Our last day in the land of Kaz!

Friday, June 30, 2006

We woke up and the kids were ready and raring to go to America! It is like waiting for Christmas. They are trying to be patient though…I think. I have a feeling it is all coming down to the reality of actually leaving and they have been through a lot of waiting during the process. They are tired of waiting but are excited to know we will be traveling at night. Sasha once again says he will not be sleeping…we will see.

After a morning of packing we headed over to the American Embassy at 2:30pm. We got there at 2:50pm. We were the only ones there for a while until another group of two families came in. We wondered if it was first come, first serve. We hoped! They called us into an office and everything went very well. It was nice to talk to an official that was American. He was super nice and answered all our questions then gave us about 5 pounds of paperwork to carry in our carry-on. As Sasha would say, “no problem.” They also gave us two sealed envelopes that they told us not to open and not to let anyone else open it either until we get to the airport in the U.S. Boy that sounds good! Just one more experience in this weird process of international adoption. We have heard about the secret sealed envelope before although it does make you think of days when the teacher sent a note home to your parents. I hope we are not in trouble!

We are leaving Almaty at 3:30 am….doesn’t it sound fun?? We will be home Saturday afternoon on the same day because of the 10 hour time difference. Yippee!! We will be flying for about 22 hours. I know you are all jealous. We are grateful for all the love and the prayers over these 8 and a half weeks! God is good. Praise his mighty name!
See you in America!

A little culture, a little sightseeing.

Thursday, June 29

Today was our last full in Kazakhstan, perhaps forever, perhaps not, only the Lord knows for sure. Lola had our driver pick us up at 11:00 am for another trip up the mountain to check it out without rain this time. It was very cloudy and we prayed for the rain to stay away. We got to the top, as least as far as you can drive, and we were excited that the ski lifts were indeed operating today. We quickly paid and got on 2 by 2 for the scenic ride up the mountain. Everything was so green and lush and beautiful. The kids have never ridden chair lifts before and it was great fun for them. Garrett and I have never ridden one without snow everywhere, so it was indeed an adventure for all of us. We videoed and took pictures as we ascended up and both of the kids said “this is not big tall”. After we rode the first lift as high as it would go we paid again to ride the next one up to the next level. It ended much higher but still did not go to the top. Fortunately I had everyone bring a light jacket (even Garrett!!) because it might be cool up there and I was right. The temperature dropped quite a bit in the cloudy overcast day. There was another lift that would go up higher but it was not running today, so we exited the lift and looked around a bit. Sash decided he wanted to hike up this very rocky area and reach this patch of snow/ice that we could see. We decided to walk part of the way and then showed him that it was indeed farther away than it appeared. About this time we felt a few sprinkles and abruptly turned around and hiked back down the rocks. The sprinkling quickly stopped but we decided to start the journey back down since our driver was waiting on us. We assumed we did not need to pay to ride down the mountain and we were correct, no tenge needed. Several people hiked a path up and down the mountain basically following the chair lift.

Once we finished our mountain ride we headed to Mama Mia’s for the second time this week, the third for Garrett and I. This time it was open for business and very crowded. When we first walked in the hostess simply looked at us and said “nyet”. We looked around and saw that is was full at the moment but tried to let her know we would wait. After a few minutes she got the idea that we would wait for a table to open up, we assume people here must not wait if there are no seats available. They obviously don’t know who they are dealing with here, we come from the land of restaurant waiting….we have waited for hours…even days…but I digress. We finally got seated and had a delicious meal.

After our meal we were off to the zoom…yes there are zooms everywhere.
We wanted to have that last minute souvenir shopping experience. We gave both of them some fun money and they had a great time looking for those special things. Stella has the lets see how fast I can get rid of this money thing. She is getting more discerning though and many times asking us what we think and then at the last minute going “no” and then runs off to another place to look. She bought a Kazakh house model which is like a cross between a tee pee and a round tent. They are quite interesting. We have not seen one up close but they are neat in the tiny form. Sasha was on a mission to find a gold tiger or lion statue but they were all too expensive so he found a lion made out of real fur. He was very pleased with his purchase and named him “Simba.” Quite appropriate I think.

We had a good time but were tired, hot and ready to go rest for a little while since we were going out for a genuine Kazakh restaurant with performances in singing and dancing. We got a taxi successfully and arrived home around 6pm. That gave us an hour and a half for me to blog. The driver picked us up at 7:30 and we met Lola there. When she first walked up we were a little concerned because she was dressed very nicely and we were more casual. I mean if we knew Garrett could have worn his suit, right? Anyways, when we got inside we realized we were ok not like it mattered but we did not want to be totally obvious we were from “out of town.”

Lola assisted us with the menu which was also in English and she thought we should try some of the more popular Kazakh food. Unfortunately for me many of the dishes involve horsemeat!!! Since Tuey and I had that conversation about me not eating any of his cousins while over here I knew this was not an option for me. Garrett agreed. I guess Diamante had talked to him also… So what do you eat when horse is not an option in a Kazakh restaurant you may ask? Camel, of course! I think my equine buddies would agree under the circumstances it had to be done. Garrett and the kids got Mutton. We also ordered some salads. The food came and I have to say the camel was quite good. It is a very lean piece of meat which is why horse is so popular from what I understand. Sasha was all over it and ate quite a bit of mine. He is a serious anti-fat on his meat man. He also ordered fresh squeezed lemon juice, no sugar, no water just juice. He can drink it without the slightest pucker of the lips! I can tell we are going to go through a lot of lemons.

Shortly after we ordered the show started. We did not have the best seat in the house and had to crane our necks to see but it was all very good. There was a lady that played the violin but she held it like a cello on her lap and was very talented. They also have a small mandolin that they play and there were many singers and dancers and little acts. It was neat to see. We forgot to charge our camera so a lot of it will need to be in our memories but we got a few pictures. Some people started dancing and Stella was doing a little solo dance on the side. She wanted Garrett and I to dance but I had a headache so she asked Garrett to dance and he foolishly thought she wanted him to dance with her but after he accepted she got Lola up to dance with him! Garrett felt a little awkward but he was game. So off they went and at the last minute Stella decided to make it a three-some. They were so cute. I got a little video to seal the moment. We headed home shortly after as it was 10:00 and we have a big day tomorrow.

When we got home we immediately checked email and found out we got our flights!!! We get to leave at 3:20am Saturday, July 1 and get home that same day at 4:20pm! We are so excited!!! We were talking though before we went to bed and Garrett and I do not feel like it is real. We have been away for such a long time it seems weird. So many times we have had to push back flights and change plans it is hard to believe it is really happening but we are going with it baby!!!

Praise God we will see home on Saturday. Sasha says the first thing he wants to do is hug all the family and then go home and see his room! The kids are pumped!

Until then good night and God bless.

Yet Another Aqua Park

Wednesday, June 28

Well as we close out Wednesday we still do not have a confirmed flight home. The Eagles song comes to mind. “You can check out any time you want but you can never leave.” We know that is not the case for us as we are 11th hour people serving an 11th hour God. Still we are ready to hear something…soon…please?

We had a nice day if you consider a nice trip to the Doctor good. For a medical it was very pleasant though. They saw us right on time, better than a lot of doctor’s offices I have been to in America. They did all their vitals and measured their height and weight and did a brief eye exam. Sasha is one inch taller than Stella and about 8 pounds heavier. After the nurse did the vitals we saw a woman doctor that spoke some English. She was very nice and gave suggestions about various things we should do when we get home to America. There were also records of shots and it turned out that Sasha needed a measles mumps and rubella vaccine to go to America. We were a little unsure about it since what kids handles getting shots well but he said, “No problem.” He was right. He watched them give him the shot and did not even make a face. We were very impressed. Garrett told him when he was his age he did not handle shots that well. He did not have any reaction to it either. He did great!

We went with Lola and had lunch at one of her favorite coffee shops. We had sandwiches and fries. It was good. I had an ice coffee. Sasha thinks they are great and Stella does not. We are not too keen on them starting a coffee habit just yet!

Sasha has Aqua Park on the brain! He feels it is his duty to inspect as many pools as possible and he was determined to give it his best shot to get to one today. He talked to Lola to find out if she was available to take us. We thought she may not be since she had more families coming in town today but she asked if we swim and of course we love to but I have had a little head cold and was not feeling up to swimming and Garrett pulled something in his shoulder. She has a 12 year old daughter and asked if she could take Sasha and Stella swimming at the pool and Garrett and I stay home! After a brief moment of guilt we decided that would be okay or as Stella says, “This is yes!”

We came home and got the kids ready and at 3:50pm Lola came and got them and said 2 or 3 hours. We said fantastic! I caught up with my blog and we rested a bit. We started dinner, thinking the kids would be hungry, with what we bought at the grocery store. They did not get home until 7:30 and had lots of stories about the pool. Sasha let me know they had blue water and it was lots of fun. They were BIG hungry! We could hardly fix stuff fast enough. After dinner they had showers and we watched a little t.v. We decided to try to get to bed a little early and we did an ok job of that. We are still waiting on confirmed flights to come forth. We are calling them forth!! It is time for the new Boyd Family to come on down to America!!!

