Bulgaria Trip 1 - Part 2

Violetta – that’s her name.

She shows up a full 15 minutes early to our meeting. She’s accompanied by a man we later find out is her driver/bodyguard/personal assistant/husband. She has a big stack of papers…and she’s ready to talk to us crazy foreigners.

Who is she? She’s our Bulgarian Adoption Coordinator…

In 11 months of preparation in the States, we weren’t allowed to have any direct contact with her. But now…during this time in Bulgaria…our lives are in her hands. :)

We talked for quite a while about different things – life in America, life in Bulgaria, smoking. Her husband lit a cigarette and then Violetta explained to us that her husband is under stress…and the fact that the cigarette helps him reduce stress is good – the cigarette is healthier than the stress.

At this point, we are glad that she’s our adoption coordinator…not our physician.

Actually, she’s got a very interesting story. She gave up her position as a lawyer several years ago to work with adoption agencies full-time. She tells us how transparent the process is now, compared to many years ago. There are no bribes, no paying off officials now – there’s just a good, honest process of adopting children internationally.

Through discussions with Violette and her husband (Christian), we learn that we’ll get to meet Bojidar (Bo) every day for several days in a row. We won’t meet his foster family (Bulgarian law), but we will meet his Social Worker…and we’ll have an interpreter with us at all times. We are free to go on walks, take him to restaurants, and do just about whatever for these few days.

We also learn that Bo is the most popular kid in the neighborhood. And…we learn for the first time that Bo has been told about us, parents from America who are eager to adopt him.

Next, we count out a ridiculous amount of money (this is the largest payment we’ve made to date), and we travel with Violetta and Christian to a major bank downtown.

We part ways with instructions from her to be careful (including instructions on how to cross the street in Bulgaria).

We head to explore the city. Violetta goes to deposit the money. Christian waits patiently in the car. Tomorrow…he will take us to meet Bo for the first time…..