- 2/22/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 12Today is a down day. We had a big day yesterday and we are planning on going to Red Square and the Kremlin on Saturday, but for today nothing is planned. It is gray - overcast and a little drizzly outside. I slept in a little thinking it was much earlier that it really was. Today for breakfast, Marina's mother made pancakes. Marina got a hold of some real maple syrup from New York. It was good and reminded me of the 12 pints of pure home-made syrup that I traded a years worth of fresh chicken eggs for.
During breakfast, we had a fairly long discussion with Marina about some of the frustrations we all have with the process of international adoption, communication issues and how things could be better. It was a tough and thought provoking conversation but worth it. What the Russian Orphan Lighthouse group is doing is a good thing and I would hate to see it dissolve because of internal or growth related problems that could not be overcome. In reality, there are only a handful of people in the group and they are doing a wonderful service. Each one of them is a key piece of the puzzle and a critical component necessary for their success and the future of many orphans.
As a side note to breakfast, Yuri remembered some of the struggles from yesterday's restaurant incident and he quickly grabbed two slices of cheese and ate them right along with his meat. We took this as a positive sign.
Today is also laundry day. Peggy did a load last night and we hung it on the balcony to dry. It made me feel like we were living in deep inner city Bronx with my underwear hanging where all of Moscow could see them. People around here have washing machines but no dryers. They have cloths lines hung in the bathroom or on their balconies.
After breakfast, we did some school at the kitchen table. First alphabet flash cards, then handwriting, then some addition facts. Yuri quickly tires from doing hand writing exercises. He loses his concentration and wants to go and do something else. We encouraged him to pound his way through writing letters A to N. Each day we add one or two more letters. Some letters are easier than others. The letter "P" for example is a tough one. In Russia, that letter makes a rolling "R" sound. Ruble is spelled with a capital "P".
After we completed some school, Yuri wanted to play some games on the X-Box. I know nothing about this and neither does Yuri. On top of that, all of the on-screen instructions are in Russian so I can't help him. He played Ninja-Turtles. What a bizarre game. Teenage kids from a karate school fall into the sewer into some kind or radio-active sludge and their DNA becomes mixed with turtles. They fight bad guys in New York city and they all speak Russian. This is a crazy crazy world we live in.
Marina told us today that she will be heading back to the region of Yuri's orphanage next week and will return on Thursday. Apparently there was a mix up in our paperwork and she will return a little later than expected. We will start our US Embassy work on Thursday and finish on Friday. She said we can get all of our Russian Consulate work done in one day (Monday March 3). Then we can fly out of Moscow on Tuesday the 4th. That day cannot come soon enough. We are both missing home, our family and our children.
Marina had errands to run this afternoon. For the most part, we just hung out. Yuri played with his erector set and watched some Cartoon Network in Russian, Peggy read and did some knitting and I journaled and then downloaded new drivers for my wireless network card. They did the trick. Now my laptop doesn't crash anymore - thanks for asking.
Every once in a while I would make my way into the kitchen where Marina's mom was cooking dinner. I recognized the earthy smell of a root/tuber like dish in the making. I suspected it was borscht and came back to break the news to Peggy. Borscht is a beet soup. Before we left, I purchased a can of beets in a feeble attempt to acclimate my tongue and stomach to them. It is not something I normally eat. It's not that I don't like them, they are just not in my common foods list. Peggy, on the other hand - does not like them. I was ready, she was not. When dinner time came, Peggy was relived that we were having ravioli instead.
Even though we are missing our family back home, it was nice to sit and talk with Marina and her family at the table. It is an intimate place where we can all relax, laugh, cry, and discuss important things (and sometimes not) that need to be discussed.
Marina's father had purchased some Russian beer for us to drink with our meal. He had already poured a glass for both Peggy and I. I asked Marina to tell her father not to pour any more for Peggy because she doesn't drink beer. "That's ok", her father said. "You can drink hers then". Russian drinking is an interesting thing. They like to make toasts and guilt you into having another glass. They will say, "Here is to family", followed by "Here is to the children". When you say, "no thanks, I've had enough", they respond with, "what is the matter, don't you like children?".
In the end, I was glad the glasses were small and we were all sharing one bottle of beer. In regards to the beer itself, it is 4.5% alcohol which I think is slightly higher in alcohol content than typical American beer. It is a little on the flat side. Other than that it is pretty much the same.
The entire time of dinner and the post-dinner beer, the television was on. What better thing to do after you've had a few glasses of beer than to talk about the news? In this case, there was a story of the body of a young girl that was found. I don't know if they found the killer though. Marina's dad then told a story of a man some years ago who killed 58 children. In Russia they do not have capitol punishment and there is concern about what to do with people who do such horrible crimes on such a large scale.
Next news topic - riots in Kosovo. I didn't catch all of it, but apparently Kosovo wants to become a free and independent state but it shares some land with Serbia that is occupied by Muslims. Both the Muslims and Christians want to cleanse their land of the other side and this has led to some rioting. The police are unable to control the crowds and they have been given the authority to "shoot to kill".
Next news topic - the next Russian President. Marina says that everyone knows who it will be even though the "elections" are to be held on March 3. The guy's name is Dimitry Medvedev. He is currently the Prime Minister and Vladimir Putin is the President. I guess everyone is expecting that they will just trade places. No word on if this is "good" or "bad". The word on the street is that Medvedev is a little softer on things than Putin is. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Marina say, "Russians are too political". They analyze everything. Every move that every country makes and what is going on all over the world. This is a far cry from the news media of Northeast Wisconsin. All I remember from home is that local television news consists only of a few things - the Packers, the price of gas, the weather, and man on the street interviews about stupid things that don't matter.
