straus_in_kaz

The End

Hello everybody. Sorry for the hiatus. At long last I think my thoughts are gathered enough, the circadians are playing in synch again, and I’m actually reasonably awake at 10 am this fine Sunday morning. So where were we…? Oh yes, the day from hell. Here’s a shot at summarizing the final stages of our trip, up to the most wonderful moment in the history of our universe, being back home with our daughter.

Sunday, May 14 – Worst Mother’s Day Ever. Sarah got no sleep, largely due to a crying baby, but also because of a splitting headache that would not subside. Asella was in an awful mood all morning, and Sarah could not move, or open her eyes. Daddy tried to take care of both ladies and finish packing, and at one point all three of us were in tears. Eugene picked up Sarah to take to the emergency room for a check-up, just in case there was something they could do to help with the pain and also figure out what the deal was with her weird rash. Sarah described the clinic as something out of a Russian movie from 1963. The diagnosis – allergies, possibly due to cat fur blowing in our 3rd floor window. Uh… sure. So, she popped some Claritin and ibuprofen and hoped for the best. Didn’t work. Asella though turned into a model citizen the moment we got in the car and headed to Kostanai airport. She slept most of the 3.5 hour ride on the 40 seater prop-plane, but my poor Sarah barely survived the flight. I’ve never seen her more miserable, and she’s never been in so much pain. Other than that, the flight was uneventful.

We landed at 7:30 pm in Almaty and were met by Murat. We stopped at a drug store to try to get some stronger pain killers, but Murat’s English is not such that we could really convey we needed the strongest thing they have. They pulled out a few, one of which was from Bulgaria (that was the selling point). Whatever we wound up with, it didn’t help. Our apartment was VERY nice, so that was good, though we had to make a suitcase corral for her next to our bed in place of a crib. It worked just fine though. Asella didn’t seem to care she was in someplace new, flopping herself down to play, then falling asleep. Sarah though still struggled, as the headache lingered.

Monday, May 15 – Almaty - Getting better. Almaty is about 180 degrees from Kostanai. Big green trees everywhere, hot, humid, tropical air, traffic up the wazoo, and tons of people. There’s lots to see, but traffic is so bad it takes forever to get anywhere.

This morning we went to the SOS International clinic for Asella’s required medical exam. It was rather cursory, and they said she looked fine. We also made an appointment for Sarah later that day. After the exam we headed to the U.S. Embassy consulate to schedule our appointment for tomorrow. The office looked like the DMV. It was a bit odd. After that we went to the mall (a real mall, with a skating rink, food court, and baskin-robbins!!!) for lunch at an Italian restaurant. Almaty is a real city, with real restaurants. It’s very cosmopolitan and geared to tourists. Something Kostanai certainly was not. After lunch Sarah had her checkup with a real doctor who spoke perfect English and seemed to know his stuff. After ruling out several nasty things and saying we don’t need to do a spinal tap, he decided this was a measles-like virus that was nearly done running it’s course. He said if we told him she never had an MMR vaccination that he would definitely say it was measles. Weird. In any case, we got what we needed – a prescription for something with Codeine. Yay!! That did the trick and Sarah was on the road to wellness. In the afternoon we went to the central mosque, which was huge and beautiful, and were confronted by a nice woman who told us to take her picture after she made herself pretty. She donned her best Muslim gear and posed for us. She also said that she was happy we were adopting Asella and would give her a good life. But she was surprised that America would be okay with us naming her Asella. We’re assuming the country is okay with it. If not, we don’t care.

We did one final bit of souvenir shopping in a huge mall, but were rushed for time as usual, and were unable to do a thorough job. In the evening we walked with Kim and her dad (and Grant) to an outdoor café for dinner. It was nice sitting outside on a warm spring night. Asella seemed to enjoy it too. Back at the apartment Asella again was a good sleeper while Sarah at long last enjoyed some peaceful slumber courtesy of our good friend Codeine.

Tuesday – May 16 – Last day in Kazakhstan! – An absolutely beautiful morning, so we headed up into the mountains. The 9-10 thousand footers always have snow on the tops and it was a beautiful ride up to Almaty’s famous ice-skating “station.” We walked around a bit, enjoyed the view, headed to a spot for some river prodding, and enjoyed the fresh air immensely.

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For lunch we had an awful time at a Georgian restaurant, where first the waiter did not bring Sarah’s lunch, and then her lunch (cheese with fruit and nuts) came with only cheese. After questioning this, the response was sometimes they make it with fruit, sometimes they don’t. After specifying we would like the fruit and nuts, it came back with only fruit. And of course, they still charged full price. Ugh. Following lunch we headed to our appointment with the U.S. embassy – the last step in the process (good thing, because we were headed to the airport at midnight.) The “interview” lasted all of 2 minutes – basically they asked if the process went well. They gave us her passport with her visa and we were ready to head home. Finally. We stopped at baskin-robbins for celebratory $5 milk shakes (prices here are NOT like Kostanai) and then did one last bit of sight-seeing. One of symbols of Kazakhstan is a statue of a guy standing atop a “snow-cat”. There’s a big obelisk with this symbol on top in the center of town.

Afterwards it was back to the apartment to pack (a much easier task now that Sarah was a functional human-being. We attempted some sleep prior to our midnight trip to the airport, but to no avail. Going home!!!

Wednesday – May 17 – Airplanes and Airports – We arrived at Almaty airport at 1 am on Wednesday morning (noon on Tuesday pacific time). Asella mostly napped while we took care of the check in arrangements. There were about 5 or 6 adoptive families on this flight, in various stages of completion. One 11 year old girl – who was halfway to getting a little sister – talked our ear off while we waited to board. The flight was not very full, and we had the bulkhead with an empty seat next to us. They set up the bassinette for us, which Asella slept in for about 2 hours, letting mommy and daddy eat and stuff like that. It was a good flight – no ear problems, no messy diapers. As perfect as could be hoped. We got to Frankfurt at 6 am local time and promptly headed to McDonalds. Ah, French fries. Comfort food.

Frankfurt airport had really lousy facilities, and the smoke wafts in from everywhere. A fun place to hang out for 8 hours. Yippy. We killed time as best we could – walking around shops and sampling different restaurants. But the time just dragged.

Finally we boarded our plane and discovered we had the 2 middle seats in the 4 seat center section, and no bulkhead. Neither the young German guy with the stupidest haircut ever nor the older Coloradoan accepted our offer to change seats so we could have the aisle with a baby. Nice. The old guy eventually realized he was a total ass and offered to take the middle seat for awhile. We declined, since we were already very well situated, and I was somewhat looking forward to waking him up several times to climb out. He had the final revenge though by hacking up a lung the entire 9.5 hour flight. This flight lasted forever. Asella slept most of it, but most of the passengers seemed to be hard of hearing – it was the noisiest flight we’ve ever been on. After an eternity, we landed. Denver. Home. 2 months later.

Immigration took about 20 minutes to get through, and when we came into baggage claim, Asella was officially a U.S. citizen. All our bags were there – we breezed through customs and into the waiting embrace of… D.J. and his mom. After a quick reunion we headed outside to our awaiting limo. Yes, a limo. Not sure what happened, but that’s what picked us up. I’d have guessed we were in such a stupor that it was a hallucination, but this picture says otherwise. Asella and Sarah promptly fell asleep and we enjoyed the quick ride home.

When we got to our cul du sac (5 pm pacific time) there were 5 or 6 kids in our yard, which was odd. Our neighbor and their kids, some other neighborhood kids, Nina and her daughter, and Grandma Mindy were all in the driveway to greet us. It was truly wonderful to be welcomed home. Our house has never looked so majestic, so inviting, so comfortable. Asella seemed a bit overwhelmed by the greeting, but took it in her usual stride. She made herself comfortable in the family room while we tried to unpack and get some laundry started.