A Papa Shot!

Thought some of you might be wondering where Papa is lately so I wanted to show he was looking good and feeling good in Kazakhstan! We are looking forward to going back up Thursday! Stella did a good job taking the picture. She is always very careful.

A High Yet Wet Adventure!

Tuesday, June 28th

After our day of rest we were ready for some Almaty excitement and nothing satisfies like a little shopping! We went to the Zoom along with Lola our translator and authority on the finishing process of the adoption. She will basically hold our hand through the Medicals for the kids and all the paperwork for passports, visa and exit interviews at the Embassy scheduled for Friday at 3:00. They do all the families that have appointments Friday at 3:00pm so that should be interesting. We have to change our flights from Friday to Saturday and are still having trouble finding flights without having to buy one-way tickets back for us all. The World Cup has made all flights booked along with high season for travel so we are keeping things interesting right up to the end. As a child I loved Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries and my Mom says I have been writing in that style so I guess we are keeping the mystery going. We are expecting the mystery to be solved and for there to be a very happy ending!

We arrived at the Zoom via a taxi and recognized our old “neighborhood.” We stayed just down the street from there at the beginning of our journey so long ago. We looked around a little bit outside and then headed in to the 3rd floor for a little souvenir shopping. We are looking for things that are happy memories for the kids and their heritage. We found some flags, a picture book of Kazakhstan with some English in it, and a doll for Stella and a Gold Man for Sasha. The Gold Man is a symbol of Kaz that was found only in 1998. It was a soldier that was from ancient times and he was dressed on all gold armor. He is all over the place on statues sometimes riding a tiger. Sasha has had his eye on one for a while so after finding out its historical significance we decided to purchase a small one for his room. All the vendors at the Zoom seem to have the same prices.

You can also find lots of native clothing and bow and arrow sets along with canteens, saddles, crops made out of animal feet and animal pelts. It is hard to decide what all to get while considering what will travel well. We plan to go back again before we leave. We find when the kids have a chance to think about it for a while they can narrow down to what they really want. We do want them to have treasures that will last as well as fun things. We wanted to get them a native costume which is velvet. Marina said a vest would be great and based on the prices, we like that idea. From what we understand the older the person the more fancy and longer the coat and taller the hat. We were all about a vest and went into a store and started looking at vests. We wanted Sasha to have one that is bigger than he can wear now and for later when he is bigger but the lady would not even let us look at them saying the vests are only for girls! Well Sasha will not have a vest now…thanks a lot! Oh well, we will see. Marina said that she always recommends a vest. I have never been to a place like this where you are a good paying customer and they will flat out refuse to sell you something for strange reasons but I am sure it is not strange to them just us weird Americans.

We looked around a little more and then Lola left to pick up two families at the airport. They are actually from Atlanta. It is Elaine and Pam and Robert who are in their interim time of adoption called the waiting period. A lot of families go home and come back in about 3 weeks to pick up their children here in Almaty. We had lunch at a little coffee café with a simple sandwich menu. It was good and I got an ice coffee. Just about as we were finishing Lola showed up and we went to see the ski resort and the snow capped mountains. It started to rain shortly after we left and we thought it might be a quick shower but it rained hard all the way up our slow ascent to the resort. After we arrived we found out they were closed. We were bummed but took a few pictures. It was still pretty. We decided we would definitely go back on Thursday. It is gorgeous up there and nice and cool.

On our way down Lola told us the families from Atlanta wanted to have an American dinner with us so we made plans to go to The American Grill. It is a place in town that has good American style food. Lola said there is a place in town that has a dinner show of authentic Kazakh food with a horse and rider performance in costume. We will do that another day hopefully before we go home. Anyways we met them at 6:30 for dinner and the food was really good and we had a good time catching up. They leave tomorrow morning at 7:30 am. We promised them we would not be here when they get back in a few weeks!

We got home and worked on trying to get some flights home on Saturday the 1st but do not have anything confirmed yet. We will though. God is faithful. I pray He has found us faithful!

Some Pretty Horses or Loshods in Russian

This Stella in front of the Zoom with a large horse with a chair on it's back. These horses are all over the city painted all kinds of ways in a variety of poses and sizes. They are purchased by groups and corporations in the city as a fund raiser from what I understand much like the turtles throughout Sandy Springs. They are kinda neat. I wonder if I can fit one in my carry on. It might look mighty fine in my front yard. Would that break any covenants? Hmmm...

A shopping we go!

This is me and the kids in Almaty next to the Zoom on Tuesday. We were on our way to lunch and stopped for a photo opportunity. Their Zoom is much larger. We were looking for more Kaz souveniers for the kids rooms.

The Twain...The Twain!!

Monday, June 26th

Here we are in Almaty. We made it! It is a beautiful city and very clean. It feels like any other European city. It has beautiful snow-capped mountains off in the distance. We look forward to visiting some of the sites here.

We left the train station in Karaganda around 9:50pm. It arrives 15 minutes before departure and there is much anticipation when getting on. Marina was there with us the whole time and we were hanging back a bit getting out our Passports when Marina said, “Garrett, hurry!” We did and had no time really to say goodbye to Marina, just a quick hug and a kiss from me. I was a little emotional. I brought up the rear on the train and got on just in time to see Garrett wrestling with one of our suitcases through the narrow corridor. Garrett won, because he is so muscley. Marina said we would be fine if we did not have too much luggage. I think we were borderline. The little cabins have a sink straight ahead under the window and two seats on each side. We were riding the famous “Spanish Train” that we have heard so much about. The other train option is apparently not a very good experience. There is a common bathroom to each train car much like an airplane. Nothing real exciting but Marina told us, “you will survive.” We were not real sure what that meant but she was right! As soon as we got in our room we looked out the window and Marina was standing there like a mother hen making sure everything was ok. I think she would board the train and straighten out a few people if reason arose. Stella went over to the window and waved while Marina blew kisses to her and continued until we left a few minutes later. She walked along the train for a few seconds and blew kisses to us all. Stella said over and over, “Goodbye Karaganda!”

The seats collapse and four beds drop down. We paid the attendant an extra 600 tenge for something…we are not real sure what for, maybe to lower the beds. They used a key to unlock them. We went ahead and dropped them down since it was after 10:00 and we did not know when she would come back. The kids immediately crawled up on the top bunks, which was ok with us and according to our plan. I pulled their genuine Karaganda blankets we bought at the Green Bazaar and they stripped down and we turned out the lights and stared out the window watching the sun finally go down. Sasha told me before we got on the train that he would not be sleeping but would play gameboy all night long. I said yeah, right. They did play for a while but it was not too long before the lull of the rocking train drew us all into a mediocre sleep. Sometimes the rails were loud and sometimes quiet. We stopped twice, we are sure of that. At 3ish I got up and went to the little girls room which is also the little boys room. I decided to close the curtains since the sun would be rising in another hour or so and I knew we would sleep better but...at first light Sasha threw open the curtains so we could see the sunrise. Yeah… I decided to see it on video later as Garrett was recording. I was nursing a head wound after all and had a band-aid to prove it after all!!! Me’s was still big hurt!

I thought I would not fall asleep with all the blinding light in our cabin but amazingly enough I woke at 7:15am. Garrett was up too but the kids were sacked out. At about 7:30 there was a knock at the door from the train attendant and she basically said, “Get up you lazy Americans…we will be in the train station soon and we want your butts off this train!” (loose translation) It worked too because the kids hopped to it. In 15 minutes we were dressed, had teeth brushed, put up our beds and had our luggage ready to go. We were not going to be left behind! We pulled in at exactly 8:05am feeling as fresh as we looked. We pushed the kids off first sacrificing ourselves for their sake. Praise God Lola was there to get them while we wrestled the mighty suitcases out of the train unassisted of course. Marina told us sternly not to accept anyone’s help there because the bill would rise with every step they took. I was relieved Lola had a driver to help with one of the suitcases and in no time we were at the car. Lola looked at us and then the car and asked if we needed another car. We laughed after all our escapades with many more people in a much smaller Mr. Bean style car. We won’t know what to do when we get to America where the amount of people in a car is limited by the number of seatbelts! We could be candidates for the circus I think!

She brought us to our very nice apartment with a/c in the master bedroom!!! Woo-hoo, happy times!!! We are very thankful for such nice accommodations. We went immediately with her to a grocery store but they were not open yet so we ate at a café outside on croissants and 7 up…yummy. When the grocery finally opened we were there to secure what we might be needing. We are on our own now, like everyone else having to cook or prepare food three times a day!!! How barbaric! I do not think we can live under these conditions! It is hard to come up with meals in a foreign grocery but we did the best we could and lugged home what we thought we could carry.

We were all pretty tired and I was not feeling well. Remember the mirror to the head incident…so I took a nap and the family sacrificed and gave me the a/c room and closed the door making the apartment get quite warm. About 3 hours later I woke up and the kids were HOT! The apartment has a very nice shower with a rain shower head and massaging jets and a small bath area, just big enough for a kid so they filled it up with cold water and took turns dunking their heads in the ice cold water. Then they had to put on their bathing suits and try to put their bodies underwater. Needless to say they were “BIG cold” soon enough. Garrett went out and got us all “King Burgers.” They looked a lot like Burger King but without the lingering flame broil taste. He wisely chose chicken burgers and “frites” for the kids. He said it was an adventure ordering them.

