After the whole court hearing, Olga had another surprise for us. We were to head to our respective orphanages, and take our children out to get pictures taken for their passports. No one, including Olga has mentioned anything about that before. Nevertheless, I was excited, that seemed to be a pleasant surprise, and such a parentlike thing to do. So Boris from yesterday and I embarked on the long drive to the orphanage through Moscow rush hour. It was clear that Boris was taking a different route, and I was excited to see more of the city -- as it turns out, he was just running some personal errands on the way. Whatever. I was tired, hungry, disappointed, and ready to get on with it.
We get to the orphanage, and for once they seemed to have known we were coming. They had her all ready to go in a cute little pink outfit that seemed strangely appropriate for the warm summer day (later I discovered that she had another shirt on under her short sleeved shirt, and they put a fleece hoodie over it -- ???). When she saw me she looked at me intently and when I tried to take her hand, she started crying ..which is fine (as previously discussed). You could tell she was thinking -- "man, what that chick shows up, inevitably everyone I know just vanishes....". That's fine and normal too. What I wasn't happy about is that the caretaker lady gave me this "look what you are doing to her stare", and announced that she was coming with us to the photographer. And when I tried to pick her up (Alexandra, not the caretaker lady) -- she told me that I couldn't, that I had to walk with her holding her hand. Well, that wasn't working, so she just kind of barged in and took her hand, walked her to the car, and then settled in the back seat, holding in her lap. Which also kind of upset me -- b/c earlier I have discussed with Boris that in fact, Russia requires the use of child seats, and he brought one with him (which made me happy, b/c I have been wondering how we'd transport her around during the third trip --- may it get here soon). Those of you who've been to Moscow, and see what traffic is like, and how people drive around here will understand why I was concerned, even on a short trip, especially when Boris started making U-turns on a busy 4 lane road.
The "photographer's studio", looked like someone's basement... The caretaker lady put Alexandra on her lap, they snapped a picture, and then we started to wait. They had to take off her oversized fleece jacket to take the picture. The second the picture was snapped, the caretaker lady feverishly put it back on her... despite the fact that it was at least 80 degrees in there. I had to pay close to $30 for the pics, which is ridiculous -- considering that they were printed on like a home laser printer ( I am shocked that the Russian government will accept it), and they had to photoshop the caretaker lady, and Alexandra's crazy (so cute) ponytails out of it. Not to mention that NO ONE mentioned to me that I was going to have to pay for something else -- what if I didn't have enough cash left (considering I was leaving the country the following morning). The sketchy basement place didn't seem like the kind of establishment that would accept credit cards. And it took forever.
So I went outside where the caretaker lady was entertaining Alexandra. I tried to go over and play with her but she got upset again, the caretaker lady shot me the "stop upsetting my child" look, and picked her up (I thought we weren't supposed to do that!!) and turned so that Alexandra wouldn't see me. In retrospect, she probably was just trying to get through the whole photographer situation without a scene and as quickly as possible. Or maybe she just hates that some American can "just" waltz in her and take "their" kids. Or maybe she just didn't like the looks of me. Or maybe it was just in typical Russian fashion everything was said and done with a scowl on her face -- which may not have been anything personal to me. Or maybe the lady just had a tough day, and wanted to go home.... I don't know and I don't care. By that point, it was 6:30, I hadn't eaten or drank since breakfast (or been to the bathroom), I had one curveball after another thrown at me all day, been disappointed with the unfinished court process, been passed from person to person with no control or even understanding of the what was happening, understand only about every 20th word of what is going on....... So I hit a low point and was ready to freak out. I didn't though, mostly because it would have done me no good...instead I consoled myself with the image of coming back in a few weeks to get her from the orphanage, dressing her in a tank top and shorts and carrying her out of there in my arms and let them all just gape in horror at the sight.... (OK, childish, but it helped me get myself back together).
Things improved after we got back to the orphanage and they let me spend some time with her alone in the garden. She was a little unhappy at first, but quickly cheered up, especially when I took out the same toys I brought with me yesterday too. Maybe I am imagining things but she seems like an inquisitive and smart kid. I swear I felt like she was thinking; "well, these look kind of interesting... last time I was too shy to look at them, but if this woman keeps coming back with these toys, and I have to hang out with her... I might as well investigate them properly". So she warmed up and played pretty intently with them, at one point chuckling pretty contentedly. One of the toys I brought was a squishy photo album for babies, and I put pictures of our family in it.... (a shower gift from Corinne!) -- she LOVED it. She chewed on it, thumbed through the pages, looking at the pictures... looked at pictures of me and then looked at me, crumpled the pages in her little hand, shoved as much of the handle in her mouth as she could -- all in all had a great time with it. So much so, that when it was time to walk her back inside, she made it clear that I had to hold her other hand, b/c she was carrying the album in that one. She was clutching it so tight, that I let her keep it and walk back into her room with it. My archnemesis caretaker chick told Boris that they will work with her and show her the pics while I am gone. I don't know that it's true, I am happy that she was interested in something I brought her. She actually cried when they took her from me, and turned back and gave me a little wave as they were walking her away.....
So now I am ready to get out of here......
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