Tuesday's Happenings

It’s Tuesday the 13th of December! It snowed all day today and it’s 12 days until Christmas. Today we burned our “Home for the Holidays” travel candle, and finished the 146th song on the ipod’s holiday play list. We’re not homesick, but rather happy this Christmas season because Aidan, well, he’s just great.

We’ve been dining each breakfast at the hotel because the cost is included in our room, and they have a nice continental buffet of pastries and cereal and toast, plus made to order eggs. Scott likes to get espresso with his bacon and cheese omelet while I prefer green tea and toast with ham and cheese (and some nutella-filled mini croissants now and then). There usually isn’t anyone in the dining room except one or two other adoptive families, and the waitstaff is very friendly and attentive. Except for the Christmas tree with racing colored lights the room is kept pretty dim. It doesn’t get light here until about 10:00 a.m. (and dark about 5:30) so our 8:45 breakfasts have a lot of mood lighting.

It’s our 9th day at the baby house and time really is flying. Aidan is such a good boy. When we first arrived in the morning, he was in his walker in his group’s play room. As soon as he saw us, he started smiling and laughing and motored halfway across the room to the doorway where we were standing. He’s so cute that we want to eat him up. Today we were allowed back downstairs in the playroom with the other families, because the caregivers feel the playroom is warm enough even if he has some sort of cold still. There really is no evidence of any illness but the caregivers are just being cautious, which is fine with us. We found a new spot in the corner of the playroom to lay out our blanket today. Each family has their own blanket which does double duty of defining each child’s play area and protects them from any dirt which might be on the floor. Back in our spot, we were near the gymnast rings hanging from the ceiling. Scott decided a while back that with his motor skills and strength, Aidan might give Olympic gymnasts a run for their money. Scott put that theory to the test today by letting Aidan play on the hanging rings. He loved it. He grabbed on and wouldn’t let go. And even though Scott was holding Aidan’s body weight, he could tell that Aidan was pulling up on the rings. Quite the gymnastic prodigy at 7 months, we think. Per the usual, he also had a grand time with Lobby the lobster and his crinkle book. He still loves to look around at the other families and laugh when they look at him, ever the people person. We can tell that he has become more and more comfortable with us, recognizing our voices, looking around when we leave for just a moment (to go to the corner of the room to take a picture, for example), and relaxing enough to let us hold and cuddle him for extended periods. The hour visits really fly and before we know it, it’s lunchtime again.

Today was our driving tour of Uralsk. Assia asked us if we wanted to go ahead with the tour today despite the snow, and we all said sure. We didn’t know if another opportunity would present itself, so we thought we should grab it when we could. Although we didn’t have to go really far, our drivers navigated the snowy roads (we had maybe three or four inches) very well; we’re pretty sure they have snow tires, and the city’s snow plows do a decent job of clearing the stuff away. We were able to get out and take pictures at every site. On the way we learned that Uralsk was founded in 1613 by Cossocks, traveling tribesmen, who settled here. Most of Uralsk is actually in Europe, not Asia. It is one of 4 cities in the world which sits on a continental split. Kazakhstan became part of the Soviet Union in 1775.

Anyway, our first stop was the statue of a 17 year old Soviet woman who fought for the USSR in WWII much like a modern day Joan of Arc. She was a gun runner who lied about her age because she was so patriotic that she wanted to serve her country. Although she did live in Uralsk for 2 years, she wasn’t from the area. Assia told us that many statutes in Uralsk and Kaz in general are left from the Soviets, and are peppered across the country (not necessarily relating to a certain city or area). Regardless, it was a beautiful statue and neat to see.

I should mention before I go any further that it was cold today, and I mean cold as in “are my legs still there, I’m not sure” cold. That combined with blowing winds and falling snow made for quite an experience! We all pretended to ice skate on the many icy spots without falling on our behinds and laughed while we covered our faces with our scarves pulled our hats down over our ears like we did when we used to sled ride. It was so cold that it was really funny, if that makes sense.

Our next stop was a Russian Orthodox Church built in 1751. The women had to keep our heads covered and the men had to take their hats off to go inside. The inside was beautiful but we weren’t allowed to take pictures. There was a large entryway with a small bookstore selling religious books and prayer candles. Inside the church, there were gold plated and framed pictures of saints and the holy family over the front wall, maybe 6 rows of 12 (icons), and then columns with similar iconic pictures. The other walls and ceiling were covered with beautiful religious murals. There isn’t an altar or pews – Assia said mass is held daily while the people and priest stand. During the time of the Soviets, the Kazaks were told to paint over the icons but instead they were hidden. Luckily for posterity they were saved.

Next we saw a huge plaza type memorial in remembrance of the Kazakhs who died in WWII. There is a huge concrete obelisk and a granite wall listing all of the soldiers. We walked all around and decided it was time to go back to the cars when our noses felt like ice.

Last we went to an old Uralsk mosque. We weren’t allowed inside so took pictures of the brick exterior with very tall brick spires. Our interpreter said that since Kazakhstan has become independent, more and more people have found religion.

By this time we were snowmen so we went back to hotel for some lunch and cappuccino. We didn’t have time to go to a Kazakh restaurant (it generally takes a while to get served) before our afternoon baby house visit.

In the afternoon, Aidan was happy to chew on the baby treat container and listen to “wheels on the bus.” He laid on his back on the blanket and sucked his thumb and watched the other babies too. For a while he decided that Scott made a fine Lazy Boy and half sat, half leaned on him for a better view of the whole room. We had Aliya, Assia’s sister, for our interpreter for the tour and for the afternoon, and Aidan found a new person to entertain with his smile and laugh. He does this thing when he builds up to a laugh, he makes his mouth into an “o” and does squeal that’s half talking/half sucking in air. He cracks everyone up. Again, time flew and it was 4:00 already. Day 9 under our belts!

We went to the market to buy diapers (we have to bring 5 a day to the baby house) and back to the hotel. We had planned to try the “Golden Century,” a restaurant recommended by Aliya for dinner, but the roads were pretty snowy so we figured we’d try it out tomorrow night. Our lunch was big so we’ve had oranges and grapes and raisin rye bread and a little cheese in our room for dinner.

As I write, Scott’s on puzzle #4 of Sudoku, a new addict. I’m going to talk him into watching a movie before we head off to bed. We found out that we’ll be going to the theater to see Kaz belly dancers next week, so we’re looking forward to that.

We’ll see you tomorrow!