Saint Mindy made us dinner, and then I left the building. Sarah said I was talking but no words came out. By 7:30 I was useless, so I went to sleep. Asella slept okay – getting up a few times, but all things considered, not too bad. We were finally home. The journey was over. Now life can begin. Again.

May 18 – 21 – Settling in – Aside from a nasty cough that kept her up all of Friday night, Asella has enjoyed getting to know her new surroundings. She’s started babbling again (the 3 changes of scenery caused a bit of regression), and has made strides toward crawling again. She’ll be there soon. She’s also started waving hello. Sadly, Grandma leaves today, so we’ll have to do laundry and cooking and dishes by our lonesome. Very sad. She was a tremendous help, and I don’t know how we could have survived those first few days without her, given the amount of sleep we missed. Now we get to see how life will be – as I go back to work on Monday (after her first doctor’s appointment).

So this is the end of the journal. Hard to believe the first entry was on March 20, when we were just 2 naïve Americans on our way to some stan. We’ve transitioned from just the 2 of us in a weird place doing some weird stuff to normal parents with a 9 month old. Well, normal is relative I guess. Now we’ve joined the ranks of the true Highlands Ranchers, at long last fitting into family suburbia. It’s been an amazing, bizarre, surreal, difficult and rewarding voyage, and we thank you for letting us share it with you. Thank you all for all the support and kind words you provided over the last 2 months. Reading our daily comments was something we looked forward to every night. I hope it was somewhat interesting, informative, and possibly inspiring. But I’ll settle for mildly entertaining. Future pictures will be shared through Kodak gallery, so send me an email if you want to be on that list (tujungadj@yahoo.com), or also if you want to know how things are going with our little Kazakh princess.

Thanks for listening. Take care.

Darren, Sarah & Asella

WE ARE HOME!!!!!!!

Safe and sound. Home sweet home. This is going to be brief, because I am still 90% asleep. 50 straight hours of awakeness will do that.

We survived. Sarah is ok (it was a measle-like virus thing). Asella did a spectacular job of traveling. Better than we could have ever hoped for. And now she is officially an American. I bought her a pick-up truck and chili fries.

SO very very good to be home. Grandma Mindy is here helping us survive the next few days. 8 loads of laundry done. Hopefully I can get some sleep and have the energy to sum up the last couple of days in a better fashion.

Thanks for readi..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Almost done

In almaty. Less than 35 hours until we're back. Everything is well now that Sarah is over her bout with the measels. We'll explain later. 2 days of pure hell, but it's all okay now. Will write more when we get home and get some sleep.

Last Supper - kinda

Last full day in Kostanai!!! Yeeeeeee-haw! The lack of hot water is really starting to get to us though. Roughing it is not so much fun as it sounds.

It was a very good day – with the young lass sleeping from 9 to 7. She’s been in a good mood most of the day, but at the moment she’s engaged in a progressive dinner, trying to eat while roaming all over the floor, in various states of repose. It’s not working too well, and it looks quite strange. That’s our girl.

We had a big milestone today – Asella’s first trip to the mall, and first new pair of shoes. We got her some badass pink puffy shoes with a weird bear and dog on them. They’re easy on and comfy and the price was right. A funny thing happened at the mall today – Eugene was wearing our diaper bag (backpack) while we were looking at shoes, and some Kazakh teens came up to the three of us and asked in English if we needed any help (translation). Eugene told them “No” in English. They asked where we were from and he told them “Colorado”. It was funny (though it doesn’t sound it). The second he put a backpack on he “became” an American. They picked us all out, heard the English and assumed we were all Yanks. Weird.

Sarah also got her first Mother’s Day gift, courtesy of Eugene (picked out by dad). It’s a Kazak souvenir figuring thing Sarah’s had her eye on for awhile. He’s really a good guy and we’re very fortunate that we wound up with him as our coordinator here.

All our paperwork is now set. We have her old and new birth certificates, and her passport is waiting for us in Almaty. And even better news, we’re staying in an apartment in Almaty, so hopefully we will have internet access, and maybe, finally, a washing machine. It will make feeding her much easier having a fridge and being able to boil water and all that good stuff. We were worried about doing that in a hotel. Also, since we should have internet access this will not go down as the last entry from in country. (That’s why it’s not very exciting.)

Been trying to get packed all day, hopefully with one less bag than we came with (inside another bag) – given we donated an entire suitcase of kiddie clothes to the orphanage, and Sarah’s giving away most of what she brought (though no one in their right mind will wear them here – just not their style.) That should make things a little easier. But packing an entire apartment full of stuff is quite the task.

For our last dinner we headed to, where else, Knick Knack. Ed and Joan joined us as well, providing much needed arms so that we could actually eat. Asella did very well, munching on cherrios in her mesh baggie thing that she loves so much. I ordered for Sarah and I before Eugene got there, and the waitress thought I spoke Russian. She was asking me questions with Eugene sitting right there, even though he told her twice I don’t speak Russian. It must have been confusing, because I can speak fluently when ordering certain foods and drinks, but I cannot understand much else. Survival skills.

Even Asella knows the Knick Knack menu by now. Of course, Russian is her first language.

Our last night out here. So sad – yet so welcome. Hopefully tomorrow we will get to ride the Ferris wheel before we go. Our flight is at 4 pm. So farewell from this grand city of the north. There will probably not be any entry tomorrow. So sad for you. If we are not able to post until we get back to the U.S., then I’m terribly sorry that this is the entry I left you with. I know you expect more from me, and I don’t mean to disappoint. Please the last 3 paragraphs from your favorite Hemmingway, Faulkner or Dave Barry book and insert here.

It’s been fun…

So very dirty

One of the Straus ladies is doing very well today, another not so much. Asella went to sleep promptly at 9 pm last night and somehow slept all the way until after 7 am. That’s good stuff. Sarah unfortunately is feverish and weak and achy and generally a mess. She’s been napping all day (more than Asella) so hopefully with some catch-up sleep she’ll feel better. Meanwhile, dad here is running the show, and doing a pretty good job, I think. I just got her down for her afternoon nap, though it really involved no effort on my part. She was sitting on my knees facing me, holding a toy and just nodded right off. Made it easy on me. She is getting better and better, and we’re also getting better about seeing the tired signals and getting into a little go to sleep routine. I think my lullaby last night went something like this:

“Lullaby, and goodnight. Go to sleep dear Asella. Because you’re tired and if you don’t, I’ll spend your college fund on me. I’ll buy me some hats, and a fancy new car, so if you want an education close your eyes and sleep tight.” (Sing it, go on, it’s pretty good, I think.)

The usual routine today. It’s raining but still warm, and with Sarah out of commission, we’re a bit cooped up. Still no hot water, and the word is that it’s not coming back until after we’re gone. Everything is centralized, so half the city is without it too. I can’t just scream at the landlord or get a refund on rent. There’s a little water heater in our bathroom that I’ve been playing with all day trying to get to work, and I think I just figured it out – so hopefully there will be enough for Sarah to take a bath and help her feel better. We’re making due otherwise, cleaning dishes camping style (pot of hot water on the stove) and just generally smelling up the place with b.o. Fun. We cannot wait to get home, or even to an Almaty hotel to take a shower.

Asella is one noisy kid. You’d never have guessed from the first month or so we spent with her. So quiet and calm. But this kid belts it out now. When she’s happy, she screams and trills her r’s. When she’s upset she screams bloody murder. (Thankfully this has not been happening as frequently as when we first got her here.) And in between she chatters to herself in the mirror. Her cell phone bill is going to be awful when she’s fourteen.

