waiting

No, I've not disappeared off the face of the earth. I've just been without internet for most of the week. It's been off at home, off at school...

On Wednesday, I went and had all my signatures notarized on my Russian documents. Because they were in Russian, they don't have to be apostilled. So that's good.

V, my contact here in Russia, and I went to the notary office and I waited in the corridor while V went in to see if they had our documents ready. He reappeared shortly and said he was going to "help them". A bit later he came out and translated them to me. (On the advice of my agency I asked for children with "correctable medical conditions who were not invalids". I hope that was the proper phrasing. I've heard others request simply, children who are "as healthy as possible".)

While I was waiting for V, other people joined me in the corridor. I giggled inwardly every time a disembodied voice from inside the office shouted and one of my companions leaped up and rushed in. Forget that whole take-a-number system. Forget the secretary who comes and collects you. Just listen for the shout!

There were three numbered doors in the corridor. I thought they must be offices. Door number 2 was the notary. It turns out door 1 was a closet. Door 3 was a restroom.

I asked about the fact that my agency's accreditation was lapsing soon and how that would impact me. V said it's really important that all my documents be here in Russia by the end of the month so that they can be translated and filed before accreditation lapses in mid-March. It's possible that my agency, who filed for NGO status in December, won't have much of a lapse at all...but no one really knows for sure how things will turn out. By filing before the lapse, we can proceed. We think.

I asked if I should remind my agency of this (wouldn't you think they'd be telling me this??) or if that would just irritate them. We decided to try to nudge them along. When I mentioned, quite understatedly, that the US paperwork had been s-l-o-w to be dealt with, V replied, "Some people, when asked to do something they aren't familiar with, do nothing. They just put it off." Yep. I feel "put off". (As he said at our last meeting, my case, while not extraordinary, is very unusual. However, he seems to view it as an interesting and challenging prospect--with definite advantages. It's nice to have that perspecitve after being the problem child with the US folks for so long.) Hopefully, with this deadline looming, the procrastinator in them with leap into action.

I wonder if anyone has named their adopted child "Godot". I'm sure they haven't. That would be incredibly cruel. Sometimes that's who I feel I'm waiting for...