So far we like Saranda very much!
The view from our hotel room, that the Greek island of Corfu, but Mariada isn't allowed to go without a Visa, so we'll stay put.
This doesn't do it justice, but it's an idea!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Hello from sunny Saranda!
Wow, have we been busy. Tuesday after the orphanage party we called Bethany to arrange our drive down to Saranda that they said they would do for us. But they changed their minds about that so Fredi feeling bad about us missing our chance to take our trip quickly saved the day and arranged for Mandi, a friend to drive us. The only thing was that we had to get to Tirana that same day! So we packed up and cleaned and hoped in a taxi and showed up in Tirana about seven that same night. We stayed at our boggy friends Cydil’s place again. This quite frankly was WONDERFUL! Then early the next morning we were on the road. We have been enjoying Saranda very much; I love the fact that it has more than 310 sunny days a year! It has been in the 70’s everyday and the town sits right on a bay, it’s beautiful. I have not been able to use my computer though, we do have an Internet café right next to our hotel, but it’s so slow that I can only get Skype to work, and it was closed for the New Year. Speaking of New Years, here in Albania well it’s huge, New Years’ Eve is crazy, Saranda is built into the side of a mountain and it’s mostly condo buildings, but that does not stop people from blowing off thousands and thousands of fireworks! Some off the balconies, but mostly from the street, and since we are on the 4th floor we had the pleasure of them blowing off right about face level! It’s crazy, easily the most dangerous thing I have seen them do yet and thats saying something! But it was fun. Then New Years Day EVERYTHING is closed so we found one little café that was open and the guy took pity on us and made us a few sandwiches I have no idea what was on them but whatever, we were starving and they where good. We have a few more days here and we hope to take in few sites on Monday, then head back to Tirana on Tuesday, my mom leaves on Thursday and that is the last day of the 15 day waiting period, so on Friday we can start the paperwork to come HOME!!!
So far we like Saranda very much!
The view from our hotel room, that the Greek island of Corfu, but Mariada isn't allowed to go without a Visa, so we'll stay put.
So far we like Saranda very much! The view from our hotel room, that the Greek island of Corfu, but Mariada isn't allowed to go without a Visa, so we'll stay put.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Second Soccer Party!
Yup, soccer party squared! Today the team had a party for Mariada. They had it a restaurant and had chips and cookies and what not. They gave her a picture of the team signed by the team it was really sweet. We had a really nice time and the one coach speaks English so I had someone to talk to which is always nice.
One of the people there was the Dad to one of the girls on the team, he helped sponsor Mariada to go to Norway with the team to play in the Norway cup. He’s an appeals attorney, nice guy. The one coach that doesn’t speak any English was chatting up a storm with me; he wants to make sure that Mariada is going to be allowed to play soccer in America. He even wanted to know if she was going to be keeping her Albanian citizenship just in case she would like to come back and play for the Albanian team! Funny thing is that he was totally serious. He and the attorney had a long talk about the paperwork that I have to file so that she keeps dual citizenship here in Albania!
I feel so bad for Mariada, she is now very sad, saying good-bye is never easy, but we gathered many e-mail and Skype addresses. Keeping in touch is just a computer away!
My Mother’s plane was late in Detroit so that messed up her entire itinerary, she now will be getting in late this evening, so she will have to stay the night in Tirana and come up her in the morning assuming her bags make it.
The team!
Funny Girl.
Friends Forever!
The picture they signed for her!
Yummy!
Musical Chairs popular everywhere!
One of the people there was the Dad to one of the girls on the team, he helped sponsor Mariada to go to Norway with the team to play in the Norway cup. He’s an appeals attorney, nice guy. The one coach that doesn’t speak any English was chatting up a storm with me; he wants to make sure that Mariada is going to be allowed to play soccer in America. He even wanted to know if she was going to be keeping her Albanian citizenship just in case she would like to come back and play for the Albanian team! Funny thing is that he was totally serious. He and the attorney had a long talk about the paperwork that I have to file so that she keeps dual citizenship here in Albania!
I feel so bad for Mariada, she is now very sad, saying good-bye is never easy, but we gathered many e-mail and Skype addresses. Keeping in touch is just a computer away!
My Mother’s plane was late in Detroit so that messed up her entire itinerary, she now will be getting in late this evening, so she will have to stay the night in Tirana and come up her in the morning assuming her bags make it.
The team!
Funny Girl.
Friends Forever!
The picture they signed for her!
Yummy!
Musical Chairs popular everywhere!Saturday, December 26, 2009
The Soccer Party
Yes another party!
