Well after wandering around aimlessly for the first couple of days, we finally found an internet cafe near our flat so I'll be able to post updates regularly. I have a bored Kristine looking over my shoulder so I'll have to make this brief before the pouting starts. :-)
We had an exhausting trip to Riga on Friday/Saturday. The first leg of our trip was to London where we had an 8 hour layover. We were so happy we got an emergency exit row for this part of the trip so we had more leg room. However, when we got to our seats we found we were right next to the bathrooms. UGGGHHHH! Needless to say we got NO sleep whatsoever!! We just sat there and listened to the constant flow of passengers coming and going to the bathroom...the door contstantly slamming and opening. Then there was the turbulance that didn't help. Whatever!! When we got to London we hadn't made plans to really do anything. We were scared to venture too far because we didn't want to miss our evening flight. We wandered around Gatwick airport and ended up at the Hilton where we crashed in the lobby...still no sleep. We got something to eat, wandered around somemore and FINALLY it was time to board our 6:00 flight. The flight from London to Riga was uneventful. Thankfully, it wasn't a full flight so we didn't get claustrophobic. I guess all in all the whole trip took us about 22 hours to get to Riga and we didn't get a second of sleep. When we got to Riga, they were having a snow storm. It was a winter wonderland and so beautiful! When our flight landed, we had to walk in the snow to get from our plane to the airport. Rob and I were in awe as there were maybe 6 or 8 inches of snow on the ground. It was so beautiful and peaceful.
When we got to Riga, our ride was there as planned. A gentleman named Robert owns our flat and he was there with his translator, Evita. He is from France believe it or not so he needed a French translator. Luckily, he had a decent sized SUV for our many suitcases. They drove us around to show us where the grocery store is, restaurants, etc. It was about 11pm Latvian time by the time we got to our flat. It is an absolutely beautiful place...spacious and clean. Just perfect!! There are a few things that we have to deal with like the washer/dryer having French control settings. It's one of those machines that's a washer and a dryer so it would be difficult enough to figure out even if it were in English. Thankfully, my Robert was able to figure it out so we're able to wash clothes now. It just takes all day to do one load. Oh well. We're thankful for what we've got.
We were also happy to have satellite TV but soon found out that the satellite is mainly for access of French channels. It's a little odd being in Latvia and watching French TV. We aren't watching too much TV because as you can imagine the culture here is much more liberal than the US and it's not uncommon to see porn at all hours of the day. We pretty much keep the TV off now and hide the remotes from Kristine. There's so many other things to do anyway that we don't even miss it!
Sunday afternoon (1/28), Ilga and Janis (our Latvian friends) came to take us to Kristine & Olegs' children's home so we could pick Kristine up since she'll be staying with us. We took the public transportation which is the most efficient I've seen. There are all types of trams/buses, trolleys, etc. and they're all flying across the city in a precisely choreographed manner. The bus ride gave us a real chance to see how the locals get around. We felt quite awkward as they all seemed to look at us as if we had two heads. They don't make eye contact either. We could see out of the corner of our eye that they were looking at us but as soon as we'd look at them, they'd look away. It became quite funny actually.
When we got to the neighborhood where the children's home is, we saw older soviet era buildings, many with graffiti on them. We walked from the bus stop to the gate at the front of their property. Their children's home is set back from the street and we probably would have never found it without Ilga and Janis. There was about a foot of snow on the ground and it just looked so peaceful and beautiful. The entrance was around back and Rob and I held our breath as we didn't know if it would be an opressive place or not. As soon as we went in, Kristine and a couple of her friends were there to meet us with hugs and kisses. She led us upstairs to see Olegs and their other friends. Their home is actually pretty nice, considering. It's an older building but okay. They each have small rooms with bunk beds, but they are decorated very cute with posters and drawings. There are three to four children to a room. Things weren't dark and dreary at all. Olegs ran out to greet us and gave us more hugs and kisses. It was so good to see them and for them to see that we kept our promise to come to Latvia. After meeting Kristine's friends and their hamster and guinea pig, we were off again. Olegs got to leave with us and spend the afternoon with us.
After we picked up the kids, we dropped Kristine's things off at the flat. We could sense Olegs was a little sad because he wasn't allowed to stay with us too. That's very hard for all of us, but it's just how it is right now. We have to follow the government's rules. He understands that we will arrange for him to come visit us as much as we can. It was dinner time by this time, so we took Ilga and Janis out to a place called Lido. It is the most awesome place!! They have Latvia's version of down home cooking and it's cafeteria style.. They have all types of pork, chicken and fish dishes. This night we had pan fried potatoes and pork & chicken shish-ka-bob's. It may sound simple but it was to die for. Thankfully, between the kids and Ilga, we were able to communicate what we wanted. After dinner, Ilga and Janis went with us to the grocery store to help us pick out some food items. I'm so glad they did because the pictures on the labels aren't true representations of the contents.