As promised, the top 10 things I won’t miss about Kostanai:

10. NOT having my own car
9. Only two types of cuisine – Regular and sorta-italian
8. Occasionally brown water
7. Being stared and/or laughed at whenever we go outdoors (it makes both lists)
6. Random attacks by camels (okay, this didn’t happen, but I wouldn’t miss it if it had)
5. 245 channels and nothing on
4. Mayonnaise on everything
3. The lack of seriously good ice cream or other chocolate desserts
2. Every restaurant has the same 6 songs on continuous loop
1. WATER OUTAGES!

It’s now evening and she’s down. 9:16 pm. Yay me. We had a reasonably okay afternoon and evening. Sarah is still feeling crummy, but I got the hot water thing working well enough for her to wash her hair, so she’s feeling better about that. Asella was a bit surly this afternoon because she cut her naps short all day. Hopefully that means another restful night. I took my little lady for a stroll around the neighborhood after dinner and we sat on the swing and absorbed the nice night. Weather is still beautiful and she seemed to enjoy being out in it. I think a member of the babushka mafia was keeping heavy tabs on me, moseying over and sitting on a rail right by us. Probably checking to see that I wasn’t thoroughly messing up the job of parent. I guess I passed the test because she was quiet. (If they don’t like something, they let you know.)

You’ll notice no pictures today. Yesterday was the 50th day since we met Asella for the first time, and after almost 1,500 pictures, the kid said enough was enough. “Please let me go one day without the paparazzi all up in my face, ai-ight?” I’m paraphrasing of course, but that was the gist. Plus, Daddy was too busy to get the camera out. She looks a lot like she did yesterday, only 1 day older. You can paint a mental picture if you like.

One more from Kostanai to go… how, will, it, end??? Stay tuned.

On we go

So it seems we’ll do an every other day thing. Last night was exceptional. If she hadn’t had a little cough every couple of hours, we never would have known she was there. Asella slept from 10 pm to 7 this morning. Thus, I bought her a pony. (Not to eat.) If she does it again tonight, I’ll get her a Honda Civic. Now all this would be really great if not for the weight of motherhood which has burdened Sarah today with a very sore back and a low fever. She’s in pain – we’ll call it labor pains. I guess when you “give birth” to a 17 pound 9 month old, you don’t get the chance to work your muscles up using the newborn size weight. And not sleeping for 3 nights doesnt help. Daddy will be the exclusive pack-mule today.

In spite of her awesome night’s sleep, as is human nature, this morning she’s been crabby and anti-nap. She also thinks she’s starving, which cannot possibly be the case unless she’s John Goodman after a heavy duty pot-smoking session. (Fat guy with the munchies – work with me people.) Her cold is still lingering a bit, which is sucky, because everyone’s happier when they’re not sick, including Kazaks.

The hot water is STILL not on, so we’ve got a pot on the stove to dunk dishes in, and one for heating water for sponge baths. I braved the cold water shower and nearly froze my Kyrgyzstans off. 4 more days here. 4 more days here. 4 more days here. It seems a little unreal that we’ll finally be leaving this place, as we truly have made ourselves at home and as comfortable as can be. We’re excited and terrified to get to Almaty – excited because we’re that much closer to home and will be able to see some new stuff; terrified because we’re not sure how the sleeping/feeding situation is going to work. But, whatever, we’ll roll with it.

So I think I’ll take this opportunity to list the top 10 items I’ll miss about Kostanai when we’re back home.

10. A personal chauffer
9. Not paying any utility bills (though with the water service here, why would I?)
8. A loaf of good bread and 2 ice cream bars for under a dollar
7. Being the center of attention when outdoors
6. Walking to anywhere in town
5. The candy stand at the outdoor bazaar
4. Dinner out - $6
3. Fancy dinner out - $18
2. Kindness of everyone involved in this process (except the judge and state attorney of course)
1. Dinner out - $6 (worth repeating)

Perhaps later this week there’ll be the converse of this list (things I’m not going to miss at all). Be sure to keep an eye out for that.

Well, it’s now 9 pm and she’s down, hopefully for the night. She fights like mad, but she’s no match for the genetically inbred swaying action of the Daddy 2600 (now with Flavonoids!) Shhhhh. She’s sleeping.

We’ve had our ups and downs today, and hopefully Sarah’s affliction is primarily due to sleep deprivation and not something worse, like syphilis. (That would indeed be worse, right?) I’ve just realized that there may not be many more of these entries left. There’s probably no chance of posting anything Sunday night when we get to Almaty, and then I don’t know if I’ll have access Monday or Tuesday. That leaves Friday and Saturday. Yikes, I better work on a good penultimate finale. I will of course post something when we’re back home and slightly recovered from the plane trip.

Here’s to you, and you and you and you.

So... Sleepy...

Well, we knew they couldn’t all be like yesterday. Asella had her good moments and bad today, but the night was especially difficult. Mommy and Daddy did not get much sleep, and it never helps when the hot water is gone for the day. It’s 9:30 pm and still not back on.

So, it’s late, and this will be quick. Seems like we spent most of the day cooking food for the baby, washing dishes in cold water, changing diapers and trying to get her down for naps. I suppose that’s life from here on out. To all those parents out there that actually had to raise their kids themselves for the first 9 months, you are to be commended. Truly.

Ok, the day went like this… Lack of sleep, no hot water, feed, nap, play, feed, nap, play, over to Kim’s for dinner, play, feed, sleep. Grant seems to like his new digs, cruising all over the place in usual Grant rapid-motion style.

But where did the day go? There was bit of advancement in the crawling department, but other than that, it was fairly uneventful. Here’s Asella modeling the latest French fashion in sackwear.

Um… too tired to go on. Think of something funny and slightly sentimental and pretend I wrote it. Thanks. I owe you one. Less than 1 week left! Yay!!!

V-Day

Victory Day! And a victory of sorts for us here as well. Today was a really good day. Asella slept until almost 5 am without any sort of intervention required. We let her cry herself to sleep in the playpen, saving our backs and only damaging our eardrums for about 10 minutes. She slept in my arms until about 6:15, and then we had breakfast. After that she promptly fell back asleep, without any tantrum whatsoever, and in the playpen. Woo-hoo! We boiled water on the stove most of the night (thanks Nina!) and we think that helped with her cold. She definitely breathed easier all night. The only problem is that our apartment can now double as a Russian sauna. There was a fat guy at the door asking if I’d beat him with some leaves at around 3 am. Weird.

The rest of the day followed suit, with Asella being very content and cheerful. At about 2 we decided to take a walk in the park, so Eugene’s mom picked us up and dropped us at the central park, which was absolutely mobbed. It’s Victory Day here in the former USSR (did I mention that?) so it seemed the entire town was out enjoying the beautiful weather and the festivities. There was a loudspeaker truck blaring nationalistic parump-a-dumps and everyone was dressed up to the hilt for a day in the park. Asella remained very calm, taking it all in, and we’re sure we over stimulated her.

Breaking News!!! We just put her down for the night without hearing a peep! We’re so awesome at this. Parents of the year, right here, oh yeah. Oh, here’s a late entry from yesterday. It’s only been three days and Asella is already walking all over me.

Back to the day… The park was filled with beer vendors, ice cream carts, karaoke booths, and stores selling inflatable stuff… toys… children’s toys. Sheesh. We bought Asella a little inflatable squeaky mallet with tigger and pooh and flowers and dollar signs. She loves it and spent most of the afternoon whacking everything in sight with it. Why do we bother with expensive toys when the 57 cent variety work just as well?

The fountains are in full bloom, though sadly it’s still too early for the flowers to be in bloom. The statues are statuey. The resident swans and a pelican are now in residence as well, having successfully passed their checkup for avian flu and hernias. We would have liked to spend more time, but it was nap time so back to the apartment we went for another successful go at the sleeping thing.

