Getting You All Caught Up!

October 14, 2006
Our room was much warmer last night, we put the heater in our room and shut the door. Woohoo!! Our blankets are still a funny story, but we survive. We have a king size bed (sort of), but the blankets are not big enough to fit the bed so we each have our own blanket, which is weird. It’s funny.

Aliya met us at the babyhouse and she took the diapers and clothes back in to the caregivers. Then they change him and bring him out to us. What is weird is today, they did not put his shirt on him. I brought a white onsie (baby underwear) with long sleeves and then another onsie with stripes (his shirt) and they brought him in the onsie and the red jacket he had on the day before. It was weird… finally I convinced Aliya to go back in there and get his shirt. So we got to put a shirt on him!!! It was kind of exciting. He is so small without all those layers and layers of clothing on him! We can hardly wait to actually dress him our selves. We have not seen any skin on this kid except, his hands and head! Our friends Bill and Robyn said that they undresses they’re baby to look him over. But I haven’t had the heart to undress him yet, it is usually a little cold in that room. Plus, it would be just my luck the doctor would walk in when I had him all naked… and take him away because I was letting him get cold… that means you are a bad parent here in Kazakhstan

Ok! Has anyone had to get a notary on anything here in Kaz? This was crazy! We had to write a request to the Uralsk Minister of Education to see our sponsor daughter Alia. Then we found out that the interpreter that translates it to Russian had to have her translation Notarized! Not only that, but the interpreter had to have a degree and a diploma to show the notary. Since Aliya is still in college she had to find a friend of hers to come and sign the translation. We went to 3 different Notary offices. Every one’s computer was broken so they could not print the document from the disc that Aliya had. Finally we just rewrote the letter in front off the notary, by hand. First the notary typed some stuff on her computer with one finger on each hand; it was the peck method that I used to do. Ha-ha! Then while Aliya is writing the translation down, the notary starts getting out a needle and thread. I was thinking, ok she must have lost a button on her blouse or something and while she is waiting for us to finish this letter she is getting her needle and thread ready. Cool, she is a multi-tasker. NOT!! Ok! She took our documents and sewed the edge of them together with that crazy needle and thread! Then she took a triangle piece of paper, put some liquid glue on it and stuck it down over the knot she made in the thread, then she stamped 2 stamps on it and once on her typed document and signed it! It took like 10 minutes just to do her part! Serious legal document! It was hilarious! Jerry and I nearly died of laughter when we got out of the office and back in the car. The needle and thread would never fly at home, too high of liability! They might prick themselves! We had never seen anything like it! And the whole thing cost a whole 50 tenge (about 40cents)!!!!!

Then Aliya took us to the souvenir shop. They have beautiful, traditional Kazakh “dolls” and little miniature yurts. Now we know where it is, so we can go back! Then we bought medicine for the babyhouse. We had to go to two different pharmacy stores to find the whole $25 worth of medicine that they requested. We had lunch in our apartment. Woohoo! Pasta again!

We got to the babyhouse and we had just started to get our toys and stuff out when we were asked if we would mind going into the Doctor’s office for a little while. They had 3 couples there to choose children. These couples were from Germany. So we sat in the office trying to occupy Alex. Who, of course, discovered the wonderful desk was really good for banging his toys on; really hard and loud!! We didn’t get as many pictures today, we were busy trying to keep Alex out of the Doctor’s stuff. We finally went back in our play/music room.

We went to Zhas Dauren to pick up Alia. We gave her brother the soccer ball that Jerry bought at the big market. He was happy, he had Jerry and Phillipich sign it. We brought Alia back to town with us and took her to eat at good ol’ MacJohn’s! She had never had French fries before, so of course we had to order those for her. She liked them. She is a mess! She is so stinkin’ shy! It was hard to get her to talk. We found out that she also has a sister at ZD. We don’t know her “story” yet, but guess it is a crazy one, since she did not want to share it with us yet! We had to make sure she was back at Zhas Dauren by 7:30 pm. Jerry sent her home with 25 of our Coconut Puffs.

We came home and watched 2 movies, in English!! In our warmish room. Aliya had some movies from the US, she lent us.