Today I rented an indoor soccer field for Mariada’s soccer team “The Door”. The girls played the dad’s; it was a lot of fun. The dad’s won. But still the girls had a really good time. That took up all of our morning and about one o’clock we received a phone call from Suela, a girl that I have made friends with from church. She is off work until after the New Year so we had lunch. She is such a nice girl and her story cracks me up. About 7-8 years ago she got a travel visa to the US so she went to Florida, when arriving into the country, the told her she could stay up to six months (she had planned on three) so when the three came up she was going to come back to Albania. But she says God told her to stay, she was upset because she knew that she would lose her job back here, but when God tells you, you follow. So she stayed the extra three months, and in that time she meant and fell in love with her now husband. Only thing was that he is from El Salvador! He too was in the USA on a visa, but he got a green card and is still living in Miami! She is hoping to get her visa next month so she is planning on moving for good to the US in February.
So tomorrow my Mom gets here!!! Yeah! Can’t wait for that! Then we have a few more going away parties and then we plan to leave for Saranda. Saranda is all the way south almost to Greece; we are all really looking forward to that. Mariada has never been to that part of the country and I am looking forward to being on the water. Hope it doesn’t rain as much as it does up here in Shkoder!
The coaches from "The Door"
The dad's are done!
Today I rented an indoor soccer field for Mariada’s soccer team “The Door”. The girls played the dad’s; it was a lot of fun. The dad’s won. But still the girls had a really good time. That took up all of our morning and about one o’clock we received a phone call from Suela, a girl that I have made friends with from church. She is off work until after the New Year so we had lunch. She is such a nice girl and her story cracks me up. About 7-8 years ago she got a travel visa to the US so she went to Florida, when arriving into the country, the told her she could stay up to six months (she had planned on three) so when the three came up she was going to come back to Albania. But she says God told her to stay, she was upset because she knew that she would lose her job back here, but when God tells you, you follow. So she stayed the extra three months, and in that time she meant and fell in love with her now husband. Only thing was that he is from El Salvador! He too was in the USA on a visa, but he got a green card and is still living in Miami! She is hoping to get her visa next month so she is planning on moving for good to the US in February.
So tomorrow my Mom gets here!!! Yeah! Can’t wait for that! Then we have a few more going away parties and then we plan to leave for Saranda. Saranda is all the way south almost to Greece; we are all really looking forward to that. Mariada has never been to that part of the country and I am looking forward to being on the water. Hope it doesn’t rain as much as it does up here in Shkoder!
The coaches from "The Door"
The dad's are done!
Friday, December 25, 2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Merry Christmas everybody!
It’s an odd feeling being so far away and in a country were just about everything is open today. Most people don’t really celebrate Christmas here. But we do so this morning once we got up Mariada and I celebrated our first Christmas together. Her new camera is already charged and she has been reading the manual all morning. We got her body gel and lotion in a nice winter scent, but she wasn’t really sure what lotion is for, many things to learn about being a girl!
We had planned on spending the day with Fredi and Prenda but Prenda has been feeling very dizzy lately so they have been trying to get her in to Tirana, where the one MRI machine is and yesterday they received a call that they could see her tomorrow early morning. So they decided to take the opportunity to stop along the way and see some family. We were invited but we have an indoor soccer field rented for tomorrow morning for a good-bye party. So since everything is open we are going to walk down to Mariada’s favorite restaurant for lunch. I hope to not be killed by one of the hundreds of fireworks that are being blown off everywhere! Yes it’s Christmas and what else would you do than send bottle rockets and other flying fireworks though the streets on such a day?! I MISS HOME!
I wish you all the best on this amazing day, what a joy that our King was born!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
It’s an odd feeling being so far away and in a country were just about everything is open today. Most people don’t really celebrate Christmas here. But we do so this morning once we got up Mariada and I celebrated our first Christmas together. Her new camera is already charged and she has been reading the manual all morning. We got her body gel and lotion in a nice winter scent, but she wasn’t really sure what lotion is for, many things to learn about being a girl!
We had planned on spending the day with Fredi and Prenda but Prenda has been feeling very dizzy lately so they have been trying to get her in to Tirana, where the one MRI machine is and yesterday they received a call that they could see her tomorrow early morning. So they decided to take the opportunity to stop along the way and see some family. We were invited but we have an indoor soccer field rented for tomorrow morning for a good-bye party. So since everything is open we are going to walk down to Mariada’s favorite restaurant for lunch. I hope to not be killed by one of the hundreds of fireworks that are being blown off everywhere! Yes it’s Christmas and what else would you do than send bottle rockets and other flying fireworks though the streets on such a day?! I MISS HOME!
I wish you all the best on this amazing day, what a joy that our King was born!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Party, Party, Party!
A day of parties, the first was at the orphanage. A mobile phone company called AMC came to give out gifts to the kids, so the kids put on a little show. They sang a few songs and the director and a few other people said a few things, then two girls dressed in AMC uniforms handed out shopping bags to each of the kids. They were filled with cloths, winter coats and shoes. Mariada gave hers to her two best friends Marinela and Jesica.
