Dissolved in Ohio:
Chapter Four
Blagoveshchensk, Amurskaya Oblast', Russia
The Ponishes flew from Cleveland and arrived in Moscow on Feb. 28. They were met by Val, Amrex’s Moscow coordinator. They encountered the other BBAS family Wendy had told them about and were happy to make their acquaintance. Val spoke good English and was courteous and helpful, living up to the reputation other Amrex families had given him. Both families were driven to the internal airport to catch the plane to Krasnoyarsk for the first part of the trip to Blagoveshchensk.
After a few hours’ layover in Krasnoyarsk, they arrived in Blagoveshchensk many hours later on March 1 right on schedule. It was extremely cold in Amur that day. A newly-chastened Tatyana Dmitriyeva, Amrex coordinator in the Amur region, met them at the airport with her driver. After her run-in with Alysha Towell, her feet were being held to the fire, and she was super-accommodating to these new adoptive parents.
Tatyana was working closer with Svetlana, Amrex’s other Amur facilitator. Another worked with her as a translator. From here this translator will be called the Translator.
From the airport the Ponishes, a tired Tucker and the other family were driven to the Hotel Ubilyena. They were probably being overcharged by Tatyana for their stay and probably hadn’t any idea they were being ripped off.
As soon as they were checked in and had dropped their bags off in their room, Tatyana told them to come back downstairs and they would be driven to the Blagoveshchensk Baby Home to meet Natasha. The other BBAS family was driven to another orphanage outside of Blagoveshchensk to meet their referral, an older boy.
Before they got in the car, laden with a few gifts for their new daughter, Tatyana told them about the severe Chicken Pox quarantine that had been placed while Alysha had been there. with They were told the quarantine would last their entire stay in Amur.
The quarantine at the Baby Home was common knowledge on the Internet, thanks to Alysha Towell’s posts on FRUA. How come Denise and Wendy hadn’t bothered to tell the Ponishes about it before they traveled?
Mrs. Ponish’s blood pressure rose at the unexpected news. Why hadn’t they been told about the quarantine before they traveled by BBAS? If they had known about this, they would have brought medicines along for their daughter – and themselves.
Nevertheless, the Ponishes — Margaret, Peter and a very tired and excited Tucker — boarded the car and were driven to the Baby Home to meet Natasha for the first time.
While in the car, Tatyana instructed them they were not to mention the name of their unaccredited adoption agency. Especially Building Blocks. She emphasized this periodically throughout their stay in Blagoveshchensk.