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Shopping in Ekaterinburg After the hearing we drove to
City Hall. We passed many beautiful buildings. Several were built in the
Pre-1900's. We had to cross the street carefully. Cars do not stop. We
shopped in a market square outside of City Hall.
At City Hall, we signed the official book and Zarina's new birth certificate. We
were presented with a book about Ekaterinburg and the lady at City Hall said "we
thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we are pleased the children will go to good
families". "You are always welcome to come back here, the records will
always be here". |
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| Statue of Lenin, across from Ekaterinburg City Hall Also
pictured is the KGB headquarters (left side of picture, tall building), and a mansion that
a wealthy Russian built for himself and his wife. His half was very simple, her half
was very elaborate. He also desired to build a moat around it, but it never
happened. |
 Outside the Serov Orphanage |
On to Serov (Tuesday, April 7,
1998-- Zarina's 1st Birthday)
That evening, we returned to our host family (Olga) and we ate
borscht, fish & onions, rice with meat, and apples. We will be ready to leave
for Serov at 1:45 a.m. to go see Maksimilian. It is a 5 1/2 hour drive through the
Ural Mountains. We will not be able to pick up Zarina until tomorrow. Although
we will not see her, she is in our thoughts today as we adopt her brother.
The drive to Serov was long and bumpy. We had to stop four
times at checkpoints at the borders of each new town we entered. There were men with
machine guns. Our driver had to go into a building and present our passports, visas,
etc. and state what we were doing there and where we were going. We weren't scared.
I felt like we were in the Sound of Music, travelling through the night.
The Ural Mountains were so beautiful. There was alot of
snow which looked beautiful in the moonlight with all of the birch trees and the mountain
views. It was simply breath-taking. |
| Maks was brought to us soon after we arrived at the
orphanage. He was wet and had no diaper on. The orphanage just cannot afford
them. We played with Maks and took pictures. We were so happy to see him.
He was so cute and beautiful. We were served
breakfast which was excellent: orange juice, tea, cabbage with carrots & onion (like
egg roll filling), crepe-like pancakes with blackberry sauce, and hotdogs. |
 Maks is very quiet, but smiled for us. He did start to babble after
awhile. Maks fell asleep in my arms as we spoke with the orphanage doctor. |
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Here's a picture of Maks with our driver, Dimi. |
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Updated 10/22/99. Copyright � 1999, All Rights Reserved.
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