Spoiled American

Yes. I admit it. I am a spoiled American. No offense to Russia but I cannot express how unbelievably relieved I am to be out of Russia. To be staying in a hotel with working elevators, air conditioning in the room, washcloths, more than one roll of toilet paper, a real shower with good water and best of all, A COMFORTABLE BED!
I think I only woke up twice last night versus 20 from back pain. The beds in the Hilton Garden Inn we are staying at even have adjustable, sleep number beds! The room was pitch dark with the curtains closed and there was no beeping cars, loud pedestrians or diesel smells. We had an awesome buffet breakfast this morning with food I was familiar with like scrambled eggs, toast, waffles, hash browns and BACON. Now we are just relaxing in the room waiting for our friend, Ina, to pick us up. Not some random driver who doesn't speak English.

I also must mention there was a bottle of champagne chilling, with a side of strawberries, waiting in the room when we checked in. A surprise from my wonderful husband! Yes, I am a spoiled American.


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Location:Frankfurt,Germany

It Rains Dirt in Russia

So now Ed and I are waiting for our flight to Frankfurt , Germany at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. It is now a 2 hour time difference than Russia. My time clock is going to be so messed up when I get home.

I went for coffee this morning as I had planned. It had rained overnight and periodically in the morning and everything seemed to be covered in dirt therefore i think it must rain dirt in Russia. The streets and sidewalks always seem to be dirty but when it rains it is worse.

So, I ended up at a quaint coffeehouse ironically called "The Koffeehaus" and ordered a raspberry latte. Yum! There was no Internet in the cafe so I could not utilize one of my translation apps. I wanted to get a coffee to go to take to Ed, but I couldn't figure out how to say it. I did not see anyone come in and take a coffee to go so I was thinking maybe they didn't have takeout cups. I peeked behind the counter and didn't see any but I decided to try and ask the non English speaking waitress with some pieced together Russian words I knew. It failed. I even told her in my bad Russian that I speak bad Russian. She didn't even crack a smile. She just looked at me perturbed, like "what in the world did you just say?" so I resorted to just asking for my bill.

I walked around a town a bit and came across another restaurant in which I was able to get a coffee to go AND one of the waitresses spoke english. Bonus! Took my coffee to go and headed back to the hotel. Found a neat bookstore on the way and checked it out. The whole time I was in there a man, who I assume was security, kept watching me. He said something to me at one point, when I was trying to translate cards and find a "Happy Anniversary" one for Ed and I politely told him I didn't speak Russian in Russian. He gave me a weird look and continued to watch my every move. Even when I went into the back of the store in a room with kids books, he came to check on me. Creepy! I bought a math workbook, a Russian to English workbook and some Russian/English flash cards and left. I made my way back to the hotel, proceeded to pack up and then our driver came to take us to the airport for our flight to Amsterdam.

I am very much looking forward to being out of Russia and in Germany. Happy Anniversary to me and Ed!




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Location:Rinse Hofstraweg,Schiphol,The Netherlands

Back in St Petersburg

Phew!  What a trip!  I can't believe I am a mother again!  It is a bit bittersweet being that my son is on his way back to the orphanage and I am without him.  I keep telling myself he is just at camp with people he know and is comfortable with and who will take very good care of him.  Nothing better happen to him in the next 30 days that's all I've got to say.  We did not get the extended money back guarantee with him.  Just kidding.

So Ed and I arrived back in St Petersburg last night at about 7:30PM.  A driver was waiting for us and Allison when we got there and he drove us to our respective hotels, ours being the "Mini-Columb Hotel" again.  Ed and I chilled out at our hotel for a bit and then ventured out to grab a bite to eat.  We found a restaurant just down the road called "The Rock Inn" and I figured if it had an English title they might have a menu in english.  I was right.
 
We sat at the bar and the bartender, thank goodness, spoke english.  He offered us some beer made in St Petersburg.  It was pretty good.  I got the Beef Stroganoff over mashed potatoes and Ed got some sausages with Bbq sauce and onion rings.  The food was pretty good and they were playing an old Queen concert on the TV's that was good.  Ed proceeded to order some blini (thin pancakes or crepes) with sour cream, we paid the bill and left.

 Nothing much more exciting after that.  We went back to the hotel and I went to bed.

