Butterflies and Kitty Cats

The Internet at the hotel is back up and running for the moment, so I am actually going to get to post this entry the same day it happened - what a concept! There will also be a lot more photos than usual because we had a lot of Kodak moments this morning that were just too good to pass up. Our day started a little more leisurely than the last several have since we didn't really have any place to be until 10:00. Madelyn has got a little congestion going on, so Carolyn contacted Yordanka to find out how she has treated it in the past and what medicine and dosage works well. Armed with my trusty cell phone Medscape application with the medicine Yordanka recommended pulled up so I could communicate what I wanted, I set out in search of a pharmacy. I asked the desk clerk if he knew of a pharmacy close by, and in typical Bulgarian fashion (they are very indefinite and imprecise in their directions), he told me to head up toward the department store and supermarket up the street, and that he thought there was one around there. So, I spent 30 minutes walking "around there" and the only result of my exploration was a general deduction that nothing opens before 10:00, so even if I had found a pharmacy, it would have done no good. After my morning stroll, we went to breakfast as usual, and with it being a little later than yesterday, the girls were much more talkative, but still very well behaved.

 

Madelyn's foster sister, Natalia, had invited us to the children's center where she works so the girls could explore and have some fun, and so she could see Madelyn one more time before she leaves Bulgaria. We had to go in the morning, because we had our visa interview at the US embassy this afternoon at 1:20. The center opened at 10:00, and we got to spend about an hour and a half there. I wish we could have spent all day. It was great fun, and I would have liked to have given Natalia more time with Madelyn, but we were some distance away from the hotel and had to get back there in time to get a taxi to the embassy because we were told that parking in the area is a problem. The children's center was not at all what I had envisioned. I was expecting something along the lines of a children's museum or educational center like we have in a lot of the major cities in the States. It turned out to be more like a small amusement park with some fair rides, inflatables, trampolines, slides, mazes, and arcade games. It was actually much better for what we needed than a museum would have been. Natalia took the girls around to all of the rides and they both had a blast. Emily Cate exhibited a lot of bravery today and she really surprised me with how much she enjoyed the rides. I slipped out for a few minutes to walk down the street to a Walmart-like store that had a pharmacy and pick up Madelyn's medicine. One of the final things we did before we had to leave was get the girls faces painted. Madelyn went first and got made up as a beautiful butterfly. Emily Cate asked to be made up as a cat, and she got a very elaborate and really cute painting. She was so proud of it. It was tough to say goodbye to to Natalia; she loves Madelyn (her Cici) very much. We really appreciated her gracious gift in hosting us this morning. As a note to others who might be adopting from Bulgaria, the center is called Palavnici -it is well worth a visit - and a google search of the name will find the web site. A search of Palavnici Sofia Bulgaria on my iPhone maps application (the one based on Google maps, not sure how the new iOS 6 app will do) found it easily as well.

 

The final visa interview at the embassy was a breeze. We met Nadya from FNA just outside the embassy and she walked us through it. It was kind of an interesting experience, though. Security is pretty tight and it is obvious that the building is made to withstand a lot. The best thing about the embassy, though, was that they had a water fountain that they must have imported from the US, because the water was ice cold. I like my cold drinks really cold, and that just doesn't fit with the European style. That was my one little piece of home that I enjoyed at the embassy. There wasn't much to the interview process at all. Nadya dealt first with a Bulgarian official in the immigration visas office and, I assume, gave him all of the documentation. A few minutes later, Carolyn and I were called to meet with the vice-consul. It sounds more formal and impressive than it was. We he was in a protected area, so our conversation was through a window and speaker system like talking to a bank teller or something. The entire interview took less than 5 minutes. I had to sign the visa applications, then he explained our reentry process when we get back to Atlanta and how to apply for social security numbers and passports as soon as we get back to close out the documentation process. We actually saw a miracle of efficiency today that really surprised me. The Bulgarian Department of Immigration apparently got the girls' passports ready in record time. They were done this morning, and FNA had picked them up and had gotten the medical exams from the hospital, so the entire documentation package was at the embassy today. We were not expecting the passports and medicals to be ready until tomorrow. I think a lot of credit goes to FNA and all of their hard work in pulling all of this together and apparently their relationships with the various agencies that allowed them to make some special arrangements on our behalf. That means we will actually be able to pick up the visas tomorrow, which is a day earlier than expected. We are going to go back to Family National on Friday morning to pick up all of the translated records for the girls so that we will have complete social and medical histories for them, then we will fly out as scheduled on Saturday. Everything has gone wonderfully smoothly so far, and we couldn't have asked for a better experience, but all of the traveling is very tiring and we are ready to get home.

Our only scheduled event for tomorrow is to pick up the visas and passports at the embassy tomorrow afternoon. I think we are going to do a little shopping as well, which will make Emily Cate very happy, and try to slow things down a bit. So far, the week has been really high stress and a lot of stimulation, especially for two little girls who aren't used to it, and Madelyn needs to rest a bit to help her throw off this congestion before she has to fly this weekend.