The plane lands in Kras, we deplane and board the shuttle to take us to the terminal. The local airport is not very large so we entered into the same room that tour coordinator was waiting for us. She got us to our driver and we took of for the city. It was snowy and dark so not much to see. We arrived at the hotel and checked in, then we went upstairs to get settled in and take a nap. It was about 8:00 by now and we were going to take a nap. We had plans to meet downstairs at 1:30 to venture back out (including going to the orphanage!!). Our room was nice and 'cozy', but not really a bad place to be. We had a view towards the Yenisei river and the bridge that we would use to travel to the orphanage:
We got our wake-up call and headed downstairs. Our first stop was to exchange some dollars for rubles. You aren't able to exchange this outside of Russia, and our stay in Moscow was crazy, so we weren't able to get any rubles yet. We found a place right next to the hotel that gave a good exchange rate and was an automated machine, so we can use it next time and have no issues. We then drove to the Ministry of Education to officially get the referral and receive permission to visit the orphanage. It was a brief visit and we were then off. It takes an hour to get to the orphanage over a highway. It was very interesting to watch the towns, architecture, countryside as we were driving, but much of it was across open land so not always something to look at.
As we got closer, it felt a little more real (not that already being in Russia wasn't real enough). Until we actually meet him, it still seems odd. The town that the orphanage is in is relatively small, not that we went through it to see it, but we were on the outskirts. We drove in the middle of several apartments buildings and made our way to the orphanage. We parked and got out, heading for the front door. We went in and waited with our translator for someone to meet us. We were taken to a playroom area where another family was there to meet their child. They were from Spain and were with a different agency. We waited our turn, expecting to first talk with the doctor. It was about 3:00pm and we were told that Baby Boy was napping until 4:00.
Imagine our surprise when one of the caretakers walks in with this cute little boy, our translator remarking 'Here he is' like she expected it. Wow! I had both digital and video camera ready, sitting on the floor, so I grabbed the video camera and started it. The caretaker put him down so she could put his bib on (he is drooling from teeth coming in), and he was standing there while she was doing this and I was like 'This is the boy that will hopefully be my son'. Another Wow! Once the bib was on, Heather knelt down and put her arms out, the caretaker let him go and he walked into Heather's arms. She picked him up and he put his little head down on her shoulder like he was already comfortable with her. Pretty neat feeling to see, not something we expected. We then spent about 90 minutes with him playing with some toys and getting to know him (and him getting used to us). He was at ease with both of us, taking turns holding him and all. He looked to be where he should be at his age, was very curious about the toys (trying to figure them all out), watching the other people move about the room.
We were again surprised when the caretaker brought out a snack that we were going to feed him. There was one cup with a warm milk and shortbread-like food in it, then another cup with just milk. They have child-size table and 2 chairs we used, so he was sitting in one chair ready to eat. Heather started feeding him but it was a little messy. The snack was runny and he really wanted it. We both (I fed him some after Heather) had to put the spoon in further to avoid making a mess, so we finally got the hang of it. It was sort of funny, when she handed me the food so I could get in and try it, Baby Boy started to cry because we were taking his food away.
All in all, the orphanage visit was real cool. Not an experience you go through too often, not real easy to put it into words. Just another Wow! We left and drove back to the hotel, it was dark now and we were tired so napped a little on the way back. Our clocks were so messed up, many hours of flying and 12 hour time change, we were beat. We had been up for about 36 hours (from Tuesday morning) to 8pm Thursday night Kras time, not really counting the little bit of sleep we got on airplanes. We got a few drinks and some cereal from a nearby grocery store then fell asleep on top of the bed in our clothes. Very tired but a good time so far. Definitely worth it, can't wait to go back for day 2. We are leaving at 7:30 Friday morning, so not much time for sleep (good thing we were tired and went to bed early).
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