Waiting

Woo Hoo and Congratulations!We stayed for the duration, so I don't know about second trip vs first trip.However, we really liked our apartment in Warsaw. The two bedrooms and pull out in the living room housed the six of us well. I'll see if I can figure out the contact info for it.We only used hotels twice during our stay. Apartments are so much easier - bedrooms mean children can nap, a kitchen allows a cup of tea or a decent snack whenever, etc.

Thanks for your reply. So far the paperwork is still at Homeland Security and the waiting is rough.I'd appreciate it if you could let me know about the apartment and any things you did while over there that were memorable. Again, thanks

I also stayed for the duration as it was required for me due to my son's circumstances. I stayed in an apartment during our time in warsaw. Because my son was in a wheelchair we had to find one with an elevator. Ours was very close to the US embassy, and was furnished. It was small but it had a kitchen and a washing machine. (in my opinion the best reason to have the apartment!). We took walks to the grocery store frequently and to a park nearby. One thing to remember is that the bread there, while delisious does not have the preservatives in it that our bread has. So don't expect it to last long. My son enjoyed picking out foods in the grocery store that he had only seen on TV (nutella and cold cereal) I brought toys and games and English flash cards. It was cold out when we were there so we spent a lot of time indoors. He did watch the bedtime cartoons every night and then I would watch BBC after he was in bed so I could hear some English. We also had internet access in our room so I could e-mail and IM friends. Our facilitator took us to large stores once or twice so I could buy some things for my son and some staples for the kitchen. I brought small things of laundry soap with me, I enjoyed the smell from home.

It seems the wait has increased quite a bit and we were there just this past summer. We waited 3 months between the first and second visit. The wait may be a bit longer now due to the Hague requirements. Our wait seemed painfully long when we were looking at how much we were missing of our daughters life. We were able to call twice a week and it seemed she grew to enjoy our calls and it made her happier. That said the calls were frustrating because she didn't talk really at all (3.5 with almost no verbal communication) and we are/were very lousy with our Polish. But we would learn Polish kids songs and sing them, count, etc. Good luck getting back sooner rather than later. Where will you be traveling to? Do you have a blog that we can follow along? I've enjoyed staying in the loop with the new families that are going. We were in Warsaw a total of two days so no real advice there. We used frequent hotel points to stay for free at two different hotels. In the town where our daughter was we had an apartment. For two months it seems to be the only way to go. It gives you the ability to control what you eat (to a degree) and to wash your clothes, etc. We were able to shop for our food at the markets and local grocery store and had slightly enough hardware in the kitchen to prepare decent meals. It was good to get her used to our cooking with foods she was used to. My suggestion is to bring small packets of your favorite spices. It is the hardest thing to figure out how to buy, since the spice has a Polish name and it won't be in your translation guide. We did insist on an internet connection so that we could stay in contact with the US. Not sure how far "insisting" on that will get you if they don't have the access - but we said it was our most important feature. At 22 months your child will be used to drinking herbal tea at the orphanage. You can buy it in the grocery store in a powdered/pellet form. Buy some for while you are there and when you come back. Our daughter still likes to cuddle up with her "tea." That is all I can think of - Hope you are back soon.

We too stayed for the duration (seven weeks in all). Five of those weeks were in Warsaw. There are lots of links within our blog (below) from our trip (Feb 2009-Mar 2009). Feel free to PM or e-mail me if you have other questions though!We also chose an apartment in Warsaw. It was a two bedroom and was plenty of room for all of us (5 at most). We loved having a kitchen and laundry on site - laundry mats are not easy to find in Warsaw. It was private rental, but I would be happy to share the link with you if you like.Our kids are older (9 and 11 at the time), but there are plenty of activities for littler ones. Warsaw loves kids. :) I hope you hear your dates soon!~sarah[url=http://notesfrombungalow6.blogspot.com/]based on a true story...[/url]

Herbal tea - yes! we purchased several cans of loose leaf 'calming' tea and made it for our boys (who were diagnosed "severe add/adhd") while we were there. I don't know if it did any good, but it helped me to know we were doing what we could.

We got our I800 approval today! Wooooooohooooooooooooooooooooo :cheer: Thanks everyone for all your tips. They are very helpful and greatly appreciated.

Yay! I'm glad your I-800 approval arrived. Hopefully now it won't be much longer until you can travel.

Hey everyone we got the great news that we are leaving right after Easter! Just curious if anyone else was asked to stay at the apartment at the orphanage? What was that like? Thanks:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

I'm still waiting but I just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Congratulations on getting your travel dates! I am very happy for you.

We traveled right after Easter for our first visit last year:) For our second visit we were asked to stay in the orphanage apartment for the first few days and then told which apartment we were to move to in town. The orphanage apartment was truthfully huge with three bedrooms and a pseudo kitchen. We had no living room though. The orphanage staff provided us with lunch and dinner and snacks for our daughter. It allowed us to better understand her schedule, meet some of the people that took care of her, and help her see that the people she had trusted at the orphanage trusted us. We were able to participate in her physical therapy as well, which was very enlightening. It was hard because there was absolutely no privacy outside of those few rooms. We weren't allowed to speak english in the stairwells, or play on the main playground with all of the equipment (issue with bio moms realizing kids could be adopted to America.) Those rules were difficult with our 6yo son. We were allowed to leave the grounds with our daughter, but they dictated our schedule by the meal schedule. Just a note, but our translator didn't tell us there would be a fee for staying and/or the food. Regardless of not being told, we knew we wanted to pay them for the space and food so, on the last day we asked the orphanage director how much we could pay them for the food. We were so glad we asked because there was a definite expectation that we pay. After a few days the orphanage director documented that our daughter was more comfortable with us, asked us how we felt, etc and then said we were ready to move to an apartment in town (walking distance from the orphanage). Someone checked in on us every few days at first, we had the directors number for questions, and the visits eventually stretched to once a week with phone check-ins every other day. We thought staying at the orphanage was a really good plan and we think did reduce anxiety for our daughter.