Sightseeing

We took some time the other day to do some traditional sight-seeing, and went to "tourist alley", the place where all the vendors line up to sell things like matchurshka dolls, Klitchko t-shirts, soviet-era hats, hand-carved chess sets, and random other souvenirs. The picture with the cream-colored castle-looking building is looking down on the back end of this lane of souvenir stands. The brown brick castle-looking building is just randomly in a neighborhood near the opera house. I thought it picturesque, so I took a snap of it, and now I'm sharing it with you. the picture of the unremarkable looking building is the outside our our apartment -- we're the 3rd green balcony up on the left (not that it matters, they kind of all look the same.) Note the mass of cars parked on the sidewalk. And there is a picture of Tristan playing on a playground near our flat. There is this huge, beautiful park (I put pictures of the park in one of our first posts) with a little playground in it, and we have to walk through the park (with a massive incline) to go to the Janzens (who live near the Opera House, and across the street from our first flat.) This particular day was another warm, nearly balmy day, and everyone was out at the park (still bundled up) enjoying the milder weather. Despite our advice to play by himself, Tristan waltzed right up to these 2 tough looking 10 or 12 year old boys, and even though he can't speak a lick of their language, started engaging with them and trying to get them to play with him. We were horrified at first -- I would never try something like that! -- especially when we saw them laughing at him (probably at his language which they wouldn't have understood) but watched their laughter turn to grudging respect as he won them over with his touhgness and tenacity. Unbelievable! I guess that's what you get when you adopt a kid -- someone who can and will do things you never would have done yourself!

And speaking of adopted kids, we've had a bit of a dull week without Maxim. We endured the ride out to the orphanage on Tuesday, only to get there and be told he was sick, and we couldn't see him. Without our usual translator to give us more info, we had to just content ourselves with getting back in the car and going home, without so much as a peek at him. We later learned that he has a little cold, with a low-grade fever -- nothing to worry about, but we have missed seeing him. We've waited all week for them to let us visit him, and it looks like we'll be able to go tomorrow morning, so we are happy about that, and happy that he is feeling better. It's very strange to be his parents, but yet have such limited access to him.

We hope that is all going to change really soon... On Tuesday, the Very Official Papers are supposed to be done, which we believe (although we can always be wrong about these things) means we will get to pick him up and bring him back to live with us for good that day. We'll go Monday to look them over, and make sure they are in order, and then to visit him one more time. It's going to be a curious sort of all-to-nothing situation, to go from an hour or two a week of supervised visits, to 100% in charge of him! I'm hoping I will be able to get some basic information about his schedule and care... for example, I think he's potty trained... and does he take a nap? When does he go to bed? When does he eat, and what? It's going to be crazy -- but we are all so excited, and ready. So we're going to get lots of sleep this weekend... in preparation!