By 7pm Stella officially passed out. Sasha followed by 8:30. We got our internet up and blogged a bit and then headed to bed ourselves in our a/c room. Ahhhh….

"Goodbye Karaganda...We will miss you..."

Sunday, June 25

We spent the morning packing and washing clothes and waiting for them to dry. I sent Garrett and the kids to the store while I took a shower for snacks for the train and to pick up a few mementos of Kaz that they like. They came back with chocolate bars, Simba tea and plastic sport bottles with Simba and Barbie on them. It was a good idea for the train but I was hoping for fruit or chips or something more substantial. Oh well…

We went upstairs for our next to the last meal and it was great as always. Sasha and Marat sat together as they are accustomed to and had a good time. Garrett snapped a few pictures of our eating area since we spent almost 8 weeks dining there with fabulous food. We will miss Brett and Karen very much. We really clicked and have the same strange sense of humor!!! I know many of you are laughing at home.

After lunch we decided to exchange a few photos on our computers so Brett came upstairs and loaded some since we went out one day without our camera because the battery was dead. While he was there Natalia came over to say goodbye and visit a little. It was good to see here since she had been busy with college graduation over the weekend. She still had her hair done up very pretty. She is a beautiful girl anyways. She desires to come to America and be an interpreter for a while. We told her we could use one… We will be looking for something official at home. Her brother lives in New York and she wants to see him very much.

She left around 3:00 and the kids wanted to play computers so we called Marat to see if he wanted to go also. He did so I went downstairs and took my camera to load on Brett’s computer and the kids went to play ALONE with a pocket full of Tenge, small coins of course. They had enough for an hour of computers and an ice cream. It was big fun…for us and them! Brett decided not to go through the pictures right then and there but instead to download all 780 of them to go through later! I am very scared of what will come back to haunt me!!! Sasha should be the most afraid though with some of the pictures we have! We had a really good time hanging with Brett and Karen and no kids.

Finally the kids arrived from their adventure and Marat being the gentleman that he is went over to retrieve some stray socks that flew off his mom’s clothes line but while going over the fence on his way back he slipped and fell on his side where his ribs were. He was crying and in a lot of pain when Karen brought him in. The funny thing was he never dropped his ice cream! He was so pitiful sitting there crying and then momentarily stopping to lick his ice cream. Anyways, after careful examination by Dr. Mom he was pronounced ok to go. He got an icepack which is apparently a common occurrence for him. He did constantly remind us that,”Me’s BIG hurt!” Everything with him is BIG this and BIG that! I started laughing so hard I could not stand up. Sasha was looking at me like are you ok? He came over and sat down next to me and wanted me to tickle him so we started tickling/ wrestling on the floor. This was too much for Marat and so he started a little two on one and then Stella got involved…I was doing pretty good too until a blanket was introduced and I was the prey of choice. So now I was avoiding the blanket, tickling this one, pulling off this one…trying to breathe. Finally I pulled in reinforcements so Karen and Garrett helped while Brett laughed and I later found out took pictures! I know this now since looking at his blog…

The kids had lots of fun but not long afterwards at dinner Marat was back in the “Me’s big hurt” mode. He is a cutie! After our last supper as Garrett called it we headed back to our place to do some rapid packing. I knew I was up to the task but Garrett was not so sure but by 9pm we were ready to rock and roll. Marina was due about then and I was doing some last minute tidying up in the bedroom when I opened the wardrobe and a good size mirror came crashing down and broke its fall on my head. It shattered upon impact but Praise God, only cut me about a quarter of an inch on my hairline. But suffice it to say “Me’s BIG hurt!!!” I felt like I had been hit by a 2x4 so I looked and felt my best on our way to the train station. Marina came to get us and after hugging our buddies Brett, Karen and Marat and a few “pakas” (Russian good-bye) from the kids, we were off. We arrived at the train station with 20 minutes to spare. More about our train adventure next time…

Buddies Forever!

Here is Sasha and Marat at dinner wearing their Kazakhstan official hats. They are going to miss each other but we have a good reason to visit Michigan now!

Last Full Day in Karaganda

Here we are with Nastia at dinner.

Saturday, June 24th

We decided today was a good day to spend with our friends from Michigan since we will be leaving Karaganda on Sunday evening for an overnight train to Almaty, the former Kazakhstan capital, to do our final paperwork, medicals for the kids and our US Embassy interview. Then we are outta here baby…

We had a nice lunch provided by Nastia, one of the cooks upstairs, of chicken soup with egg noodles and salad and meat. She also made a fresh compote of boiled fruit and water. It is very good. While we were eating Brett wanted to say something to Marat but Murat was talking to Sasha so he held up his finger and said, “One minute.” We all cracked up because we have talked to them about interrupting us, while talking, many times. After he finished talking he put his hand down and said, ”Yes, Papa?” The look on Brett’s face was priceless! We had a good laugh at his expense. At least we know they are listening.

Marina came in to see us and told us she had bad news that we will not be able to make our Friday flight home but will have to change to Saturday since the flights leave at 3am. Pleas pray for favor that we can find flights with it being a holiday weekend and that we make good connections. Sasha and Garrett and I were very bummed. We decided to not stay bummed but enjoy our day with good friends. We know God will make a way where there is no way.

After lunch we headed out to the now world famous Aqua Park. Brett and Karen and Marat have not been to this Aqua Park yet and today was their chance to enjoy the ever changing water. We hooked up with our Nastya and headed out for one last swim in Karaganda, Kaz. The kids all enjoyed swimming as usual and Garrett and I and Brett and Karen and even Nastya sat on a bench and watched the fun this time. We talked “adult talk” and watched the kids slide and swim and leap off the diving platform. Of course their favorite thing to do is the “Mama, Papa watch this!” game. You can always pick out Sasha in a crowd when he speaks. His voice is very distinct especially when he yells, “Marat!” with the rolling “r’s! The pool was fairly crowded so it makes it more of a challenge to keep our eyes on them at all times.

The slides block a lot of our view and the lighting in not real good. One time Marat and Sasha decided to go to the top of the big slide which is about two circles around before hitting the water. We could see them from our point of view. Sasha went in first followed quickly by Marat, a definite no-no. All the sudden I saw the top of Marat’s head pop up five feet into the tube. He had decided not to go and was coming back to the top. The guard was blowing his whistle and yelling something but Marat kept on coming till he was back at the top with his water wings on. He jumped out and like a bullet took off back down stairs to try to get back in the water before Sasha hit water at the end of the tube. I know what you are thinking…there is no way a kids could climb two flights of stairs and get back down before he came down a water tube. But this tube could also be called the “slow thriller”. The kids do not lay back like the rapid propulsion people do so they go real slow down to the tube until they get to the bottom and you see feet and then they hop into the water.

When it was time to go we gave the kids the usual 5 minute warning. After showering and calling a taxi we headed to the Asia store to get some souvenirs. We spent about an hour and a half in this small store, much to Brett’s dismay, but it is loaded with authentic Kaz items of all sorts. We got a few things for the kids and ourselves and gifts for our families.

After leaving the store….we realized our hunger meters were redlining and we needed some real Kaz cuisine…only one thing could possibly satisfy our ravenous-itis…Shis-ka-bob! Fortunately our ka-bob place was just down the street so we headed out via taxi of course. The place was much more crowded this time and we wondered if there would be a wait. It was Saturday night you know! But they seated us right away in our “usual” table. Ok, we’ve been there twice to this huge restaurant and they put us in the exact same seat. Garrett and I dined on some borsh soup and we all had some greek salad and chicken ka-bobs. Garrett and Brett walked on the wild side and had some sort of Kazak beef dish. All the food was excellent and we got to listen to a well known Kaz singer who serenaded the whole place. He was really good. He had shoulder length slicked back hair and was wearing a white suit. He walked around the whole place with his wireless microphone. I kept waiting for the Mariachi band to pop out but they never came. There were several parties going on at the same time, mostly graduation parties from Kazakhstan Universities. There was lots of dancing and celebrating. Finally a good thing had to come to an end and our tummies were full and it was 8:30 so we headed for home. We got two taxis after a bit of an ordeal locating a second one. The first taxi driver walked out in the street and flagged down this guy. His car did not look like a taxi but hey we had Nastia so if she was ok with it so were we. Garrett volunteered to take the kids with the first guy which left Brett, Karen, Nastia and me for the other taxi. We discussed the fact that we could go somewhere else and let Garrett take care of the kids but thought better of it. We did have a good time laughing and sharing “stories” (that’s for you Brett) on the way home. It was a great night!