Then off to a restaurant we went were HFTW was throwing a Christmas party for the entire orphanage. They had a DJ playing Albanian music, a huge lunch and a gift for every child. It was a great party, the kids and staff where out dancing up a storm! It went on for hours.
Now we are home relaxing and plan to stay in for the night for diner, and then watch a Christmas movie.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas Eve!
Santa handing out gifts!
One of her buddies, he was practicing his English with me for about an hour!
Another friend, very sweet girl.
BFF, Jesica was trying to explain what good friends they are and I was saying Best Friends, and she took a few seconds to find the word, then says no best friend we are sisters :)
The other BFF! Marinela, love this little sweetie!
The AMC party.
View from the orpahnage, it's the soccer stadium! Soccer is king here.
Then off to a restaurant we went were HFTW was throwing a Christmas party for the entire orphanage. They had a DJ playing Albanian music, a huge lunch and a gift for every child. It was a great party, the kids and staff where out dancing up a storm! It went on for hours.
Now we are home relaxing and plan to stay in for the night for diner, and then watch a Christmas movie.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas Eve!
Santa handing out gifts!
One of her buddies, he was practicing his English with me for about an hour!
Another friend, very sweet girl.
BFF, Jesica was trying to explain what good friends they are and I was saying Best Friends, and she took a few seconds to find the word, then says no best friend we are sisters :)
The other BFF! Marinela, love this little sweetie!
The AMC party.
View from the orpahnage, it's the soccer stadium! Soccer is king here.Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Court - Check
What better word this time of year than Hallelujah!
The last court date was today at 10:30, which meant that we saw the Judge at 12:15! Did I mention that the court house is a big building with tile floors and no heat! Anyway, once we started it went quick the psychiatrist did her thing, and then the Judge asked me to stand and once again convince her that Mariada being adopted was a good decision. I also had to put in a few legal terms that Agim had instructed be to say and we were finished. Thankfully Fredi’s lawyer friend was there again and I firmly believe this is why it went so smoothly.
Mariada is a different person today, she is so happy, she called all her friends told them she is now adopted and for a girl that does not smile very often I don’t think anything could knock it off her face today! We had lunch and on the way home we passed a card shop where we bought a handful of cards, she wants to write one to all of her best friends! Yes like most 13 year old girls she has 6 best friends! I think today is the first day that she is OK with leaving them behind. We will see if this lasts even until tomorrow. I have told her that she can set up a Face book and e-mail account, so she has been collecting addresses over the past few days. Guess I’ll be using Google translator more than I thought!
So the next steps, today starts our 15 day waiting period. This is when an Albanian can contest the adoption. Since Mariada has not seen or heard from her Bio-Mother in 6-7 years and has never meant anyone else in her Bio-family we do not expect any issues. After the 15 days we can get a new birth certificate, passport and Visa so that Mariada can enter the USA! When she lands in O’Hare she will become an official US citizen!
What a Christmas present!
The group that made it happen! (Lawyer from AAC, Judge Asst., Judge,Me,psychiatrist, Mariada, Arian(director of orphanage),translator, Artan our lawyer)
The last court date was today at 10:30, which meant that we saw the Judge at 12:15! Did I mention that the court house is a big building with tile floors and no heat! Anyway, once we started it went quick the psychiatrist did her thing, and then the Judge asked me to stand and once again convince her that Mariada being adopted was a good decision. I also had to put in a few legal terms that Agim had instructed be to say and we were finished. Thankfully Fredi’s lawyer friend was there again and I firmly believe this is why it went so smoothly.
Mariada is a different person today, she is so happy, she called all her friends told them she is now adopted and for a girl that does not smile very often I don’t think anything could knock it off her face today! We had lunch and on the way home we passed a card shop where we bought a handful of cards, she wants to write one to all of her best friends! Yes like most 13 year old girls she has 6 best friends! I think today is the first day that she is OK with leaving them behind. We will see if this lasts even until tomorrow. I have told her that she can set up a Face book and e-mail account, so she has been collecting addresses over the past few days. Guess I’ll be using Google translator more than I thought!
So the next steps, today starts our 15 day waiting period. This is when an Albanian can contest the adoption. Since Mariada has not seen or heard from her Bio-Mother in 6-7 years and has never meant anyone else in her Bio-family we do not expect any issues. After the 15 days we can get a new birth certificate, passport and Visa so that Mariada can enter the USA! When she lands in O’Hare she will become an official US citizen!
What a Christmas present!
The group that made it happen! (Lawyer from AAC, Judge Asst., Judge,Me,psychiatrist, Mariada, Arian(director of orphanage),translator, Artan our lawyer)
Monday, December 21, 2009
Video's Maybe....
I hope these work, they would not attach to the last post, so here goes!
The other girl is Jesica, her best friend from the orphanage.
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