Day 6, 8 to go!

This picture is from the Victory Day celebration.


So here are the pictures of our spacious apartment as prommised.



After the excitement of the weekend we ended up haveing a fairly mellow Monday. It involved going to the internet cafe, having a very quick lunch, spending a wonderful hour with our son, going ot the notary, paying our weekly rent and reading.

Our visit yesterday was great. He was in such a good mood. We got him a rattle on Sunday and boy did he think it was a cool thing to wave around. We have also started on getting court paperwork together with our translator. She had us both sign papers yesterday to request his new birth certificate. John also had to write a letter petitioning the court for adoption in his own handwriting. The best part about this was that I got to play with our son for the first chunk of our visit. The baby house director also came in while we were visiing and told our translator that he is starting to miss us between visits. He wants to be held all of the time and apparently he is waking up early from his afternoon nap and waiting for us to arrive. They said he threw a fit yesterday afternoon when we did not show up. I offered to do some extra baby sitting if he was being a problem, but they did not say yes yet. We still have not been told when we will get to have two visits, but hey I will continue to be persistant.

I would also like to share with you the little games that we play to pass the spare moments here:

1. What is that sound? This is a game we play in the apartment a lot, as there are many mysterious noises.
2. What is that smell? This is an easy game to play thought the city. The answers range from cooked cabbage (a favorite here), to sewage, to leaking gas pipes. Although yesterday the lilacs began to bloom and it was wonderful!
3. What color will the water be today? Most of the time it is rust brown, but occasionaly we also get chunks of dirt in it.
4. What does this store sell? Not being able to read much Russian, and the fact that they do not have things in the window we just have to peak in stores to find out. It is a common game but can sometimes be embarrasing as not all doors lead to shops.

There are more, but they escape me for the moment. John is also working on a speech in Russian to explain the value of gravel. This idea does not translate well, but they have a serious need for the stuff. This has become his mission here and keeps him busy in our spare moments.