Packing up

Delayed post... from Friday, February 23rd.

For the last few days we have been packing. Shocking to be doing this before 3am next Saturday, which is our standard M.O. But given the PILE of stuff we are taking, it seemed prudent. Now, not all the stuff is ours, in our defense. We have a huge bag of toys for the orpanage- many developmental toys, balls, soccer balls, a ball pump, etc. Then we have the gifts. All of the orphange staff require gifts. Well, not require in the usual sense of the word, but it would be such poor form NOT to bring gifts, apparently, that they are essentially required.

So in addition to the developmental toys I talked the company into selling me at wholesale (picture right) there are scarves for the caregivers, watches for the administrative staff, a silver necklace and bracelet for our coordinator/ translator, a watch and some fleece gloves for our driver, some Avalanche and Broncos jerseys for some of the other men that will be helping us (do what I don't know), and a bunch of miscellaneous gifts for miscellaneous people I expect we will come across and need something for- silver desk clocks, jewelry, extra scarves, etc. Funny story about the Broncos jersey. I bought it at TJ Maxx, and it is number 17, Rashaun Woods, who never actually played for the Broncos, as it turns out. That wasn't part of my criteria when I bought it. He failed the physical and was cut before the season started. But his number will be worn proudly by someone in Kazakhstan....

We also have a couple of donations we are taking. 3M corporation makes a line of stethoscopes reported by my sister (the doc) to be top of the line. So they donated 2 of thier higher end stethoscopes for us to take with us to the orphanage! My sister's nurse also donated a stethoscope she had, so all told we will have 3 to donate. It sounds as though decent (read 'modern') medical equipment is hard to come by in this area, so I am really excited. On top of that, a company called PediaPals donated a big box of fun pediatric stuff; fuzzy animal stethoscope covers, a pediatric blood pressure cuff with bears on it, giraffe reflex hammers, hippo tongue depressers, etc. In fact, there is so much I think we are going to see if some can go to a hospital or clinic in Arkalyk.

Then there is the food. Granola bars, mac and cheese, packages of tuna and chicken, dried blueberries, instant oatmeal, etc. While I have eaten food all over the world, and seldom had an issue, some of the Kazakh culinary habits I have read about make me a bit unsure about how we will 'fare' at mealtimes. For instance, it is customary, I have learned, to serve a boiled head of mutton at celebrations. From what I read, the part served to each person is 'customized' - an ear for a child so they will listen, the tongue to a talkative guest, etc. I think I will keep our anniversary a secret. What part might they serve for that?!?

Did Imention the traveling pharmacy or the suitcase full of books yet? Books, games, a few toys, workbooks, crayons, etc, etc. It doesn't look like THAT much, but weighs a full 50 lbs!! As for meds, I have every combination I could think of, in infant, childrens' and adult versions. We hear that it is really tough to get medications there, and boy are we prepared! The picture below represents about 1/6 of our total stash. Not that you can have much fun with bags of Immodium and antibiotics... After all of this we are each taking 4 changes of clothes. Kind of funny to be going for so long, and the thing we are taking the least of is clothes!

As for fitting this all in, Bruce has a grand plan, which involves packing everything in those compressible bags that you suck the air out of with a vacuum cleaner. This does do great things for space, but creates some weight problems. We currently have 4 bags and each is within a 1/2 a pound of the 50lb weight limit. I wondered what we were going to do in Berlin when we have to repack. Bruce thinks we are going to get the maids to suck the air out of the bags for us so we can repack them. I am envisioning trying to explain that idea in my half-forgotten German. I will have 5 days to try to work out an explanation, and look up the appropriate words in my dictionary. I hope it is enough. 'Suck' is a risky word to translate, me thinks. At least it will be me doing the talking.

A matter of days

So, last we spoke I was feeling like a bird who just flew into a plate glass window. You know, just wingin' along, focused on that branch above the shiny new Beamer parked by the curb, when Wham!! Feathers flying, little bits of this and that stuck to the glass, and suddenly I am sitting in the dirt.

It was the illusion of pending travel that we slammed into. But frankly, once we got past the initial shock of the shift in plans, the extra two weeks have been welcome time to get our act together! Don't take this to mean that I am thinking straight however. I tend to feel compelled to do things before I leave town, that I have successfully put off for months prior.... but now they become of the utmost importance. So, my brain is swirling with all of the 'urgent' items on my list, and am fairly certain I am going to forget something embarrassingly simple. If it was something I promised one of you I would do, sorry :).