October 15, 2006
Today we learned which children were chosen yesterday by the German families. I think they are about 3 year olds, one little girl that we see playing on the playground frequently, she is Caucasian, but has the biggest little cheeks. She actually reminds me of Kristyn. Same coloring and just giggled and giggled when Jerry was playing with them, peek-a-boo, outside one day. One little boy that I had actually noticed the other day, who is Kazakh and soooo cute with his little bowl-style haircut and another little Caucasian boy that I actually don’t remember seeing before, both were chosen!! They were there playing in our room when we got there, and had to make them pack up and leave. We gave Alex his usual vitamins and snack. He went a little wild today though. He was ravenous. He was grabbing the puffs by the hand full if he could and shoving them all in his mouth at once. He was super impatient and seemed a little snippy. We just kept playing happy stuff with him and he was fine, but we did almost see him cry today. He was crawling up and over Jerry as usual and lost his balance and fell nose first into Jerry. He was ok though, we comforted him a little and then he kept going! I think he might be fighting a cold or something. He sneezes several times every day and his nose is stuffy. Other than that he seems fine and healthy!

Luba met us at the babyhouse after our visit and then we drove to the apartment. We talked for a while and showed her some pictures of Alex and pictures from home and stuff. Then I made scrapbook pages for her and Aliya. We thought Aliya was going to freeze to death in here, she was so cold, she decided that we need another heater, so she was going to tell Olga or something. Luba loved all her make-up we brought her. Hopefully they are in the right colors.

I got to see Alex’s room today. After our visit, Aliya said we could sneak back into Alex’s group room and see. But when we were ready to go in, only one of us could go, so I went with the video camera. I had forgotten my camera at the apartment in the hubbub of the afternoon with Luba. So I took my shoes back off and in we went. Straight through to Alex’s bed, it was #3 and the closest to the door. So, hopefully, it really was his bed and not just because it was the closest to the door, (I did not see the blanket that I left with him there) because I got to go no farther. The caregiver suddenly started shooing me out, except I didn’t understand her and was standing there trying to look around. I wanted to see where he lived for almost 12 months and where he plays, eats, etc. No, I did not get to see any of it… Really. Briefly I saw hot pink curtains in the bedroom and lots of cribs. Each one was the same, with the same blanket in it. When I turned around and came out of the bedroom, we walked through their play room. There were a large round play pens on the floor with babies in them. I didn’t have time to look at the babies… they were smaller, and all laying on their stomachs except one, who was very small, but standing, holding onto the railing. He looked like a special needs child. On the other side of the playpens was open floor with a piece of carpet on the floor, I think there were some shelves, with some toys on them, but I am not sure, the caregiver was still carrying on behind me, I didn’t want to upset her, so I was trying to hurry and still see as much as possible. Opposite all of that was a kitchen looking area (I think), there was a short table with chairs around it, and bowls of food on the table, I saw bread rolls (for sure) and not sure what else was there. Then out I went again! I couldn’t believe it! They didn’t even tell me about the area or anything. The video didn’t really catch much, because I was too busy turning my head to try to see everything I could. When I came out, I was so upset, I could just cry! I was mad that the Director won’t let us go in and see everywhere he has lived, I was angry because I forgot my camera and I would have done better with the camera than the crazy video camera. I was angry because Jerry didn’t get to go in and see it all, and I have a feeling that it is not really his bed that we saw, because his blanket was not there. I did not even see Alex in there. Who knows where he was! I was angry because Alex is going to want to see where he lived someday and I won’t be able to show him, much. Maybe someone else who has been here has pictures that we can get later.

Our phone was not working today. We wanted to have dinner with our friends that stay at the Pushkin, so we walked over there, hoping that they were hoe when we got there. It was a long walk and it was super cold out! They were there! We went to their room for a while and chatted. We all decided to try the Camelot restaurant. We got a taxi. It was only 200 tenge for a 7 minute ride, about $1.50. Oh my goodness!! That is one nice restaurant. Every one of us got mashed potatoes! We were so excited, and they have an English menu. We had such a nice time. There was only one other couple that came in while we were there. Of course they were smokers so we thought we were going to have a night off from the smokers, but alas! NOT! At least there was only 2 of them and they were on the opposite side of the room. It was about 10pm by the time we left and when we walked outside, it was SNOWING! It was so beautiful! It was a wet snow, but it was snow! In Kazakhstan!!!!! We were excited. Jerry and I walked home, and the other couples got a taxi back to their Hotel.


