Turning 40... in Russia!

Today is my 40th birthday. Never in my life would I have guessed that I would turn 40 in Moscow. Strange how things happen in ways that you would never have imagined. Lisa asked me what I wanted for my birthday on Sunday night. After a long day of travel on Sunday and a few meltdowns related to communication frustration, fatigue, and being scared of a new place, I jokingly commented that for my birthday, I wanted a peaceful day. I got it! We really had a wonderful day today. It has become clear that when the kids are stressed, frightened, tired, or frustrated about inability to communicate, they will respond by having a battle of wills. When they've been rested, understand what we need to do, and are in an environment that they have at least a passing familiarity with, they do pretty well.

Today we started with the medical exams for Kim and Peter. For those planning an adoption in Russia, THESE HAD TO BE PAID IN RUBLES and not dollars... exactly the opposite of what our agency told us. We were told to bring $100 for the exam for each child and that we should not exchange these into Rubles. At the hospital, our translator explained that the exam would be 2800 rubles for each child (this price is $100 and was expected... but paying in rubles was not). I had plenty of rubles... in the apartment. I had a few thousand rubles on me and I had my two new, crisp, $100 bills that I had already sealed in an envelope and labled "kids medical exams" before we left for Russia. I didn't have enough rubles on me and we found this out well after we had left the apartment. Fortunately, our translator was able to loan me a few thousand rubles to cover the difference. We exchanged my Ben Franklins on the way back so I could pay her back. I hate it when we plan and think we are prepared and then we look foolish because we were given bad information. Oh, I almost forgot... the cost of the exams also changed. Kim and Peter both also required a chest X-ray, so it cost us 6800 rubles instead of 5800.

The physician (Dr. Boris) was REALLY good with the kids. He was fluently bi-lingual and made the kids feel at ease. He explained that he would not poke them with any needles and he just needed to look for their tickle spots. Both passed their exams and X-rays, although Dr. Boris commented after looking at Peter's teeth that we will be buying our dentist a new BMW. Kim's only problem that he pointed out was that her Papa would have trouble keeping the boys away in a few years and he suggested that I go ahead and buy a shotgun now.

After the medicals, we stopped by the U.S. embassy for our translator to drop off the paperwork in preparation for our interview appointment tomorrow. The embassy is literally just around the corner from our apartment (5 - 8 minute walk). We can see it from our apartment window. While we were at the hospital, the driver also called his son (a university student who just returned from a trip to California) to get him to be our guide for a tour of the Kremlin later today. It was a pretty cheap guide... all we had to do was buy his ticket. Tickets for the 7 of us (2 adults, 1 college student with a discount, and 4 kids) cost just under 2000 rubles (just under $70). We bought tickets for the Kremlin grounds and for the Armory Museum in the Kremlin. We did not get the diamond house tickets. All that I can say about the Kremlin and it's cathedrals and museums is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! We toured cathedrals where the Csars are entoumbed (saw one who died in 1341), the cathedrals were built before Columbus sailed for America. The armory museum is so named because it used to be the armory of the Kremlin. It is now a museum with artifacts from Imperial Russia (pre-revoulution) and it is AMAZING. I wish I could have taken photos, but I've already figured out what happens when you take photos in areas where they are not allowed in Russia. There were Coronation gowns from the 14th century, Crowns studded with thousands of diamonds, none smaller than 3 carats, chainmail armor, solid gold dishes, a diamond and ruby studded bowl for washing your dirty hands... The extravagant wealth of the csars is not something that we american's really understand. They flaunted it in front of peasants who were barely surviving. It's not that hard to understand the sentiments that lead to the overthrow of the csars. I'm trying to get Beth to write a post about the museum... she loved it. Lisa, Beth and I could have spent days going through it. Luke, Peter, and Kim liked parts of it, but it quickly became too much for them and they became bored.

Lisa made a nice dinner of roasted chicken (pre-roasted at the store, she just heated it up), baked potatoes, peas, bread, and a birthday cake from the store (bought without me being there). The roasted chicken was much like you would buy at home... except that it cost 3 - 4 times as much as at home. It was really nice to celebrate together as a family and do with smiles and cooperation. Kim even worked hard to keep me from seeing the "secret" cake in the fridge before dinner.