Day 5!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, June 11

We tried to stump you guys but the public has spoken! The picture was Mr. Sash! And just so you know Stella does not have a beauty mark on her face, it was a mosquito bite. They have some big mosquitos over here!

Today we had an earlier morning since Aloyna came for English lessons. We had breakfast, put up the sofa bed, and managed to get dressed with time to spare. Well it helps that she is usually late. All went well as the kids continue to plug along at this English thing and Garrett and I work on our Peruski. Their lessons are going well, we don’t see a big change yet in their understanding or speaking but it will come in time. They have had only had 8 lessons so far since Aloyna has been studying for her finals and graduating this past Friday. Now she is coming more frequently and we are looking forward to them beginning to improve in their language skills.

After lunch we took another exciting trip to the pool, or Aqua Park. Calling this an aqua park definitely makes it sound more exciting than it is. It is only a big pool with two tube slides and one regular household pool slide, but the kids think it is great and always have a mighty fine time. It was fairly crowded due to the fact it was Sunday. I am not sure why we decided to go on the weekend since we can go anytime, but there we were, two pale Americans and a room full of pale Ruskys. The men here seem to wear the bikini type swimming suits and the women wear mostly bikinis as well. One thing you notice here about body types is that there are not as many larger sized people around. It could be due to the fact there is not a fast food restaurant on every corner, not even on one corner. They have cafes here but no fast food style restaurants and certainly no drive- thrus. Another strange thing is the changing/locker rooms at the pool. They have an attendant in each and sometimes it’s a man and sometimes a woman, not exactly kosher in the U.S. We all swam and got some much needed exercise in the not so blue and not too cold water. After 2 hours Garrett and I were ready to go but of course the kids always have to be pried out of the water.

We have had the nicest driver that takes us for these little excursions. Usually we would be using Sergey but he is a Fireman as his primary profession and many times he is called in to work at the last moment. He has actually only driven for us maybe once or twice. He has been nice enough to set up another driver for us named Anatoly. He drives a nice car and it is very clean and he is always so pleasant to us. He once drove Sasha and me over to the detskidom to take Rada and Andre back and we tried our best to communicate and make “very” small talk. He will say things in complete sentences and nod and I just try to be as attentive as possible using my best Russian thinking as possible. It is funny because sometimes Garrett and I will be shopping together and he will be talking to the person in his limited Russian and I will be telling Garrett what the person is saying based on their body language and movements. Garrett will look at me and say “Are you my interpreter?” We get a good chuckle because sometimes I am right! Most of the time we have no clue what anyone is saying to us but they nod their head and keep on talking and smiling like we will catch on any minute.

Anyways, Anatoly is the one that drove us and picked us up. Most taxi rides from our apartment to town are about 400 tenge one way. That’s about $7.20 round trip. Whenever we go to Timertau it is 4000 tenge roundtrip which is about $36.00. When we got back from the Aqua Park and had dinner Sasha wanted to go to the computer place and play games or “go magazine”. We decided we wanted to stay in and he was most distressed by this and said “Why Not!” “We have to wait for tomorrow and I want to go today!” I ever so patiently in my most happy parent voice told him we had already done things he wanted to do and now we were going to stay home. He was not pleased but still sat there on the sofa between us and started singing the “I’m very, very, very, so very, very, very, so very, very, very good” over and over. He actually made this song up right there on the spot. It was quite catchy and we all could have sung along if we wanted to. Then after a few more bars of this fantastic song he started adding up how much the Aqua Park was 1800 tenge + new goggles 700 tenge + taxi driver 800 tenge = 3300 tenge! “Wow, Mama!” I think he had an epiphany, not a long lasting one mind you but none the less, at that moment, an epiphany. Now we know this was just about $30.00 but staying here an extra week and little excursions start to add up. Many people may only make 12-20,000 tenge a month. His attitude changed pretty quick.

Next thing you know he and Stella decide to clean the “kitten” (actually kitchen-no dirty cats nearby that I know of!). Let me tell you when these two decide to clean something they hold nothing back! But you do have to keep an eye on them on occasion. Sometimes their cleaning is a little unorthodox but that is how great inventions have come about isn’t it. They just need a little “coaching”. I walked in, and they usually like to close the door for the big surprise of cleanliness, to find suds everywhere on the counter! Stella turned around and had it all over her shirt so I told her she needed to be careful not to bleach her clothes. She used her usual remark and said “One minute!” I went back into the den to watch some Russian T.V. with Garrett and in a few minutes we heard to usual giggle and a plastic rustling noise. Next thing you know there they are wearing a complete outfit of plastic grocery bags! Sasha even has a hat. My only regret is we did not get a picture. It was pretty funny!

They cleaned the rest of the kitchen in their outfits and the best part is they are disposable. I think Mini-Maids might go for this idea! They cleaned the floors, scrubbed the refrigerator inside and out and cleaned the counter tops and sink. They did a great job! Sasha said they clean at the orphanage morning and evening and rotate from kitchen to bath to other areas.

After this they watched Home Alone 4! Who knew there was a fourth one? Garrett and I abstained from watching since it was in Russian. Besides what else can they do that we have not already seen. A kid gets left home….alone… and has to fend for himself….usually dealing with bad guys…that are not very smart….yada, yada, yada. Let me know if I missed it.

Day 5 down, 10 to go til we can start paperwork, which is rumored to take 7 working days until we go to Almaty for about 2 days, but we are counting on less. We are counting…always counting. One day we will be back in America so you better get ready for when, “The Boyds are back in town, the Boyds are back in town!”

That’s for you Mom!