[karenmarq]

As hubby and I sit here in 90 degree weather with no air conditioning (it's not usually quite so hot where we are at in Northern CA), we are wondering about our first visit trip to Far East Russia on August 17.

Is it appropriate/ok to wear:
shorts
sandals
tennis shoes?

I know they bundle the children, but does that apply to the adults, too?

Karen

[ddahl]

WOO HOO! You are traveling! So in answer to your question, I can only say that living in FLorida we also live in shorts. Getting my DH into long pants??? Well lets just say n 6 years of being together I can count the times he has been in pants on two hands. I mentioned in my previous post trip one report that DH was the only person in Eastern Europe with shorts on. I really used all of my wifely tactics to try to get him to at least fly in trackies ( sweat pants) or cotton trousers... to no avail. When we landed in Frankfurt I still recall those precious words "I should have worn pants". We were there from Sunday to Friday and saw one other person in shorts the entire time and I think he was from the cruise ship.
I wore high heeled sandals with the thicker heels like platforms and capris with a nice twin set and felt totally under dressed. When visiting the Churches and Cathedrals, I wore a short sleeve top one day big misake, It just looked tacky. It seems Europeans dress nicely all the time.
I wore black dress slacks, leather flats in black and a black Donna Karen cotton Jersey sweater to the baby home for the first vsit. I wish I had added a longish jacket and a strand of beads or pearls. DH wore courderoy navy Tommy Hilfigger slacks and a short sleeved polo shirt. We could have done better. The other couple wore business NOT casual, wife in a skirt and husband in a tie. It bears mentioning that the director of the baby home, a doctor was in a dress with a lab coat over it every day, as were all the women exceot the care givers, who wore scrubs and identical nursing style shoes.
You can not undo a first impression. So the next day we tuned it up a bit. Remember they are evaluating you even more closely than you can imagine. Shorts in the hotel room were good though even though we had fabulous A/C, we appreciate dbeing able to hang out in our casual comfy clothing. The last day when we headed for the airport we were wrecked and exhausted we both wore jeans and DH switched to shorts for the plane and a dive tee shirt. At that point he was to tired to care. I will be taking all business wear for trip two and DH will be in a dress slack with a white Long sleeve button down, belt and leather loafers. Once we are out of the woods and done with court, I will switch to two piece suits like the terry cloth wide leg capri with matching terry cloth hoodie in black, and black gauchos with twin sets and wedgie sandals, Diesel tennis shoes. Everything interchanges and mostly all in black or dark colors. I should say that our baby home did not have rugs so when we were on the floor, we got filthy with dust and dirt after visit one. Hope this helps and sorry its so long. Its just our take on the wardrobe choice. Oh, and it was cool in the evening, cool enough to need a light hoodie, windbreaker etc., and it rained a bit too. Every type of weather happened in our week there except snow. Good luck! Its all so exciting!

[ddahl]

p.s. tennis shoes are comfortable for touring around in, but I have to say, I only saw a few Russians with them on. Our driver did wear them. I would say if they are the bright white ones then skip it. You will stick out like a sore thumb or a rich American. If they are the newish style and not the athletic ones its probably fine.

[kimber413]

Yes, shorts are pretty abnormal here, and you'll be singled out as an American very quickly. Same with tennis shoes. Sandals... I don't think I saw anyone there with sandals on, but you could probably get away with dressy ones. I wouldn't take Birkenstocks, though. Although we were there in October, when we first got there it was in the mid-sixties, so it was warm enough for shorts and sandals. However, most of the residents were already wearing coats.

My suggestion is dress comfortably, but something more like business casual. You can wear jeans - in most places except very remote ones you'll find people in jeans, particularly black ones. But I don't think I'd wear shorts, even if it's hot, and I don't think I'd wear a t-shirt either.

[votemom]

I dressed very casual when there, as I was on a work trip to help build a church.

I did change into dress slacks and blouse and dressy sandals to meet with the DOE to file our paperwork.

But when I visited the orphanage, I was in jeans, Tshirt, and tennis shoes. It was not an issue at all - especially as the kids were not at the orphanage, but at "summer camp" (a.k.a. an orphanage out in the country).

Remember, Russians do not wear different outfits all the time. Most of the people we were around (3 weeks and did a home stay) wore the same thing 3 days in a row before changing. They will not be keeping track of what you are wearing. Pack light.

Going in August, you can have weather in the 60's with rain, or temps in the high 90's with high humidity and blazing sun. You do need to take a sweater or light jacket.

[Michele007]

HIYA-WELL, HAVE YOU GOTTON ENOUGH "FASHION" ADVICE? i WOULD SAY PACK LIGHT-DRESS NICE,LONGER DRESS SHORTS WOULD BE O.K.-I'D SKIP THE "DASIEY DUKES" BUT THATS JUST ME-LOL-CAN'T GO WRONG W/ A NICE SUMMER DRESS-MAYBE BRING A LIGHT SWEATER-I DON'T THINK RUSSIANS ARE BIG ON "SHOWING LOTS OF SKIN" UNLESS U GO TO ONE OF THOSES "CLUBS" WINK-WINK- OUR COORDINNATOR WAS DRESSED TO THE 9'S EVERY DAY-AND ONE MORE THING-TAKE 1/2 OF WHAT YOU ARE PLANNING TO BRING. SAFE JOURNEY TO YOU.
MICHELE

[kimber413]

If you are going for adoption, you should not wear jeans to the orphanage. Dressing nicely is a sign of respect, and I don't think they would be very impressed with a "rich" American wearing jeans to meet the director and their child.

Of course, if you are going to build a church, that's a different matter altogether (and that's way cool! )

[karenmarq]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I guess I've been focusing more on the meeting the child part (have a blanket as you suggested, ddahl, and got some toys recently) than on the meeting the orphanage staff.

It "is" a formal occasion particularly on the first visit. (I've been thinking of the scene in Cider House Rules where the prospective parents have on their Sunday finest with hats and everything.) Seems like some kind of light jacket or sweater would give a more business feeling especially for the initial meeting. And some kind of jewelry to dress things up.

I liked the dress idea initially, but if you want to sit on the floor with a child that doesn't seem real practical. I'm not much of a jeans person, so that didn't really cross my mind.

Anyway, glad to have this discussion. DH, I think, was convinced that tennis shoes or shorts would probably not be so good, and I will take some dressier sandals.

By the way, when I ran out this thread to show DH, he said, "Wow, look at this one (votemom) has been waiting over a year!" We sure send our good thoughts your way for some quick resolvement.

And, also, Kaitlin's new picture sure is cute!

Thanks again!

Karen

[GCS]

We went to Vladivostok, Far East Russia, in September of last year. It was still fairly warm there. No one was dressed in Summer like clothes at that time. Everyone was dressed for fall. I would not suggest shorts or gym shoes. We dressed business casual the entire time we were there and did not look out of place. We traveled our 2nd trip in November and yes, everyone was very bundled.

Best of luck!
Christina

[lippylulu]

It was warm when we were there and I never saw men or women in shorts. Saw lots of tennis shoes. Lots of sandals. Just no shorts.