Another Short One

Hey everybody- Yes, he has arms. Here's one of them. Enjoy... So I don't really have all that much to say today either. Sorry to be so unbelievable boring but we really haven't been up to much. Oh, did I tell you we had girls and boys night on Tuesday? Yup, the girls watched Music & Lyrics, which is a cute chick flick, while the boys went and played basketball with some Kazakh teens. Our translators joined us for the movie and I am always surprised when they want to hang out with us- don't they get tired of the weirdo foreigners? We never get tired of them, though, because they are so darn sweet. And they are young too- 22 and 18 I think- so they are fun to hang out with. Gulsanna and I spend forever looking at purses and shoes at the malls. After the movie we went down and watched our men get schooled by the Kstan boys and Gulsanna and Malika kept whispering to each other in Russian. I am guessing they were talking about the cute guys. But we do actually hang out with the translators a lot. On Monday after our late visitation (6-8pm), we all went to dinner together at the Mexican place, Vaquero, and Gulsanna and the translator of the Canadians came with us then too. They are really a great source of info about Kaz. Of course, most of our questions go something like this, "Do girls here think Justin Timberlake is cute? What about Brad Pitt? What do you think of Paris Hilton?" OK so the last question was one I asked Gulsanna early on and her response "I hate her, she's trash" was a good indication of how well we'd get along. But it has also been really great to be able to talk to her about the history of Kaz and how people feel about the soviet years and what they think of the current president- stuff like that. Holy smokes, I just looked at my watch and it's almost 2am. Gotta go. Have a great day! -m

Short Post

Hi all- Someone requested more body parts so here's an ear. I tried to get hair but it't kinda hard to get the hair without the face- especially since he won't sit still for more than 4 seconds... Sorry I didn't get to post again yesterday. We actually ended up going to visitation from 6-8pm last night and then to dinner afterwards. We didn't get home until almost midnight. And today was pretty uneventful except for the fact that there are some people doing inspections at the BH so our regular visit schedule is all outta whack. And I apologize yet again but it's time for tired people like me to hit the sack. It's after 1am here and I am exhausted. Goodnight! -m Oh, and anyone who can name all of the languages found on the back of this candy bar box wins a box of Twixels. Mmmm... I'll give you a hint, one of the languages is Russian. :-)

Our Escape from the Everyday

Hi everyone! Sorry I didn't get a chance to blog before I sacked out last night. I thought I'd do 2 posts today to make up for it. For anyone who has been wondering what Kazakhstan is like outside of Astana, I have one word for you. That word is Texas. Yup, just like middle-of-nowhere-Texas, there is a lot of wide open space with short brown grass and shrub brush. And that's about it until you drive for maybe 2 hours north and then it turns into waist high brown grass (or maybe it was kasha?). Then you go another hour and it becomes waist high green grass with random pine trees thrown in so maybe we're nearing Nebraska-like vegetation now? I don't know since I've never been there but I am just guessing. Then when you have finally driven about 3 and a half hours, you finally have pine forests, windy roads, and hill/mountains. And there has only been one single village along this highway until you near the lake. The lake, Lake Balasomething, is at the foot of one of these mountains and I have to say it was really honestly beautiful. The mountains are not high but they rise out of the middle of the steppe like Kilimanjaro out of the African grasslands- like God dropped them there by mistake when he was creating the topography of the world and said "Oh well, they can have a few mountains I guess. I'll leave 'em." So we drove around for a while exploring some beautiful monuments (they love their monuments and statues here) and meandering around in the forest. We stopped off at this one monument and there was a hawk there that you could pay 200 tenge to have your photo taken holding it on your arm. I'll give you one guess as to who insisted on doing it- that's right, my Kazakh warrior of a husband Peter. That's him you see above of course. We also went for a chilly swim in the murky lake water with about a million Kazakh children. No matter where we go, we get stared at. Especially when they hear us talk. And, as we found out yesterday, especially, when we are walking around in our bathing suits. Although I don't know why they would be staring at us when there were so many fat men in speedos. That's who we were staring at. Peter, however, refused to swim and instead he got a paddle boat for Gulsanna and himself and they paddled around harassing the three of us in the water (the crazy Michigan couple and me). Baheet spent her time up at the restaurant and we joined her after changing back into our clothes. I don't know what she was doing while we swam but I'm guessing there was piva involved however because she slept most of the four hours home. That is when we weren't stopping at the side of the road in search of roadside farm potatoes. Apparently they are better than city potatoes. Oh, and she also bought some dried fish to munch on the way home. And as we drove (and drove and drove) home, we were treated to the kind of sunset that they only have in places where the sky goes on forever. It slowly sank lower and turned an amazing fire-y red just about the time our trip was done. All in all, a really nice day. Check for another post later today- we don't have visitation until 6pm because of some kind of inspection. And check out photos of the lake below. -m

Go Nursultan!!!