This morning, the hotel attendant, Valeri, prepared us a nice breakfast of fried eggs, bread with butter and jam, some yogurt, juice, coffee and a choco pie.  Seeing as we were staying in the "Mini-Columb Hotel" it was only us at breakfast.  I don't know if I mentioned this but the hotel only has six  guest rooms!

Veleri was leaving after her 24 HOUR shift (Ugh!) so I went to thank her for the breakfast and her hospitality and she said she had a gift for me.  She drew "The Little Prince" on a piece of paper and wrote a very nice message on the back telling us "you are doing a very good job.  Good luck! With best wishes, Valeri."  That was so sweet!

Now I am making an effort to catch up on the blog as Ed tries to catch some more zzzz's as he did not sleep last night. We have a late checkout so that we can just relax in the room as we need.  Later, we will be picked up and taken to the airport to catch our 5:45 flight to Germany!  Today is our 20th wedding anniversary!!  Wow!  We are celebrating with an extended trip to Germany and to visit our friend, Ina and her family.  I am excited!  It will be a nice distraction from the fact that we do not have Grisha with us.

So, I think I will venture out to find a nice cafe and get some coffee. 

 До свидания, пока! (Goodbye, for now!)

Day 2/Meltdown# 2

It was 9 A.M. when I heard a knock on the door. We were all still in bed. I answer it, in my pajamas, and it is Nina, and she has come to check on Grisha and have us join her for breakfast. Grisha and I get dressed and join Nina and the others for breakfast. Ed decided to sleep awhile longer as he did not really sleep last night.

After breakfast, we went back to the room to get Ed and headed out to get NEW SHOES! Because you see, the shoes he came with were two sizes too small! So, we had discovered a mall behind the hotel and headed there. Grisha took a whole two minutes to pick out the shoes he liked, a bright neon green pair with adjustable laces that didn't tie. Then, he saw a little stand selling trinkets and toys and he wanted to buy something with "his" money. I say "his" money because it was the change Ed and I would place on the dresser from our pockets and Grisha would then take and put in his pockets. So I tell him he can pick something and he tells the attendant what he wants. Ed and I had to laugh. He picked out a pair of glow -in -the -dark vampire teeth and fingernails. He paid for them with "his" money and immediately unwrapped them, put the teeth in and the fingernails on. It was hilarious!

Then, back on Ed's shoulders he went and back to the hotel we walked.

 

Allison and I had discovered a coffee shop across the street the night before, whose logo closely resembled Starbucks, that served great gourmet coffee. So we took the kids and went to get our caffeine fix. We were to meet Dimitry that morning to go over some paperwork and had him meet us at the coffee shop. While Allison was going over her paperwork I took Grisha for a walk. We walked to the park agin so he could play on the Jungle Gym. No bike stealing occurred this time.

There was a gentleman in the park that had battery run cars and motorcycles for kids to ride. He also had a bouncy house and some arcade games for kids. Grisha wanted to ride one of the motorcycles of course, so I bought him a ticket. He was allowed to ride it in the park until the battery died. Then, he wanted in the bouncy house and boy, can that kid flip! He was having so much fun showing off to me how he could flip. I was enjoying watching him so much! Then, of course, he wanted to ride the car, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ed found us and we walked towards the amusement park again. Out came the vampire teeth and fingernails again and onto Ed's shoulders he went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We still had tickets for the Ferris Wheel that I had bought the previous day, so we headed straight there. Here is Grisha on the ferris wheel.

 

He was a bit nervous I think when we started going up high. You can also see he has his fingernails on. LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a great view of the sea at the top!

 

Next, Grisha wanted to go on the trampoline jump, in which the child jumps on a trampoline while in a harness. We go and get a ticket and wlk over to get in line. However, Grisha ran ahead and proceeds to go to the front of the line of about 10 kids. Ed goes to pull him from the front and lead him to the back of the line, but Grisha pulls away, runs and then throws another fit. Ed and I try to calm him and show him wat we want him to do, which is stand in line. But, Grisha wants nothing to do with us. I even go stand at the end of the line to show him but he refuses to do it and we must go back to the hotel once again. I am sure he does not really know the concept of waiting in a line, just trying to get what you want first, before any of the others.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful as we just chilled in the hotel, got some dinner and then hung out in Allison's room again. The kids played on the iPads, of course, and Ed and Jason went to get some beverages. When they came back, Dimitry was with them and had brought some Vodka and salmon. The salmon, he said, had just been caught the day before from the sea. The only thing is it was wrapped in some brown paper and I don't think it had been refrigerated. Yuck! I was NOT trying the salmon. Dimitry kept saying it was good and to try it. Ed risked it to please Dimitry but I just said I didnt like fish.