October 16, 2006
This morning while I was in the shower, I guess, Misha brought us a microwave and another heater. After my shower Jerry suddenly says, “we have ten minutes till we have to leave!” I guess we woke up late, and I didn’t even look at the clock! Ahhh! So we rushed around and met Phillipich at the entrance to the apartment building. When we got to the babyhouse, Natasha was waiting outside the room for us. She is our new interpreter. She seems very sweet and is about 8 months pregnant! The German families were playing in the room when we got there again. The little Caucasian girl with the big cheeks was crying as they made her leave her new mama! Poor little girl. So they finally brought Alex in to us. He was wearing this long sleeved green fleece thing over his onsie and under the fleece lined shirt I sent in for him… Who knows? The other day they brought him out in just the onsie and the red jacket that he has. A little inconsistent, so I am not sure how many clothes they really want us to put on him! He was a little somber today, but still played and ate his crazy vitamins like a pro! We played as usual and ate some snacks. He was not sure about this new interpreter, though. He didn’t try to crawl away today. And when it was time for him to go back to his group, he wasn’t nearly as excited as usual. We tried his shoes on him again… I think he has wide feet because they are not that long, but it is really hard to get the shoes on him. Then the shoes are bulging. I don’t think he likes them very much. They are probably his first pair of shoes, though, so he will have to get used to them.

We went to the Atrium for lunch. We stopped at the grocery store first to get a few things, like cat food… we have a soft spot for all the kitties that hang out on our garbage cans. We put some garbage in them on the way to the store and as soon as we threw the bags in the cats all headed toward the new garbage to see if they could find any food. Yeah so we bought a 5 pound bag to dump out there on the ground for them. When we got back to MacJohn’s for lunch our friends from the Pushkin were there, so we ate with them. About half way through lunch a lady came in and looked at me and then asked if I was Christel! It was the Bucks and their travel partners! With Aliya! We chatted with them for a little while and then they were off to see the Minister of Education, and then to go to the babyhouse to choose their children. Hopefully we will talk to them tonight, and see how it went and see pictures of their kids!

When we arrive at the babyhouse in the afternoon, usually we see our friends, Bill and Robyn. They have their visit with their baby just before us in the afternoon (and just after us in the morning). Their little guy is 8-9 months old and so sweet. He is Kazakh, too. He has really dark eyes and his little hair sticks up too. He is such a cutie! We are excited that they are here now and at the same babyhouse as us. They live about 2.5 hours north of us, so we can visit each other and the kids can be friends growing up, which is just so neat!!!

Alex was very happy to see us today. We played for a while and had our snacks. His favorite puffs are the peach ones! I think he could eat those all day if we let him. Our friend Holly, at the Pushkin says her friends all call them (the puffs) “baby crack” she might be right. Ha-ha! Anyways he was smiling and happy this afternoon. Laughing a bunch and playing with his water bottle. He loves to chew on the top of the bottle. (Don’t worry, Heather, we check to make sure it is on tightly everyday!!!) Anyways, his favorite caregiver came today to pick him up; he went nuts, jumping up and down, laughing, and making loud baby noises! Crazy kid! Just when we think he wants to stay with us! :) He is just amazing; we can hardly wait to just keep him!!! I know it will be sad for that caregiver, and probably Alex, too, and I am sure I will cry as well, especially if that caregiver is sad.

I guess it really does make me happy that he loves her so much. (Kind of jealous too!) That tells me that he has been well taken care of and is attached to her. She is a cute one too, she always smiles when she comes to get him, unlike some of the other women, they just kind of grab him and carry him off, like it is “just a job” to them. They probably (hopefully) have other babies that they love more. Although I am not sure how that is possible!!!!! He is the sweetest baby there!