Sunday and Monday

So we made it to Moscow without any real problems other than my sore throat and horrible cough being aggravated by the dry airplane air. We got to our hotel Sunday about 4 pm local time and basically had dinner and went to bed. Thank goodness for Marriott!! I love knowing that I will have a nice room and a good night's sleep pretty much anywhere we go with Marriott. I managed to sleep mostly throught the night as I was exhausted and my body is desperately trying to kick this plague thing. Jim on the other hand was awake from about 2:30 am on.

Monday we got up, had breakfast and met Tanya, our interpreter. It was just getting light out at 8:15 when she took us to the medical center for our Russian medical evaluation which turned out to be much more than I had anticipated. I thought it was some blood work, urinalysis and a chest x-ray to check for TB, but it was all that and more. We actually spent the majority of the day traipsing around this medical center and seeing 8, yes 8, different specialists. We saw a general practitioner, an oncologist, a neurologist, a psychologist, an addiciton specialist, a dermatologist and a couple others I can't remember. Each of them did their own eval, many which repeated the things someone else had just done. We had to get undressed and dressed several times. In the end, it would be no big deal really except that I failed the chest x-ray because they saw something that "should not be there". They say it looks like I may have had TB or pneumonia in the past and it is just the remnants, but they want to be sure, so the TB doc will not sign off on my paperwork until they get a CT scan. That could not be scheduled until Friday, so unfortunately, that means we will have to leave the orphanage earlier than expected to return to Moscow so I can get the CT done. We will see the boys twice on Thursday and were supposed to spend a few hours with them Friday morning before returning to Moscow Friday night. I suppose, if that's all that happens and the CT scan comes back fine then I can live with that although it is a bit unnerving and disappointing all at the same time.

After we got back to our hotel, we had dinner and then ventured out for a walk, on our own! Did I mention it is COLD here? Oh my gosh! And everyone is wearing fur. Women have the most gorgeous coats and the men are wearing the typical fur hats. When we get out of Moscow in the next couple days, I may just have to buy something as I am told things are not so pricey outside of the big city. Our hotel is about a 10 minute walk from the Kremlin and Red Square. I did not take the camera with me tonight since it was dark, but I could have as it was all lit up. When we are back in Moscow at the end of the week, we will definitely go back and get some pictures.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we leave for Novgorod, which is where we will go to the Minister of Education and file the paperwork to formally adopt the boys. That will be a 7 or 8 our drive depending on the roads and traffic so not much else will get done. We have a driver and our interpreter going along as well as the coordinator who we have not yet met. I have no idea if we will have internet or cell coverage there. If we do you will hear from me, if not it will have to wait until we get back to Moscow. I'll try to post some pictures next time if I can figure that out.