Today was our last full day in Moscow. We had absolutely nothing on the schedule and that was nice. We slept in a little, had a leisurely breakfast (after Papa returned from the supermarket... we were out of milk for our cereal), and played in the apartment all morning. We've learned that we have to ration the computer because, heaven forbid, someone might have 2 minutes more computer time than someone else. This morining, it was almost exclusively Beth's as she worked on more homework. The other kids were jealous of her computer monopoly, but not too jealous.
For lunch, we walked to a pizza kafe that has 50% off pizzas between 10:00 and 3:00 on weekdays. We had two pizzas, 3 garlic breads, and 6 soft drinks. The bill came to about $40... and that was with the discount. Praise God for our kitchen... it has greatly lightened our food bill in Moscow. I can't imagine how much more we'd be spending if we didn't have it. We are probably saving half on food by eating in the apartment. If you are considering whether to get an apartment or a hotel, I think we are VERY pleased that we went with the apartment. It was a lot cheaper, has a lot more space, is close enough to the embassy, Old Arbat, and Red Square that we can walk, and has let us start acting like a family and less like tourists. I would recommend an apartment on the western part of the central city (in the Old Arbat, New Arbat, or Embassy area) for the ease of getting around. Red Square was a 20 minute walk, the embassy was a 5 minute walk, Old Arbat was an 8 minute walk. In other areas, you will have to take the Metro or have a driver to go to most of the places that you will want to go.
Tonight, we had dinner in the apartment (a rice dish that the kids were familiar with and very fond of). We then started the great packing adventure. Everyone had to pack their own trinkets and souveneirs and help gather everything else. The kids all know that tomorrow is the big day and it clearly shows in their anxiety level. They can't sit still and can't seem to get out of each others way. Nerves. We just put them to bed so Lisa and I can finish the SERIOUS packing. Peter, who normally is out immediately, had his slowest falling-asleep session to date (In fact I thought he was out and he is back awake). His eyes were the size of dinner plates tonight. I wonder how much sleep they will get. I'll put the over/under at 3 hours.
Tomorrow will be a long day. We don't yet have the time the driver will pick us up... but were getting used to not knowing until the last minute. We're guessing it will be between 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning. Our flight leaves at 1:10 pm for Atlanta (on Delta). We get into Atlanta at 5:05 (almost 12 hours in the air). In Atlanta we have a two hour layover where we have to go through Immigration and Customs... it will be a little tight on time we think. We leave around 7:05 and get to Columbus around 8:35pm. All told, it will probably be 17 - 19 hours between leaving the apartment and arriving in Columbus. It will be 4:35am to us when we land at home, so the kids are going to be tired, scared, and cranky... hopefully less so if we can get them to sleep on the flight.
Lisa was able to stop by a pharmacy and find some dramamine (actually, it's "Drahmeena" in Russian. I guess that it was quite an interesting game of charades with Lisa trying to order it at the counter in an all-russian pharmacy with no English on the labels or in the workers. I would have paid good money to see that.It's time for us to close this chapter on our adoption and open the next one... the one we we all learn to be a family together.
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