Since the day went so well we decided to go out for dinner with her again. We met up with Kim and Ed and Joan at Dolce Vita and had a nice somewhat Italian dinner. Ed and Joan held Asella while we ate (hey, that works pretty well) and to avoid jealousy Asella ate some cherrios through her mesh strainer gnawy thing. The rising comfort level is becoming very evident, since tonight she tried to grab silverware and napkins and food off the table, where last night she was mostly wide-eyed and sedate.

Tomorrow Grant gets paroled and will join Kim for a quick 3 days in Kostanai before heading to Almaty where Kim’s dad is waiting to help escort the little guy home. We’re going to head over there tomorrow for a little orphanage reunion and what else, laundry.

That’s about it. A great day. Sarah and I are going to sleep in the same bed tonight, go to bed at the same time, and hopefully wake up after the sun rises. We hope you have a good day too.

One final note… We want to wish a big fat bon voyage to my parents, who leave for an African adventure tomorrow, possibly never to be seen again. Hope you guys have a great trip!!! You can keep track of the trip on their blog site:

www.eatenbyhippos.com

Happy trails!

Still tickin'

Good day. It has been a better day. Daddy took an Ambien and got a decent night’s sleep, while the wonderful angelic Mommy pulled the night duty. Asella slept in the crib from about 10 pm to 3 am, and after that she required holding. Sarah’s a bit tired. Tonight she gets to hit the sauce and I’m doing the graveyard shift.

Asella’s cold is a little better today, but she’s still having major issues. The most difficult one we’re dealing with right now is the not sleeping unless we’re holding her thing. We know this is a new thing because she slept in her crib all the time at the orphanage. It’s obviously a combination of the major upheaval, feeling lousy, teething, and the state of the Dollar vs. the Euro.

So, if anyone has any brilliant methods for getting a baby to fall asleep in her crib (without crying herself to sleep – doesn’t seem to work and she’s loud enough to be heard 3 floors down), please share. We’re all ears. She seems completely dead to the world, but the second we lift her away from our body or put her on the crib surface she goes ballistic. We cant figure out how she even knows what’s happening.

But enough with the lack of sleep and cold and all that flim-flam. Here’s the good stuff. In just two days we’ve noticed an increase in her consonant sounds, and she’s just developed a laugh that sounds more “adult.” It’s pretty funny. Also, she did take 3 crawl steps this morning, and though fussy about it, she’s doing well on her nap schedule. She’s also eating like a pig, which is no surprise I guess. We bought some potatoes and a carrot to boil up and mash. I think the carrot came from the Chernobyl region because it was about the size of my thigh.

An outing was in store today as well, so we got her dressed in pretty clothes and took a little walk around the block. Her body language indicates she’s excited to be out there, but still no noise or facial expression to speak of. Here she is with mommy on the playground swing in our complex.

Here’s daddy and Asella by the school.

And here’s the brave girl challenging a knight to a duel.

This last one was taken in between naps. She like us, she really likes us. (So much she can’t bear to be apart, even to sleep!)

We may try and go to dinner with people tonight if Asella is up to it. We’re feeling a little like shut-ins at the moment and could use a little company. Keep reading to see if a stinky diaper clears out the restaurant or whatever other form of mayhem may ensue. And yes, daddy is doing diapers. There’s only been 1 really fun one, and I was off grocery shopping at the time, but I’m sure I’ll get my fair share of those too.

Break time.

And we’re back. Now it’s 9 and Asella’s getting a bath before what is hopefully bedtime. We did go out and it was a success. It was nice to be out of the apartment and see some people. Asella was very well behaved and just took it all in. We do not see any babies in restaurants, so it was a novelty for all the other patrons as well.

The drool is getting very heavy, so teething appears to be a major part of her issues. Welp, she’s screaming again, so I’m gonna go. Goodnight. Let’s hope.

We’re now down to 6 more days in Kostanai, and a little over a week until we get home. Hoo-ah. Home stretch. Literally. Dosvidanya.

We need grandmas

Switched at the orphanage? This is not what the brochure made it sound like. Hi folks. We’re exhausted. Shortly after the entry last night Asella decided to rapidly come down with a nasty head cold and can barely breathe through her nose. We were up all night while she tried to sleep, would not let us put her in the playpen, and generally was very fussy. Today was a lot of the same. She had her moments (see picture) and still wants to play every now and then, but she’s not a happy camper. On top of it, she’s teething and in a totally foreign environment. We’re not sure what the evening has in store for us, but we’re not optimistic.

So not too much to describe today. Sorry. Between us, we got about 2 hours of sleep, so the creative juices are not flowing. And she wont let us put her down (we’re trying to be mindful of our apartment neighbors.) Right now we’re watching Finding Nemo and Sarah is feeding her dinner. Some kind of rice goop.

Wish us a better tomorrow. Catcha later.

And then there were three

WE GOT HER! After fulfilling the remaining obligation on her orphanage contract, Asella has officially left the building and begun her new life with her wacky parents. We started the adoption process in October 2004, and at long last the “process” is nearly complete. We could not have asked for a better baby or a more hassle free experience while here. Thanks to all stateside who helped make it possible.

Gotcha Day has been very exciting thus far as we cross the 8 hour mark since getting her to the apartment. (Sadly, Grant is sick and the orphanage wanted to keep him a few more days until he gets better. Kim’s Gotcha Day will be on Wednesday.) Here’s what happened:

Eugene picked us up at the ungodly hour of 7:45 am and we headed to the orphanage with all our presents for the people there and some cute clothes for Asella to wear whilst strutting her way out of the orphanage. (Nice duds courtesy of the incomparable Ms. Tahi.)

First we headed up to the nursery to give the caretakers their gifts and get pictures with all of them. All the staff showed up (even those on their day off or off their shift) which was really nice. They really do love Asella to pieces and they are very sad to see her go. We got presents from them as well, which was unexpected and very considerate. Asella got some lovely hand-knitted booties and a kazak purse for when she’s a little older. All the caretakers are wonderful women and we’re so fortunate that Asella spent the first part of her life with such caring individuals.

After round one, we headed downstairs to Irena’s office to give her a present and say farewell. Hugs and pictures and smiles all around, then back to the nursery so we could change Asella into her civilian clothes. Kim brought a cake for them and they invited us to join them for cake and tea. More pictures were taken, more staff came in and Asella was acting like queen of the orphanage, just eating up all the attention. Finally we said our last goodbyes and made our way outside.

We got back to the apartment around 10 am and Asella did an amazing job of not flipping out. She loves the full length mirrors on the wardrobe in the living room, so that helped settle her in and feel comfortable. We goofed around for about an hour and then she crashed hard in mommy’s arms, sleeping for about an hour. The change in scenery has not seemed to bother her at all, other than when she woke up from her naps and was a bit confused as to where she was.

We ate while she slept (so that’s how it’s going to be, eh?) and then made her a delicious lunch of fresh mashed potatoes, apple bits, and meat-like baby food jarred stuff. She seemed to enjoy it and gobbled it down like a champ.

Lots of firsts today: first drink from a sippy cup, first meal made by mom and dad, first exposure to stellar Canadian band Bare Naked Ladies, first diaper changed by mom, first exposure to the idiot box, and later, her first message to you all on the blog – she really wants to push the buttons.

After lunch we played around some more, mom filed her nails and Asella continued to make herself at home. We’re a little shocked about how well behaved she is, especially since she’s fighting off a cold. But hopefully all the indications about the perfect nature of this kid we had at the start are correct and she’ll be an angel until sometime around age 12. If we sleep through the night, we’ll be nominating her for sainthood, or a People’s Choice award.

And now, a word from the baby of the hour, your friend and mine, Asella Claire.

Mjl klkljl.km, ,.Z /,KKM M N \P[‘

Okay, so it isn’t going to win the Pulitzer, but give her a break, she’s only 8 months old. And her afternoon nap was only 20 minutes so her mind is probably not as sharp as it could be. But I digress.

