayed outside where it was cooler. My plan was to get on and off the train, loading one bag at a time. Unfortunately our coordinator decided to help, tossing our bags onto the train all at once. That meant our bags were blocking the hallways for everyone else. So I had to rush through the hallway, cramming the bags into the room. In the mad rush, I broke a glass sitting on the table in our room (broken glass and new parents aren't a good mix). Why the heck did he make me hurry up so dang much, the train doesn't leave for another 30 minutes!?!?!

With all of our baggage packed into the room, it was time to go. How would our first night as parents go? You'll have to wait to find out!