Trip One Accomplished!

I know I went stealth on this blog for awhile. I'm sorry, but I wanted to insure some safe procedures while we were traveling abroad. It just was a decision both Chris and I needed to make.

So, we flew to Russia a little over a week ago! Let me tell anyone who has not traveled yet, the plane ride pretty much stinks. Not in it's foul smelling or anything...but it's just so daggone long! Plus going to Russia it's sort of our bedtime, so they keep the window shades down on the plane and keep it dark. It's hard to sleep in the economy section of the plane. Trust me, I know! It doesn't help when a not so nice Russian man is behind you and has his knees jammed into the back of your seat, so you can't even tilt your seat back. Nice. Let's just say, it wasn't very comfortable!

The jet lag going over was pretty harsh. I'll let ya know I'm not looking forward to doing that again! Plus the anticipation of being in country, not knowing what will be going on, and meeting your referral.... well it all gave me insomnia! I was told by our coordinator in country that it was very normal to sleep for about 2-3 hours and then wake up around 1am in the morning and have a hard time falling asleep. This happened to me several days in a row, and I really needed the sleep for a clear head at the orphanage. I even took a Tylenol PM on the plane, and it did nothing for me.... actually I took two (the regular dose). Nothing, nada! Can you believe that???

We stayed in an apartment and really felt that was the way to go! It was safe secure, and comfortable. (oh and less expensive) We would definitely utilize an apartment again. Especially since ours had a living room separate from the bedroom which allowed me to work, or read while Chris slept. (Lucky him!) Our apartment had a great view of downtown Moscow and Christ Church Cathedral. At night everything was all lit up and it was really cool. We used Skype on the computer while we were there to talk to our boys. It was awesome because I could take the webcam and turn my laptop around to give them a tour of the apartment and then show them the view at night of the city. They and my sister thought it was beautiful!

The staff in country were great! Very professional, and they had their act together. They made the process seamless. Both Chris and I were impressed.

I'll post next about some places we visited and how our days were filled. Again to those who have yet to travel, be ready.... I'm not sure if I just idealized the process from reading so many blogs, but it was much more difficult and draining than I thought it would be. I'm not sure if I would have really been prepared, except to maybe know that it has the potential to be far more emotionally draining than I ever imagined.

I'll post some more of our time tomorrow. I'm going to clean up from my ds2's birthday today. We had a family celebration.... and I made a cake. Free hand decorating.... I'll post a picture of that too. lol!

Later,
Jackie