More to come

Dear friends

I am sorry for not writing on a daily basis.  My thoughts and emotions took over my ability to write.  I will need some time to think about it all and write one long story.  Bare with me.  Thank you all for supporting me through this lifetime adventure.

Day 1: Smolensk

It was a little after noontime when our train pulled into the Smolensk train station.  Tony Carruthers, the wonderful Englishman who organized the search for my family in Russia, arranged for his nephew to pick me up from the train station.  I got off the train station and Pavel was there waiting for me.  He met my mom and the two of us began to walk from the train car.  Seconds later I spotted my grandfather, then my baba, Uncle, etc all waiting for me.  I dropped my suitcase and walked toward all of them and starting hugging and kissing my family members.  I can't really describe it, but it was a warm welcoming.  Before you know it, I was pulled into a car by my grandfather and baba.  I wasn't really told where I was going, but my mom got in the other car and I was with my grandparents riding through Smolensk.  My grandfather drives crazy and speeds like no one I have ever met.  They told me no need to wear seat belts because, it is  Russia.  I got a good laugh from that.  I ended up at the hotel we were staying at and my mom and I checked in.  My grandparents had to leave for work, but my Uncle and cousin Sofia stayed with us.  We ended up getting a walking tour of Smolensk with them.  After our short work, we went to a very nice restaurant where the entire family came to meet us for dinner.  It  was so incredible just sitting there.  It was almost like nothing happened, that I was there with my mom and extended family having a meal talking about sports, weather, my life, their lives, etc.  The food was amazing and my Uncle Sasha kept pushing beer in me.  It was pretty damn good, if I say so myself.  The first dinner ended up being 5 hours long..  Wow is right.  

More to come - I know I am behind but bare with me.

Train ride to Smolensk

The train ride to Smolensk was very easy.  It was only four hours long.  My mom and I had the two bottom beds in a four person room.  The two other Russians were asleep for most of the way and didn't want much anyway.

 

Last day in Moscow

Dear friends,

I am sorry for not posting the past few days.  I am already in Smolensk and enjoying the time with my beautiful family members.  They are kind-hearted individuals who want nothing more but to get to know me as a person.  I will talk more about that in a later post.  I would like to tell you about my last few days in Moscow.

We ended up ridding the metro in Russia around to see the most beautiful metro stations.  Russians take great pride in keeping their metro stations clean and pretty looking.

The next day we went to the famous Gorky Park in Moscow.  This park was central park, but had many restaurants, carnival rides, and the most popular sport was rollerblading.  My parents and I returned to the hotel to rest before a big night out in the city.  We rote the metro over to the New Moscow Circus located on Vernadskogo ulitsa.  The circus was very strange at first, but so entertaining!  I am amazed that the Russians were able to train bears and some type of sea lion to preform tricks...wow!  A much needed night out for dinner was in order after the circus.  We had an early morning the next day.  My Dad had to return home to American for business and my mother and I were off to visit my home city, Smolensk.

Day 2&3: Москва (Moscow)

Добрый день!

