Time continues to fly for us since we came back, so before more people heads to Moscow, I wanted to share few tips based on our experience during Trip 1. Here it goes:
1. Moscovites seem very formal people, but to "break the ice" and get some nice smiles when we were leaving the orphanage, we learned these words (I am going to write them as I pronounce them):
Good morning: Dobra Ootra
Good evening: Dobre Den
Thank you: Spaceeba
Good Bye: Desvedanya
Please or You are welcome: Pashalsta
Also, make sure you make eye contact when you talk to Moscovites!
2. Mark and I wore long sleeve shirts most of the time, so we would look a little nicer during our visits to Diego. HOWEVER, pretty much everyday we would end up almost sweating, because our orphanage kept the temperature pretty high and our little one was quite active. If you usually get hot, bring T-shirts so you can strip down to that layer if you need to.
3. We live in Phoenix, so we are not used to cold weather or snow. Besides our winter coats, the key items to keep ourselves out of getting cold was the scarf, hat, good warm socks and winter boots. We bought long underwear, but never felt the need for wearing them.
4. Keep Kleenex or even a burb cloth handy, just in case you get teary, your kid has runny nose, or your kid (depending how old he is) ends up throwing up a little on you! Diego is getting close to walk, so he loved being carried up and down while he would flex and extend his legs... well, we did it one day just after his lunch, and he threw up on me couple of times!
5. Wether or not you are getting a doctor for the pre-adoption medical examination, it was useful having a cloth measuring tape... Our doctor did his measurements, but we used it to confirm Diego's body and foot lengh to later buy the snow suit and shoes.
6. Assume that you will never stop for lunch. There is allways stuff planned every day and you never know how the traffic will be. That means, add the $10 for each your driver and translator to the daily fee when you are calculating how much money to bring. Usualy, you pay the driver and translator in US dollars and the day before your last day.
7. Either bring some food from home and/or go to the grocery store right after they pick you up from the airport (probably right after you exchange money). For breakfast we had each some juice (they have an AWESOME selection of juices in the grocery store), banana, oatmeal, bread, cheese, and Mark would have a package of mac and cheese. We survived with that until 2 to 3 pm, when we would leave the orphanage, and then we would have a package of crakers with cheese and a granola bar.
8. You will need envelopes to put the money for the payments for the driver, translator, and 8-doctors medical (one for you and one for your hubby).
9. If you have a little tripod for your camere, bring it. You will need to take few pictures of you, your spouse, and your kid as a family. If your translator is not around all the time, having a tripod really helps.
10. If possible, find time to go to the Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer. We went there before our 8-doctor medical appointment. In the souvener shop they had several icons and images of patrons of the Orthodox Church. We asked our translator to check if they had an icon for "St. Ivan" or "Patron Ivan", and they did!!! We thought it was a good find and bought one for us, Mark's parents, and my parents!
11. And finally! We flew with Delta, going through Atlanta. We bought our tickets to return on Sunday, so we would have a day to sightseeing. Well, as you know, last Saturday ended up being a very special day for us and Diego, as we celebrated his first birthday! Now, thinking back, I fell we were so fortunate to be able to visit him one more time! Also realize that, if the orphanage you visit is more than 2 hours from Moscow, you may only get to see your kid for 1 hour or maybe less. If you don't have family or kids waiting for you, I would stronly recomend that you consider flying back on Sunday and visit your kid on Saturday!
Ok, that's it! I hope any of these tips are of help!
4 comments:
Great tips, Sinziana!
Just like you guys, we often got kinda warm too, and we also brought T-shirts. Wearing these as a base layer, we found that we could get 2 or 3 wears out of the long-sleeved shirts that we wore over the T-shirts. That, combined with having a washing machine in your apartment, means you can go a lot further with less clothes than you might've expected.
This is great - thanks Sizniana! Before reading about Diego's little birthday party, I had been checking out flights to return on Saturday. You have a great point, though, to perhpas have an extra day for sightseeing or spending with your child. Thanks so much for the idea!
If any of you can swing a spare Saturday in Moscow, I urge you to get in touch with our pal Dinia, who'd be thrilled to be able to take you to the Vernisage Ismailovo which is a sprawling outdoor craft market. Dinia & Ro go out there nearly every single Saturday and she'd love to have the chance to share it with some other PAPs.
Thanks for those great tips! That really helps. As soon as I read this, I went and put envelopes in our carry-on!
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