A belated Merry Russian Orthodox Christmas! They celebrate on Jan 7th, so most places in Russia are closed this week. With an unusual stroke of good luck, we were somehow able to still get our new travel dates on Jan 6. Merry Christmas to us! We leave for Russia Feb 4th. Hooray!
I have the tickets booked (again), although with a little more unease this time around. In the back of my mind now is always what could go wrong this time.
Something as simple as filling out the application for the Russia visa turns out to be stressful when I am worried about potential roadblocks. Ironically, even though Jim has to fill out a non-US citizen application, it turns out that HIS app is much easier than mine. Name, numbers, address, done. Mine has things like "list your 2 previous employers, excluding the current one". Wow, that was ummm...almost 21 years ago. I'm not sure it's relevant. In fact, I was lucky to even remember the name of the Dr in whose office I was a receptionist. And I can pretty much guarantee that he would not remember me, assuming he is in fact still alive, so putting down his address and phone number seems a little silly.
Then there was the "list all countries you have visited in the last 10 years, and the dates of travel". Ugh. That would have been really ugly if I had still been an int'l auditor in the past 10 years. As it was, I had to think hard about how many times I've been to Canada. Then I kept coming up with those misc trips that I had all but forgotten about (oh yeah, there was that cruise...) Because of course, the Russian gov't will KNOW if I leave out one Caribbean resort destination. :-) Anyway, I painstakingly recorded it all.
Next to all the excitement over upcoming travel, not much else to report. It was a rough week going back to school, especially for Natalie. Both mornings with her were like practicing my calf roping skills for the rodeo just to get her coat on.
One day this week when I picked up Liam and asked if anything exciting happened at school, he replied, "No, there was nothing exciting. Nothing I'm very proud of." I know the feeling, Liam, I know the feeling.
I may try to post a video clip soon of Liam playing Wii boxing at Grandma's house over Christmas. Nothing is funnier than a 5 yr old in long underwear jabbing frantically at the air trying to "knock out" an animated person on tv.
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2 comments:
I am excited you have your new travel date. If you have any packing questions let me know.
We are hoping to get travel/court dates next week. I have my fingers and toes crossed. I am very nervous about leaving Elena this time. Whenever Grandma comes over to babysit I have to reassure her that we are going to be coming back soon. I am afraid of her reaction when I can't say that.
I keep trying to remind myself that over time all will be fine. It will be worth it when we finally have our complete family home.
I know what you mean. The first trip is one thing, but that 2nd trip is sooo long. I can't even think about the leaving the kids part.
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