Writer’s Block

Day 10 – Tuesday, 22 December

I’m settling into a morning routine: make coffee, set up laptop in the corner of the kitchen by the radiator and write before Mark wakes up. But occasionally, I have a day when I sit in front of my keyboard and my fingers simply won’t produce the words. Today was one of those days.

I got up about 8:15, as our translator zipped out the door to chase more documents. By 9:30, when the only words on the screen were “Day 9 – Monday, 21 December,” I gave up and switched to a book.

Today’s goal was to finish the local court resolution, which would allow us to get on the schedule for our court hearing…hopefully early next week! We thought yesterday was the last day the court was scheduling new hearings, but our translators have been working closely with the local authorities; because of the importance of completing our hearing before the holidays, they have made special arrangements to accept our documents whenever they are complete, and they keep telling us not to worry.

Our translator appeared back at the apartment around lunchtime, saying “We wait.” Around 2:30, her phone rang, she announced, “We go.” And we went. And we waited. Seriously, people. Bring books. I am soooo thankful for my Sony PR505; I am comforted to know that I will not run out of reading material while we wait and wait and wait. At under a pound, carrying more books than I could read in a year, it’s making all the waiting bearable. In the back of the cold car for almost two hours, I finished The Time Traveler’s Wife.

About the time it got too dark to read, we saw a familiar face leave the Notary. He approached the car and told us we could go in. We quickly reviewed the document, signed five copies, and piled back into the car. Although our documentation for court is still not finished, our translator tells us that we are still on track for court early next week. No worries.

Nearly 5:00, we headed to the orphanage for a short visit with Lena. With tears in her eyes but a smile on her face, Lena came running down and gave us huge hugs. We just hugged her and held her until she settled in. We learned that she is very worried about court and she’s still having a hard time believing that we’re finally here and that all of this is real. I cuddled with her on the couch of the Bird Room while Mark extracted his laptop, called home, and woke Masha up for a video call via Skype.

Because we arrived so late, our time today was short. We left the Center about 5:45 and realized we were all starving! We had heard about a restaurant in town called “Potato House,” which was, oddly, a Tex-Mex burrito place. A large wooden Indian greeted us as we entered the packed restaurant, and all the employees wore cowboy hats. We each ordered a beer and a “spicy” chicken burrito (we were advised to steer clear of the steak…) and found a table.

A few minutes later, steaming hot chicken burritos were delivered to our table. As we dug in, we realized that while they were quite tasty, they sure didn’t taste like any burrito we’d ever eaten. Chicken. Mushrooms. Garlic sauce. In a tortilla.

Back at home, I took notes as our translator taught me to make another of the wonderful salads that is common here (Lisa, it’s the Amstor egg salad!!!)…we are eating like royalty this time! As she finished, though, my head assaulted me with a wicked sharp pain and I started feeling kind of nasty. I tasted a bite of the salad and then stumbled off to bed around 8:00.