Bottom of Day Ten of Ten!

So, it’s the end of day 10 and TOMORROW I get to bring Alex home! I have to pick up the papers at the court in the morning, head to Dniproprotrosk with Oxana and get his new birth certificate and “social security” card. This card has to be in the system for 24 hours before I can apply for his passport and then we wait for the passport which should be ready on the 21st. Then with that in hand we head to Kiev for his medical exam and embassy paper work and then home!! Or DA DOMA!
I didn’t move apartments today, I will be moving tomorrow morning @ 8:00 am. Tomorrow is going to be crazy with moving, court, Dniproprotrosk trip, paper work there, back at the school for meeting with Alex’s teachers and then Julia’s B-day party. I wanted to be settled and buy groceries before bringing Alex home to my “scary” new apartment but no such luck.
I did relax today and I had the most wonderful pedicure and manicure. Totally cost for both was $119 gryvnas or roughly $15 dollars! I almost fell asleep while getting my pedicure. It was nice because I didn’t have to worry about small talk or listening to the nail lady, she couldn’t understand me, I couldn’t understand her and it was just nice!
Amy jogged down and found me at the salon and then pretty soon Jeff & Masha made it too and then all of us went to a lovely lunch at the “place upstairs above the smoking place that has an English menu”. On the way back we thought we’d take a bus but we were not sure where it stopped so we started walking and who do you think we ran into? Our children! All the children scheduled for upcoming adoptions were walking down the street with a teacher to go get their picture taken. (We thought it was for their passport but it was for something else.) We went with them. Alex had combed his hair and had on a clean shirt (one of the ones I sent home with him in November) and then a white dress shirt underneath. (Which was sort of funny looking but you could tell he was quite proud of his effort to clean up!) Here is a picture of all the kids:

And a close up of Alex:

Then after some negotiations with the teacher we took our children plus Julia (she wouldn’t let us take Lubia) and went grocery shopping for Rasts. (as I didn’t want to haul groceries on the bus back to my place only to haul them to another apartment tomorrow so Alex and Julia and I bought snacks.) Secretly both families bought birthday presents for Julia.
We rode back to the school on bus #11a and hung out a bit until Oxana got back and then I caught a ride with her home. The most exciting part of our day was I almost got ran over by one of the slow moving trolleys. Nothing too life threatening but Alex pantomimed that he would cry if I got hit by the trolley. I sincerely believe that Alex must at least like me if not outright love me as he worries about me falling in man holes and now being run over by trolleys.
It was fun to have Masha with us as she could translate what the kids are saying and apparently Alex is very funny and witty. It makes me sad I can’t understand him but it makes me happy to know that he’ll fit in with Austin with his clever comebacks and fun sense of humor.
Amy keeps pointing out how we are all starting to talk like we’re Russians. I’ve stopped using filler words and proper sentences. It’s hard to convey in typing but trust me, we are all sounding like our translators. And we use lots of grunts and pantomiming-not that that is Russian-that is how our children talk to us, grunts and charades.
The day was much nicer and we stood with the kids for a long time while they waited for their pictures to process. This is Alex and I playing while waiting:

So, tomorrow is my big day and the last day for Alex at the orphanage. He’s so very excited! We just have to figure out a way to entertain ourselves here for one more week.