Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork
After arriving in Yekaterinburg at 6 a.m. local time, I was thankful to be taken to our hotel where I could shower and change out of the clothes that have been my outer skin for the past 36 hours. After the obvious changes to our original flight plan, I survived the long but uneventful flights and layover in Frankfurt, albeit without any sleep to speak of. I met up with our traveling partners, the Wolfes, in the airport and we spent most of the ten hours in an airport lounge chair.
Paperwork began at 9 a.m. with a visit to City Hall, where I got a copy of Zoe's new birth certificate and certificate of adoption--today is really her official Adoption Day! As a nice contrast to other recent Yekaterinburg civil servicedom (is that a word?) we've witnessed, the official issuing the certificates was very friendly, wishing me and the Wolfes well with our daughters. Then we began on a mad dash throughout Yekaterinburg doing any number of other paperwork exercises, signing my name about a dozen times at various places around town. Waiting in the back of the van with the Wolfes, catching a few minutes of sleep at a time before being nudged to sign another paper.
All of this concluded just a few minutes ago. We pick up Zoe's passport tomorrow afternoon and are off to Moscow tomorrow night. We'll definitely be there through the weekend, until Tuesday.
And Sari's passport issue? Tuesday was spent in Washington, where (with the assistance of my brother) she managed to get the Russian Consulate to provide a letter allowing her to pass through United's check-in personnel. No sooner did Sari arrive safely in Moscow this afternoon that she was whisked to another airport to fly on to Yekaterinburg to join us here for the rest of the festivities. Just how festive she'll be when she finally arrives at 2 a.m., I'm not sure. Don't count on any photos.
So, I'm taking a pass on visiting the orphanage tonight in favor of some much-needed sleep--not only just to avoid the much-feared solo reunion. And Sari will be in attendance at tomorrow's pickup ceremony.
Sweet dreams... ¶ 6:13 AM
Paperwork began at 9 a.m. with a visit to City Hall, where I got a copy of Zoe's new birth certificate and certificate of adoption--today is really her official Adoption Day! As a nice contrast to other recent Yekaterinburg civil servicedom (is that a word?) we've witnessed, the official issuing the certificates was very friendly, wishing me and the Wolfes well with our daughters. Then we began on a mad dash throughout Yekaterinburg doing any number of other paperwork exercises, signing my name about a dozen times at various places around town. Waiting in the back of the van with the Wolfes, catching a few minutes of sleep at a time before being nudged to sign another paper.
All of this concluded just a few minutes ago. We pick up Zoe's passport tomorrow afternoon and are off to Moscow tomorrow night. We'll definitely be there through the weekend, until Tuesday.
And Sari's passport issue? Tuesday was spent in Washington, where (with the assistance of my brother) she managed to get the Russian Consulate to provide a letter allowing her to pass through United's check-in personnel. No sooner did Sari arrive safely in Moscow this afternoon that she was whisked to another airport to fly on to Yekaterinburg to join us here for the rest of the festivities. Just how festive she'll be when she finally arrives at 2 a.m., I'm not sure. Don't count on any photos.
So, I'm taking a pass on visiting the orphanage tonight in favor of some much-needed sleep--not only just to avoid the much-feared solo reunion. And Sari will be in attendance at tomorrow's pickup ceremony.
Sweet dreams... ¶ 6:13 AM
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