Hi all! Today's picture is to show that big plastic toys suck and little plastic toys rule. These are his favorite stacking cups that he loves to knock down and chew on. They're hours of fun- well 2 hours anyway. That and a foam number 8 that he chews on. It's disgustingly dirty, but oh well he loves it... So we had a really fun night tonight. We met up with everyone for dinner at this place called Ali Babba. They, of course, have shashlyk (kabobs) just like everywhere else. But the restaurant itself is really nice. It is outdoors and is decorated all beautifully and the waiters are dressed up in what I guess are Kazakh clothes. Our waitress was super sweet and was very patient with us non-Russian-speaking idiots. Around the perimeter they have these low tables for lounging with smushy seats and pillows all around it. They also have hookahs although we decided against polluting our lungs any more than the exhaust fumes already do. But the boys did have Sambuca shots. Gross. The ladies instead decided to gorge on Kazakh chocolate. Yum. Then we heard music and decided to wander and figure out what was going on. We had seen the big stage being erected in the plaza for the last few days and were wondering if it could be coming from there. There was a nice crowd and fabulous Kstan pop music- pop is just as cheesy in any language. And there were people everywhere flying the Kaz flag along with some other one with writing on it in Kazakh (which we don't see too often). We watched for a while wondering what it was all about until some boys asked us in English what we were doing here. We chatted for a second and it turns out it was a rally and concert in support of the current president, Nursultan Nazarbaev. It was kind of nice. There were lots of families there with kids running around and teenagers. The crowd was relatively subdued but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Especially the kids. And Peter and I had a contest to spot which our kid would be- the one being fairly calm and staying by his mom's side or the one running around like a maniac? We're guessing he'll tend more towards maniac. And speaking of the little guy, he hit not one but two milestones today. Firstly, we swear that he took a few crawls today. He also did his army crawl, frog hop, and one footed nosedive, but we swear he took about 3 or 4 crawls several times today. And even more important to me, when I put him down for nap today he started to whine and give me the sad eyes and reach for me. I think he knew it'd be until Monday afternoon until he saw us again. Either that or he's just practicing up on his manipulation skills. But naptime is naptime, right? Alright, off to bed. We'll let you know how the lake is tomorrow! Have a great Saturday! -m

The Shriek Heard Round the Baby House

Hello Everyone- Sorry but we forgot to take a photo of any body parts today so you get a yurt matryoshka. Matryoshka are those Russian nesting dolls that I am sure you have all seen and they are in all of the souvenir shops here (what few there are). Well, today we found some nesting yurts (the traditional tent for central asian nomads). I thought they were more appropriate for our boy than a doll... So our guy doesn't really cry but he definitely has a voice as we have found out. The only time we really hear it is when he is pissed off and frustrated. A couple of days ago, Peter tried to take away his bottle before he was done and he let out a hell-no-you're-not-taking-that kind of scream. I think it scared the bejeezus outta Peter and he immediately stuck that bottle back in his mouth before he let out another one. Then today, Peter was lying on our little peapod and smooshing him so he couldn't move and the little guy was kicking and trying to roll over which Peter found highly entertaining- that is until he let out a shriek that I bet the entire BH heard. I just started laughing. I love that he is already standing up for himself. I guess it's the Tatar in him. You know, now that I think about it, it's always Peter that seems to piss him off. Hmmm... Oh, and we got our court date today. We are scheduled for court on Aug 13th at 9:30am. And, if all goes well, we'll be bringing him home to our Kaz apt on the 28th. Then we have to be in Astana for about 6 days to do passport stuff. Then off to Almaty for a couple days for health/embassy stuff. Then home to DC. WooHoo!!!!! Oh and by the way, the yellow building that you see next to the river in some of the photos is the DHL building (the shipping co) but the first floor is the pamctop (Ramstore) which is a grocery with lots of eastern european items. It's where Peter buys his instant mocha packets which, btw, we have gotten Gulsanna hooked on. And they have tons of stuff that is in English. But we also just found a store over by A's place that is almost like an American grocery store. We are going to be stalking that store until they get another shipment of these cute smooshy building blocks with Russian letters on them that I want to bring home. Oh, and there are plenty of people who swim in the river over by the beach but Gulsanna says she doesn't because it's not clean enough so we figured we'd follow her lead. But we are going to a lake about 4 hours away on Sunday if the weather is good. It's supposed to be really nice and we can swim and just hang out the whole day. It will be nice to get out of the city and be able to see a little bit more of the country. I am curious what other places outside of the capital are like. We'll let you know! Have a great Friday! -m