We went back to the apartment and said a very reluctant good-bye to Nastya for the last time. There were a few tears and a promise to stay in touch. We are trying to get her to visit the U.S. and we will take good care of her during her stay. We swung by Brett and Karen’s on our way up to borrow a movie and then headed upstairs where we started the nasty deed of packing. Ok, I packed and the kids watched the movie. I think we turned in about midnight to close out our last full day in Karaganda with some much needed sleep. I decided to run a couple of loads of clothes but just ran one because it takes three hours for one load but praise God for a washing machine! God is so good to us.

We head out tomorrow evening at 9:50pm for our train adventure. Garrett has never even been on a train so we are all looking forward to it. It is a Spanish Train that will travel overnight while we sleep and we arrive in Almaty at 8:05 am. We hate to go but it will be nice to have a change of scenery. So until tomorrow, “Good Morning, America!”

Saying Goodbye is Never Easy...

Here is a group of our friends that we will never forget. They will be in our hearts and prayers from now on.

Our Final Farewell

Friday, June 23

We pretty much had a quiet day in anticipation of our party at the camp for the Detskidom. We got all our gifts distributed and wrapped up and had lunch and waited for the 3:00 phone call or door knock saying lets go! We were ready at 2:30 just in case. One never knows when the call might come. So we had our packages ready our shoes on and we waited…and we waited…3:30…4:00…4:30! We knew they were expecting us at 4:00 so we were a little anxious. Finally at 4:40 we sent Sasha up to Marina’s apartment to ask, “What was the deal”!!! They called Marina and she said it would be 6:00. Ok. The kids meanwhile were getting edgy. I made the decision to take them to play computers to work off a little energy since we had a whole hour to spare. When we got back they were loading the car for our departure. Of course they wanted us to hurry! When we got in the car Garrett said Marina had called and said the delay was because of trying to get our passport paperwork done and stuff being translated. Of course that was understandable!!!

We rode in the car for about 40 minutes across the Karaganda countryside and it was a gorgeous day. It was a little cool and low humidity with thunderstorms about. The plains were lush and green looking with little villages dotted here and there. They had tiny, tall house with slanted roofs. They almost did not look real from a distance. It was like 50 houses in a field surrounded by make shift fences. I would have liked to have taken a picture but we were traveling at the speed of sound and they would not have turned out. We were obviously very late. The roads are narrow and potholes are abundant. We turned down an even more narrow road in a field and followed it around for bit till we came to a locked gate with some buildings in the distance. They person with the key was no where to be found so we walked to the building on the left and Sasha immediately recognized it. It was the place they came when they arrived back in Kaz after visiting America last summer.

As soon as we went around the corner kids started coming over and smiling and waving and shaking Sasha’s hand. Stella ran upstairs in the first part of the building to see if anyone was up there and we walked down to the dining area which is where just about everyone was finishing up. They had been waiting on us all day and were so glad to see us! It was so nice. We found Rada and Andrey and they took us on a tour of the dorm areas. They were very clean and orderly. The camp is basically a long, narrow two story building divided into two sections. I do not think they use the first floor in the part they sleep in and it has about 8 different rooms of all sizes with beds in each. The whole camp is in this one corridor. That is 6 families in one space. I never did find out where the mamas sleep. The mamas come to camp in two week blocks of time and trade out with the other mama for each family group. There is one t.v. in the hallway. After our tour we went outside and realized everyone was gathering in arranged seating for a concert. We were given a seat of honor front and center with Marina. They had prepared many different acts for us of different performances from singing to dancing to a speech. First of all though they called us forward and had gifts for us! They had Kazakstan t-shirts in bold yellow, baseball caps and lapel pins. They also had a calendar, pens and a video of the history of Karaganda. It was so unexpected! We enjoyed it all. Marina stood up and told the camp of the gifts we and our families were giving to the orphanage and they were all very excited and very thankful. They then sang us a song…a chant really…”spa-ce-ba, spa-ce-ba!” They sang it over and over again while they clapped their hands. This means ‘Thank you” in Russian.

Then we were invited to a dinner of salad, potatoes, chicken, and apples juice or compote as they call it. It was all delicious and we enjoyed our little private dinner in the dining room. After dinner we had some tea in big tea cups with no handle. They also served sugar in a bowl with 6 spoons sticking out to pass around, very original I think. After dinner we distributed the gift we had for the kids and they were very excited. We took a bunch of pictures and Garrett just rolled video so we could get as much of the experience as possible. We do not want to forget this place or these people. We have so many special friends there. Stella’s mamma that speaks English made a special trip to be there to see us. It makes it so much more enjoyable when you have that language connection.

There are two girls at the orphanage that came to America in Kidsave last summer and their families will not be able to adopt them now. I took some picture of them and will post them on the blog and do what I can to help them be adopted. They need a family, along with Andrey, and deserve one since they think they are coming to America already. The girls are 9 years old and very tiny. One is Carrina and is beautiful with dark hair and the other is Luda who I have written about before. She is also beautiful with blonde hair and blue eyes and very photogenic! We are praying for good homes for all three.

We talked to Rada and Andrey quite a bit and we brought gifts for them. Rada got a CD player that her family in Colorado has been trying to get to her for a while. She was very excited and she and one of her friends stood listening to it with a earphone in each ear with big grins from ear to ear to ear. We gave Andrey his own Gameboy. We found a place in Karaganda that had one and some games. He was very cute about it. He hugged both of us goodbye twice and asked us when we would be calling him. They will go home from camp on August the 28th. I told him we would call on that day and he seemed very pleased. When he hugged me the last time he said, “Kelley, I like you very much!” I will miss him so much!

The kids followed us to the car and Sasha and Stella’s mammas hugged them close and kissed them and whispered in their ears and then we were in the van and whisked away with them running and waving behind us. The sky was so beautiful outside and there was a storm in the distance with lightening and rain. It was the first time we had been out so late and we enjoyed the ride back to town with all the lights of the city. It is very pretty at night. I am glad we could be here this time of year to enjoy the simple beauty of Karaganda.

We were tired when we got home but not too tired to build a fort before turning in. I thought maybe the kids would be down after seeing their friends but they handled it all so well. I think better than I would for sure.

Another day in Kaz!

Thursday, June 22nd

We had a quiet morning again but Garrett and I have the kids hooked on “kid flinging”. Garrett takes an arm and leg on the same side of course and I take the other side and we rock the kids incredibly high up in the air back and forth 3 times and toss them on the sofa. They love it! After one is thrown the other one throws themselves onto the floor with arms and legs in the air ready for flinging! We showed Brett and Karen what we do too. I’m not sure it was a good idea having witnesses and all but I don’t THINK they will use it against us!

At lunch Marina gave us the kids school records and Natalia was nice enough to come over and translate them for us. Sasha has completed the 5th grade and Stella the 2nd. This will be helpful when we have testing and decide on a school at home. Please pray for us as we prepare to pick a school that we choose the right one.

We moseyed over to the computer salon for a little eye/finger exercises with the computer games. What a workout. I tell you what when you exert that much energy in a hour you need some ice cream to recover! Luckily there is a store only steps away from the computer store so we can take care of that. They have moved away from the ice creams lately and prefer a lime or orange sorbet type thing on a stick. There is some fruit juice in their somewhere, right?

After dinner we got together with Brett, Karen and Marat at our place and the kids watched Shrek 2 in Russian. When the movie ended WWF II broke out and there was much tickling and wrestling going on. Marat is very ticklish too and Garrett says he is like a gator while being tickled because he goes into a big spin on the floor like a death roll. We all had a good laugh! Then it was getting late and the kids wanted to get their bed out so we said goodnight and got ready for bed. They built a mini fort with their heads covered and bundled under their arctic blankets with pj’s on and then said, “It’s hot!” I wonder why. We cranked the a/c in their room to a cool 19 degrees Celsius and headed off to our probably 30 degree Celsius room where praise God there is a fan! We miss a/c but are grateful we have what we have.

We miss home and are ready to see America again. God bless America, land that we love! It is bitter-sweet though because we have made many friends over here and it is sad to think we will more than likely never see them again. We will miss them all very much and hope to keep in touch with them in the future. Kazakhstan is in our heart to stay!!!

Here we are after Shish-ka-bob!

Looking good...feeling good!!!

Shish-ka-bob!!!

Looks Good Doesn't it!

Sasha at the Bowling Alley

Here is Sasha demonstrating his bowling fantastic form! He earned a championship beverage for his efforts at acheiving a perfect "100"! He chose orange juice to wet his whistle.

Bowling and a Mighty Fine Dinner

Wednesday, June 21

We arose a little later on our last Wednesday in Karaganda and had some breakfast and the other usual routine here. We had a quiet morning of Gameboy and me trying to catch up on the blog. The internet is so slow here. It can take 5-10 minutes to upload a picture. But the public has spoken and said pictures are worth a thousand words which makes my efforts seem kinda small but we do our best to keep you hungry for more. Today is no exception!

