On the way to Stavropol

We woke up the next morning filled with a lot of anticipation and apprehention. It was the day to fly to Stavropol. We hurridly packed and got ready for our chauffer and translator Sergey to come and pick us up. He drove us to Red Square and the to Lenins tomb! We saw the cathedrals, the changing of the guards. We still can't believe we are in Russia. We never in our wildest dreams thought we would be on this soil. There are apts everywhere instead of homes. The city is much bigger than I thought it would be. We toured with Surgey for about five hours.

I will never forget the images seared in my brain.The soldiers were young, not much older than Morgan's age. All the woman to my surprise, were dressed very, very nice, almost to the point of revealing. They had very pointed shoes, almost like that of an elf. We took a lot of pictures. It sees everyone smokes. Men kiss each other square on the mouth, like lovers, only it's just "salutations" or "goodbyes". It is such a melting pot there. Every nation, every culture, walking together. I never thought Moscow would be like that at all.

When we made it to the second airport for our trip to Stavropol, it was unbelievable. It looked like a run down military camp. Stark- dark, and quiet. Not many people. However, we had to walk outside the termial and wait for a bus to drive us to the waiting plane. That was quite a shock - so different from here in the United States. It was then that my heart stopped and stood still for a moment. They boarded us onto a plane that was the oldest, third world country, gutted out 707 without seatbelts or overhead compartments. Going business class from Washington DC to Moscow was so nice - much leg room and pillows, blankets and three course meals.

This 707 was so old. It was so hot. My so called "seatbelt" was broken - and my chair was in a reclining position. Fortunatly, I slept a lot. When we landed, it was on the darkest runway/ aeroport I could imagine. No lights. No anything. It was just like the movies. I was waiting for the KGB to come out or something. The hair on the back of my neck was standing up. It was SO quiet. They just let us off of the plane and a group of us walked the darkened runway to a building, ( a terminal?) where we waited in the dark for our luggage. Nobody talked. It's like an unspoken word not to say anything there, people are afraid to talk there.

There - we met Alex,our adoption coordinator, Michael, our translator, and another Alex that was to be our chauffer.
Tonight we are exhausted once again. Tomorrow we get to meet Vika for the first time.