| Adopting Katja and Artome - Kazakhstan Travel Journals |
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Below our Jim and Cecelia's Adoption Journals from Feb - April 2006 During their travels to adopt Katja and Artome Adopting Katja and Artome - Travel Journals Feb. 11th, 2006 Today we are packing our bags for the flight to MSP, Amsterdam, and Almaty KZ. tomorrow at 1220. We found a very helpful clerk who walked us through the pharmacy section, as we completed last minute shopping and had never purchased Pedialite, or Baby Benedryl before. Feb. 12th, 2006 - Airplane Day Today we are packing our bags for the flight to MSP, Amsterdam, and Almaty KZ. tomorrow at 1220. After Suitcase Day, all that was left to do was squeeze in a few last minute things. Our friends Capt. Ron & Ann, whom are staying with our dogs and house, took us to the airport for the first leg; 3.2 hrs. to MSP (Minneapolis). We have pretty well accepted the fact that we will be living in airplanes for a while so it seems like a short flight. We are met by Cecelia's Uncle Paul who admits us to the NWA World Club, (for frequent flyers and big wheels) for a restorative cocktail. Followed shortly by meeting the rest of our Minnesota family who have brought Italian for a buffet which they set up at the airport Starbucks. Solfrid, Lief, Sasha and their two girls sent us off full for the next leg; 8.3 hrs. MSP to AMS (Amsterdam). Feb. 13th, 2006 - Airplane Day Part 2 board a (thankfully) partially full A-330, we had the entire middle row of four seats to ourselves. No windows but it was night and nothing but Newfoundland and The North Atlantic outside anyway. Each seat has its own video screen, and headset jack with a remote control. You can access flight information, video games, music, and movies. We ate dinner, watched two movies. It started to get light out, they served breakfast, We fall asleep during third movie, and we landed at AMS at 1220 Local. We think we may have landed in a neighboring country, because I could have flown from Olympia to Friday Harbor in the time it took to taxi to the terminal after landing. We went past some houses, farms, over a couple of canals, over a freeway, past a fire training area with burned out fuselages, parked airliners, stopped a couple of times, and finally to the gate. The second largest thing after the runway enviroment is the terminal. We walked toward smaller gate numbers, reasoning that there must be a main concourse somewhere. 5 min. later we found monitors to check our connecting gate, and trekked 20 min. to another concourse. Along the way found an Irish Pub, drank a beer and bought water for next leg; 6.9 hrs. AMS to Almaty, KZ. (ALA) KLM screens at each departure gate, even though we had not left the secure area at AMS. and I have a moment of dread when at the other side of the x-ray machines are twin blue Toshiba laptops! Have they divided under the effects of the radiation? The guy clears behind me clears the metal detector and scoops his ? up and scurries off. The one left looks like mine, at least the bag does so I resign myself to at least have made an even trade. (it was ours!) 1400 Departure on an aging B-767. Each PA announcement was in Dutch and English, with the take-off and landing ones also in Russian. Day once again turned into night over Poland. No personal screen on this flight, and we were seated right over the wing for a (non) view. Arrived 0200 Almaty, Kazakhstan. I wasn't sure what day it was anymore, and following the debarcation of the aircraft, I was beginning to question my grip on reality when we realized that what we needed was at least one pen to fill out the customs declarations. There were none at the table piled high with forms, I couldn't remember how to ask for one in Russian, and no one was paying any attention to us anyway just grabbing a card, and getting in the rapidly growing queue. I found two pens in our bags, actually in the second place I looked. We were last in line next to the line for Kazakh citizens only, which emptied quickly, We were waved over by woman in a tailored army suit. Next, "Look at camera!" , "From Amsterdam ?", Stamp-Stamp, Clear of immigration! Our agency representitives were waiting to take us to an apartment for the night which required packing all luggage up four flights of dark stairs including (See Suitcase Day). Wired, we actually slept about four Hours. Feb. 15th, 2006 Meeting Katja and Artome We were picked up as promised at 0945. Our 1000 meeting at The Deparment of Education to review our application fell through when the Administrator failed to show up. Rescheduled for 1400. We got back in the car and Natasha just drove us right over to the baby house. Five minutes later we were shown to the Baby House Director's office and Katja and Artome were brought in shortly after. It was an unbelievably magical and joyous moment after all of these months of anticipation!