After lunch of course, you wouldn’t want Garrett to go without missing a meal, we met 3 other families for Bowling at the Boomer Bowling Alley. It had pictures of BMW’s everywhere thus the name Boomer but at home we call them Beemers…go figure. I guess it is one of those translation things. It was a small and very nice bowling alley. There are two in Karaganda and now we have seen both. It had only 10 lanes and instead of concessions you have a menu that you order from and they bring it from the bar upstairs. John and Robin and their family took lane 1. Robert and Pam took lane 2 and we took lanes 3 and 4. Sasha, Stella and Marat took lane 3 and they have those nice bumpers to prevent gutter balls. I wish we had them too! All the kids had fun with them. It is cute to watch a ball going down the long and winding path to the pins with only gravity making them meet. Then when 2 succumb to the ball there are screams of delight and much jumping and clapping.

Natalia came along with us which was a good thing because no one else was there to help us work out the details of shoes, lanes, balls, food etc. so all families used her and she handled it all so well! She said she loves her job of translating for Marina and working with families. She graduates from college on Friday and plans to continue working for Marina. She got a discount card so that next time we can bowl and have food at a discount. She was very attentive to our needs and noticed on the first game that Sasha made a perfect 100 for his score so she raced to the counter to get his prize a beer or juice. We chose juice of course and he was very proud of himself. If you get three strikes you get a beer or a hamburger! Brett got three and they insisted he take his beer to go when we were leaving. They handed him his nice frosty Karaganda beer as went out he door. We are definitely not in America! We all bowled fairly mediocre except for Garrett and our local Bowling Turkey Brett…he says we can call him Mr. Brett. Garrett actually made a Turkey but it was 2 of his own and one shot for me while I was talking to Stella after she pummeled her brother and needed a mama, shall we say “conference”. I made a few lame excuses about not having my own ball after double gutter balls. Then when I said I was not going to do that any more Brett said, “You are a woman of your word.” just after I took out a single pin. I think that takes talent to show that kind of restraint!
The kids had a good time and made good scores thanks to the bumpers. I am a little jealous. We videoed the three kids and studied their techniques. They love to stand on the carpet with the ball by their side. Then on tip toes run as best they can with a 5 pound ball hanging off their arm and just before they get to the lane slow down and shrug their shoulder for the release followed by the big thud as it hits the floor. I think we can go pro
After a few games of bowling we said goodbye to John and Robin and Robert and Pam along with their families as they headed for home.

We headed to the Zoom along with Brett and Karen to pick up a few more gifts for our visit to camp Friday. We were there for about an hour and then off to the much awaited event for our son Sasha. Shish-ka-bob or sha-slick as they call it! He has been talking about this for weeks and Natalia knew a place that was wonderful. It was the nicest restaurants we have seen so far. It had a pond and a bridge inside with a pretty atrium. We sat down and Natalia ordered us a greek salad and chicken Shish-ka-bob along with some fries of course. It came in tee pee type fashion with flames coming up from the center. Very nice presentation and mighty tasty! The table was silent as we munched away and Natalia said, “Is it good, do you like it?” She made a comment about how quiet we all were since the food arrived. The interesting thing to me is there are no desserts on the menu. It is not really a Russian thing to have dessert here. Also even though we were having fine dining Brett and Karen ordered a “pop” as they call it up North. They asked what we natives call a pop in Atlanta and we just looked at them in disbelief and said, “Coke!”

We had a few pictures made and looked at the snake they had in captivity. Very cool, I might add. Then we split up in two taxis for the ride home and the race was on! Okay, our driver was old and not interested in racing but the other car had a young driver for Karen and the kids. From what she said he was a wild man and almost took out old women and children along with several cars. We often pray protection over all of us and God is faithful to watch over us and keep us safe.

We once again got to hang out with the Michigan (not Detroit) Gang, aka. Brett, Karen and Marat for some good times. The kids were a good 30 minutes into Gameboy when Karen pulled out the big guns…BLOWPENS! Well you cannot pull out arts andcrafts without my two getting involved so in no time they were creating all kinds of original works of art. It was all remarkable and sheer genius. Sasha asked me if we could get some too. “Of course”, I said. He was very excited. We had seen them before but Garrett was concerned they would be too messy. There is not as much blow as you think there would be. They are quite fun actually. We headed upstairs after a while and decided baths would be better for the morning and after a little…you guessed it…gameboy we headed off to bed. Good Night! See you tomorrow…

Tooth Fairy, Anyone?

Tuesday, June 20


This morning Karen and Marat came up to play with the kids for a while but the funny thing is when they come up here they just sit in a row on the big blue sofa with gameboys in hand playing away. Occasionally they will show the other one something they are playing but mostly it is silent gameboy…if the volume is turned down! They had come down to clean Karen and Brett’s apartment and Nastia was mopping the floor and basically trapped Brett in the bedroom. So we had a nice visit until he was free and then went up to have lunch. Sasha, Stella and Marat like to sit together on the little banquette that is so common in the apartments mostly because of space and having permanent booth like seating in a corner makes it tight space friendly. It makes it a little more challenging to oversee what they are doing but it is working out pretty good. They giggle and love to fill their glasses with juice and toast each other at the end of the meal. The only downer is Stella is missing little Olya and having a girl companion because the boys will exclude her in typical sibling fashion. Oh, I remember it so well! She is struggling a bit but we did have Olya for 4 weeks so this is a nice thing for them. I think Marat and Sasha are going to continue to be friends in America.

After lunch Brett, Karen and Marat went to their orphanage for their farewell party since the kids from Marat’s orphanage are leaving for camp tomorrow. We were scheduled to go shopping for the orphanage with Marina and she told us we would go after lunch when the drivers had a chance to eat. So we hung out in our apartment on the ready because we usually get a knock on the door that they are waiting on us with no notice. So we waited and we waited and finally at 4:00 Marina said they were ready. So much for any plans we may have had…but we did not have any. We have learned the best way to be flexible is to not have plans and wait. It works pretty well and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon we will be the keeper of our own time!!! It is the small things we are thankful for the most.

We went to the Green Bazaar and had a good time looking on the outer perimeter with less crowded shopping areas. They are also indoors which was a good thing since it was lightening and looking quite stormy. Mr. Sasha found a good looking pocket watch with a train on it. He has been wanting a pocket watch for weeks and this one was just 500 tenge. We are blessing it to work well and last. It has a chain and everything! He is so excited. We found most of what we were looking for and picked up some picture frames for the mamas at the detskidom for family pictures of us. We headed back home around 7pm and just before arriving home saw Brett, Karen, Marat and Natalia in the taxi next to us. We waved and the kids were very excited to see them. Of course then it was a race to see who would get home first. We did. You can imagine the excitement. They were full of stories about the party experience and found out a most interesting story in our Sasha and Stella story. Marat is from an orphanage called Kolancheck. When Karen and Brett shared about knowing two other kids from Kidsave it turns out two mamas from there were in Atlanta and Sasha and Stella lived there for 10 days before flying to America last summer. The detskidom in Timertau had already gone to camp so they sent them there for the interim and they were in the same family group as Marat! I asked Sasha if he remembers Marat and he said no but that Marat was a lot younger last year. I think that qualifies as a LOL. They showed us pictures of the kids and mamas and Sasha recognized some of them. It was cool to have another piece in the S&S puzzle.

We had dinner in our apartment that Irina prepared for us and brought down. It was very good. One thing she prepares for us that is a favorite is a pastry type bread that has meat in the middle. The kids love them and want more than one usually. We also have coleslaw that is cabbage with mayonnaise and tomatoes. It is very refreshing. We also had yellow rice with pieces of pork in it. Garrett is craving some good old fashion chicken and rice. I had only eaten part of my bread thing and offered it to Sasha and he said “Yes!” It is hard for you to hear his resounding Russian voice but you will soon enough. Anyways he took a big bite and then got a funny look on his face and pulled out something small and white from his mouth. I was thinking it was a piece of bone which we find on occasion in our food but then Garrett said it was a tooth! I tell you what, parents for only 7 weeks and already our first tooth!!! I felt like I should keep it of course, and asked him if it was ok and he said yes. So now it is in a little box that I bought over here. It is so little! You can see where the new one is coming in and there is another that is loose next to it. Another unexpected surprise in our adventure in the land of Kaz. God is so good to us! We had Brett, Karen and Marat up for a little gameboy and chatting. They are so fun for us. We plan to see each other again and keep up after we all cross the big water.

We love these two Rusky’s and they love us too. There were many hugs and kisses and then we were off to bed a little late, but hey, it’s 2pm at home.

Da "ZOOM"... Shopping at its finest

A Wet Adventure

Monday, June 19th

Today we had a little bit of the kid type fun stuff. We got together with Karen, Brett and Marot along with their friend Nastia. She met us at our apartment along with her nephew Igor to go to the park together. It was nice for Stella because Igor is nine also and they got along nicely since Marot thinks Sasha belongs to him. We went to the Zoom on our way to get some money since they have an ATM machine and we got some baseball caps since it is so hot outside. Then we went to the park. It is a bit of a walk but a little exercise was much needed. Sasha did let us know though that he was hot. We went to the lake in the park and the kids wanted to ride on a boat….no….throw rocks in the water…no…put their feet in the water yeah…that’s it!