Our travel dates are set now (unless it's another reflection. Is a bird ever able to fly without a certain level of anxiety again?). We leave next Saturday, March 3rd, 12:20pm. From this day forward, when someone asks me when we leave, I can only answer in days. We head to Berlin for a travel conference Bruce is attending for a few days. We have tickets to see Sting singing with the Berlin Philharmonic, which is supposed to be excellent. I am really excited to see that show. And we will both (Bruce and I) celebrate our birthday's in Berlin. Then we are going to take a few days and drive down to Frankfurt. Our flight leaves Frankfurt Monday, March 12th for Astana directly. Because we land at 10pm (and another 4 time zones later), we spend the night and the next day in Astana. The next evening, we get on the train. And 15 hours, plus or minus, after that we arrive in Arkalyk. And that's where we will meet our new son.

Now you all are up to date. Tomorrow, we are going to try and finish our packing. An exercise that feels like trying to pour an elephant through a funnel.

Where the rubber meets the road

If you have all been wondering about the loud screeching noise you heard Monday morning, and the burning smell... that was us. Monday's are apparently bad days to talk to your adoption coordinator. You never know what is going to happen. This morning she called, to check in I was sure, find out if I had sent the visa application (sitting on the counter to go today), made plane reservations (calling to confirm and pay after dropping Jaden off at school), see if we had any questions (oh, yeah...). But that wasn't it at all. She was calling to put the brakes on.

You see, it appears that despite all the hurry up, it's now time to wait. There is another family that just arrived in Arkalyk to adopt, although I don't know what this has to do with us. And the coordinator in Arkalyk, Habiba, might need to have surgery at the end of the month. And there will be more children 'released from the registry' at the end of the month. And it's a short month, so they are not sure we could be done with court by the time Bruce needs to leave for his conference in Berlin. Oh. So I asked her, "But if we wanted to go right now, could we?" No real answer ensued. Being Russian, I would expect her to be quite direct. But I guess that's my preconception of Russians. This one hems, haws, and politely waffles. I think I am supposed to 'get it', but would be in favor of a straight answer. I don't believe there is any intent to mislead, perhaps just a cultural politeness that doesn't meld with the current endeavor.

At any rate, it appears we won't be leaving on Valentine's Day after all. And Jaden will get to spend his birthday in Boulder, as he so strongly desired. Perhaps most importantly, we did 3 weeks worth of stuff in the last week in anticipation of leaving, so now we only have half as much to do, so we can easily put that off until the last minute... t he gnashing of the teeth can take a break temporarily as well. And there is some small, outside chance that there will be time to edit the ever growing pile of stuff to take. But not by much. In our world, it never pays to travel too light.

You are cordially invited...

To travel half-way across the world, throw yourself on the mercy of the of the universe, lay your hearts out on the line along with your peace of mind and your family stability, and meet your new child. Our 'Letter of Invitation' arrived today. The LOI is the last thing we needed. Tomorrow we send away for our visas.

We spent a couple of hours tonight trying to figure out how we are going to get to Kazakhstan. Let's see... Frequent Flyer miles to Frankfurt, then buy a round trip to Kaz? Can we go direct to Astana or do we have to go to Almaty first? Is a 16 hour train ride REALLY the fastest way to get to Arkalyk? Hardly seems possible anything could be so remote. Bruce looks at the options, and being as persistant as he is, finds one. We could fly to London, then to Almaty, connecting on to Astana, then to some other unpronounceable city, and then try and figure out how to arrange a car to drive us 306 km to Arkalyk. Which seems like an especially good idea in a country that believes wearing a seat-belt is an insult to the driver.

OK- back to the actual options. Do we fly through Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Istanbul, Moscow or some other place we haven't thought of yet? Do we want to take United, Lufthansa, British Air, KLM? Wow, the travel industry is a crazy space.

Next, we have to start working on how we are going to get all of the stuff we 'need' into our luggage. On top of a traveling pharmacy, we are taking toys for the orphanage including soccer balls and playground balls, games, a bunch of these developmental toys called Skwishes (they gave me a wholesale deal on them, wasn't that nice?), toys to keep our kid(s) occupied, a few random little guy clothes, bottles, sippys, books, a stash of food, gifts for the orphanage personnel (about 20 of them!), cameras, photo printer, journal, piles of paperwork, dictionaries, coffee, a French press, a electric water pot, a big pile of cash, and a load of other things we haven't even figured out yet....

I feel like we are mounting an expedition to the dark continent. "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" In addition, because of the timing we will be celebrating Jaden's 6th birthday, my birthday (not my 6th ;)., Bruce's birthday, AND our 10 year anniversary, all in Kazakhstan. Which means I've got to smuggle a birthday present or two over, at least for Jaden!