.: Yesterday :.
Wow... we are here again!! We left Chicago yesterday afternoon... well, evening... and arrived in St. Petersburg for the final time at about 5:45p local time (7:45a IL Time). We had a rather interesting plane ride from Chicago to Dusseldorf, Germany. We were in the 2 seats on the window side of the plane... the guy in the center of the plane nearest us, did Yoga or meditated ... or something... most of the trip... literally W-sitting in his seat draped with 2 Lufthansa blankets as if they were his buddhist robe!! Lucky for him, there was an empty seat next to him so he had a bit more room to spread out, which made him a bit closer to us! :-) There aren't even words to describe the stare the guy sitting in the row nearest him was giving as he was "rolled-up" into his "meditation". Then, there was a somewhat confused, elderly gentleman just ahead of us who decided at about 4-hours into the flight, it was time to get off the plane. He got up from his seat, which was a bit of a chore even with some help, and then said that he was ready to get off. It took a stewardess about 45min of talking with him to convince him that he should wait until the plane landed as getting off the plane at 37,000ft would probably not end well. He did the exact same thing again with about 30min before landing. Needless to say, there was quite a bit going on, and I wasn't able to get much rest on that flight. Although, I did get a bit of rest on the short (uneventful) hop from Dusseldorf.
So, we are in our hotel now, and if you are "dreaming of a white Christmas", there is plenty of the white stuff here in St. Pete!! They are on the tail end of a pretty significant snowstorm that blanketed the region over the past few days. There is lots of snow and there were lots of pretty massive snow piles from all of the plowing. Beyond that it is cold... it's one of those snow-squeaks-underneath-your-feet-as-you-walk kinda "cold"s.
On the schedule for tomorrow is getting all of the passport paperwork completed. Our driver told us that this could be an "all-day-affair" so not sure what else will be happening beyond that at this point. On the schedule for now is sleep! Write more tomorrow!!! :-)
.: Today :.
Just returned back from application for Passport... long-and-short, a fair amount of waiting, but nothing like when we were waiting for medicals. We completed paperwork in 1-day that normally take two (per our coordinator). We had to go get some of the official paperwork ... birth certificates, adoption decree, etc, etc that was needed at the Passport office. Once there, we waiting only about 45min to be called back to turn in the app. It was pretty quick (in Russian terms)!!
Oh and while we were waiting for our International Passport appointment, Father Frost (pretty much Santa Claus) was walking around! Apparently he has to have a Passport for all of the travel he does as well!!! :-)
So, because today was such a full day of driving, and driving, and driving, and waiting, we were not able to get to the orphanage and pick-up Alex, but we will be getting him mid- to late-morning tomorrow!! :-)
It is about 4:30pm here and we are going to go out and walk around just a bit before the sun goes down soon. Sunrises here at 10:30a and set at 5:30p. Will probably go out and dodge some icicles. Our translator told us there is actually a government service that will come and remove your big icicles from your apartment/building as they are so dangerous. Last year, she said that a lady and her gradnchild were killed by a falling icicle! And we saw one hanging from the top of a building that looked like a huge spear! It had to have been at least 8 ft long! Yikes! I could see how it could do some damage if it were to fall!!!
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| Sunrise somewhere over Ireland |
.: Today :.
Just returned back from application for Passport... long-and-short, a fair amount of waiting, but nothing like when we were waiting for medicals. We completed paperwork in 1-day that normally take two (per our coordinator). We had to go get some of the official paperwork ... birth certificates, adoption decree, etc, etc that was needed at the Passport office. Once there, we waiting only about 45min to be called back to turn in the app. It was pretty quick (in Russian terms)!!
Oh and while we were waiting for our International Passport appointment, Father Frost (pretty much Santa Claus) was walking around! Apparently he has to have a Passport for all of the travel he does as well!!! :-)
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| Father Frost |
So, because today was such a full day of driving, and driving, and driving, and waiting, we were not able to get to the orphanage and pick-up Alex, but we will be getting him mid- to late-morning tomorrow!! :-)
It is about 4:30pm here and we are going to go out and walk around just a bit before the sun goes down soon. Sunrises here at 10:30a and set at 5:30p. Will probably go out and dodge some icicles. Our translator told us there is actually a government service that will come and remove your big icicles from your apartment/building as they are so dangerous. Last year, she said that a lady and her gradnchild were killed by a falling icicle! And we saw one hanging from the top of a building that looked like a huge spear! It had to have been at least 8 ft long! Yikes! I could see how it could do some damage if it were to fall!!!
1 comment:
Did you tell the guy on the plane about Jesus? That would have been perfect. Hours of him stuck with you and now way to run away!
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