I think
I left off where I found out at 9:00 PM Monday night that
I wasn't leaving Kazakhstan for Moscow that night at midnight
because Alison's exit visa hadn't come through. Needless to
say, I was quite upset... but we were able to leave the following
night.
Alison
slept a bit, and we were picked up for the ride to the airport
shortly after midnight. We were flying Air Kazakhstan to Moscow...
a five-hour flight, departing at 2:20 AM. We were taken to
the Air Kaz terminal in Almaty, not the airport, where we
checked in, went through security, had our baggage weighed
(and I got hit with $160 fee for 55 extra kilos!), and then
got on a bus which was to take us to the airport.
Sitting
on the bus with Alison on my lap I felt it...that familiar
warmth and rumble that let me know she had just pooped! I
thought, "no problem, I'll just change her when we get
to the airport, before we get on the plane." Well, the
bus took us right to the plane... we got off the bus and herded
up the stairs and into our seats. The plane was packed....
they loaded it and we took off, and I felt that familiar sensation
AGAIN! Yes, my darling daughter pooped again in an already
poopy diaper.
I figured
I'd just change her as soon as the fasten seat belt light
went off. After about seven minutes or so, I saw someone walking
up the aisle to the rest room and just followed. The flight
attendant told me I had to sit down (in Russian), but I motioned
to her butt and showed the diaper, and he let me go in to
the bathroom.
This had
to be the smallest airplane bathroom I'd ever been in (and
it was also the first time I'd ever tried to change a diaper
on an airplane, so it just might have felt really small).
There was no pull down changing table, so I closed the lid
on the toilet and put down my little changing pad and attempted
to lay Alison down on it. Her reaction was similar to her
first experience in the bathtub... screaming at the top of
her lungs and claws in my neck.
So, I
was wiping lots of poop off her butt (it had crept up her
back by this time), off her clothes and off my clothes...
and putting a new diaper on her, all while holding her attached
firmly to my neck! Quite an experience.
She did
really well for the rest of the flight. We actually both slept
a little, even when Air Kaz served an entire meal at 3:30
AM, with really bad Russian music playing rather loudly over
the intercom system!
We arrived
in Moscow at about 5:00 AM local time (by then it was 8:00
AM in Kaz...three hour time difference...the first of many
time-zone changes over the next couple of days), we were met
by our Moscow coordinator Michael, and we then drove to the
hotel...the Marriott Tverskya.
How wonderful
to be in a luxurious hotel! On the way there, Michael explained
our schedule for the day. He would come to our rooms (there
were two other families in addition to me and Alison) and
go over all our paperwork for our interviews at the U.S. Embassy,
which would take place later in the day.
A doctor
would arrive at around 7:00 AM to examine the children. This
is one of the U.S. Embassy requirements, a medical report
from one of their approved doctors. So, the doctor showed
up, told me Alison looked pretty good, "examined"
her for all of five minutes, took my $100 and filled out the
necessary paperwork. Then we got to go to breakfast. A great
buffet, though Alison wouldn't let me put her down to get
the food! We managed.
I had
to copy a few papers for Michael, who would then take all
the paperwork to the Embassy and call to tell us what time
to be ready for the appointment. We went to the room, took
a nap, and were told to be in the lobby at 3:00 PM.
At about
1:30 PM, Alison and I headed out to take a little walk in
Moscow (and I needed to look for a store that sold diapers!).
We walked fairly far, and I never did find the diapers. The
weather wasn't bad...probably upper 30s, but very damp. We
got back to the hotel, and waited for the van to pick us up.
When it hadn't arrived by 3:15 PM, I got impatient and called
a cab. I wasn't about to come this far only to miss our embassy
appointment and have to wait another day to head home.
We got
the U.S. Embassy at 3:40 PM and went right in. They've just
started a new procedure there that makes things run much more
smoothly than in the past. In all my research on Russian adoptions,
I'd heard the U.S. Embassy was very stressful. Well, with
these new procedures in place, it was a breeze. The stressful
part was getting there!
Our hotel
wasn't far from the embassy, but traffic in Moscow is unbelievable.
And this is coming from someone who's lived in L.A. for the
past 13 years.
At the
embassy, we were asked a few questions, given all of Alison's
original paperwork and a sealed packet that I was to give
to the INS officials when I reached the states, complete with
Alison's immigrant visa stapled to the front of it. We were
officially ready to come home. What an amazing feeling!
By then
it was about 4:00 PM and our flight heading back to the U.S.
was leaving the next morning at 7:00 AM. So, we had very little
time for sight-seeing.
Michael
arranged for a van and a guide to take us to a few places,
and after some confusion and an hour of waiting for the "third
family" (Peter, the guide, mistakenly thought that Dan
Charles, with his adopted daughter Nastya and I, with Alison,
were one family and that another one was still coming....)
we were on our way.