Feb. 16th, 2006 Walk in the sun Our normal visiting schedule for the next few weeks will be two visits a day, each for about two hours, at 1000, and again at 1600. Today the Babushkas allowed us to take Katja and Artome out for a short walk. The sky has been crystal clear for the last couple of days, it warms up to just above freezing in the afternoon. To accomplish a five minute walk around the building required twenty minutes of bundling children. Katja wailed when we brought her to the front door as if we were taking her away, but she was OK outside. Artome stumbled around in his Russian surplus space suit and boots.Feb. 17th, 2006 Katja speaks, sort of Back in our hallway for another nice day of two visits with Katja and Artome. At the start of the afternoon session, when the Babushkas send the kids in they are each carrying a roll, and they set down a small cup of what smells like buttermilk, they say yogurt. Artome drinks his like Jim would drink a cold Red Hook at the end of a long run. Katja sets hers down. She likes water.Feb. 19th, 2006 First Lawyer Day Being Sunday we only have one visit with the children today, but first we are taken to meet with the lawyer who will represent us in our March 9th, court appearance. He speaks to us through our interpreter on how to make our appearance go smoothly, explaines some lines of questioning that we may expect, and takes some of the pictures that we have brought from home to add to our file that he will present to the judge. After that a quick visit in the morning hours at the baby house. There seems to be just a skeleton staff on Sunday and the caregivers and nurses are not the usual crew we have seen through the previous week.Katja continues to be more animated and expressive. However she still spends quite a bit of time with busy work games on her own; stack the tea set, knock down , repeat. remove shoes from shelf, rearrange shoes, repeat. Neatly arrange papers into tidy stack, mess up papers, repeat. All very amusing to watch. We had a free afternoon, so we went for a walk and ate lunch at Johnny Walker's Pub, a Scottish place with familiar food. Wait staff in kilts! We have heard of this place from other families as a kind of haven when you get home sick. Our waiter did not speak english, but the menu was in both Russian, and English. Fish and chips with tartar sauce (and peas?), and pizza. Good times! Very tasty! Feb. 20th, 2006 Back to two a days The novelty of entering the Baby House each day has not worn off! There is something magical and mystical about coming through the door and the smell of the food cooking and just a feeling of well-being for these children. I (Cecelia) am so in awe of the caregivers and their dedication and love for these children. I wish the orphaned children of the world all had care like this. It takes special people to do this kind of work and I am humbled and deeply touched watching them work their magic.April 2nd, 2006 The long journey to Almaty Our agency and other families who have been here have told us many times to be flexible and ready to deal with changes in plans at a moments notice. Today was probably the best example of things that can happen.Here we are off to the airport at the appointed time just as planned. However, the airline that runs the Karaganda Special changes to a summer schedule on April 1st, so the plane left an hour earlier than we all thought. We arrived just in time to see the one flight a day taxiing out for take-off. As soon as we realized the situation that was unfolding, Natasha was on the cell phone with Agency headquarters to make an alternate plan. It was decided that the best plan was to get to Astana, some 120 miles away, where we could get a flight to Almaty and still keep our departure schedule intact. (sort of) So, Natasha called the travel agent and we stopped by her apartment to pick her up and take her to her office on a Sunday morning. She is the agent that does the travel for Karaganda families. Here she is making new reservations on Air Astana for us. She was very nice. While we were waiting for our travel arrangments, Natasha's husband and daughter showed up for the trip. It was beginning to look like a full bus with all of us, and the big suitcase and the Texas stroller. What a day! We all are exhausted after our marathon day of travel. It was so bizarre to show up at the Karaganda Airport this morning in a thick fog and nobody in sight. We all looked at each other in a panic as we could hear the ancient turboprop taking off. Natasha was mortified that the travel agent hadn't mentioned the time change and was very apologetic. We felt like it was partly our fault since we didn't bother to check our tickets yesterday. Anyway, it turned out to be a really fun day. An unplanned adventure for our last day with them and we had a good time on our road trip. There is more to this day than we care to describe in our blog, so we will update you when we get home! Oh, and by the way, we tried horse meat today at lunch. Natasha's husband seemed so excited for us to try it and we didn't have the heart to say "Eww... Gross!". I can't believe I am saying this, but it was really good! Very similar to roast beef. The kids liked it too. However, that is most likely the last time for us as My Friend Flicka just seems wrong! :) April 5th, 2006 A long days journey home Here is the end of the road and the welcoming committee. There was a short wait to get through Immigration because a China Airlines 747 landed and emptied right at the same time as our flight. The Customs Officer took one look at Jim pushing the mountainous baggage cart, and Cecelia pushing the giant stroller and just waved us through without a hassle. Jim and Cecelia's Adoption Journals, you can read more on there website  Link to this article | Views: 281
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