Chilly with Afternoon Warming

We made it to Moscow, arriving very late Sunday night. It's now after midnight on Tuesday morning here and I'm trying to stay awake long enough to provide our first day's update.

While recognizing that Syevinch is at the center of this adventure, the first thought that struck us while loading our bags into our driver's car at the Moscow airport after midnight Monday morning was not about finally getting to see her again (although it placed a close second and has since regained its initial lead), but about how flipping cold it was. We came prepared for cold, but nothing shakes up your sense of your surroundings like extreme temperatures. Renee and I both may need to buy warmer clothes here (despite our best efforts to "pack warmly") and I may have to give in and wear a hat.

Because of jet lag and lack of much sleep on the flights here, we were pretty exhausted when we finally arrived at our apartment (affectionately referred to as the "Pink Palace"). Yes, the place is pretty pink, which can be tolerated. What they don't mention in the ad for the rental, however, is that it overlooks one of the busiest streets in Moscow, so we have a pretty steady flow of traffic nine stories below us around the clock. (Three weeks ... it's only three weeks....) [Photo at right is the view from our kitchen window at 10:00 p.m.]

After sleeping until noon (or 1:00 a.m. from our bodies' perspectives), we met our driver, Vlad, who chose the coldest day in the coming week to walk us through how to take the subway out to the orphanage, as this will be our primary method of transportation this trip. It was -15°C when we left home at 3:00 p.m., which translates to "damn cold" in Fahrenheit. The subway was no problem, taking only about 30 minutes to get to the end of the line, but it only got us to the general neighborhood — we then had to walk in the wind and snow for another 30 to get to the orphanage (and this was at Vlad's 6-foot-3 pacing — we'll have to add another 10-15 minutes when we slow down to a stride that works for us). Wind chill dropped the temperature to the "why-on-earth-am-I-outside?" range — but when we paused to remember the answer to that question, the cold wasn't so bad.

We spent about an hour and a half with Syevinch, who was absolutely horrified to see us again, howling and crying for a good solid 10 minutes. She finally warmed up once the Cheerios came out, and after that, she was much more content — allowing Renee to hold her and me to feed her. (Thank god for sensory memory and General Mills!) We experienced good signs of mental development as she imitated us shaking a toy to make sounds (thank you to whoever gave us the rattley-lion shown in the bottom photo). We eventually heard quite a few sounds from her as well, but the fact that they were in both Russian and "baby talk" pretty much ensured we had no clue what she was trying to communicate. All in all, it was a good visit. We were, understandably, upset to be greeted with such a pained and painful return, but thrilled that she was willing to let us enter back into her lives after seven weeks away.

After beginning the process of (re-)connecting with her for this brief visit, we recognized that it was getting dark outside and the temperature had already dropped significantly, and that it was time to head out. We took the metro back downtown, walked to the nearest English-speaking restaurant (Hard Rock Cafe), where we ate comfort food (cheeseburgers and fries). After that, we braved the cold once more (and even got a bit of light snow), hitting the Russian equivalent of a 7-Eleven for basic necessities on our way home. Needless to say we were thrilled to remove our layers and relax in the warmth of the Pink Palace.

Tomorrow is our court date. Not sure what to expect, as we've heard from people at both extremes telling us either how easy or how traumatic it will be. I'm hoping that the fact that our translator from the last trip, Masha, will appear with us, so if we happen to say anything stupid, it may get translated to a more appropriate response before reaching the judge.

We may also do passport photos with Syevinch in the morning, which will be an interesting exercise (taking her outside the orphanage grounds for the first time and being totally without caregiver support). We shall see how she does — more importantly, we'll see how we do.

I'll write more as we have time and news.

With love,
Larry & Renee

P.S. I will blame delirium for the lack of photos posted here initially. Sorry for the delay.