I am sorry for not writing the past few days.  I have been very busy here in Moscow.  Let me start by explaining what I did yesterday (Day 2).  My parents and I explored more of Moscow.  We saw the Jesus Christ cathedral, which is the most famous cathedral in all of Russia and the Russian orthodox.  In addition, we saw more old Soviet style buildings which are still in use by the Russian government today.  I think the buildings are so beautiful, especially those with the USSR symbol carved into them.  Later on in the day, we visited Pushkin stature located on Pushkinskaya ulitsa (street).  We had a lovely guide named Liubov (or Luba) help us around the city of Moscow.  She is a very beautiful, kind heated woman.  Luba works at a law firm in Moscow.  Her knowledge is incredible and speaks excellent English.  Anyway, she is the girl in the photo with me below in front of Pushkin stature.  After taking some photos in front of the stature, we proceeded to the Russian metro station nearby.  We all road the metro around the city seeing the different beautiful stations.  If you are ever in Moscow, you should know the Russians take great pride in how clean and beautiful their metro stations are.  However, if you do not speak Russian if can be rather difficult as most signs are only in Russian.  We ended the day eating at a nice restaurant and having some classic Russian food.  I had Dolma.  Dolma is pork and beef rapped in a Grape leave severed with sour cream.  It was outstanding!  Day 3: Today was a very special day.  We were able to meet our adoption agent who was in charge for the MAPS agency here in Russia.  Her name is Zoya.  Zoya is a kind woman who only wants the best for everyone.  She personally took a special interest in each child that was adopted under her care.  Meeting her was extra special, as I was able to hear stories from long ago regarding my adoption process.  She showed us a monastery today.  This monastery had four churches all on the same ground.  Zoya explained to me that they had so many churches simply because of the temperature change!  The bigger the charger, the harder it was to heat.  So, for each season the monastery had a different church to hold their religious services in.  Very cool if you ask me.  After visiting the monastery, we went to the top of a hill that looked over all of Moscow.  It was so beautiful.  You can see the "old" Moscow and the new modernized Moscow.  The change is incredible.  If you ask me, it looks like a bit of Chicago just popped up out of no where around Soviet style buildings.  Very strange to a foreigner.  We proceeded to this place with special artwork, restaurants, museums, and even a flea market.

 We had a traditional Russian lunch.  After lunch we saw the museum of Vodka with a free shot!  We went shopping flea market and watched foreigners try to bargain with the Russians.  None of the Russians marked their prices down for them.  Today was very special and I am so grateful for the work that Zoya did for those many families out there.

Day 1: Москва (Moscow)

Dear friends,

Today was my fist full day in Russia.  I didn't really sleep much on the plane, but somehow still felt energized when we landed in Moscow around 7:15am.  We had a very bad experience at JFK, as our flight reservations were put on hold by someone in Aeroflot yet no one wanted to be responsible for it.  The Russian employee continuously saying "I don't understand" and my Dad raising his voice was not a very good combination.  However, we did eventually make it on our flight.  The flight was only 8 hours and 30 minutes or so.  It was non-stop from JFK straight SVO in Moscow.  The flight was very good.  The meals were good, service was good, etc.  I watched movies pretty much the entire time so it made the time go by much quicker.  When we landed in Moscow, I was ready to get out and start exploring.  Passport control (паспортный контроль) was very easy to get through.  He took my passport and looked at me, scanned it on his computer and handed it back.  It literally took 10 seconds.  My parents were with the same officer checking their passengers, just took longer for them.  Shortly after getting our bags we were met by our translator, Liubov.  She is a very nice young lady in her early to mid 20s.  Very beautiful of course.  She drove us out from the airport and straight to our hotel.  We dropped off our luggage, said goodbye to our translator and headed straight for Red Square (красная площадь).  The Red Square was beautiful.  It was really an amazing site to see.  We saw the inside of the famous St. Basil's church.  

The inside was just as beautiful as the outside.  We truly had a beautiful day in Russia.  It was sunny and a comfortable 72 degrees (F) with a light cool breeze.  This is rather cold, as most Russians in Moscow are used to hotter temperatures this time of year.  

The people we met in Russia so far are very nice.  For those who don't speak Russian, most will go out of their ways to make sure you understand and are enjoying yourselves.  I think the funniest experience today was my Dad in a Russian market and he accidentally pumped into a Russian woman's cart.  She ended up swearing at him and saying something along the lines of "shit head" or something like that.  I laughed at least...

We ended the first night eating near our hotel.  My Mom had beef stroganoff, my Dad had ribs and I had Borscht and cabbage rolls.  The food was amazing and the beer was very good too.  Looking forward to what tomorrow brings us.  Enjoy the photos and do contact me with any questions you have.

До свидания, 

Дэвид

Russia Bound

Picking up Russian Passport

Hi all! Привет!

I wanted to write to you about my experience renewing my Russian passport last week at the Russian Consulate General in New York city.  

