Court Day

have I mentioned that NOTHING every goes according to plan here?  Instead of Boris picking me up at 1:00 p.m. , Olga herself called at 1:15, saying that she is downstairs waiting for me.  She hugged me like we were bosom pals from a long time ago (quite the contrast to her normal frosty behavior).  The other American woman (hereinafter Katie) who had her court date as well was there with us.  We drove to the courthouse, and during that time, Olga "prepared us" for court.  She asked me what I did for a living, b/c it is difficult to explain..... ?
The Central Moscow Courthouse was like any modern courthouse in the US -- had to go through a metal detector, and aside from the Russian flags, and the two headed eagle seal on the walls -- I could have been going to Court in the US.  The courtroom looked pretty similar too.  The only difference was that the court reporter took notes (??) on a computer, not a court reporting machine, and there was a young guy who literally looked like he'd be headed for juvenile court (as a defendant, not a lawyer!) -- who apparently was the clerk.... or something like that.  As Olga explained, the Judge would question us first, then the orphanage director, then a representative from the Russian government (looking out for the best interest of the child), and there was a prosecutor..  (unclear why that was necessary).  Katie looked just as nervous as I felt.  We asked Olga, who absolutely appeared to have been in her element, whether this was just a formality and we can be assured that the Judge would approve our Petitions.  Olga shrugged her shoulders, and said "well, you can never know in court, a judge does whatever.  You know that.." -- as she pointed to me.  And disappeared into the courtroom.  Nice.
Other people started appearing and we figured that since our future kids were in different orphanages in Moscow, we would have two sets of orphanage directors, government representatives etc.  Katie's hearing was first, and I stayed outside with "my orphanage director".  Those of you that read this blog during my first trip might remember that the orphanage director I met last time was about to retire, and move to the US.  So this was the new lady.  To be kind (and my animosity will be later understood), my impression of this lady was not nearly as favorable as of the last one.
So there was a very awkward silent sitting around for about ten minutes -- this lady's English was worse than my Russian, so a conversation was out of the question.  Very soon I forgot about the awkwardness, and started stressing whether the government representative would show up.  She did, a friendly looking young woman.  A few minutes after that, Olga came out, and there started a clearly worried pow-wow between the three of them.  At that point, I almost wished that I didn't understand any Russian, b/c what I picked up from their conversation -- and the shouldershrugs completely freaked me out:  "2010"  "brought with you?"  "no one told me"  "oh, that's not good".  They went on for several minutes, no one bothering to tell me what was going on.  Olga was also making frantic phonecalls.  I didn't know what the problem was, but she seemed to be in full damage control mode.
Finally, Katie came out of the courtroom, and was shepherded in -- in passing she told me that her hearing went well.  So I sit down in the courtroom, and Olga finally explains to me that the orphanage was supposed to submit a medical evaluation of the child to the court.  Which they did, but apparently those are only good for a year, and theirs was done in June of 2010.  As you all can imagine, I almost flipped.
Olga was wheeling and dealing with the Judge, and the prosecutor, and who knows whom on the phone, and then told me that we'll continue with the hearing, but the judge won't be able to issue an adoption decree today, b/c she needs the new medical evaluation.  Of course, my waiting period for my third trip starts when the adoption decree is issued, so this is a problem. Olga acted like it won't even delay my trip b/c the decree will be issued tomorrow or at the latest on Monday (what thorough medical evaluation, huh?).  So the hearing commenced.
I had to stand at a podium, Olga by my side, translating.  The Judge was a stylish woman, probably not much older than I am.  She was wearing a black robe just like judges do in the US, and when she was walking around the courtroom, I could tell she had some very cool platform shoes on.  She explained to me my rights, that this is a closed hearing and all records of the adoption would be sealed, and that I can appeal her decision to the Supreme Court of Russia (there is a thrilling prospect....).  Then she asked me simple questions -- name, address, birthdate, where I work, how much $$ I make.  She also asked why I want to adopt, and why from Russia.  She asked me to describe my living situation, how far I live from a children's hospital and how long I was going to take off work to stay home with her.  She asked if I was informed of all of her medical issues, and how she came to be a ward of the state, did I understand that there is no information about the biological father, and very little about the biological mother... etc.etc.  She asked me if it bothered me that the child was of Asian descent.  She reminded me of my obligations to provide the Russian government with post placement reports, and that the child would remain a Russian citizen until age 18.  She asked me what her new name was going to be to put on the adoption decree, and whether I wanted to change her birthdate and place of birth on her new birth certificate  (I said NO). 
And that was it for me.
Next the orphanage director got up -- Olga translated for me whenever she felt like it.  I have no idea what the orphanage director said, my brain was trying to figure out how everything was going to work out.... re; my third trip, etc.
Then the government representative got up, and said that no relative showed any interest in Alexandra since her birth, that her biological mother gave up her parental rights in the hospital, that they tried to locate other blood relatives through the Kyrgyz Embassy.  Then, she said that she review all my documents, and it was her opinion to be in the absolute best interest of the child if the adoption was approved. 
The prosecutor lady said nothing. She looked like your proverbial "barisnya"  -- for my Hungarian readers, but she, along with the all the other participants seemed kind and trying to work things out.
So the Judge again explained to me that she'll have to wait for the medical evaluation and asked if I wanted to review that ... I said that it wont affect my decision at all.
And that was pretty much it...they made me sign a bunch of papers - I had no idea what they were for.... 
Olga assured me that she'd let me know my next trip date by Monday the latest.  Which would be fine, except NOTHING here has goes according to plans.....