Right now Sarah is making us dinner while I type one-handed. (There appears to be some sort of child-thing occupying my other hand.) We’ll probably stay in through lunch tomorrow and try going out for dinner Sunday night. Should be interesting.

So now what: We’ll travel to Almaty on Sunday the 14th (we’re hanging round here while the final paperwork such as passports and birth certificates are processed) then we leave the 17th at 3 am for an exciting 24 hours of airplanes and airports. Woo! Almost done.

There you have it. Our life just changed dramatically. I think I need a nap. Good day.

-The Strauses

The times they are a-changin'

T-minus 15 hours until G-day. And things are all a-twitter at the Straus compound, west Asia division. We spent the morning getting the apartment as baby-proof as possible, and all afternoon looking at jars of Russian baby food. After weeding out the jars of horse and camel meat, we managed to get one jar of everything that resembled food that we would consider eating. Then we had to walk home with it. Fun.

I also had to spend the morning rushing around with Eugene doing some last minute paperwork to get the kiddos their birth certificates and passports. More fun.

Our little daughter was in a sparklingly good mood today, bouncing all over the place and generally enjoying a state of bliss. Hopefully this is a preview of the next 18 years. Grant on the other hand is a sick puppy and may not be able to leave tomorrow. (The orphanage figures it’s better to keep him there to recover, where they have doctors and nurses around the clock, vs. at an apartment with single parent Kim.)

It’s hard to comprehend that this was our last visit to the orphanage. We’ve been there everyday at 1 pm for the last 44 days. It’s the last time we’ll be in that hot room with her, making sure she doesn’t crack her head open on the table in there as she tries to stand up, keeping her away from the radiator, yanking her away from the window whenever the mean doctor comes in the room, and the very last day of wearing enough clothing for 3 or 4 babies living in an igloo.

I’m sure it will be even harder for Asella to comprehend what’s going to happen tomorrow, but we’re hoping her innate curiosity and easy-going nature will cushion the major upheaval that’s about to occur. We’ll probably hang out in the apartment all day, just to get her comfortable. Maybe put on one of the Lord of the Rings movies. That should keep her busy for awhile.

Tonight it’s back to the castle, to celebrate the end of our two-party system and the introduction of an independent. Sarah and I have been a two-some since January of 1992 (holy smokes!) and many of you are probably saying, “Well it’s about time you guys had a threesome!” Wait, that sounds kinda funny. Oh well. I don’t have to be mature until tomorrow, right?

So pass around the cigars and raise your glasses, cause we’re about to have a baby. In case you haven’t been paying attention (inconceivable), it’s a girl. And she’s wicked awesome.

The news in brief...

Hi folks. It’s very late and we’ve been out all day, sadly not doing anything very exciting, so this will be a brief entry. Sorry. Or conversely, you’re welcome.

We had lunch on our own today and I’m pleased to say that my Russian skills are to the point where I can order both Sarah and I a meal exactly to our specifications. Yes it’s true that we went to Knick Knack, where we’ve been many many times, and ordered the same food we always do, with a waitress who has served us countless times before, but still. Russian ain’t pig-latin. It’s hard. So yay us.

Weather is nice. We had our visit (Asella is the bestest, cutest, most adorable, etc., etc.) Sat in a car for 20 minutes while Eugene did stuff, went to Ed & Joan’s, did laundry, watched a few movies, ate dinner at 8:30, the end.

Tomorrow is our last day as a couple. Saturday we will be a tripod, or triceratops, or something else that starts with “tri.”

Are we there yet?

It’s a beautiful day here in Kostanai, and yes, I’m reduced to speaking of nothing but the weather. Well maybe a few other things. This morning a cat was perched in the tree outside our window, 3 stories up. He looked quite content, dozing away in the morning sun.

Fun with babies! We took them outside again today, and while the same perplexed look and soundlessness occurred, Asella did flail her legs around rather emphatically. We took this to be a good sign of progress.

Her soccer education continued today as we worked on her goalkeeping skills. Though I was a bit dismayed by her response to Sarah’s chucking the ball at her head – she thought it was funny, and then tried to eat the ball. We’ll work on juggling and volleys tomorrow.

Here are some more pictures of Asella in various states ranging from demure to sickeningly adorable.

You’ll never believe it, but we went to a new restaurant for dinner. It was Quentin Tarantino themed, with the Pulp Fiction soundtrack on the stereo and posters on the wall. It was in a great location next to 2 construction sites and nowhere near any other stores, so naturally we were the only ones in the place. The food was pretty good and the bathroom had a very interesting poster featuring various shots from a “toilet cam.” I’ll leave the contents to your imagination. Nope, think worse than that. Worse. There ya go.

2 weeks to go. 75% done. Only a quarter left. Sarah just informed me that she misses burritos. Mmmmm… burritos.

Mmmmm.... Sandwiches

It’s now been 6 weeks, and I am officially out of material. The well has dried up. We expect Saturday will bring plenty of newfound inspiration, but until then I’m regressing back to my senior year of high school (and most of college as well), and will engage in the timeworn practice called “coasting.”

So today I offer up the following, a new parent Mad Lib, the shell of which was graciously donated by the Straus family of Albany, New York, and completed by the lovely and talented Sarah Straus. The title is: Preschool Prep

“You haven’t enrolled 50 Cent in preschool prep school yet?” my neighbor asked grossly, then added, “He’s already 2 years old, dear. The other little stars were enrolled the day they were brought into the cartoon.” Indeed, all the other kids on the block had prepared auditions for the Academy of St. Cartman Preschool Prep School for the Gifted and Fat. Jimmy from up the street was going to play “Eyes” on the piano. Hazel from around the corner was going to dance the balled “Mud Lake.” And Eugene next door was going to show the computer he built out of small giraffes. Excitingly concerned, I asked my son what he would like to do for his audition, and he responded by sticking a monkey up his nose. I think preschool prep is something we may have to forego unless the school is willing to accept a kid who sneezes monkeys.

How ya like them apples? There is one item to share with you today. Asella received her first soccer lesson, which mainly consisted of me sticking a soccer ball in her face while she tried to get it in her mouth.

Not a bad start for an 8 month old, but we still have plenty of work to do. Tomorrow I’m going to explain the offsides trap and the difference between a fair charge and shoulder to shoulder contact. Since Real Madrid is always on the TV here, we’ll have about a week for her to watch and learn to bend it like Beckham, finesse it like Figo, and shoot it like Solari.

Asella did have a very nice outfit on today (no, really, she did) and was very well behaved. I fed her about 4 pounds of ground beef an carrots, and she gobbled it all up like a champ. Though she did keep whipping her head around to look at people while I tried to give her the glass of milk, leaving her face looking like a milk council ad gone terribly awry. Our fine selection of music in the nursery today: Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II.” Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone. Asella got pudding because she ate all her meat. Sarah is ineligible to receive pudding. Mmmm… Pudding.

Mayday! Mayday!

Note from the management: Enough with the angel thing. You’re all making less sense than Darren. And that’s no easy task. Have courage and sign your name. Thank you. :)

Yup, it’s May Day here in this former Soviet republic. And while it is still rather chilly, the sun is out and the slushy muck is diminishing, so that’s all good. The countdown is on… 4 more days after today, and then we get da baby full time. I believe in the states this is known as rent to own. We’re thinking about getting the extended warranty.

Another exciting evening out last night as the whole gang of Americans descended on the bowling alley for an intercontinental battle royale. In the end, it was 283 to 161, Colorado over New York, not taking into consideration that Colorado had 1 more person on their team. But alls fair in Kazak bowling alleys, right? Here we are holding our balls.

