Once again, Jessie and I are up at 4:30am. What the heck do you do at this time of day across the world in a strange town nestled in a far-away country? We check our emails and write in our journal. That’s about it.
I'll get to the point of our whole trip now. We finally got to meet Sergei and Roman yesterday at around noon! The visit was way too short, lasting only 20 minutes or so. Officially, we weren’t supposed to have met them until after our meeting with the Adoption Committee later the next day.
So what do two little boys do when they are handed over to people who have been waiting so long for this very moment, people who have spent countless hours preparing paperwork, people who have traveled half way across the globe to meet them? Well, they cry hysterically of course! Jess tried comforting Sergei by telling him "byeg myaska" in her best Russian. Unfortunately, instead of saying "poor baby" like she thought she was saying, she was actually calling him a "big baby". We're not sure what the caregivers thought of that but none of that mattered as we got to hold them for the first time!
They were so precious though and it didn't take all that long for them to settle down. It was probably their first time being held by strangers at this age and almost certainly, their first time being held by a man. They seemed a bit nervous too during our short time with them, but we occasionally were able to distract them by letting them explore some of the toys we brought for them.
It was interesting, because when the care workers first brought the boys into the room, I really didn't recognize them from their pictures although Jessie said she did. I'm sure it's a woman thing. They were much smaller than I envisioned too. Everything we read about children developing slower in an institutional setting sure seems to have some merit. Although they’re 16 months old, they’re comparable to that of a 10-month old children back home. This was not unexpected though.
During the visit, I got to hold Roman and Jessie held Sergei. We had no idea our visit was going to be so short nor did we want to startle them after they settled down, so we never had a chance to hold the other. One other thing I noticed is how much they look like each other. They really look like identical twins! We would have never guessed it in the pictures because we could always tell the difference. Roman had the longer and curlier hair of the two. Now that both were sporting recent haircuts for their baptism a few weeks ago, we truly couldn't tell the difference between them. The workers at the baby home even have a string tied around Sergei’s left wrist to tell them apart. They sure are two handsome boys! We're looking forward to spending more time with them today. We can’t wait to spend more time with them this week. Most of all, we can’t wait to bring them home and spend the rest of our lives with them!
Here's one of the very first pictures we took of Roman and Sergei. They're sitting in a chair in a small playroom inside the orphanage. We were told they were each recently baptized in the Russian Orthodox faith. Most orphanages in Russia baptize the children. Our visit was way too brief but it'll be one of the best memories I'll carry with me for the rest of my life.
After we left the baby home, Oksana told us the care workers would like us to buy diapers for the boys so she led us across the street to a pharmacy to buy some to bring back the next day. They wear size 10-15 kg diapers. Everything here is metric and takes some time getting used to. We felt a little embarrassed because we didn't have any rubles yet but fortunately Patricia borrowed us some because we hadn’t had a chance to exchange our money yet.
After leaving the pharmacy we drove to a nearby bank to exchange some money. They require a passport in order to exchange money. Everyone has to provide a passport to exchange money, not just tourists. I’m glad we heeded the advice of many to bring only fresh, crisp and unblemished US currency because the woman at the bank carefully inspected each and every note before exchanging them. The exchange rate is about 25 rubles per dollar here.
Next, it was time to sample some of the finer Russian cuisine we heard so much about. We let our driver Sergey, Patricia's driver Baschika, Oksana and Nina choose the spot. We ended up at a place called the Patio. What would we order? Perhaps borsch? Maybe Beef Stroganoff? (Which by the way had its origins in St. Petersburg), or some kind of beet and vegetable pourage? Nope, we had a selection of pizzas and pastas to chose from. We each ordered a salad and a small pizza. My food was delicious. Jessie thought hers was fine. The prices were reasonable at around $8 a meal. Patricia and us offered to buy lunch for everyone. As it turns out, we probably didn't have a choice because Sergey and Baschika had already left without paying to go get the cars. As it turns out, part of our costs was buying lunch for our driver and translator each day. There’s an old saying in Russia that goes along the lines of “What have you done for me lately?” Some people call it bribery but that's probably not accurate. It really is a prominent part of their culture though.
After lunch, we were offered the assistance of our drivers and translators for a tour of some of the more popular sights in St. Petersburg. We took them up on their offer. We first went to the Cathedral on Spilled Blood. This is one of the newer “onion-domed” churches built around 100 years ago and modeled after its much older sibling, St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. The churches are typical of the pictures we remember of the tall and multi-colored domed churches in our history books. The Cathedral on Spilled Blood is so named because that’s where Alexander II and the rest of his family were assassinated during the Bolshevik Revolution signaling the end of czarism and the Romanov Dynasty and eventually welcoming communism. There isn't any shortage of history in St. Petersburg for sure. We were very fortunate to have Oksana with us because she is very knowledgeable not only of Russian history but world history as well!
Next, we went to the Palace Square and Hermitage Museum. The museum is closed on Mondays so we were left taking it all in from the outside. The museum was the winter palace of Czarina Catherine. She spared no expense in having this massive structure built along the Neva River. We finished the day at the Peter and Paul fortress. This is where the City of St. Petersburg had its roots. It's set on an island so it could militarily defend itself in Russia’s war against Sweden back when this part of Russia first belonged to the Swedes.
After the sightseeing, Sergey dropped us off at the hotel and Jessie and I went to the local grocery store to once again attempt to buy something to bring back to the room for supper. We recognized our first few selections. They were Coke Light, big pickles and two bottles of water. We had to wait until after we got back to our room to figure out what some of the other stuff we bought was. We're pretty sure we ate salami and Swiss cheese sandwiches. They were edible but lacked a bit in taste. I also tried some cole-slaw looking stuff that looked good but wasn’t. The pickles were extremely salty and really wrecked what otherwise might have tasted like a normal giant kosher pickle. We hit the jackpot when we guessed right on some flavored potato chips we bought though.
Merry Christmas everyone! This photo is the only one of over forty attempts to get Sergei and Roman to look at the camera and smile at the same time. They're really not looking at the camera but instead laughing at Jess who's doing jumping jacks behind me. This photo cost her a mild hamstring injury!
