Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Hello everyone!

Well it has been a busy couple of days here in Uralsk. My afternoon visit yesterday with Abby was one of the best yet. She was smiling non-stop and lots and lots of laughs! A man also came to take her passport and visa photos. While I have not seen them yet, I feel confident that hers will be much better than my visa picture was! :-) Abby did wonderful and stared at the photographer in what I now know is typical Abby style. Assia told me it sometimes takes an hour to get the babies to cooperate so I am very proud Abby did it in 5 minutes. She spit up several times yesterday afternoon but obviously still felt fine so I cleaned it up each time and we just kept on playing.

Last night I had made arrangements to meet the American woman I met on the flight to Uralsk (she and her husband work here). We were to meet at 6:30 but Assia and Igor were not too keen on me walking since it is way past dark by then. I was not completely clear on the arrangements when we dropped off Assia. Every time Igor drops me at my apartment, he walks me up the 3 flights of stairs to make sure I get in ok (he is truly the nicest man). Usually he leaves saying "9:40" or "3:40" depending on the next time he will pick me up. Well last night I asked him what time I would see him. I thought he knew how to tell time in English but he got this uh oh look and it was then I realized he knows "9:40" and "3:40" only. :-) With the miracle of fingers though, we figured it out and he picked me up at 6:25 to drive me to meet the American lady.

We wound up going once again to Chagala (totally fine with me) and this time I got toasted cheese sandwich. It was a custom thing for me because it usually has ham on it. Not quite a grilled cheese sandwich but it was really good. I found out Nancy (American lady) and her husband have met several of the adoptive families while here. It was great talking English and I learned more about Uralsk. She also promised to take me to a great place to buy souvenirs on Friday.

From Chagala, it is about a 20 minute walk to my apartment. It was so cold last night and this was truly the coldest I have been since arriving here. It took me a long time to warm up.

This morning Olga was with Igor to pick me up. As I suspected she would, Olga did ask me about my walk home. I don't think she was too happy I walked home after dark but I assured her I was not alone. Olga is extremely protective. I'm sure she is protective of all the families here but I do wonder if she looks out for me even more since I am alone. I truly can not say enough good things about Olga, Igor, and Assia. They are absolutely wonderful and I already know I will miss them so much when I leave.

This morning's visit with Abby was not the usual for her. I could tell immediately she did not seem herself. She was quieter and did not smile very much. I think she was tired but her 2 upper teeth are also coming through now and I don't think she feels very good. So, today I heard her cry for the first (and second) time. Poor little thing. It is also getting hard to be in the same room with nothing new and her being limited to the still small blanket. But for now we will both just have to make do.

After my morning visit, Igor, Olga, and Assia took me on my excursion. I loved it. They drove me around Uralsk and pointed out different sights and I was able to take some pictures. We actually went inside an environmental museum (like a natural history museum). It was very small and the lady had to turn on the lights for us. Some very interesting animals (stuffed, I should add) were in there and Assia had to tell me what several of them were.

We also went in a very beautiful old cathedral. It looked similar to the one I visited with Dima in Almaty. It is Russian Orthodox and seemed similar to a Catholic church. No pews anywhere. I asked Assia about this and she said people stand during the service. I think services at home would be much shorter if we had to stand for the whole thing. :-)

I saw many war memorials, including one where Igor's grandfather was honored for his bravery in WWII. I found out today that Uralsk has 240,000 people living here. It was a great excursion. :-) I have also vowed to use that word more.

After the excursion, Assia and I took my film to be developed. I have to take pictures of Abby and me to pre-court (which I found out will be this Thursday). The camera place is inside a furniture store which was quite interesting. Also, here, you pay when you drop off the film and then if any of the pictures don't turn out, they will give you some money back. I think the "normal" size here may be larger than our 4X6, but I will see this afternoon when I get them back.

Assia and I went to an awesome bakery for lunch. For those of you who know me, this next sentence may shock you, so please brace yourselves. I ordered, ate, and even enjoyed, a kind of potato and mushroom sandwich. And it was fantastic. For those who don't know me, I normally can not stand mushrooms. At all. Not even a little bit. But every other sandwich had meat so this was my best bet. I am calling them sandwiches, but they are really more like hot pockets. :-) A new favorite of mine too. I also had a vanilla milk shake that was great. Here's the thing though - milk shakes come in cups roughly the size of a dixie cup. And it was just enough. Super size has not yet made it here and I think that is a good thing.

Today Olga is buying my ticket for the flight back to Almaty. I had to make the decision whether or not to buy a seat for Abby. I opted not to and truly hope I made the right decision. The flight is over 3 hours but on the way here, the plane was not full so I am hoping this will be the case going back. I believe it is a late night flight so
maybe she will sleep. Hey, a girl can dream, right? :-)

It is a beautiful though cold day here today. It is 13F but there is a definite wind today and with the wind chill it feels like 0. Warmer than yesterday but not much. Now that it has not snowed in a few days, the snow on the sidewalks and roads is getting pretty slick where everyone is walking or driving. I have not yet fallen but I'm sure that day is coming. :-)

Take care everyone!!