Tuesday Down ... 2 More Days 'Til Baba Gets Here!
Nathan departed around 10:30 a.m. After my last post and on the way to take Nathan to the airport, Vlad called and said that our registrations were 'bogus'. Huh .. we gave them to our apartment guy and he gave them back to us later that day after he went to some registration office.
Vlad asked if David could go with me to the post office to get a new registration. Going to the post office in Russia to secure a registration for my stay in Moscow sounded like great blog fodder. However, David reminded me that he isn't the actual apartment owner as he sublets his apartments from folks that are overseas. He also admitted that he doesn't speak good enough Russian to go to the post office which he also assures me takes a few weeks to get stuff back from so he thought this all a bad idea. I was already contemplating packing our stuff up and heading to the Marriot when Vlad called and said his friend Yuri would be by to take my passport and white form to a registration office. It would cost 1300 rubles. Okay ... sold.
Apparently in order to get Mia's passport you have to show that you the parent have a valid visa and registration. I don't completely understand the whole registration thing. Isn't it enough that we have a visa? Do they really need to track our every move while in their country? Do people really come here and need to be tracked? Wouldn't the kind of people that you need to track just not register themselves? Obviously the folks at the airport don't scrutinize at the same level because we've never had a problem leaving the country with this 'bogus' stamp. Maybe the Russian government is just glad to see you go so they don't worry about checking such things. I asked if Nathan was going to be able to leave the country, secretly hoping that this would delay his departure by two and half days but alas .. Vlad said he would be fine.
Vlad called in time for me to still make a lunch date with two ex-pats from Alabama that work for BP - Dinia and Ron. We met up at TGIFs (hey ... it's doesn't require me to try to traverse the pedestrian wells with a stroller, I know where it is, they have the most affordable lunch I've seen in Moscow and they tolerate babies .. all good) and sat on the patio. It was a bit hotter today than the days past but it was great to catch up with them. They apparently became interested in helping adopted families after sitting next to a newly created family via adoption on the Delta flight from Moscow to Atlanta (most people would've cursed their bad luck but Dinia chose to be excited about this new family and their beautiful baby. Shows you what an amazing person Dinia is). That family gave Dinia's name and contact information to another family coming to Moscow and so on and so on. I think until now only CSS families have had this benefit but via one of my FRUA colleagues, Michelle, I was given Dinia's information. Very, very lucky.
Ron works for the same company that my Dad does. He's a driller and based on my experience drillers can be a fun lot ;) Dinia is a soon to be grandmother and she feels that helping me up and down the barage of stairs with my stroller is good practice for her future duties (not to mention a great upper body work out!). They will certainly make amazing grandparents. Ron even agreed that 3 1/2 really isn't too young to own and learn to shoot a Red Ryder B-B Gun. Ron and Dinia also, as luck has it, know some of my folks' friends that are with the same company and on an expat assignment here too that attended our wedding. It really is a small world!
Lunch was great, Mia was very good (I think she was totally soaking up Dinia telling her what a pretty girl she is .. she's already fascinated with the mirror ... good thing we have three bathrooms at our house!) and Yuri popped by to get all the necessary documents to work my registration .. again with the promise that he would be back around 9 p.m. (it's only dark for a couple of hours here so people come and go as they want).
Mia and I had dinner and I put her to bed. It took her over an hour to finally settle down. I am sure that the neighbors above and below our bedroom are thinking of calling the police. She just screams and screams. If I go in and rock her, she quiets down but the moment I leave, she's all tears again. Finally, I stood in the door and every time she tried to get up I'd say, "Mia, lay down". Now .. she must be learning some English quickly because she'd immediately lay back down. Finally after about the 76th time of me saying to lay down, she finally didn't get up again. I have no idea how her and Sasha will ever go to sleep in the same room. Both like to chat a lot and neither wants to go to sleep. It's going to be an interesting adjustment period.
I spoke with my Mom and she's all packed and probably at the airport hotel at IAH. Apparently, Sasha, Gdaddy and Baba are planning to eat at the restaurant on the top of the hotel where you can see the airplanes take off. I can't even imagine how much fun Sasha is going to have. It may even top the swimming pool of Friday, the tractor ride of Saturday, the water guns of Sunday, the match book cars of Monday and today's Snow White viewing (Sasha can always pick out a pretty girl). Do you think Sasha will ever want to come home again? Heck, I'm thinking of moving down there it sounds like so much fun!
