The Ministry Of Education
It’s Wednesday night around11: 30 pm here in Karaganda. The time is starting to fly by and each day brings some new development that has us closer to completing this stage; ultimately, closer (fingers crossed) to having Boeden home in Media, PA with us.
Yesterday we had our interview at the Ministry of Education. This is a big deal in the process and one of the milestones that you hear couples talking about. The couples that have just arrived hear about this interview and vaguely remember it, knowing it would happen but are still jet lagged and culture shocked, not to mention the fact that they have just flown around the world and in a moment, picked a baby. The ones that have been here for a little bit know it is coming. Still, others are wondering why hasn’t it happened yet as they listen to the most senior soon to be parents re-hash the details of their experience.
For us, we learned Tuesday morning we would be going Tuesday afternoon. On one hand not a lot of time to prepare. On the other hand not a lot of time to freak out. All the while, our interpreter, Olga, kept saying, “don’t worry, try to relax” (at the tender age of 24 she has taken many couples through this process). So, we took her advice.
Upon arriving we find out that many other American couples have their interview scheduled at the same time. Translation, you have a lot of American’s who haven’t heard ongoing English in a while, standing in corridors and offices yakking away. It’s important to notice these kinds of things because you want to be respectful and not a burden, especially when it comes to meeting with officials. Anyway……….
Our turn comes. We enter the interview room and only want to make a good impression. We sit down and offer a gentle yet deliberate nod and murmur hello. They don’t speak English and we don’t speak Russian so body language and nuance mean a lot AND if you get bold and use the wrong Russian greeting you may insult someone (we have heard stories of this happening). The questions start.
The conversation really flowed and within the first minute (the whole thing lasted about 10 minutes) I realized the person sitting directly across from me was just another human being. In fact, he was someone doing his job. Further, his inquiry was geared toward the well being of our little boy. Here I was across the planet from my normal place of being having a conversation through an interpreter and the context was ‘who am I and what is my commitment for my son’. I found myself very free to answer and Laura was the same. Making eye contact, relaxed, smiling and actually enjoying talking to them (3 not including Olga).
Today we learned that Monday at 9:30 am we will be going to Court. This is the big Kahuna of milestones during this stage. Much of the information gathered during the Ministry Interview, reports on Boeden’s development and recommendations of others will be presented by a prosecutor (state representative) to a Judge. I believe that the judge will use that information, along with our dossier, to conduct another interview. I’m sure we’ll be nervous again but the context is the same and we know who we are for Boeden and what our commitments are; we love him and feel blessed to have him in our lives.
Yesterday we had our interview at the Ministry of Education. This is a big deal in the process and one of the milestones that you hear couples talking about. The couples that have just arrived hear about this interview and vaguely remember it, knowing it would happen but are still jet lagged and culture shocked, not to mention the fact that they have just flown around the world and in a moment, picked a baby. The ones that have been here for a little bit know it is coming. Still, others are wondering why hasn’t it happened yet as they listen to the most senior soon to be parents re-hash the details of their experience.
For us, we learned Tuesday morning we would be going Tuesday afternoon. On one hand not a lot of time to prepare. On the other hand not a lot of time to freak out. All the while, our interpreter, Olga, kept saying, “don’t worry, try to relax” (at the tender age of 24 she has taken many couples through this process). So, we took her advice.
Upon arriving we find out that many other American couples have their interview scheduled at the same time. Translation, you have a lot of American’s who haven’t heard ongoing English in a while, standing in corridors and offices yakking away. It’s important to notice these kinds of things because you want to be respectful and not a burden, especially when it comes to meeting with officials. Anyway……….
Our turn comes. We enter the interview room and only want to make a good impression. We sit down and offer a gentle yet deliberate nod and murmur hello. They don’t speak English and we don’t speak Russian so body language and nuance mean a lot AND if you get bold and use the wrong Russian greeting you may insult someone (we have heard stories of this happening). The questions start.
The conversation really flowed and within the first minute (the whole thing lasted about 10 minutes) I realized the person sitting directly across from me was just another human being. In fact, he was someone doing his job. Further, his inquiry was geared toward the well being of our little boy. Here I was across the planet from my normal place of being having a conversation through an interpreter and the context was ‘who am I and what is my commitment for my son’. I found myself very free to answer and Laura was the same. Making eye contact, relaxed, smiling and actually enjoying talking to them (3 not including Olga).
Today we learned that Monday at 9:30 am we will be going to Court. This is the big Kahuna of milestones during this stage. Much of the information gathered during the Ministry Interview, reports on Boeden’s development and recommendations of others will be presented by a prosecutor (state representative) to a Judge. I believe that the judge will use that information, along with our dossier, to conduct another interview. I’m sure we’ll be nervous again but the context is the same and we know who we are for Boeden and what our commitments are; we love him and feel blessed to have him in our lives.
posted by Geoffrey Horowitz at 10:15 AM
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