I guess this post is turning out to be a little longer. Oh well. Kristine is being quite good, actually so I'll keep going. Today was our first orphan court session and we didn't think (at least I didn't) we'd be nervous until we got there. Our translator, Daiga, met us at the freedom monument for the walk to the orphan court. It took about 10-15 minutes. Let me add that the people here are all speed walkers. If you're not going with the flow you'll get pushed aside. It's much like those people who go 80 miles an hour on I-75. You have to keep up or you'll cause an accident. Anyway, we got to the court office which is a rundown building in Old Riga. You would never know that behind this huge wooden door in the old building is an orphan court uness you knew exactly where you were going. A few minutes after we arrived, Leila, the social worker from Kristine's children's home arrived. She is a young woman, maybe in her twenties, who has taken Kristine under her wing and really looked after her. We all sat and waited in the waiting area until we were called. When our name was finally called, we filed into this big room with long tables behind which a panel of four orphan court representatives sat and watched us without any expression whatsoever. I was immediately terrified and they say this is the EASY court. The room was very bland and old, without any artwork on the walls or anything. Daiga sat between Robert and I so she could translate. The head person asked us a few questions about our child rearing experience, how we got to know Kristine, etc. All the time she asked questions, the other three reprensatives just stared intently at us, trying to size us up I suppose. I got pretty nervous when they looked at my passport and the head representative got a puzzled look on her face. My passport was originally issued before I got married and was later amended to change it to my married name. She asked about that and then saw on the amendment page that all was in order. WHEW!
Kristine had to leave the room while they asked us questions and then we left so the court could talk to Kristine. After it was over, they officially granted us temporary custody of Kristine for this two week time period. I was so filled with emotion, I started to tear up. Just hearing the words spoken out loud hit me unexpectedly. We gratiously thanked the court and this time they smiled back at us in approval. What an experience!!
After court, we hung out at the flat most of the day. I brought a puzzle that we worked on for awhile and then later we went walking around again. We went to confirm Kristine's bus stop so we'd know where to take her to catch the bus for school tomorrow. Now that she's officially under our care, we can't screw it up by allowing her to miss the bus. We're all just so relieved that we survived our first court session. The next step is for a court inspector to visit us at our flat. That will take place on Wednesday so hopefully all will go well and there will be no embarassing incidents.
We had an exhausting trip to Riga on Friday/Saturday. The first leg of our trip was to London where we had an 8 hour layover. We were so happy we got an emergency exit row for this part of the trip so we had more leg room. However, when we got to our seats we found we were right next to the bathrooms. UGGGHHHH! Needless to say we got NO sleep whatsoever!! We just sat there and listened to the constant flow of passengers coming and going to the bathroom...the door contstantly slamming and opening. Then there was the turbulance that didn't help. Whatever!! When we got to London we hadn't made plans to really do anything. We were scared to venture too far because we didn't want to miss our evening flight. We wandered around Gatwick airport and ended up at the Hilton where we crashed in the lobby...still no sleep. We got something to eat, wandered around somemore and FINALLY it was time to board our 6:00 flight. The flight from London to Riga was uneventful. Thankfully, it wasn't a full flight so we didn't get claustrophobic. I guess all in all the whole trip took us about 22 hours to get to Riga and we didn't get a second of sleep. When we got to Riga, they were having a snow storm. It was a winter wonderland and so beautiful! When our flight landed, we had to walk in the snow to get from our plane to the airport. Rob and I were in awe as there were maybe 6 or 8 inches of snow on the ground. It was so beautiful and peaceful.
When we got to Riga, our ride was there as planned. A gentleman named Robert owns our flat and he was there with his translator, Evita. He is from France believe it or not so he needed a French translator. Luckily, he had a decent sized SUV for our many suitcases. They drove us around to show us where the grocery store is, restaurants, etc. It was about 11pm Latvian time by the time we got to our flat. It is an absolutely beautiful place...spacious and clean. Just perfect!! There are a few things that we have to deal with like the washer/dryer having French control settings. It's one of those machines that's a washer and a dryer so it would be difficult enough to figure out even if it were in English. Thankfully, my Robert was able to figure it out so we're able to wash clothes now. It just takes all day to do one load. Oh well. We're thankful for what we've got.
We were also happy to have satellite TV but soon found out that the satellite is mainly for access of French channels. It's a little odd being in Latvia and watching French TV. We aren't watching too much TV because as you can imagine the culture here is much more liberal than the US and it's not uncommon to see porn at all hours of the day. We pretty much keep the TV off now and hide the remotes from Kristine. There's so many other things to do anyway that we don't even miss it!