One more full day tomorrow and then B-Day .. Baba Day! She leaves on an early flight tomorrow morning from IAH to Chicago and has the day to hang out in the O'Hare American Airlines business lounge. I can hardly wait for her to see her granddaughter. I suspect it will be love at first sight!
Vlad asked if David could go with me to the post office to get a new registration. Going to the post office in Russia to secure a registration for my stay in Moscow sounded like great blog fodder. However, David reminded me that he isn't the actual apartment owner as he sublets his apartments from folks that are overseas. He also admitted that he doesn't speak good enough Russian to go to the post office which he also assures me takes a few weeks to get stuff back from so he thought this all a bad idea. I was already contemplating packing our stuff up and heading to the Marriot when Vlad called and said his friend Yuri would be by to take my passport and white form to a registration office. It would cost 1300 rubles. Okay ... sold.
Apparently in order to get Mia's passport you have to show that you the parent have a valid visa and registration. I don't completely understand the whole registration thing. Isn't it enough that we have a visa? Do they really need to track our every move while in their country? Do people really come here and need to be tracked? Wouldn't the kind of people that you need to track just not register themselves? Obviously the folks at the airport don't scrutinize at the same level because we've never had a problem leaving the country with this 'bogus' stamp. Maybe the Russian government is just glad to see you go so they don't worry about checking such things. I asked if Nathan was going to be able to leave the country, secretly hoping that this would delay his departure by two and half days but alas .. Vlad said he would be fine.
Vlad called in time for me to still make a lunch date with two ex-pats from Alabama that work for BP - Dinia and Ron. We met up at TGIFs (hey ... it's doesn't require me to try to traverse the pedestrian wells with a stroller, I know where it is, they have the most affordable lunch I've seen in Moscow and they tolerate babies .. all good) and sat on the patio. It was a bit hotter today than the days past but it was great to catch up with them. They apparently became interested in helping adopted families after sitting next to a newly created family via adoption on the Delta flight from Moscow to Atlanta (most people would've cursed their bad luck but Dinia chose to be excited about this new family and their beautiful baby. Shows you what an amazing person Dinia is). That family gave Dinia's name and contact information to another family coming to Moscow and so on and so on. I think until now only CSS families have had this benefit but via one of my FRUA colleagues, Michelle, I was given Dinia's information. Very, very lucky.
Ron works for the same company that my Dad does. He's a driller and based on my experience drillers can be a fun lot ;) Dinia is a soon to be grandmother and she feels that helping me up and down the barage of stairs with my stroller is good practice for her future duties (not to mention a great upper body work out!). They will certainly make amazing grandparents. Ron even agreed that 3 1/2 really isn't too young to own and learn to shoot a Red Ryder B-B Gun. Ron and Dinia also, as luck has it, know some of my folks' friends that are with the same company and on an expat assignment here too that attended our wedding. It really is a small world!
Lunch was great, Mia was very good (I think she was totally soaking up Dinia telling her what a pretty girl she is .. she's already fascinated with the mirror ... good thing we have three bathrooms at our house!) and Yuri popped by to get all the necessary documents to work my registration .. again with the promise that he would be back around 9 p.m. (it's only dark for a couple of hours here so people come and go as they want).
Mia and I had dinner and I put her to bed. It took her over an hour to finally settle down. I am sure that the neighbors above and below our bedroom are thinking of calling the police. She just screams and screams. If I go in and rock her, she quiets down but the moment I leave, she's all tears again. Finally, I stood in the door and every time she tried to get up I'd say, "Mia, lay down". Now .. she must be learning some English quickly because she'd immediately lay back down. Finally after about the 76th time of me saying to lay down, she finally didn't get up again. I have no idea how her and Sasha will ever go to sleep in the same room. Both like to chat a lot and neither wants to go to sleep. It's going to be an interesting adjustment period.
I spoke with my Mom and she's all packed and probably at the airport hotel at IAH. Apparently, Sasha, Gdaddy and Baba are planning to eat at the restaurant on the top of the hotel where you can see the airplanes take off. I can't even imagine how much fun Sasha is going to have. It may even top the swimming pool of Friday, the tractor ride of Saturday, the water guns of Sunday, the match book cars of Monday and today's Snow White viewing (Sasha can always pick out a pretty girl). Do you think Sasha will ever want to come home again? Heck, I'm thinking of moving down there it sounds like so much fun!
One more full day tomorrow and then B-Day .. Baba Day! She leaves on an early flight tomorrow morning from IAH to Chicago and has the day to hang out in the O'Hare American Airlines business lounge. I can hardly wait for her to see her granddaughter. I suspect it will be love at first sight!
posted by Tamara at 11:34 AM
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