"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…
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…
posted by Princeton the Poodle @ 9:31 AM
1 Comments:
At 1:37 PM,
Dana Lynn Thompson said…
It must be such an odd feeling...wanting so badly to come home and then when the time comes, sad that you are leaving. You have been over there for so long and forged so many great friendships. I know you will miss it even as you long to be back in the USA.
And then having to wait still yet another day for the flight...it must seem like you will never get home! You guys are handling it all so well. I'm not sure I could be as stoic...I'm not good when my schedule gets changed! LOL!
News from home - finally getting some much needed rain here in GA. Everything will be green when you get back. My new job at Shorter is going well. I think I am going to love it here. Last Sunday we took a ballroom dancing class...it was a blast!! Tonight we are going to Sheryl Crowe at The Fox. Should be a great show!
Have a great train ride and safe trip. Can't wait to see you guys!
Love Scott and Dana
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