We went down to where the water is more beach-like and the kids were quick to get their shoes and socks off and get in the water right away. We asked them to be careful not to get their clothes wet and they came up with a great idea. They could take their clothes off and swim! Well to be honest this is not the type of place I would ever let kids swim in at home. There is garbage sprinkled about and broken glass in places but…there were people everywhere swimming and kids having a great time and it was hot… ok we caved! Those kids were stripped down to their undies in nothing flat!

I have been to a beautiful beach in Spain and seen a lot at that location as far as the type and lack of clothing but I was introduced to a totally different look here. There were adults walking around and swimming in their underwear! It was bizarre and I don’t mean GREEN! I have seen lots of women with see through shirts on with clear views of their bras but this was still quite shocking to me. Seeing a couple walking hand in hand on a stretch of dirt beach, her in white panties and bra, him in black underwear, it made it quite natural for my two to run around in their undies. I think it is that whole flexibility in a foreign country thing. Or when in Rome… I said a quick prayer of protection over the kids as they disappeared into the water. All four kids had such a good time and they played for about 30 minutes then we reeled them in and tried drying off as best we could.

It was quite funny the whole thing. I know one day I will look back on this and think what was I thinking!?! Even Nastia said she does not normally let her nephew swim in the lake and her parents who are doctors would be very upset with her but hey, why not! After all this wet, we had to get them dry, so we put them on the spin cycle of one of the rides in the park and then they went on the “Slow Thriller” Ferris Wheel. It is so slow that you only go around once! You can get some nice pictures of the surrounding Karaganda area through.

We realized that we were getting very close to dinner time and we needed to let them know we would not get back in time so we asked Nastia if she could call but her cell phone was out of minutes so we had to hurry to find a phone. Now some of you may have to think back in time a long, long time ago when there were no cell phones and one would have to look for a pay phone. Now people have cell phones in abundance here but most of them seem to buy minutes and add them to their phones. By the time we walked back to town and found a pay phone we realized it was not the old slap a tenge in a make a call type but you needed a phone card!!! A man in front of us was trying to make a call with a card and I could tell he was a little frustrated when he hurled his card into the air and walked away muttering something in a strange tongue. There was a post office nearby and Nastia said they would have a phone but when we went in they said it was on the other side of the building…so we walked to the other side and found them. We walked into a large room and there was a row of closet phone booths on our right and a large counter with glass to separate us from them. We then proceeded to stand in line to buy two minutes of talk time on the pay phones! It was about now that I was thinking boy I sure am glad I got to experience this part of Kazakhstan. Garrett said this business would not go well in America. The thing is you would have to know they were there. They are so tucked away we would have never found it. But we did make our phone call which was good. Mission accomplished! Then we went to have some chicken at Café Ancara and finished off our evening with a little late night Zoom shopping for a few gifts for the mamas and kids at the orphanage. We caught a taxi ride home thanks to our bilingual son and were in the apartment and in our jammies playing gameboy in no time…after showers of course!!! We had to wash the lake off the kids. It was our last Monday in Karaganda and a good one. Thanks be to God!

Here kitty, kitty...

Stella with a cat at the coal mines. They are her favorite. She has never met one she did not like!

Sasha at the Reservoir

A little History in the Land of Kaz

Sunday, June 18

The kids had English lessons with Alona and we did a little homework in preparation. She came around 11:30am and then we had lunch. Alona offered to take us for a tour of Karaganda to see some of the historical sites. We got a taxi driver referral from Sergey and managed to all pile in somewhat comfortably all six of us with Stella in Garrett’s lap.

We were excited about the opportunity to see areas other than Aqua Park, the Zoom and the Bowling Alley. Those places are very exciting of course! The kids seemed eager to see these places as well. It is very prairie like in the countryside once you get outside the city. Karaganda itself is a very small city with only 17 million in the whole country which is about 2/3 the size of the U.S.

Our first stop was the site of a concentration camp during Stalin’s time. We did not know what to expect. I have been to Germany and seen Aueswitz (I know the spelling is wrong) and was very impressed with how they have memorialized the Holocaust and the atrocities that took place during Hitler’s time. I was surprised at this location how peaceful it was. There was a simple 2 foot tall fence surrounding the perimeter where the building once stood and sprinklings of crosses in groups of three. At the entrance were many memorials from many different countries that had citizens die there. There were memorials from Poland, Germany, Russia, and Japan among others. There were many prisoners of war here from Japan that were laborers and lived the remainder of their lives here in Kaz which was the Soviet Union then. Alona told us that many of the two story buildings here were built by Japanese people. She told us of a man she about that was doing demolition on a building not long ago and how he found a bottle in a wall with a note inside it written in Japanese. A translator found that it was from a man who was a prisoner of war here that was building that very building and said he would die here and if anyone found this letter to please tell his family what happened to him. They contacted the address and tracked down his grandchildren who were so glad to hear this because they never knew what had happened to him. They traveled to Kazakhstan and took pictures of the building and retrieved the note. They were so happy to have this piece of history complete.

Alona said these concentration camps were not the same as in Germany. They were bad but not quite as bad. It was often unjust imprisonment though. If a neighbor did not like another neighbor they could simply call the authorities and say they were saying bad things about Stalin and they would be taken in the night. She also has a great grandmother that was a Jew and fled here during the holocaust. It took her 3 months on the same train to arrive here. It took so long because they had to stop for bombings and many times she had to run for her life protecting the life of her baby. The rest of her family did not survive.

When we arrived at the concentration camp Sasha was most disappointed. He did not even know what it was and did not understand why we were just at a cemetery. I think we are going to have to do some history lessons. I gave him a brief lesson via our translator. He listened but as my friend Cindi would say, he just doesn’t get it. After looking around and taking pictures we piled in our car and headed back to town, about 20 minutes. We passed this old small village by the highway and Alona said it was summer homes. Upon closer inspection I noticed many of the homes had holes in the roof and the homes were in disrepair. She said they did not stay here but came for the day and planted gardens for the summer. They have no power and the villagers return home in the heat of the day. It is an inexpensive way to provide food for their families.

Our next stop was a reservoir that once was a coal mine. It is very deep and has trains and sharp debris on the bottom so you would not want to dive in it or even swim because of the bacteria in it. But there were people swimming everywhere. It was a beautiful day and we took lots of pictures. The kids spent the time picking up rocks for home souvenirs. It still amazes me the amount of litter we find in these places. There is broken glass everywhere and people just throw stuff in the streets in front of you and think nothing of it.

We then drove to the other side of town close to Timertau to see some of the coal mines. We could not go in and see them but just drive by and look. Alona said earlier she had taken another lady to tour this same area and when she stopped to take a picture someone stopped and asked why she was photographing their “object”. They seemed offended that she would photograph without permission. He told them if they wanted to take pictures they could come back at 8:00am the next morning and they could take pictures then. We were careful to take a few covert pictures without being watched.

We drove past a large hole and Sasha wanted to get out and look at it so we did. We went down a slippery hill and they had fun throwing rocks in the hole and listening for them to hit. Later when we got back to the car our driver told us he thought we had fallen into the hole. Glad we didn’t. On our way home we drove through another part of town. Our tour was through the Karaganda Region. There are several small cities all around the region that are not connected to each other. We saw a deskidom that has 600 children living in it. It looked like a 4 story apartment building. We feel very blessed that Sasha and Stella were in Timertau at their orphanage.

We missed dinner but Irina brought it down for us and so we chowed down in the apartment for a change. We were all very hungry! After dinner we went to the red market with Brett, Karen and Marat (he has decided he wants to keep Marat) to get an ice cream. We toured around upstairs and looked at all the fun stuff and then walked the aisles in the store and brought a few necessities and ice cream for the long 5 minute walk home. We are really enjoying the company of our American comrades. We played a little gameboy and went to bed. It was a great day and I am grateful to have a little more local history to understand more about our kids and where they come from in the land of Kaz.

Our little girl looking beautiful as always....even while playing in the sand. God has truely blessed us indeed...both of our children are gifts from above.

Kazakhstan Diving Champion

Sasha just missed the Olympic tryouts for the Summer Games. He has perfected the freestyle low dive with a no twist. Notice the awesome hang-time.

Good Eats....

These are our new friends and adopting companions Brett and Karen and their new son Morat. Also pictured is their translator Natalia. We had a fantastic meal at this very nice restaurant. Don't we all look happy....

Never a Dull Moment.....

Saturday, June 17

Wow, time flies sometimes and we missed our blog duties. Please accept our apologies to all those who are hungry for more adventures in the new and improved Boyd family. Well, what do we say….

On Saturday we hung out at the apartment in the morning and the kids played with Nathan downstairs at Brett and Karen’s apartment and Kelley took Karen to show her around the little markets within walking distance from home. Garrett got some much needed down time at the apartment by himself. We all came back together for lunch as usual and once again had a great meal. We decided to do something new for the afternoon and tried out the other “Aqua Park” in town….this one is called “Aqua Land”. I know…I know what you are thinking…I wish I could be in Karaganda, Kazakhstan and play at all their aqua parks too. Sorry…you can’t….you can’t come to Kazakhstan without an invitation….the honest truth.

