Wow- The last two days have flown by faster than a shooting star.
We arrived at 5:30am in Krasnoyarsk, after an extremely cramped trip on our Aeroflot plane from Moscow. It was amazing trying to eat our little meal, with our little fork and spoon, on the little tray, with little room. My knees almost touched the seat in front of me- can't imagine how a tall person would feel. The engine was shut completely off when we landed- making for quite a sureal ending to our flight. It was earily quiet, no one talking loudly and very dark. We walked down the steps and followed the people off the tarmac, through a gate in the fence and around through the snow, past the parking area to baggage. Penny and I stood at the end of the room, waiting for the guys to bring the luggage.
After a few minutes, a very attractive woman came up to us and said, "Hello." It was such a welcome word! Tim later told me she came up behind them and said, "Hi, Guys!" They wanted to know how she knew who they were- and she said- easy! She took us out to the van to wait while the men collected the luggage. We began to pray earnestly when they didn't show up after quite a few minutes. Then we realized that our luggage was probably the first on the plane- thus the last off. Sergey and Yelena and the guys came out with all our luggage :O) and we headed on out for the Krasnoyarsk Hotel. When we arrived Yelena took our passports and checked us into the hotel. In Russia, one must be registered in the region they are staying in within 72 hours of arriving. Fortunately, the hotel takes care of this for us.
Our room is quite nice. We are on the 7th floor with a beautiful view of the Yeseny river and bridge and a little courtyard outside the ballet and opera theater. We have a king size bed, desk, closet, fridge and tv. And, for a small fee, internet service :)
We came to our rooms and knew we had our appointments with the MOE (Ministry of Education) at 2:00. Since our rooms come with a free breakfast, we headed on over there to grab a bite to eat. We came back to the room and took an all too brief nap.
We arrived at 5:30am in Krasnoyarsk, after an extremely cramped trip on our Aeroflot plane from Moscow. It was amazing trying to eat our little meal, with our little fork and spoon, on the little tray, with little room. My knees almost touched the seat in front of me- can't imagine how a tall person would feel. The engine was shut completely off when we landed- making for quite a sureal ending to our flight. It was earily quiet, no one talking loudly and very dark. We walked down the steps and followed the people off the tarmac, through a gate in the fence and around through the snow, past the parking area to baggage. Penny and I stood at the end of the room, waiting for the guys to bring the luggage.
After a few minutes, a very attractive woman came up to us and said, "Hello." It was such a welcome word! Tim later told me she came up behind them and said, "Hi, Guys!" They wanted to know how she knew who they were- and she said- easy! She took us out to the van to wait while the men collected the luggage. We began to pray earnestly when they didn't show up after quite a few minutes. Then we realized that our luggage was probably the first on the plane- thus the last off. Sergey and Yelena and the guys came out with all our luggage :O) and we headed on out for the Krasnoyarsk Hotel. When we arrived Yelena took our passports and checked us into the hotel. In Russia, one must be registered in the region they are staying in within 72 hours of arriving. Fortunately, the hotel takes care of this for us.
Our room is quite nice. We are on the 7th floor with a beautiful view of the Yeseny river and bridge and a little courtyard outside the ballet and opera theater. We have a king size bed, desk, closet, fridge and tv. And, for a small fee, internet service :)
We came to our rooms and knew we had our appointments with the MOE (Ministry of Education) at 2:00. Since our rooms come with a free breakfast, we headed on over there to grab a bite to eat. We came back to the room and took an all too brief nap.
I can't even explain how suddenly nervous I felt. I knew we needed to pray, and was so comforted when Tim and I quietly prayed in our room before going out to meet with the Goeppners. What an awesome presence it was that went before us!
We met in the lobby and prayed with the Goeppners and then headed on out, after Yelena got our passports back from the hotel clerk. We went to the MOE and were all ushered into a small office with 2 ladies, Galena and Tatiana, our interepreter Marina, whom we met in the van on the way to the office, and Yelena. The process was surprisingly painless. Galena spoke for a few minutes to make sure we understood what was about to happen, and then asked us a few questions. What made you choose Russia? What do you do? What is your family like? How long did it take you to complete your dossier? She was very friendly and engaging. When she was finished, Tatiana went through the information about the documents we were to sign to accept our referrals. She then showed us some additional pictures, gave us the actual birthdates and full names of our children. She explained that after we met the children we would go to the notary and formally accept our referrals.
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