We drove
to Red Square where we first went in the mall to do some last
minute souvenir shopping. Then it was a stroll through Red
Square, past Lenin's tomb, and winding up at St. Basils Cathedral...which
is as breathtaking as you imagine it would be.
Then it
was back into the van, and a LONG drive back to the hotel...
once again, due to the crazy Moscow traffic. I really don't
know how I can ever complain about L.A. traffic again.
At the
hotel, I did what I'd been looking forward to for three weeks...ordered
room service. Alison and I had a great dinner, and we went
to sleep after calling for a 3:45 AM wake-up call. We were
to meet in the lobby at 4:30 PM to go to the airport.
A quick
aside here.... for the past three and a half weeks, the only
English language television I had was the Fox News Channel,
providing a very conservative slant to the whole election
debacle. Finally in Moscow, I had CNN, and this was the day
that the Supreme Court finally (sort of) put an end to the
situation. I had seen every bit of coverage of this thing
from November 20 until this day, and now...when something
was finally happening... I didn't get to see either Gore or
Bush make their speeches! I did think I'd get a very cool
souvenir by having the Moscow Times on December 13, the day
the headline would announce the new president, but it wasn't
out before we left the hotel or available at the airport before
we boarded. Ugh!
So, we
leave Moscow at 7:00 AM for the three hour flight to Frankfurt,
Germany. This time there were no poopy problems on the plane,
and Alison did just fine.
We landed
in Frankfurt, had just enough time to wander around the airport
a bit and get to the gate for the 10:05 departure to Miami.
I think there was a two-hour time difference between Moscow
and Frankfurt, so we landed around 8:30 local time).
As I got
to the gate, they informed me the flight was delayed, and
we'd be leaving at 11:30. Alison and I went to the restaurant
and had brunch. Then we did a little shopping. She got a beautiful
little gold ID bracelet (that she won't let me put on her),
and we bought Pop Pop (my father) some Swiss chocolates from
the duty-free shop.
We boarded
the plane and I felt that familiar poopy feeling again. But
this time I had time to change her before we took off, and
the bathroom had a wonderful pull down changing table. We
took off and 10 minutes into the flight, the captain came
on and said something lengthy in German (we flew Lufthansa).
I could see people were concerned and shaking their heads.
Then he spoke in English and explained that two systems had
failed (the altimeter and odometer!)... that we were in no
danger because of all the backup systems in place. But it
was Lufthansa policy to turn around and land back in Frankfurt.
The only problem was that we were fully fueled and too heavy
to land, so we'd have to circle for an hour or so and dump
fuel. So we did.
By the
time we landed and disembarked and got back to the terminal
it was around 2:30 or 3:00. They said we'd board again at
5:30 for a 6:00 departure. I was waiting for them to bring
my stroller, that I had to check at the gate, and it never
came. I patiently(not) explained that there was no way I could
carry this child around for three hours and that I needed
the stroller, which for some reason, they never were able
to get for me.
Somehow,
Alison and I wound up in some special Lufthansa area that
had a playroom for kids, and they went out and brought me
lunch. They said someone would come to get me when it was
time to go back to board.
So, we
passed a couple of hours in there. At about 5:15 PM I started
getting antsy, and asked when we'd be heading back toward
the plane. That's when I was told that the new departure time
was 8:00 PM. I thought I was going to die. I was exhausted
and Alison was definitely way past tired and cranky. They
brought me to another room that had a couple of sofas and
cribs, and said we could lie down and take a nap, and they'd
come wake us when it was time to go. That's exactly what we
did.
They got
us at about 7:15 PM, drove us back to the gate (Alison pretty
much slept this whole time). We boarded the plane and took
off. Though I was in coach, I had a bulkhead seat, and they
have bassinets that attach to the wall. So, once we hit our
cruising altitude, they set up a bassinet for Alison. I put
her in it and she slept for the next eight hours or so. It
was a nine and a half hour flight to Miami, and we arrived
at about 12:15 AM Friday morning, December 15 (only 10 hours
later than scheduled).
We made
it through customs and INS, and my sister was waiting for
us at the gate! We got back to her house at about 2:30 AM,
and the barking dogs woke my two and a half year old niece
Lindsey, so we all spent the next few hours catching up.
And here
we are. Trying to get over the jet lag!
Alison
met her grandfather yesterday, and as soon as she wakes from
her nap we'll go visit him again. We'll be here until Wednesday,
when we get to take our last plane ride for a while, to go
home!
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 1
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 2
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 3
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 4
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 5
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 6
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 7
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 8
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 9
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 10
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 11
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 12
About
The Author
Nicole
Sandler is the owner/producer of Legacy Video Productions,
specializing in producing adoption stories. You can see Alison's
Journey Home, the video at www.legacyvideoproductions.com.
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