My first experience going to the consulate last year wasn't as easy as this past week's visit.  I sat inside the consulate last summer watching this woman play with her hair for about forty-five minutes until she told me the paperwork was complete.  Now I understand their was a lot of work that needed to be done.  The Russian government had to confirm with Moscow that I was still a citizen, however I was never registered at any consulate and my old USSR passport was never renewed.  This made the process much more challenging.  However, after that long appointment I was out there with a slip of paper telling me to come back in three months to get my new passport.

Anyways, last week I was down to NY with my mother Cheryl to pickup my passport.  We approached the consulate and I spoke in Russian to the consular officer outside behind the gates to tell him my business.  He looked at me and simply replied, "линия (line)."  

I was confused first, because the line was only for Americans getting Visas.  But, I did not want to ask more questions so we waited in line for about fifteen minutes.  The consular officer came out every ten minutes or so to let more Russians into the building.  Next time he came out he told me to move and come in.  As I started to walk in he stopped my mother and turned to me and asked, "Это твоя мама (is this your mother)?".  I turned around and almost laughed but held it together and simply said Да, моя мама (yes, my mom).  We walked in and sat down on pretty comfy seats.  A new consular officer came out and collected the Russians passports that needed to be renewed.  I was a bit uneasy, because I had a USSR passport and I had no intention of giving it up.  After all, it is a piece of history.  Before you know it, I heard from one of the speakers yell out "Schunk, Maksim David." 

I walked over to one of the consular tables and they slid me my new passport.  I signed a log book stating I was there to pick it up and off I went.  It was that easy.

On a side note, my passport is valid for only 5 years.  The Russian government offers a 10 year new "bio-metric" passport however, when I applied for my passport last summer I was told over and over by the embassy in DC the New York Consulate does not issue 5 year passports.  With my luck, when I arrived at the consulate I discovered they were issuing 10 year passports.  If only I waited a few months last summer.  Oh well.

That is all.  Thanks for reading.  Bye! До свидания!

Visas delivered!

Dear all,

Today my parents received their Visas issued by the Russian Consulate in New York.  It was a very quick turn around.  In addition, I got a reminder that my Russian passport is still inside and I have two months until they destroy it!  Gotta love the Russians.

Take care,

David The Maksim

Flights are booked!

Dear friends,

I am happy to announce that our flights are booked for Russia.  We are flying Aeroflot into Sheremetyevo, Moscow.  Our flight itinerary is as follows:

• Boston, MA - New York, JFK
• New York, JFK - Moscow Shermetyevo, Russia.

We leave America at 2:20 PM and arrive in Russia at 7:40 AM.  It is only a 9 hour flight, which really isn't that bad.  I had the pleasure of traveling to Ireland last summer and the flight was 7hr and 30min.  So just think, only an hour or so more.  I will bring movies and of course try to sleep the entire way over!

It is almost the end of the April, meaning my college lets out very soon.  Finals week is next week and then it is SUMMER!  I am beyond thrilled and look forward to this great trip I will embark on.  As always, do contact me with any questions, comments, or just to chat at d-schunk@comcast.net.

Enjoy your week and take care,

David Maksim

My birth parents

A picture tells a thousands words...

Trip Itinerary

Dear all,

Thanks for your interest in my upcoming trip to Russia this summer.  My itinerary is still under construction, however I have some ideas on what I will be seeing.  This trip will not be your typical tourist trip.  There will be several emotions involved; not only from my point of view, but my adoptive parents and birth parents perspective.  It is one of those trips you aren't really certain what will happen, but you need to "go with the flow" and just get through it.

Our plans begin by flying out of Boston Logan International Airport and arriving in Moscow Vnukovo International Airport.  Of course we have a stop in Frankfort Germany, but that doesn't really count :)

Moscow:

• Red Square
• Kremlin
• Museums
• Restaurants
• Night clubs? - don't judge me

Smolensk:

• Visit baby home (Krasny Bor)
• Visit with Tony Carrthers
• Spending time with birth family
• See major attractions in my hometown

The distance between Moscow and Smolensk isn't that bad.  Train is around 5hr and 30min or so. 

Thanks for reading and take care.

David Maksim