Sunday afternoon (1/28), Ilga and Janis (our Latvian friends) came to take us to Kristine & Olegs' children's home so we could pick Kristine up since she'll be staying with us. We took the public transportation which is the most efficient I've seen. There are all types of trams/buses, trolleys, etc. and they're all flying across the city in a precisely choreographed manner. The bus ride gave us a real chance to see how the locals get around. We felt quite awkward as they all seemed to look at us as if we had two heads. They don't make eye contact either. We could see out of the corner of our eye that they were looking at us but as soon as we'd look at them, they'd look away. It became quite funny actually.
When we got to the neighborhood where the children's home is, we saw older soviet era buildings, many with graffiti on them. We walked from the bus stop to the gate at the front of their property. Their children's home is set back from the street and we probably would have never found it without Ilga and Janis. There was about a foot of snow on the ground and it just looked so peaceful and beautiful. The entrance was around back and Rob and I held our breath as we didn't know if it would be an opressive place or not. As soon as we went in, Kristine and a couple of her friends were there to meet us with hugs and kisses. She led us upstairs to see Olegs and their other friends. Their home is actually pretty nice, considering. It's an older building but okay. They each have small rooms with bunk beds, but they are decorated very cute with posters and drawings. There are three to four children to a room. Things weren't dark and dreary at all. Olegs ran out to greet us and gave us more hugs and kisses. It was so good to see them and for them to see that we kept our promise to come to Latvia. After meeting Kristine's friends and their hamster and guinea pig, we were off again. Olegs got to leave with us and spend the afternoon with us.
After we picked up the kids, we dropped Kristine's things off at the flat. We could sense Olegs was a little sad because he wasn't allowed to stay with us too. That's very hard for all of us, but it's just how it is right now. We have to follow the government's rules. He understands that we will arrange for him to come visit us as much as we can. It was dinner time by this time, so we took Ilga and Janis out to a place called Lido. It is the most awesome place!! They have Latvia's version of down home cooking and it's cafeteria style.. They have all types of pork, chicken and fish dishes. This night we had pan fried potatoes and pork & chicken shish-ka-bob's. It may sound simple but it was to die for. Thankfully, between the kids and Ilga, we were able to communicate what we wanted. After dinner, Ilga and Janis went with us to the grocery store to help us pick out some food items. I'm so glad they did because the pictures on the labels aren't true representations of the contents.
I guess this post is turning out to be a little longer. Oh well. Kristine is being quite good, actually so I'll keep going. Today was our first orphan court session and we didn't think (at least I didn't) we'd be nervous until we got there. Our translator, Daiga, met us at the freedom monument for the walk to the orphan court. It took about 10-15 minutes. Let me add that the people here are all speed walkers. If you're not going with the flow you'll get pushed aside. It's much like those people who go 80 miles an hour on I-75. You have to keep up or you'll cause an accident. Anyway, we got to the court office which is a rundown building in Old Riga. You would never know that behind this huge wooden door in the old building is an orphan court uness you knew exactly where you were going. A few minutes after we arrived, Leila, the social worker from Kristine's children's home arrived. She is a young woman, maybe in her twenties, who has taken Kristine under her wing and really looked after her. We all sat and waited in the waiting area until we were called. When our name was finally called, we filed into this big room with long tables behind which a panel of four orphan court representatives sat and watched us without any expression whatsoever. I was immediately terrified and they say this is the EASY court. The room was very bland and old, without any artwork on the walls or anything. Daiga sat between Robert and I so she could translate. The head person asked us a few questions about our child rearing experience, how we got to know Kristine, etc. All the time she asked questions, the other three reprensatives just stared intently at us, trying to size us up I suppose. I got pretty nervous when they looked at my passport and the head representative got a puzzled look on her face. My passport was originally issued before I got married and was later amended to change it to my married name. She asked about that and then saw on the amendment page that all was in order. WHEW!Kristine had to leave the room while they asked us questions and then we left so the court could talk to Kristine. After it was over, they officially granted us temporary custody of Kristine for this two week time period. I was so filled with emotion, I started to tear up. Just hearing the words spoken out loud hit me unexpectedly. We gratiously thanked the court and this time they smiled back at us in approval. What an experience!!
After court, we hung out at the flat most of the day. I brought a puzzle that we worked on for awhile and then later we went walking around again. We went to confirm Kristine's bus stop so we'd know where to take her to catch the bus for school tomorrow. Now that she's officially under our care, we can't screw it up by allowing her to miss the bus. We're all just so relieved that we survived our first court session. The next step is for a court inspector to visit us at our flat. That will take place on Wednesday so hopefully all will go well and there will be no embarassing incidents.
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