Pretty much the whole day was spent waiting around -- waiting for people to call, people to stop by -- really unnerving and frustrating. First, waiting for Olga, our coordinator who were supposed to stop by at 1 -- she did stop by, and immediately scolded me for the apartment being difficult to find, and for the weather being really cold outside (clearly both my fault -- but, having been raised in Eastern Europe, I took the approach of profusely apologizing for having to come here -- which is her job, for which I am paying her handsomely). Then she walked me through the process -- without offering reassurance or making me feel comfortable asking questions. She encouragingly smiled and said: I know this is really confusing for you, so we just take it nice and slow -- and with that,she disappeared. Next, we waited for our translator .. she never showed up, instead she called and told me that my documents weren't ready yet, b/c there was a long line at the notary... So she told me to please not worry, that she'd meet us at the Ministry of Education, and hand me everything that I needed. My appointment was at 5:30 -- and we were outside the building, waiting for the translator. She showed up, and handed me a binder of my documents, and in a slightly unnerving way, wished me good luck. Inside the building my interpreter was waiting for me (really, do I need such an entourage), and without further ado, she whisked me into a conference room. 2 women were seated at the table -- the younger one clearly in charge. Neither of them smiled, or as much as looked at me. They took my binder, which contained the documents I had prepared, had notarized, had apostilled, and then sent to my adoption agency. They were poring through the documents, the older woman pointing out things to the younger one, who was making notes on a checklist. At one point, there was very clearly a problem, and there started arguing with my interpreter. After several anxiety filled minutes, she finally asked me if I had two additional documents -- I of course didn't have a chance to look through the binder, but I did remember preparing those two documents and sending it to my adoption agency. Well, clearly, they didn't make it into my binder. This appeared to be a deal breaker -- more arguing, and then my interpreter whisked me out of the room . She said my translator was supposed to prepare those documents -- , and that the ministry people like to play tough, and this is fixable blah blah blah. When we got outside, the translator was still there -- these two (the interpreter and translator) - got into a heated argument in Russian .... and then they told me to go home, and wait for the translator woman to call me, g/c she is going to check at her house if she has the missing documents. I went home (bc what else am I going to do) -- sent an email to my agency in the US (no response) and called Olga, the coordinator -- allegedly in charge on the ground in Moscow. Olga sounded very annoyed that I bothered her, and told me that she knows what had happened, and the translator was going to check at her house if she had the documents, and then call me.
At no point did anyone apologize for what is very clearly their mistake, or assure me that this a fixable problem. Before I sent off my paperwork to my adoption agency a few months ago, I made a photocopy of the entire file, which I brought to Moscow with me -- the two documents were in my file, which means that they were submitted to the agency in the US.
The translator woman was supposed to call at 9, it's 9:30 right now. I am livid of course. This complete lack of transparency, the lack of a clear chain of accountability is very hard to take. at this point, I have no idea what's coming, and what to expect. Not a happy time.
I can only imagine how frustrating this must be... Hang in there!
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