The Stroller Parade

Hey all! So today we shanghaied some strollers took a little meander around the BH grounds. I thought you guys might enjoy seeing that we are not always stuck in our playroom. And it was a lot cooler out there too... When we were planning on coming to Kaz, I thought "What are we going to do to keep ourselves occupied since we only have 2 hours at the BH every day?" Well, I needn't have worried because we are actually pretty busy all of the time. Thursday, for instance, after BH and Lunch, we went to one of the malls to try and find a gift for Dr. Alma who is the director of the BH and spent a while there. Then we went to get some stuff notarized at the bank and, just like here, it was a huge pain and it took forever because they refused to notarize our passport copies because they weren't translated, then we came home and had 30 mintues before we met up with the other people for Movie Night. We all went back to the mall to buy some souveniers and we bought something for Gulsanna, got some Turkish carryout, and headed over to A's apt to watch The Departed and by the time we got home it was almost midnight. So we're definitely not spending our days sitting around. Although we do usually have our little afternoon quiet time. And speaking of that movie, it was actually pretty funny. Our Canadian friends bought it here and it was in English with subititles in Russian (and perhaps some other languages on the menu that we couldn't read because it was, of course, in Russian). I think they said it was 8 bucks and after it started, we figured out why. First, the sound track was just a little bit off so that we could hear what they said sooner than we could see them saying it. OK, no biggie. But then I noticed that it seemed kind of choppy like they had cut out some scenes- it just didn't seem to flow well. Still no big deal, but then the sound track was off and they started playing this background music that didn't match the scene at all and there were random gunshots out of the middle of no where. Turns out the random gunshots and music playing were the final part of the movie that we caught up with and heard it again when the scene finally played. It was pretty funny. Have a great day! -m

Comments

Hello Everyone! Today you get his belly. Has anyone started cutting and pasting these photos to make a baby mosaic yet? So I don't really know what to write about today so I will just answer some of the comments that people have left on our posts. *First and foremost, I still swear I will have NO GIANT PLASTIC TOYS in my house. Little guy better get his fill of them here in Kstan because it's the last he's gonna see of 'em. Our house is already bursting at the seams. Although I wouldn't mind a Green Machine in the backyard eventually. You know those big-tired tricycles that you used to pedal around the driveway until you thought you little legs were going to fall off? We used to have races at my friend Avery's house- we had a green machine and some princess one. I think they are also called Big Wheels maybe? *The Illustrious Prof. Cecil put at short history of the Tatars in the comments under our Monday post if you want to read it (along with the link to Wikipedia that Matt left a few days ago if you didn't see that one). Looks like we'll have a scrappy little guy if his genetics win out. *Our caseworker Tatiana (Hi Tatiana!) was asking about what language they speak here- Russian or Kazakh (which is a Turkic language). We have found that everyone in Astana speaks Russian. I'm assuming it's Russian anyway since we have NO IDEA what they are saying. But our fabulous translator, Gulsanna, is almost always there when we need her so we really haven't had much need to attempt our Russian. So goes to lunch with us, she goes to the store with us if we ask, she is always at the baby house and will help ask questions, she's awesome. I would tell any adopters here that they should maybe just learn some basic words so they can figure out 'chicken' and 'soup' on a menu and how to ask for water without bubbles. And maybe some items from the market. The point and smile method works pretty well for us too. I have noticed some signs with Kazakh on them though so maybe they are working their way towards phasing out Russian. The only way I can tell it's not Russian though is because it has a letter that looks like the symbol for the Japanese yen- a Y with the stick part crossed twice. But they are few and far between. *Someone was asking about how many kids were at the BH and I think they said about 100. There are only 10 in our son's group and we don't see the other kids except when they are out on the playground but they are all adorable. They ride those tricycles around like a bunch of maniacs and yell things at us that I think amounts to "BeepBeep! Coming through! Move outta the way!" We aren't allowed to play with them but I always sneak a smile and wave in when the caretakers aren't looking. *Someone else asked if the visiting room is just for us. I'm not really sure. Maybe the other kids use it outside during the winter when they can't go outside. I really don't have any idea. *And Eileen was asking if I just loved the smell of my baby's head and the answer sadly, is an emphatic no- but I think it is temporary. I hate to say it but he stinks. He smells like puke (imagine that) and spoiled milk. The milk here smells kinda funky and they feed him what I think is maybe kasha (a grain that they turn into porridge) and it gets gross. And they of course don't bathe all 10 babies every day. I think they just kinda rinse them off periodically or give them a good wipe down. But I just bought some baby wipes and I think I may strip him down and give him a good once over every day from now on. We'll see if I get in trouble for it. I also bought some lotion for his dry little cheeks. And that's about all I can think of for now. Keep those comments and questions coming. Oh, by the way, what have we been up to the last few days? Nothing much- B'fast, BH, Lunch, Errands, but then we have been wandering the town after it cools down and it has been really nice. There is a really nice amusement park kind of place across the river that we have wandered though and then last night we went out and had beers with the Michiganites at a place on the river. It had just rained and was about 75 degrees and we got some snacks (pistachios, pringles, croutons, and hard salty string cheese) and a few beers and just sat outside and watched the sun go down. That is a photo of it above. Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. I guess this is kind of like vacation but the souvenir we get to bring home is our adorable little peanut. Have a great day! -m