America, Without Her
Hi Again
Thanks for all your dear emails and phone calls. It was really fun to know y'all were out there, part of our adventure, via the blog.
Just wanted to email to let you know that now I am back in New Mexico. Marie Aigerim is still in Kazakhstan. We are waiting out the court-mandated waiting period after our OFFICIAL DECREE on friday. After this period passes, folks in Kazakhstan can get her official documents reissued in her newly decreed name, blah blah blah, and after that, then I can go to Almaty and ask the US Embassy there to finish processing my application for her to enter the US as my child and a US citizen. Less than a month before Nugget is here for good!
She is my sunshine and I can't believe she is 12 time zones away. What was I thinking?! She will be watching the doorway during the twice-daily visiting times and we will not be coming through the doorway to get her. That was one of the greatest treats of my life - watching her go from general happiness at being greeted to knowing and recognizing US. Of course, I also got a kick out of kneeling down and waiting for the little speedracer to zoom her walker over, grinning and giggling (both of us, of course) so we could hug and coo and squeal together. No room in the little Santa Fe house for speedracer's walker, but I suspect someone is going to be speedracing without the walker pretty soon. The day we had to get her a snowsuit, we could only find the "bag" kind not the kind with actual individual legs and feet. This will be interesting to see what Little Miss Crawly Zoom will think of that. It also seems like a great idea to keep me from actually losing her during the 7 hour layover in the Frankfurt Airport.
We went 32 hours from arriving at the Almaty airport to arriving at the Albuquerque airport, without leaving airplanes or airports. I should blog most of this I suppose but I can always cut and paste. After not enjoying, but getting quite good at coping with, the boorish borises, we boarded the Lufthansa airbus in Almaty and it flew two or three hours north to the new capitol, Astana. We did not disembark; instead we were instructed to leave the aisles clear and to undo our seatbelts. The pursers and attendants walked around checking ( at 3:30am just so you know) that all seat belts were unfastened on the passengers. With typical Germanic nonalarm, one purser explained "So we can get you out quickly if something happens." The plane was being refueled. Never done that before.
It's another 6 hours or so to Frankfurt. It's as far from the US to Frankfurt as it is from Frankfurt to Kazakhstan. The route goes right north of Moscow (according to the fine blue video screen I enjoyed for the flight).
It's an amazingly long flipping haul. And we'd already had to spend an extra 24 hours in Almaty on top of the usual 17 it takes to catch this flight - 2 hours flying from Karaganda, 15 hours until the flight to Frankfurt leaves Almaty.
So you can imagine there were several reasons I was GLAD to see Denver yesterday. Water and sanitation and health weren't the lowest on my list either. But one reason was clearly the top of my list.
I almost cried with joy coming through Denver immigration yesterday, knowing that next time, she will be with me and when the wheels touch the tarmac, she will be a tiny little brand new US citizen.
And I will get my sunshine into my life again!
Hurry, calendar, hurry!!
Sappy Happy Mommy
Bobi
Thanks for all your dear emails and phone calls. It was really fun to know y'all were out there, part of our adventure, via the blog.
Just wanted to email to let you know that now I am back in New Mexico. Marie Aigerim is still in Kazakhstan. We are waiting out the court-mandated waiting period after our OFFICIAL DECREE on friday. After this period passes, folks in Kazakhstan can get her official documents reissued in her newly decreed name, blah blah blah, and after that, then I can go to Almaty and ask the US Embassy there to finish processing my application for her to enter the US as my child and a US citizen. Less than a month before Nugget is here for good!
She is my sunshine and I can't believe she is 12 time zones away. What was I thinking?! She will be watching the doorway during the twice-daily visiting times and we will not be coming through the doorway to get her. That was one of the greatest treats of my life - watching her go from general happiness at being greeted to knowing and recognizing US. Of course, I also got a kick out of kneeling down and waiting for the little speedracer to zoom her walker over, grinning and giggling (both of us, of course) so we could hug and coo and squeal together. No room in the little Santa Fe house for speedracer's walker, but I suspect someone is going to be speedracing without the walker pretty soon. The day we had to get her a snowsuit, we could only find the "bag" kind not the kind with actual individual legs and feet. This will be interesting to see what Little Miss Crawly Zoom will think of that. It also seems like a great idea to keep me from actually losing her during the 7 hour layover in the Frankfurt Airport.
We went 32 hours from arriving at the Almaty airport to arriving at the Albuquerque airport, without leaving airplanes or airports. I should blog most of this I suppose but I can always cut and paste. After not enjoying, but getting quite good at coping with, the boorish borises, we boarded the Lufthansa airbus in Almaty and it flew two or three hours north to the new capitol, Astana. We did not disembark; instead we were instructed to leave the aisles clear and to undo our seatbelts. The pursers and attendants walked around checking ( at 3:30am just so you know) that all seat belts were unfastened on the passengers. With typical Germanic nonalarm, one purser explained "So we can get you out quickly if something happens." The plane was being refueled. Never done that before.
It's another 6 hours or so to Frankfurt. It's as far from the US to Frankfurt as it is from Frankfurt to Kazakhstan. The route goes right north of Moscow (according to the fine blue video screen I enjoyed for the flight).
It's an amazingly long flipping haul. And we'd already had to spend an extra 24 hours in Almaty on top of the usual 17 it takes to catch this flight - 2 hours flying from Karaganda, 15 hours until the flight to Frankfurt leaves Almaty.
So you can imagine there were several reasons I was GLAD to see Denver yesterday. Water and sanitation and health weren't the lowest on my list either. But one reason was clearly the top of my list.
I almost cried with joy coming through Denver immigration yesterday, knowing that next time, she will be with me and when the wheels touch the tarmac, she will be a tiny little brand new US citizen.
And I will get my sunshine into my life again!
Hurry, calendar, hurry!!
Sappy Happy Mommy
Bobi
posted by Bobi @ 10:49 AM
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