Rewind

The day we met Mia Kareen was so crazy that I never had time to post all the pictures from that day and the events leading up to it. Before we left K, we went to the SDA to pick up our official referral. Getting there was crazy.......to say the least! We were supposed to be picked up by our driver at 3:30 and at 3:50 we get a call that his car broke down and he was sending the other driver Niko, to get us. Well Niko was already en route to take another couple back to their apartment so he stopped and grabbed us and we headed to drop this couple off. They had their little girl with them ( which was so funny to see her just roaming the car because they don't care about car seats here) and were finished with the process and heading home the next day so it was fun to visit with them for a few minutes as we sat in traffic. So by the time we took them home and made it through traffic to the SDA we were getting a little nervous because it was almost 5:00 and we were told we had to pick up the referral before 5:00. Of course Niko just kept telling us "it's ok". So when we arrived at the SDA we were supposed to have a translator or facilitator meet us there but no one was there so Niko just told the SDA lady something and showed us into this little room and we were asked for our passport and then she had us sign something. It took all of about 30 seconds once the lady brought us the paperwork. We signed it and we were handed out dossier and the referral and we were off. Niko had to run to pick up another couple and so he told us to wait there for the Dueck family who were supposed to be picking up their referral as well. We were told to explain to them what to do and then we were all supposed to wait there together until Niko came back for us.



When Niko came back we went by his office to get some more paperwork and then we took the Dueck's to their apartment and we were off to the train. LUCKILY Niko helped us carry our bags and get onto the train because we would have been SO lost without him. It was quite a chore hauling our bags through this train station because it was so crowded and we had to carry them over rocks and down the stairs....the advice to pack light comes because of this experience, that is for sure!
This lady was very kind to us and knew we didn't speak Russian so she tried to help us out with gestures and pointing on the train. We had not had time to eat dinner so she had the waitress come into our car but she didn't speak english and so we had to just point at this tray of things and show her what we wanted. The only choices were chips and a slice of dry bread with meat on top. So that was our dinner.
The train cars were actually quite nice.

We got a kick out of the reading material! Apparantely you have to pay to open that maternity one! Ha!





We watched some classic episodes of Pysch on the ipad for awhile.
Tried to get some sleep
And this is how we felt in the morning! We were off and running to meet our girl!
The city here has a big soccer stadium



After we took our quick shower we headed to the local office where we picked up our local referral for Mia
After our quick meeting with Mia Kareen, we went to lunch at this really pretty restaurant with Serge and Angelina


Our facilitator Angelina

Love the local police attire

This is how we felt that day....exhausted!!!!!



Seeing a little bit of the night life here