Separation

Today was a dramatic day, and a cataclysmic one for Netta.
We started the day by meeting Katya at the hotel and driving to the orphanage. Today we are to pick Netta up and then go the American embassy for Netta’s visa.
We arrived at the orphanage and (as usual) waited for the director to see us. She is always busy with something else. Finally after about an hour of waiting, we were let into her office, there is no small talk with that lady, she barked a few commands and Netta was brought in to her office. What followed was a strange scene that later, when we talked about it, we couldn’t understand why it needed to happen this way. We were to undress Netta of her orphanage cloths and dress her with ours as fast as possible, scaring Netta (literally) out of her pants. Michelle, Katya, Me and sometimes the head doctor all went at it fast motion. By the end of 13 seconds Netta was wearing the clothes we brought for her, the orphanage cloths were on the floor and Netta was screaming to high heaven.
We gave the director the present we prepared for her and found out that despite her efforts she hadn’t totally lost her ability to smile.
We packed all of us into the car and headed off to the American embassy. Netta was whimpering throughout the trip and clearly not enjoying any of this.
The embassy is highly guarded and you go through multiple checkpoints and security checks until you reach the adoption room. Then it turns surreal. About 30 couples and their adopted new children are all sitting and waiting. An atmosphere of camaraderie prevails. We all did it.
Netta was not too happy about all of this until it was our turn at the window. This is where the visa interview takes place. I placed Netta on next to us and that was the turning point. Smiles, playfulness and little noises. I guess she saw that we were serious about all of this and we were determined to go through the process.
From then on she was just fine (with expected ups and downs). We were handed her visa and documents and basically the process is done.
Why you might ask do we need to stay another two days here until we can go home. Because. Is the short answer. The longer one is that it is a requirement of the Russian government that all adopted kids get registered so they can retain their Russian citizenship if they so desire (at age 18). Also, our agency agreed to do that in Russia, where as other agencies do it in the USA when the families return. That is because our agency works exclusively with people who don’t have families at home, jobs or any need for the money it costs to stay here. They are quite exclusive.
Next stop was the hotel. Wow! At this point it is just her and us and we don’t even know her at all.
The first thing we discovered is that she is potty trained. We put her on the potty, said the code words (‘pish pish’) and voila! She loved walking all over the hotel, we went up and down, to the lobby, health club and stores. She proudly walked with us and gallantly up and down the stairs.
The structured life in the orphanage has it’s benefits. At the right time we put her in the crib and she was out like a light.
The last part of this long and eventful day was a walk in the drizzly Moscow weather to a restaurant. Netta took it all in stride, she sat at the table like a trooper and was in a great mood. We did however discover that she does not know how to handle solid food. All food was mashed at the orphanage and either spoon fed or bottle fed. We assumed she could handle the simplest things like a piece of bread or a cracker but we were wrong. She found it very funny though, and would hold it in her mouth smiling but it went nowhere.
Back to the crib and off to sleep. The first day over! It went well. Very well. She was really very easy and accepting. (once we showed her we were not just fooling around).
It is very strange being parents to a person you know so little about. There is a lot of discovery ahead.