We had the pleasure of walking to Knick Knack for lunch today, and while normally they are one of the most reliable eating establishments, today’s meal was quite the adventure. They were breaking in a new waitress, and well, yeah, we broke her. The notion of 4 separate checks was a bit overwhelming for the poor lass, and from there it was a downward spiral. Drinks appeared at random intervals, if at all; spaghetti with tomatoes was conspicuously absent of tomatoes, AND served to the wrong person; other food simply never showed up. Another waitress (our usual) told the manager as we left to never let the new girl serve the Americans again. We’re complicated.

Babbling brook was back today at the orphanage, as Asella spent a good portion of time discussing the Italian parliamentary debacle with a hideously misshapen green bear in a clown suit. The bear was distinctively silent on the whole issue. Probably a centrist that votes with the socialist bloc. Bah.

Given the nice weather we were able to walk around a bit this afternoon, which was a welcome change. Naturally we did some more souvenir shopping. I’m not fathoming how it’s possible that we can go to 2 souvenir shops 36 times each, but then again, there’s a lot of things I don’t understand, so I’m just going with the flow. To be fair, the shops seem to have slightly different stuff each time we’re there. I think they like to confuse us.

Dinner was the meal we had this evening. Sarah asked for a milkshake with chocolate in it (the menu was limited) and wound up with a shake with some hot chocolate dumped in it. The result was luke-warm chocolate milk. We’re ready for a cuisine change. I think we’ve worn out all the restaurants. At least we got to walk there and back. If you can email us a nice sandwich, that would be great. Thanks.

Adios.

Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out

Yay! April is over. Good riddance. Here’s to May! But before we get into all that out like a lion in like a lamb or whatever the heck that’s all about, here’s a bit about last night. We headed over to Eddie and Joan’s luxury palace for some dinner, laundry, and a movie. Eugene and Christina joined us as well, so it was quite the party. Pasta, clothes washing, and Analyze This – the stuff entertainment reporters drool over. Ed and Joan were wonderful hosts and they invited us to come over any time to get some clothes cleaned. We certainly will take them up on that offer. A good time was had by all, as evidenced by this photo.

Top to bottom, left to right: Yours truly, Ed, Hottie McStraus, Joan, Kim. We did get ones with Eugene and Christina, but we’re not allowed to post them, because if you saw what they look like, we’d have to kill you. Sorry, some remnants of the cold war Soviet mentality. They’re harsh, but they make some mean pirogis. We’re not sure how much of the movie Christina understood, and we noticed the Eugene did not translate the part where Billy Crystal explains an oedipal complex to Robert DeNiro. Go figure.

And then the sun came up, though we couldn’t really tell. Another chilly night and another snowy morning. We had a lousy lunch at a place that never has anything we want, and then went to the orphanage to witness what just may be one of the best outfits yet. Check out this fine ensemble.

That’s right, a white animal shirt with stylin’ collar, covered by a purple sweatshirt, with aqua blue pants under a pink and white sweater-like mesh lederhosen of sorts. There’s another shirt underneath all that, which somewhat restricted her mobility. 5 more days and then when she looks ridiculous, it will be entirely our fault!

Tonight we’re going bowling, again, and will probably have a lousy dinner as well. The snow has finally stopped and we caught a glimpse of the sun today, so hopefully tomorrow we can regain some of our independence and not be a slave to the warm Toyota affectionately known as, “our ride.”

And the winner of yesterdays contest is none other than Anonymous! Congrats and thanks to all who played.

Not much else to report. I miss waffles. Catcha later.

Everybody's working for the weekend

Saturday here, and the great spring storm of 2006 rages on. It’s a wet, snowy, slippedy, sloppity mess out there, but that did not stop us from heading back to Miami, our local day spa. I had a half hour massage, and Sarah got a haircut followed by an hour and fifteen minute facial. Total cost = $40. Not a bad deal. So, feeling nice and relaxed, we trekked back out into the 30 degree weather and headed to lunch, which we ate. We almost didn’t recognize the orphanage with the sheen of white snowy things all over, but we made it inside just the same.

Today’s visit was marked by a whole lot of inactivity. Asella seemed perplexed as to why we wanted her to work for her toys or to get over to us. Thus, she stared at us a lot. A whole lot. Like for 20 minutes at a time. Without blinking. Then her head spun around. After that the caretakers put on some music and we had a father-daughter dance.

And here’s mommy cutting in and wrecking the whole father-daughter dance concept.

Saturday night is party night here in Kostanai, so we’re heading over to the newbies’ apartment, along with Kim, Eugene and Christina, for some take out and movie watching. Did I mention they have a home entertainment system with wireless surround sound? Even better though, they have a washing machine; and who doesn’t love Saturday night guests who show up with bags of laundry?

So, unfortunately for you, the details of this exciting evening will have to wait until tomorrow, because we just may be out until the wee hours of the night and blitzed off our gourds on Ukrainian vodka. (Jennifer, please disregard this last part as it is wholly untrue. Seriously. Everyone else feel free to paint a mental picture of that.)

Hey, it’s another contest. This one is slightly different. Put down your best idea for what it is that Daddy is doing that caused this look to appear on Asella’s face. Keep it PG-13 or below please. Extra credit will be awarded if you can fit her awesome shirt into the entry. The best one will receive a free shooting lesson and 10 shells to fire at the Kostanai shooting range and restaurant. C’mon down and put some buckshot in somethin’!

One more thing. Last night we were watching our favorite German TV channel and some interesting Disney cartoons came on. The best one was about Daisy Duck being a tremendous jerk and completely ruining Mickey & Minnie’s intimate afternoon plans. At one point Daisy literally punched Minnie in the face. Dang those Germans are harsh. What? Isn’t this how you spend your Friday nights?

Well, I have to go. Sarah is hiding her nose in my sleeve because it’s freezing right off her face. I’m going to have to set something on fire in here. Good thing we don’t have smoke alarms!

Have a great weekend!!

Brrrrr

Thanks to all of you who heeded our call for levity. We sincerely appreciate it. The winner will be announced later in this entry.

We awoke to snow and cold temperatures. And not the kind of snow that makes the whole place look like a magical sparkly winter wonderland, nope it’s the kind that turns to muddy goop and stings your face when it hits you. Yay. Pleasant. So, another day cooped up inside.

Some good news today though. Our official “Gotcha Day” will be on Saturday, May 6th. We’ll pick Asella up at the orphanage at 8 am, and that will be the last she’ll see of that place. It’s very exciting, and now we have to spend the next week trying to figure out how to childproof the apartment and understand the complexities of child care, like, does she eat everyday? And we’ll probably need to get what, 6 or 7 diapers? That’s about right for 12 days, yeah?

Anyway, it’s in low sixties in the apartment and there is no heat source at all in the apartment. We look like wooly mammoths in our modified pj’s. Sarah broke out her Hildegard’s Secret sleepwear collection (thermals, flannel pajamas, socks and mittens) while I continued my late night quest to control all the covers.

So what were we talking about? Lunch? Yes, we had it. Then we went to the orphanage and gave them our donation of a suitcase full of kiddy clothes (much of it kindly donated by the Sheffer family). Irena seemed quite pleased, especially by the more “interesting” outfits, and one of the toys we brought allowed her to complete her set of bird/reptile type things with rings on stick legs. And who wouldn’t want that?

Asella was a moody stinker today. We pushed her a little harder to do some crawling, since she seems hell bent on bypassing that altogether. Here she is attempting to stand up on her own since we obviously weren’t going to help. This was a common position for her today.

She’s still throwing mini-tantrums when we press the issue, but day by day she gets closer and closer, though she’d still rather walk. Her transition from upset to cocksure is quite rapid once she does make it over to us and pulls herself to a standing position, as seen in the photo below.

Then we had dinner at 4 pm. Really. So now we’re back in the apartment, watching the Smurfs in German.