Anyways, Brett and Karen called their interpreter Natalia and she was nice enough to escort this crowd to the outdoor “Aqua Land”. We decided to take the bus since this park is very close to home and we would not have to ride very far toting out bags of towels and pool shoes. We got changed and ready to hit the water. Well, truth be told, we were going to feel the water first because it has not been hot the last week or so and today was somewhat overcast. Well, you guessed it… the water was freezing. Only Kelley, Natalia and Karen and the kids braved the frigid water. Garrett & Brett “supervised” and took pictures. It was somewhat crowded and keeping an eye on the kids was difficult. But it was more like a clover leaf shape and each pool of the clover was different depths with little water slides and most importantly…the water was BLUE. We have decided blue means COLD! The kids enjoyed themselves as usual despite the conditions. They are really improving in their swimming since we have been here…..this being our 5th swimming adventure for those of you keeping up. After about and hour of freezing and swimming the kids abandoned the water to lay out in the sun to warm up a little. They would then go back and jump in and quickly come running back for the warmth of the towels. It started raining a little so we decided we had had enough since it turned cooler.

After everyone was dressed we decided to go try a restaurant that Brett’s brother, who adopted his son from Kaz last year, said was very American and very good, called Johnny Walker’s Pub. Natalia called us two taxis and away we went. It was a very nice, very clean place that looked like an old English pub. It had large wooden tables and a long bar down the middle of the restaurant. The menus were large wooded planks with pages in between, it was in Russian and English….Praise God. It is amazing still how excited we get when we can actually read something and not have to have someone read it to us. We ordered with the help of Natalia. The kids ordered….you guessed it…chicken. Kelley ordered their pub burger and Garrett wanted the pizza. After a bit of a wait…we were only one of two tables there, we got our food, and boy did it look good. Kelley’s burger looked very American, the kids half rotisserie chicken and fries looked fantastic and Garrett’s pizza was big and bubbly…very big. It was so nice to have a taste of home. We ate and chatted and ate and chatted. We got to know Brett and Karen and Natalia better and a good time was had by all. When we finally left we were all full and happy. Natalia called us two more taxis and we headed home.

The kids decided to make their beds on the floor using these thin pads we have here and layer them with blankets and pillows. Sasha loves to be tickled and will come up to Kelley and say, “Lets play tickle”…he said and we did. Then Garrett and I each took one of his arms and legs and played “Launch the Ruski”. He loved soaring through the air and screaming each time we swung him toward the glass book cabinet, and then back toward the sofa for the release into a pile of pillows on the sofa. Stella decided it looked fun too so of course we had to launch her several times as well. After Mama and Papa got their workout tossing children we all went to bed and closed out another day in the land of Kaz.

More Good News....Gets better and better

Thursday, June 15

We decided to confiscate the Gameboy before bed and there was no protesting which was good. The kids were awake at 9:00 the next morning dressed (okay Sasha was) and ready for breakfast. At 11:00 Nathan came upstairs with his gameboy and was ready to play with the kids. They really get along well. They played right up to lunch and then afterwards we tagged along with Karen and Brett over to town to go to the bank and see a Museum. We never made it to the museum though because we went to about 8 different banks trying to find one that would let us use our Visa to withdraw enough money to pay in cash for our apartment for the rest of our visit. It sure makes you long for the easy ways of paying for things at home. You just whip out your plastic and that’s that. Here everything you pay for is in green, sometimes red or even blue cash here. The money is different colored for different denominations. Also, you have to get used to the fact that everything is in large amounts at the stores. A box of breakfast cereal can be 250 Tenge and so on. Just walking around you need several thousand Tenge in your pocket for just small purchases. We have 10,000 and 5,000 Tenge bills and it looks like serious cash. It really becomes interesting when it comes to making large cash withdrawals at the bank. They start counting out bills and loading them in a cash counting machine then hand you a stack of bills that could choke a hippo. Then we get to recount it all by hand before leaving the teller.

That took up too much time so we decided to go take a look at the park. The kids had fun throwing rocks into the water and the funniest thing to us was they were all like monkeys on the run. They had so much energy and were running all over the place jumping puddles, climbing on stuff and trying to out do each other. I think they covered twice the distance we did. It was wild times. We decided we will have to go back soon and let the kids ride the rides and have that general park experience. It was cool again today and overcast but not raining. It is supposed to warm up over the next few days.

Sasha is itching to go to the outdoor Aqua Park so we will try soon but I have been trying to tell him that if it is cold outside it will be closed. It is hard to be a kid sometimes and you just can’t wait. That is something we are finding with them lately. They will ask us if they can do something and we say “maybe” or “we will see”. Well that is like saying yes to them and later they will say, “You said we go Aqua Park!” We are working on that one. One thing interesting about adding the dynamic of another child, and I know you parents out there understand, is your children suddenly do not remember the rules as well. I must say though when we went to a bank and Nathan started changing the numbers on the marquee that had currency rates of exchange my kids did stand there and watch him do it but not participate…even though you know they wanted too! They looked at me as if to say, not me, not my idea Mom.

We got back to the apartment in time to have some dinner, we all went upstairs except for Stella who wanted to do her English homework before Alona arrived. We left her in the apartment and brought her a “to go plate” downstairs to eat before English lessons at 6:30. But after we got home and the kids were cramming at the last minute the phone rang and Alona was not feeling well so we rescheduled for 2:00 tomorrow.

We did get some really great news from Marina though. We are definitely going to make our June 30th flight. Yippee! And the even more interesting thing is because of the time change we will get home on the 30th. We will leave at 3am on the 30th which is 5pm at home on the 29th and connect through Frankfurt and Chicago before arriving home 4ish on the 30th. We only have a 2 hour connection in Frankfurt which is great since we had a 6 hour connection coming over. We have 3 hours in Chicago which is the minimum for customs but we will not have to come through customs in Atlanta. We just get off the plane and “Hello Family!” That means just 15 days from today and we are HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just in time for the 4th of July and our anniversary on the 7th. God is good and His mercy endures forever!!!

Sasha "Air" Gabriel

Have you ever seen such raw talent in your life? He can leap large (he would want me to say that) puddles in a single bound! It's Super Sasha!

Strike a Pose!

This is our little Stella posing in her PJ's.

A Family Photo

Here is a pic of the happy family...which makes me think of that dish at the Chinese Restaurants.

Even More New Friends!

Wednesday, June 14th

Well we had more fun today. We got together with Brett, Karen and their son Nathan (Marat) for a little show me your games session, so a good time was had by all and then had lunch upstairs at Marina’s. They are loving the good food we have been having the pleasure of for the last 6weeks.

We also got a phone call from John and Robin a couple from California that have been in Kaz for 8 days adopting their second child from here. She is the sister to their other daughter Olya (another Olya). They did not know she was here when they adopted before 4 years ago. They decided to host another child last Summer from Kidsave and this girl, who looks just like a brunette version of their daughter Olya turned out to be Olya’s sister! They have been contacted by The Oprah Winfrey Show and might be going on sometime when they get back which would be great for Kidsave and all the other kids looking for homes in America.

Anyways they were getting together with two other families from Atlanta for dinner at Mario’s Pizza and invited us. We of course checked our busy schedules and found we did have time to do that. So funny! We had a good chuckle with that one.

In the mean time we met Nastya at the bus stop at 2-ish and took Brett, Karen and Nathan
along to meet a lady they knew through Brett’s brother who adopted a child from here last year. She was his interpetor and her name is...Nastya. (a common name here) That is now three Nastya’s in our life here. It was only their second day here and we already had them on the bus! They got broken in quick! When we arrived at the Zoom we started looking for their friend and I asked them what she looked like. They did not know so I asked them if she was Russian or Kazakh? They said they did not know that either. Our Nastya leaned over to me and said,”With a name like Nastya she would have to be Russian!” I think I made a little Russian faux-pas! We all laughed! Sure enough when she came, she looked Russian.

Russian people look different from the native Kazakh people even though they were both born here. The Kazakh people are described as “soft Asian”. They look somewhat Chinese but with a little darker skin and their eyes are not as narrow.

We split up with us with our Nastya and them with their Nastya and did a little shopping. I finally found some light weight Summer tops that look like they will hold up to some washing without shrinking and Sasha found a lightweight shirt too. It is funny to find some Summer stuff today of all days when it is actually pretty chilly outside! We do know however it will warm up again. We also picked up a few Gameboys and some games for Andrey and the orphanage. Sasha and Stella are so sweet. They have volunteered to play the games and Gameboys in the interim time before we take them to the kids to make sure they are good and working properly! What great kids we have! Really they are great!

We shopped until the very last minute and then headed over to Mario’s. Nastya accompanied us just to make sure we arrived safely. It is just a short walk from the Zoom. When we walked in we saw a large group that had to be Americans and we were right. Elaine was there with her two adoptive daughters whom we had met last Summer at Kidsave and another couple from Atlanta, Pam and Robert and their two sons. They have one son and are adopting the other, an adorable, somewhat shy 7 year old. John and Robin came in shortly after us with their two girls. We all ordered Pizza and drinks and after we ordered our waitress brought us our bill for us to pay before we ate! Very different! The pizza was by far the best we have had here. It looked like real pizza and tasted really good. We will be back I am sure.