The vodka Dimitry brought was what he called "illegal" Russian vodka. Apparently it was very, very, very strong. Allison took one drink and said her lips felt numb. Yikes! I kept to the wine Ed and Jason had bought and the vodka was shared only between Ed and Dimitry. (Uh oh) What went on after that I won't tell, but let's just say Ed got the Russian to talk! AND drank him under the table! It was quite a scene! Mind you, the kids, Allison, and I were in the other room and didn't see what was going on, only hearing Dimitry getting louder and louder. Then, finally, Dimitry just stood up and said he was going to bed. Ha!

The end of day #2.

 

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Day1/Meltdown # 1

We all went to breakfast, then went to our rooms and as soon as we went to the room, Grisha was nosing in all of my bags. He figured there were presents! He was right! And even though I had things in different bags, he found everything I had brought for him. What a stinker! So he checked out his loot for about 5 minutes, then immediately wanted the iPad. Then, he was in heaven.


Later, after Ed and I took a nap, we went for a walk. We walked down the the street where we were told there was a park. We found it and Grisha played on the jungle gym apparatus with several other Russian children.

At one point, Grisha hops on a bike that a child had leaned against the gym, and takes off on it. Ed runs after him and lifts him up to get him off of the bike but, grisha won't let go of it. So i have to yank it out from his legs as several Russian mothers are looking on. (see pic below)

FYI -all Russian women commonly wear heels (very high) and dress fashionably like that.

So we leave the park and head towards a theater where there was a band playing outside and it looked like they were setting up for a concert, or festival, or something. There was a vendor selling toys and such so, of course, Grisha headed straight for it. I let him pick a toy car and he was happy.

We walked down along the river and ended up at a small amusement park. We came upon another vendor selling kids toys and trinkets and immediately, Grisha wanted something. Both Ed and I shook our heads, no, and Grisha immediately got angry and threw a fit. We hadn't even made it in to see any of the rides yet. In fact, right next door was a bumper car ride. I went to figure out how to get a ticket for the bumper cars while Ed stayed back watching Grisha throw his fit. I came back with the tickets and called to Grisha to come on the ride with me. Nope. He wasn't budging. After a few, when he realized he wasn't getting what he wanted, he started walking to me. We went on the bumper cars and then, Allison, Kirill and Jason found us. Grisha rode the cars again, this time with Allison.

After the bumper cars, Grisha and Kirill ran up ahead to a food tent. Grisha found a cooler with ice cream treats in it and wanted one. Again, Ed and I said no, and tried to interest him in another ride. Instead, he had another meltdown. He ran ahead again and found another vendor selling kids stuff. (They really know how to position these). He desperately wanted a Transformer toy, but we had to stick to our guns and say no. Well that put him over the edge and he was upset and yelling. Ed picked him up and began walking back to the hotel. Ed tried to put him down to walk but Grisha refused and laid down on the sidewalk. So, Ed had to carry him all the way back to the hotel which was about 1/2 a mile down the road.

After Grisha cooled down, which actually didn't take long, he was back to smiling and laughing. We hung out in Allison's room with her, Jason and Kirill and the boys played on our iPads while we visited. Later, Ed and Jason went to get dinner at a pizza place we discovered across the street. It was really good! We ate, we drank, we had a nice time.

 

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8:56 A.M.!!!

Sleep is wonderful when you can get it. I did not get much of it last night. The bed here sucks! I tossed and turned all night long because my back hurt. In fact, I overslept. I thought I had set my alarm on my iPad, but when I looked at the clock it said 8:56!!!!!! 4 minutes! until we are to meet the kids! Aaaah! Nice. Don't show up on time to see the child who's been neglected and abandoned by his parents. Good job, Carrie!

Woke Ed up and scrambled to make myself presentable and proceeded down to the lobby where Allison was already there along with Allison's friend Jason, Dimitry, Nina (orphanage co-director), Kirill (Allison's son to be) and GRISHA! Grisha immediately ran to me and gave me the biggest hug. Then, he jumped in Ed's arms. It was awesome!

 

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