The call came in a few minutes after 4:00 a.m. The driver was downstairs and we quickly mobilized. Note to families coming behind us, don’t skimp on time for the airport. The Ukrainian Air flight to Amsterdam from Kiev leaves at 6:45 a.m. On trip one, we were picked up at 4:00 a.m. For trip two, the head coordinator said the driver would be there at 4:30 a.m. Robert was very nervous about that as it’s about a 45 minute drive to the airport. Robert did finally call the coordinator and negotiated for a 4:00 a.m. pick-up and man are we glad he did. The lines for boarding passes were crazy nuts and there was a problem with our tickets. We still don’t understand why but the only boarding pass that would print out for Amsterdam to home was V’s. Nice! My 12 year old newly adopted son who speaks no English can get home but the rest of us have to stay! More about that later...
As we went through outbound immigration, they took one look at V with us and said in a very gruff voice “Documents.”. I produced the originals from my backpack and they were all REALLY scrutinized. We were told to guard the large manila envelope from the US Embassy basically with our lives; it should be hidden and never opened by ANYONE for any reason other than US Immigration. We had the original court decree, original of the new birth certificate, etc. with me in my backpack and the manila envelope in Robert’s briefcase. After about 15 minutes of reading the documents and looking at passports and people (us), the immigration officer left the little booth through the door in the back and walked away. I assumed to find a supervisor. Because I know there is a problem (small) with our paperwork. When our paperwork was translated to English, our last name was spelled incorrectly. I can’t imagine why, can you? The English translation version of all documents were reissued with the correct spelling and stapled to the original translation but I expect we will be dealing with this for quite a while. The immigration officer returned after about 5 minutes, gave me back my documents, stamped our passports and handed them back to us. We were free to proceed. Yeah!
We went through security and arrived at the gate with about 10 minutes to spare. I should clarify that ‘10 minutes to spare’ thing. The start of boarding was about 25 minutes late. Thank goodness it was foggy that morning. But, no warm fuzzies on this when I know they have to de-ice the plane and we only have about a 90 minute layover in Amsterdam! Not to mention (again) that our new 12 year old son who speaks no English is the only one with a boarding pass! Stress level was a little high...for the adults anyway...
The flight was uneventful; we were about 35 minutes late taking off. We did NOT make up any time in the air. We were row 18 and 19 of about 45 rows on the plane. If we would have been at the back of the plane, I think I would have had a heart attack...
Once we landed in Amsterdam, I very quickly explained the situation to the airport employee at our gate. She told us what gate our flight was departing from and to look for a transfer desk near there. Off we went. In quite a hurry. Everyone in a line; momma first, V next, then Alex and dad bringing up the rear. Just like little ducks in a row. We had quite a distance to walk and we were very late. Poor V wanted to see things and kept coming out from behind me only to be told to get back in line by dad. Very cute! We found the right part of the airport and stopped at a transfer desk. I hauled my confirmation numbers out and entered them in the computer. I was promptly told via a nice error message that we did not have a reservation. To quote my friend K “Are you kidding me??”. I then took Robert’s frequent flier card and put it in the machine. I was promptly told via the same nice error message that we did not have a reservation. Again, “Are you kidding me??”. Alex then decided he was going home no matter what and he was done fooling around. He walked straight up to this pretty disinterested airline employee standing around and said “We could only get one boarding pass printed out and the computer can’t find out reservations.” She looked down her nose at him, he handed her my printed itineraries with the confirmation numbers, she walked up to her little machine, typed in something and then asked “Four of you traveling?” I said yes and out came 4 boarding passes. Whoo hoo Alex!!! Way to take charge!! Off we went again.
Normally in Amsterdam they ask you all sorts of questions before you can get on the plane. And they always look through my passport and ask questions about why I went to Korea and China and Lord knows where else. In 2001 no less! And they want to know where I’ve been and who with and how long and on and on and on. Do I seriously look like a terrorist?? They never seem to let me through easily. We were so late today that the guy asked us who packed our bags and who had possession of them since we packed them and that was it! Unheard of! Onto the plane we went.
The flight home was not a good one. At least not for poor V. We had the 4 seats in the center of the plane; we took up an entire row. Poor V threw up 4 times over the 9 hour in the air. I have flown to and from San Francisco with V plus the trip from Kiev to Amsterdam and the poor guy has never done anything but crack a smile. Not so lucky this flight. We are not sure if it was food, anxiety, lack of sleep, combination, etc. I felt so bad for him and simply couldn’t do anything to help him. I did go stand guard at the restroom though while he was in there. There were lines forming outside so I explained to those very nice people that he wasn’t feeling well. Every one of them took pity on him and very nicely went to another bathroom.
As we were descending into Minneapolis, V became even more noticeably quiet. I tried to draw him out but nothing seemed to work. We all agreed that we would just take our cues from him at this point. If he wanted to engage, we would engage. If he wanted V time, we would respect that. I think that was hardest on Alex. He kept trying to comfort him, to no avail. I can’t even imagine what thoughts were going through his mind. What a huge decision this child has made to leave everything and everyone he has ever known; his heritage, his language, his ‘family’ at the orphanage, his friends and teachers at school...all gone. And most likely, he is never to return. What a brave little boy. I so wish I could get inside that head of his to see what he is thinking; I long to help him through whatever he is going through. But until he can articulate what is happening up there, I can only guess and do what I think is right.
The plane landed on time and we queued up for immigration. The documentation from the US Embassy says to stand in the US Citizen line as our new child is an American citizen once the plane touches down on American soil. Note to families coming behind us, don’t do that without one of you looking at the other lines. We waited in one of the US Citizen lines and right before we were called up to the immigration officer, another officer walking around noticed us and our very large manila envelope. He walked over and asked us what we had. We explained that we were adopting and he pulled us out of line. Darn! He led us to another line way at the other end that was for new immigrants only. So again, families coming behind us please look for that line at your destination airport as the documentation may be wrong depending on your airport. It took us a LONG time to get through this line. Surprising since there were only 3 families in this line...I bet it was 45 minutes or so. The immigration officer did in fact open the manila envelope and pull some forms out. He processed many additional forms, took 2 finger prints from V and a picture and then attempted to have him sign his Ukrainian passport. V can spell his last name but doesn’t yet have a ‘signature’ so eventually the immigration officer let it go. He finally wished us well and we were on our way. We seriously were one of the last people out of the immigration and customs area. The only people behind us were a few stragglers with HUGE instruments from the Mounds View Orchestra who were returning from a trip to Greece (they were on the outbound trip with us the week before as well).
We were picked up by our friend Jim. Who by the way is a total hoot! Talk about comic relief! He and his family had met V when we hosted him last July. V knew him by name and sight. And V also knew of his infamous sense of humor. Jim gave V a quick hug and then started his classic dance moves (which are simply indescribable!) while singing “Welcome to America...”. V laughed very hard as did the rest of us! Finally there was a smile from my suddenly serious guy. The entire family piled into Jim’s rig and we headed home. Mission accomplished!
So...here he is. Everyone, please meet the newest member of our family...Viktor Briesemeister. This is the photo that started this whole journey.
This is the first photo straight off the train on trip one. We are TOTALLY exhausted but so very excited to see him. I'll never forget running into him by accident as he walked up the stairs.
And here is a look at that killer smile I mentioned. Wrestling with his brother.
Was this SO worth it or what???
1 comment:
Excellent!!
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