We had ordered our food and after a short time two chicken pizza with mushrooms arrived. We noticed Sasha and Stella were not really interested in eating and wondered why until about 10 minutes later when chicken and fries came for both of them. We did not know they had ordered it but they ate every bit…except for that bad, bad chicken fat that makes Sasha’s skin crawl.

It was great to talk with everyone and share stories. We are planning to get together again and go bowling or maybe swimming. That will be great for us all. We were seasoned veterans and almost citizens as far as they were all concerned. They had lots of questions about what there is to do and it did not take long for us to share about that. We really feel blessed to be in our apartment with prepared meals and so close to Marina. We can really see God’s hand in our provisions here.

We have truly had a wonderful time here.

The kids played Gameboy and had a great time but we can see that too much Gameboy for Stella is not a good thing. We can see a co-dependent relationship forming!! They were ready to go to sleep and there were hugs and kisses and good night sleepin’.

New Friends...And a nice looking Fort

Tuesday, June 13

Garrett and I were reading in the bedroom and the kids were playing in their fort when there was a knock on the apartment door. It was Marina and she had a couple from Michigan that had just arrived in Karaganda. There names are Brett and Karen and they are adopting a 9 year old boy named Marat which they are naming Nathan. They had flown straight through without overnighting anywhere and there apartment was not ready because Marina was not expecting them until Wednesday. They came up to our apartment and stayed a while until their apartment was ready. They were so tired. At 12:30 their apartment was ready and they had 30 whole minutes to get a shower and be ready for lunch and then go pick up their son. It was such a different situation for us. We had rested so much prior to getting Sasha and Stella which was good. They got thrown into it right away.

After lunch the kids walked over to the computer salon by themselves. Marina said it was safe for them and we could watch them most of the way. They went for a whole hour and they loved it. They had strict orders about games they could play and when we expected them back and they did it all perfectly. The girl that comes to clean came shortly after they came back and we decided to go to the grocery store. We went to the one that has the sunflower stuff but they were out of it! Can you believe it? They say tomorrow, guess I’ll have to wait. I’m having withdrawals!

At dinner we got to meet Marat. He is a little guy and was very quiet at the table. Brett decided to stay in so it was just Marat and Karen but we are loving having the company. They are a very cute couple. We are going to enjoy doing things with them. By the time dinner was over the kids were chatting on the sofa and getting along well. Sasha found out Marat has gameboy and decided to give him one of his games so we went down to their apartment which was a little weird since it was Ron and Sharon’s place before them. I was sitting on the same sofa I had before talking to a whole different family. It was like something out the Twilight Zone. Garrett says we will not still be here to meet the next family though!!! Karen is going to stay here the whole time and Brett will be going home after their court date.

The boys traded gameboy games and we came back up stairs because they had to be tired after such a long trip. Sasha had a good time playing the new games. They set up their beds on the sofa without pulling out the bed part with each having a fan blowing on their faces. They have to do things as much alike as possible lately. Truth be told it is her copying him. Typical sibling stuff. We got to bed at a reasonable hour but a big storm blew in and we had thunder, lightening and lots of rain throughout the night. We kept waking up all night.

It was a good day. God is so good and His mercy lasts forever!

Going "Magazine"

Here Garrett is in front of the Gros. A brand new grocery and department store that we walk to from our apartment. It has little kiosks with different goods from a tea vendor to beauty products. There is also an Electronics Store and of course groceries. Isn't he cute and muscley!

Our Busy Worker Bees

Monday, June 12

Day 6. Here we are staring at the face of the computer saying we are not scared. We can come up with fun and entertaining things to delight our reading audience. I just know we can. Sure we’ve been to the Aqua Park a few times and you think you’ve read it all but we have a few surprises up our sleeves to keep you hungry for more!!!

We had a late breakfast of eggs and “meat stick”. Garrett and I are determined to limit our pork intake now that we know we have been consuming mass quantities of it thinking it was beef. I am relieved to know that more than likely to my knowledge, at this point I have not consumed any horse. Tuey will be so proud of me since the last thing he said to me was, “Mom, whatever you do, don’t eat one of my cousins.” This last beef stick that they gave us for breakfast had a picture of a horse running on it (for dear life I think). Garrett asked Sasha to look at the ingredients to ensure it was not horse and he assured him it was “swina”. I did not have any in either case. I have had a few major headaches and we think pork might be a factor.

Speaking of horse it is mostly the Kazak native people that consume it for special occasions. One of the delicacies here is horse milk. It is not strait horse milk. It is slightly fermented and is soured. Nastya says, “It is nice.” Garrett asked if I would drink horse milk and I told him that I probably would since no horse gave its life for it. Ron and Sharon were invited by a Kazakh friend to his village for dinner. They said they had horse and it was quite good and then a few nights later we had hot dogs for dinner at Marina’s apartment and Ron said they tasted like the horse. That was enough for me…NO HOTDOGS! I think he was playing with me a little bit. I was not planning on having any anyways.

After lunch we headed over to the big “Magazine” that is about 15 minutes walk for us. We parked the kids at the computer salon for an hour and went shopping for a little bit “unescorted”. We felt so free! There was no one to say, “Mama! Give me this, please.” We were on the hunt for another fan since the one we purchased the other day died prematurely. We were planning to take it back since we had a two week warranty! We secured our fan for the rock bottom price of 2500 tenge…you do the math. This one is larger and is on a stand. Wooohooo! We are sleepin’ cool(er) tonight!

We went into a few clothing stores to see if we could find something cooler to wear since Summer has officially arrived here and we were not totally expecting to still be here. Garrett bought a beautiful blue t-shirt the other day that once washed became a perfect full length dress for Sasha. It did not shrink in length but quite a bit in width. So we are trying to be a little more discerning about our choices. We found out rather quickly we are handicapped without Nastya. I found a skirt that looked rather interesting but there are not a lot of sizes and much of the clothing is thin and quite see through. It is not unusual at all to see people walking around with netting or see through clothing. Of course we have that at home but it seems bras are more prevalently seen here. Anyways I would try on a skirt and decide it was too thin or too small or not made for an adult and try to explain “too small” and the lady would bring me a smaller skirt! It was an adventure and we did not buy anything but we were out enjoying the culture.

We went down to the grocery store and picked up a few items including a few “fun” things and the kids had fun trading the bags around seeing what we had and going “Oh!” and “Yes, thank you!” It was quite hot outside and we were glad to get back in the cool apartment. We plugged in our new fan and all stood back and felt the goodness of the cool breezes. Sasha wanted the broken fan and we tried to explain to him that we were going to return it to get our money back but he said he needed it for his room. He was very insistent and decided he wanted to take it apart to try to fix it. He does like to take things apart and see how they work but has not always been successful at putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. Garrett conceded and next thing you know there were fan parts everywhere. He actually figured out after an hour or so how to get it working. Stella was his assistant and cleaner of the dirty parts. They were totally into it. He got it working but it would not oscillate and he thought that was ok and took it into the den but did not reappear for dinner. When I went around the corner again there were parts everywhere. He fixed the oscillating after dinner of course and then it rattled so once again he went to work so now we have a working, oscillating, quiet fan…did I say we…I mean of course he does! He says he is going to take it to America. After this his next project is an ancient vacuum but I have seen the condition of the vacuum and I am quite confident it is a goner! Later he asked me about my i-pod speaker which is not working and said he would like to take it apart. Unfortunately I had to put a stop to his fixing streak with that one. I intend to use the warranty on that one! He is quite proud of himself and Garrett and I made a big deal about it and our Mr. fix-it!

We had English lessons at 6:30pm but they had a party for Alona upstairs for Graduation so we had dinner in the apartment and she came down around 7-ish. They had lessons and then Alona told us that she could take us this weekend to do some sight seeing Kazakh style. There is a coal mine, a concentration camp from Stalin’s time and a reservoir. There are no natural lakes here, they are all man made. She will also take us out for lunch. It sounds really good to us.

We also had a major praise. My i-pod docking/speaker system suddenly died about 3 weeks ago and I did not bring a charger with me so we have had no praise music. My cousin Stephen sent me some songs through Skype and after downloading for about 40 minutes I have a Chris Tomlin song. Yeah! But it gets better! When I went to play through windows media player I discovered Chris Rice, Hillsong, Delirious, Rita Springer and Abba (don’t ask)! I forgot I had loaded them a while back. Anyways we were rejoicing and singing all of us in the apartment. We had a fly and mosquito that got in the apartment and Garrett and the kids were armed with kitchen towels and had the bugs trapped in the den. They were not going to bed until they were taken care of!
They were quite humorous to watch jumping on the bed and furniture yelling, “There it is!” It was good entertainment! Who needs T.V. under these circumstances? They fixed themselves a nice little fort thing on the bed with the fan incorporated of course! Then a little gameboy/leapster and off to bed.

We are staring down Day #7. We got it covered because, “My God shall supply all my needs according to His Riches in Glory! Good night and God Bless!