Day 2 - Monday April 23, 2012

We slept.  It was so good to sleep!  We obviously needed it because we slept till noon!  Luckily we didn't have anything to do till 3:00 pm.  At that time we met our driver Eugene.  Eugene speaks enough english to hold a conversation with.  He's a funny guy.  Often makes jokes and likes to play the part of tour guide...telling us what everything is. 
Eugene drove us to a notary office where we met Irina our interpreter.  She will be with us for the rest of this trip and the next two.  She's very sweet and I think she's about my age. She seems like someone I would be friends with if I lived there.  At the notary office we had to sign some papers...still not sure what they were for but i think it meant we were officially registering our dossier in Moscow City.  From there we were off to this building...

Ministry of Education - Moscow City

Inside we met two ladies who explained to us that there were no healthy children in Russia for adoption and followed that by no caucasion children????  Our interpreter told us not to worry about all that and to trust her.  OKAY?!  Walking in blind faith is something we have gotten used to so we trusted...  We signed the appropriate papers, left our dossier there and left the office.  We were told we were to have our interpreter call the office on Wednesday to see if we have been matched with a child and if we can see that child.
Irina walked us back to our apartment as this building is just a few blocks away.   From there we decided to grab some dinner at the McDonalds down the road.  I was told that this McDonalds was the first one in Russia. When communism fell and it opened up there was a line down the street like no one had every seen.  It was a three hour wait to order at MCDONALDS!  The citizens were so excited they waited happily!
It's just like McD's at home except for one thing....i was really counting on being able to order by number.  I practiced my numbers before leaving and thought ordering at McDonalds would be a piece of cake!  They don't order by number... WAAAA!!!  We managed to tell them what we wanted...a couple of tellers had to get involved, piecing together their knowledge of the English language.

Moscow McDonalds

This particular spot is on Pushkin Square.  We are sitting at outside tables facing a park area right in the middle of the city.  Teenagers congregate here to play hacky sack or just hang out.  Children come with their parents to play.  It's full of well landscaped treed areas and flowers. It's really pretty.  I'm sure it'll be even greener the next time we come when spring has had a chance to set in more.