Adopting from Russia: Trip 2 (Oct/Nov 2003)

Russia_Index

Letters Home: Arrival in Ekaterinburg
October 26

Oct 27

Sunday Oct 26 - Arrival in Ekat and first visit

message 1 / message 2 / message 3

Sent: 26 Oct 2003 01:53:40 GMT
From: andrewnash@canada.com
Subject: We have arrived...The final adventure begins

A very quick note to say we have arrived.
It is 6:53 am Sunday Oct 26th, and we are in our Hotel room and we are unpacked.

In Moscow it was -2C and snowing, and in Ekat it is -4C and is snowing (and snow already on the ground)

Attached are 2 photos:
1) tarmac at Mockba airport (with snow)
(click to enlarge)

2) Maureen and Olga in McDonalds
(click to enlarge)

McDonalds was my choice.... with 1 and a bit hours to get a coffee or something, I said "McDonalds" and while Maureen had a hot chocolate, I had a Big Mac, a McFlurry and fries. The taste was the same, but the price was cheaper than in Canada!

..It was interesting.

I'll send a better message later in the day...We are off to the Orphanage at 10am.

Hello Sullivan..... See you soon....

Andrew and Maureen

Sent: 26 Oct 2003 09:30:44 GMT
From: andrewnash@canada.com
Subject: Ekaterinburg, Trip 2, first visit

Hello All (Sun Oct 26, 2:30pm),

Another quick message now that we have visited Bailey.
(some say they did not see any attached images last time!?..let me know if any of you DID see images..In the mean time, i'll attach them the same way, but will develop a website so they can be accessed directly from the web....)

When we got to the Orphanage at 10:15, there was a bit of confusion and discussion (all in Russian of course..

Our reps had not been aware that Bailey was in the hospital across the road (literally).

She has been in with a respiratory infection, and was being treated there. After tests tomorrow, they expect she will come back to the orpahange (Monday 27th).

We got to visit her in Hospital, and she looks and sounds fine to us, so see no reason why they won't send her back to the orphanage tomorrow.

I'll attach some photos of Bailey, Bailey with Maureen, Bailey with Andrew and a long shot or 2 so you can see the Hospital room! and lastly another shot of Ekaterinburg out our hotel window, showing the snow falling! Lovely...

We are exhausted. We slept 3 hours from 7am to 10am (sleeping through our alarms, and being woken by our Rep..here to pick us up for our trip to the orphanage..we rushed and were downstairs in 5 minutes!!!)

...More later... Andrew

Attached images: (click on them for larger view)

Sent: 26 Oct 2003 14:51:45 GMT
From: andrewnash@canada.com
Subject: Russia; 2nd trip rough website available

Hello all.

Maureen and Andrew have arrived safely in Ekaterinburg.
(if you want to see pictures, click here )

Snow is on the ground and it snowed a little more today. It was -4C when we arrived in Ekat at 5am.

Our adventure getting here was our constant worrying about how heavy and voluminous our luggage was. We had 5 suitcases between the 2 of us (2 carry on size) and 2 large and 1 large duffel bag....PLUS we each had a back pack (i.e. 2 of them). Mine weighed in at 13.9 kilo AND we had an open canvas bag containing the breakable "gifts" (glass bottles of Canadian Maple Syrup) and food we wanted to take to Ekat (quaker oatmeal, granola bars etc) (it weighed in at 13.5 kilo!...Man was it heavy to carry)

We lucked out in Toronto in that the ticket agent recognized my wife from 20 years previous when she worked at "workmens compensation"!!! and said, Welllll.... I won't say anything about the overage (weight) and the extra bag.

In Moscow, we then worried about the Moscow - Ekat Aeroflot flight (which we've been told has a smaller weight allowance) but despite the size and weight of the bags, the ticket lady rolled her eyes (a little) and then checked it all in..no questions..(I'll supply a photo later to show how NOT to pack....BUT the large duffel contains clothes for the orphanage, and one small suitcase contains boots for the orphanage)

SO.. we made it here despite the fact each flight said1 carry on only , and on Aeroflot it said MAX 12 kilos for carry on.

As I indicated, it has snowed, and as it melts the streets are getting slushier and dirtier. Everytime we get in the car, we get salt/dirt on the backs of our pants!

Last but not least, when we arrived at the orphanage, the agency rep was surprised to find out that our daughter was in the hospital across the road. She was in for a respiratory infection, and we could /would go visit her there.

We got to see her for aobut 35 minutes, and she isn't coughing or anything and she is expected to go back to the orphanage after tests on monday am.

I have to say that the hospital is pretty depressing ...paint chipping off the walls, I suppose clean, but "rough" looking. And the worst, was the baby in the other bed in the room our daughter was in. The baby was at an age (or a disability) that he/she was not able to roll over, and simply craned his(?) neck to see us. At points he cried and no-one came to pick him up. (in fact we visited twice today, and the child was in exactly the same position both times we visited! Very depressing, and I'm sure our attention to Bailey wasn't helping that childs frame of mind any!)

I'll be cleaning up the webpage that I mentioned at the top of the page, but for now, it gives a few images and shows you what the hospital room looked like etc.

... Later.... Andrew & Maureen

(PS.. The Russian, 100 ruble internet card was still working, so I'm signed on from the Hotel room on my laptop, and se far we are impressed by the Magister Hotel - except the 4 flight walk up to our room with the "voluminous", previously mentioned luggage)

... Later.. Andrew