Okay, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, again. The announcement of the photo caption contest winner… Egg roll please. Thanks. Tasty. Now, drum roll please… with the hilariously obtuse submission: “What?! He's not Bill Gates and the Mrs? Get me Angelina and Brad!!” our winner is Loretta Shields of West Hills, California. Please give her a warm round of applause. And Loretta, we’ll meet you at the airport. Let us know what flight you’re on. Honorable mention goes to the criminally insane Mr. Cruise. You too are welcome to come out, if for no other reason than to get you away from your poor family. Thanks for playing everyone.

Send us nice weather. Talk to you later.

Sigh

Well folks, it rained again all day, and will probably snow tonight, so guess what, another dull, dreary, lackluster, uninspiring, tame and mind-numbing entry. And we were so quick to rejoice when they turned the radiators off 2 weeks ago. Now our bedroom is freezing and we fought all night over the questionably queen sized comforter. But we’re hardy Colorado stock, so we’ll get through it. On with the show.

We met up with the new folks and Kim at Café Mango for lunch. They had just come from the orphanage, going through the child “selection” and first visitation. It seems like we did that 5 months ago, not 5 weeks. They are very happy and excited, and their kid is who we thought it was, so all three of our babies are in the same room. Ed and Joan will be visiting their little girl in the morning though, so we will not share that time with them.

Asella was a well behaved little monkey today, and did not require us to let her stand up for an hour and a half straight. She took little breaks to lie on her stomach and play with stuff. When not standing up and looking for things to climb on, she enjoys reading, shaking a rattle, and long walks on the beach. She also likes boys who ignore her completely, aside from when they sit on her (as Grant did to her today several times, the big bully.)

We spent another afternoon engaged in one of our favorite activities – bathtub laundry! (What were you thinking?) Having the drying rack does help immensely, so at least some good came of our jealousy inducing trip to Kim’s apartment last week. Dinner was at the ridiculously expensive but good coffee shop by the mosque. And true to Kazak form, you never get the same thing twice, even when you order exactly the same thing. It was not quite as good today, but at least it was expensive.

Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the winner of the Asella photo caption contest... Oh wait, that’s right, we only got one response, and they didn’t leave a name. Thought I’m guessing I know who it was from, and he’s ineligible to win anyway (relative of an employee kind of thing – legal mumbo jumbo problem). Sarah and I are very disappointed in all of you. We guess none of you want to join us for a nice dinner. Your loss. We’ll keep the contest open one more day out of pure morbid curiosity. C’mon people. We’ve been stuck in the apartment for the last 2 days, and the weather shows no signs of improving. We need some entertainment. We’re all counting on you. Help me, help you. Help….. me……help…… you.

This is the end (at least for today.)

Newbies!!

All day long it rained today. The streets are a total mess and the mud has returned. Yay. So, sadly for you dear readers, this is yet another uneventful day, though we did get the new folks in town. We had leftovers for lunch at home and then went to visit the incredible goose-stepping wunderkind.

Asella has discovered climbing. She doesn’t crawl, takes these weird uneven steps while holding onto us, and yet she has decided that she wants to scale things. Mainly her dad. She does like to be up high, and was going to stomp on my head if need be to get there. If she keeps this kind of developmental pattern up, she’s going to skip walking and learn to ride a bike instead. If the weather is nice tomorrow we’ll take her outside and let her ascend the orphanage’s climbing wall. (Relax grandmas, that’s a joke.)

Audience participation time!! This is your chance to add your special brand of wit or schmaltz to the daily journal entry. Please provide a caption for the photo of Asella below. The best will be chosen at random and featured in tomorrow’s entry. The grand prize winner will be treated to a four star meal at the Castle in beautiful downtown Kostanai. (Transportation costs not included. Well drinks and gratuities excluded.) So, sharpen up that wit razor and give it your best shot. Limit 10 captions per entrant. Not valid in Guam.

After the visit we watched March of the Penguins and said thank you to Krishna that we weren’t born into this world as penguins. Though the duration of our trip is about the same to acquire our young, we have not suffered from starvation (obviously) or bitter cold, and we most certainly have not been eaten by seagulls or ravenous leopard seals. At about 5 pm I went with Eugene to pick up the newbies at the airport. Ed and Joan seem like very nice people (in spite of being New Yawkers – tee hee) and we’re glad they’re here to add another dialect of English to the mix. This was Eugene’s first time bringing an “old school” American to meet the “new school” Americans at the airport, and though we told them we were finishing up our tenth month here, they seemed very happy to see someone from the states. We took them to their apartment (bad idea, it’s even better than Kim’s!!!) and then we all met up later at Knick Knack for dinner. We think we know who they are here to adopt, and we’re happy that she will get to meet her family soon.

And that was what happened today, April 26, 2006. The rain messes with our tv channels, so instead of news this morning we had scrambled body parts from a porn channel. Goes well with scrambled eggs. So hopefully nothing bad happened in the world today. Later on!

And then it was Tuesday

We’ve now been here 5 weeks, and yes, we would like a medal. Only 6 more to go. Ha ha! Just kidding. So where was I? Oh yes, today. Let’s see, our cold water has been thinking about going away for most of the day, so it took the better part of the morning to take a simple shower.

We walked to lunch at the auto dealership and then went to visit that new Straus kid. It was a balmy day in nursery land, a very pleasant 85 degrees inside, and our poor baby was dripping with sweat.

So, we bundled her up even more and headed outside for another stroll. She started out pretty excited about it, but then went into another catatonic trance for much of the time. She was also terribly perplexed by my appearance in sunglasses, and we think she spent a lot of time wondering who the heck I was. I told her I was a famous movie star, and that America is full of them, so get used to it.

This evening was very exciting, as Eugene gave us the opportunity to get out of town. After picking up Christina, a first year English student who is a friend of Eugene, we headed out to the town of Rudny, about 30 miles west of Kostanai. It’s a mining town next to one of the world’s largest iron ore pits. (Man, what a pit!) There’s an “entertainment complex” in the center of town, and that was our destination for this evening. We checked out the arcade, made reservations for the air hockey table, and then headed upstairs to the bowling alley. It was an epic battle of U.S. vs. Kazakhstan, but ultimately the home field advantage allowed the Kazaks to walk away with a 1 pin victory. If you added up Sarah and my scores they approach something respectable. I blame our parents.

We checked out the “Opera Plaza” restaurant, but that was far too swanky, instead opting for the very nicely decorated Chinese place. I’m still not sure they know what Chinese food is here (and you would think being right next door to China they would have a clue), but the food was pretty good. Sarah had a plate of fresh green beans. And we did eat with chopsticks, so that did add something to the authentic oriental experience. This was only the 2nd time ever that Christina has been outside of Kostanai, and probably the 1st time eating at a Chinese restaurant, so being the worldly cosmopolitans that we are, we instructed her in the fine art of using chopsticks and ordering in Cantonese. Well, that’s not exactly true; my Cantonese is not so good so I had to mix in some Mandarin.

Christina spent most of the meal laughing at me when I would thank the waitress or say something else in Russian. When asked to explain why, she said it was because she never heard an Englishman speak Russian before. (And she still hasn’t, but you get the gist.) Following dinner I clobbered Sarah in air hockey, and then she and Christina battled it out for the international female championship.

It was a fun evening and very nice to see something new and different. Tomorrow another family arrives, from Nyack, New York. So our little party of three will expand to five. We hope they’re interesting and entertaining because we’re all ready for some new faces and personalities to be thrown into the mix. That should help the last 3 weeks cruise on by.

Tune in tomorrow for the continuing adventures of your favorite overseas Strauses.

