Big Wigs in Karaganda

Hi All!
They are having the OSCE summit in Astana in a few days so they have closed down the airport here in Karaganda for all of the diplomats fly into and then drive them to Astana for the event. I think the airport here is bigger or something? In any case, there were police officers located on every single street corner this morning. Seriously, I kid you not, every single one. The BH is located pretty darn close to Nursultan’s residence here and so they were especially thick there. As a matter of fact Oxana was not even allowed to drive onto the property to drop us there this morning. She was stopped the second she turned into the driveway. She actually yelled at the police officer “But I am going to the Desky Dom (BH)! I need to get through!” She’s fiery little bugger when she needs to be. He told her it didn’t matter and to move along and she apparently told him that she was in fact not moving but that she was dropping us here and she would go find a place to park. I was actually afraid he might stop us from entering the grounds but, although he gave us a weird look and seeming to consider it, he left us to our business. Poor Oxana had to find a ‘yard’ to park in at one of the apartment complexes and then walk over. Always nice to have a little excitement to wake you up in the morning, right?

Little Sumo was cute as always. Our little punkin’ turned 11 months today. His doctor says he is not gaining weight but it’s probably because he’s been getting so much exercise with us. And one of his top teeth is coming in too. In the middle of our visit today, I started counting up how much time we have left with him. I have 6 visits which equals only 12 hours left to hold his warm little body. Yes, I am counting my time with our son not in weeks or days but in hours now. It makes me so sad. Every time I think about it, I get teary. I told Rin I was sad today and he suggested we stay here with Sumo and Peter go home to work. I might consider it if our visa wasn’t up on Sunday.

I was the one who stayed home with Rin today for naptime and nap he did. A few minute after he hit the sack, I looked outside and there were giant flakes coming down. I was really tempted to wake him up but then common sense took over and I let him snooze. But it was still going on when he woke up and he was so so excited to see it. We snuggled on the sofa and watched The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and ate popcorn while we waited for Peter to come home and we could go out and play. When we got out there, the snow was actually half slush and rather than snow angels, he made some mud angels. But there were no old ladies to yell at him this time so I let him just go to town and he was a happy boy.

I forgot to mention yesterday about how obsessed Rinat was with this one guy who was doing the vaulting on the horse who split his pants. They took 3 volunteers ‘from the audience’ (not really) to try it out and attached them to a cable in case they fell off. The first man was obviously just a regular man who really was a volunteer, the second one was one of the guys selling stuff outside and was an almost pro at it, and then the third guy made it really funny for the kids and he would almost fall and then climb back on and then almost fall off the other side and then get back on and then he split his pants and then finally stood up on the horse while it was galloping. Rinat could have cared less about him standing, he just was worried about his pants. “Who’s going to fix them? Does he have another pair? Will the circus people have a lady to sew them? Will his Mommy do it at home?” He is still asking about that guy’s pants today. It’s cracking me up.

And can we just talk about the weather for Friday for a second? High of 1, low of -13. Yup, that’s NEGATIVE 13. Well, maybe it will help me not sweat my fanny off in court because I’m so nervous. Let me say it again- a high of 1 degree. ONE. Yikes.

Keep warm! Love to all, -m