Such and such

First of all, about last night. As mentioned, we headed to Kim’s place for movie/laundry night, which turned out to be a bad idea, because now we’re bitter about our quarters. Her apartment makes ours look like some sort of camel breeding facility. She has a foyer, tables, clocks, closets, 2 sinks, a shower curtain, a larger kitchen with a blender and cooking utensils, nice carpet, curtains, wallpaper, a ceiling, and much much more. It was nice doing some laundry though, and Kim was kind enough to let us take the apartment’s drying rack home with us (yes, she even had one of those!) So we ate pizza at the palace of luxury and watched L.A. Confidential. Though seemingly impossible, it was likely we had even more stares as we walked home with a bag of wet clothes and a large folding rack thingy. Ok, that was last night, on with today.

Yet another thrill a minute day here in Kazakhstan. Um, let’s see, we had breakfast, watched the news, showered, futzed around, and then met Eugene for lunch at Rush Hour, Sarah’s favorite communist lunch place. A guy in line behind us asked Eugene if we were Americans, so he told him we are spies. He jokingly asked if there wasn’t enough land in America, so they have to come here for ours. He was kidding, but probably only a little. He then proceeded to stare at us the entire time we ate.

Our visit was especially exciting today. Since the temperature has dropped to about 18 degrees, we decided this would be a good day to take the kids outside for a glimpse at fresh air.

Kim wasn’t feeling well (not my fault!) so we were on our own with both of the fluffy lumps of child. Now you may ask why Sarah is not bundled up like the kids. It’s because I fooled you – it’s actually 78 degrees out today. These people are loco about the weather. Seriously bonkers. But you knew that.

They don’t get out much, so we spent about 15 minutes in complete silence, walking around the playground areas of the orphanage. I’m not sure their expressions even changed from that of abject wonderment even once. Asella did at several times touch Grant’s face to make sure he was real, as to them, we had apparently entered into another dimension. It was interesting, and we hope to be able to do it again, maybe without the inflatable sumo suits next time, but probably not.

The nursery was a bit chaotic today, so the head teacher conscripted me to play the piano to get the kids to put a cork in it. After breezing through the Rach 3, I delighted the tiny tots with a few sonatas by Liszt, a piece or 2 by Bach, and the entire song catalog of REO Speedwagon. They were duly impressed. If the keys of G and A didn’t sound like a yeti pulling an inebriated yak though a colander, it would have been beautiful.

Other than that, not much to report today. The dollar is down a bit, if that interests you. So whatever you all are doing over there with it, cut it out. We walked to the grocery store to help the security staff practice their overt surveillance. Yes, I do mean overt. Then we bought some tomatoes off a street vendor. Yes, that’s not a euphemism. After settling in for the night, we made dinner in our small kitchen, using the one cooking utensil we have (that we had to purchase today at the store) and ate spaghetti from our laps. Well, from the plates sitting in our laps. (We have no table – one of the many reasons we go out to eat every 30 minutes.) All righty, getting punchy, so off I go.

Have a good week at work or wherever it is you spend your days. And be nice to yaks.

Bleh

Greetings fellow Americans. It’s Russian Orthodox Easter here today, but we did not partake of any of the Easter cakes, or games of egg knocking. (Kids take eggs and ram them into other kids’ eggs – the winner is the one with the unbroken egg.) Sounds messy. The weather is absolutely spectacular today. 72 with a light breeze.

Not a terribly exciting day here in Kostanai. We spent the morning shopping for the customary gifts for various persons (the judge, the orphanage director, the head teacher, etc. It was quite an efficient outing, as we managed to get everything we needed. For the person responsible for getting her birth certificate, we buy cell phone minutes. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

The cold that I’ve been fighting off for about a week now has finally won a small victory and I was not feeling up to visiting the orphanage (and I don’t want to give it back to the kiddos). I either got it from Kim, DJ, Alex, Asella, or Grant (it’s been making the rounds pretty effectively). We’re hoping Sarah’s liter of green tea per day regimen affords her some protection from it. So far so good.

So I dozed at home while Sarah visited little Ms. Chatterbox. Today she decided to talk for an hour and half, making all sorts of new sounds and contorting her face like Jim Carrey in Me, Myself, and Irene (or whatever that movie was called). I wish I could have been there to see it, but hopefully I’ll be better tomorrow and she’ll continue her conversation. Sarah shot some video, and it was hysterical. We’re surmising that she was going on and on about how much she missed me and wondered when she would see me and reinforced her view to Sarah that I’m a wonderful Dad, etc., etc.

The kid continues to try walking, and loves to be standing up. Peek-a-boo also continues to be a crowd favorite.

After the visit they picked me up to head to the green market for some fruit and the souvenir store yet one more time. We really managed to bargain with them at the souvenir store, wrenching a whopping 5% discount out of them, when all they really wanted to offer was 3%. Given there are a total of 2 souvenir stores left (the one at the mall has remained vanished) we don’t have many options, and they know that.

Tonight Eugene is going to provide us with a pizza delivery service, and we’re headed to Kim’s to do some laundry (in an actual washing machine) and watch a movie. Par-tay.

That’s all folks. Have a nice day.

Gooooooooooooooooal!!!!!!!!

Happy Earthday everybody, from your friends on the other side of the planet. Today was an exciting day, filled with new experiences and astounding happenings. Hold on to your hats… I got a haircut. Yup. A haircut. Me. Can you feel the magic? Okay, so it’s no snorkeling in the Caspian Sea, but it was something different.

Actually we got up early this morning and headed to Miami, the local day spa. A follicular engineer spent about 45 minutes cutting and shaping my noggin (the longest haircut I’ve ever had the pleasure of enduring) for the silly price of about $2.75. Whilst I was under the scissors, Sarah sat around waiting for the “Master” pedicurist to arrive. After she was escorted in by her team of supplicants, the master proceeded to manipulate the toes and nails of my dear wife for about an hour. The price you ask? $9. We’re going back next weekend for a facial and a massage. You can figure out who is getting which.

After a quick and tasty lunch at the car dealership, we went to visit our ludicrously silly daughter. She’s a total nut. She continues to test her boundaries with us and threw quick fake tantrums about 6 times today, each culminating with a smile and a laugh. Her new favorite game is playing peek-a-boo. We heard the strangest noises coming out of her mouth as she delighted in seeing Mommy or Daddy go around the corner and come back, repeatedly. This is such fun.

We also had a lot of fun standing up at the window today and watching the world go by. Asella had a nice long conversation with the trees and playground equipment outside, telling them her life story by the sound of it. It’s going to be very entertaining when we actually get her out into the real world and she goes completely bananas.

So, that’s it you ask? All that build up yesterday for that? Whoop-dee-doo. But wait, there’s more… This evening we headed to the local football stadium (that’s “soccer” for you Ameri-centric sports ignoramuses out there) to catch the game between the Tobol Carnivorous Carp vs. their hated rivals, the Fighting Flamingos of Atyrau. I don’t know if those are the actual team names, but I’m taking some artistic license. The game was Tobol (which is the local Kostanai team) against Atyrau, a city by the Caspian. It was a full house at the stadium, and that meant lots of loud, drunk, smoking Kazaks. Everyone was well behaved though, so we had a good time. Tobol scored the only goal of the match on a cheap header off three guys, the post, a wayward duck, and a piece of cheese thrown onto the pitch. A much better goal was scored later but called back for some reason I could not discern. I needed the jumbo-tron for the instant replay, but alas, they have no jumbo-tron. Heathens.

All in all it was a fun time. The setting was great. How often do you get to watch Kazak professional soccer in front of an Orthodox Russian church? For us, once. And we were in the expensive seats (upper deck, right on the goal line), which cost us a whopping $3 each. Beer though, was of course $6. (I think I’m kidding, but the sea of humanity would not allow me to peruse the snack bar menu.)

It was a bit chilly due to some wind, hence the wearing of hats shown below.

We capped off the evening with dinner at Knick Knack followed by ice cream from our local general store. That’s it. Was it everything you had hoped for? It was for us. Thank you, and good night.

Oh, and thank you for the multitude of congrats comments. We really appreciate it.