One word sums up the weather here. Snow. I checked the forecast and it is supposed to also snow every day for the next week so I may have seen the last of the sunshine from Uralsk.

On to Abby though. :-) Yesterday's visit was wonderful. Her doctor has also officially extended the afternoon visits to 1.5 hours! Woo Hoo! Unfortunately the morning visits are still 1 hour but hey, I'll take what I can get. We played a lot yesterday. When you are 10 months old and restricted to a blanket then your options are a bit limited. :-) She is so ready to just go. Her crawling is very good and she is so speedy. Twice yesterday she sort of accidentally stood on her own. Each time it surprised her and then she fell but for a few seconds she was an independent standing baby girl!

This morning's visit was fantastic!! She was in the best mood and I got all kinds of smiles and laughs. She is also so busy. I, of course, translate her curiosity into how brilliant she is. :-) This morning I also brought the baby bjorn carrier so we could practice. I'm glad I did because she tolerated it but only for a short amount of time. I really think she will do just fine though when I am using it to run around airports because she will have so much to watch.

Yesterday Igor gave me our airline tickets for the flight from Uralsk to Almaty. We are scheduled to fly Jan. 21 at 8:10pm. Wednesday is going to be quite a big day as I will have court just before needing to go to the airport. Let's just hope the judge agrees and approves everything!!!

Today Igor and Olga were about 30 minutes late picking us up from the baby house. Time matters not at all to me here so I totally didn't care. (They thought my morning visit had been extended as well as the afternoon). After we dropped off Assia, Olga let me know the baby house is in need of medicine. I had asked to donate something to the baby house (since I did not have room to bring over a lot from the U.S.). So this is what I will buy them. Now that I have seen things close up I wish I could do so much more.

I do have good news to report in the shower department. Score:
Shower 145 (I gave extra points for the disasters earlier this week).
Gayla 2

I will take every success I can get in this area. :-) Today and yesterday were much more tolerable. Don't get me wrong, there were still the scalding/freezing fluctuations and there is no visible catalyst for each change. I have now come to the conclusion that someone is doing something in another apartment that is causing the changes in my water temperature because it truly is random.

There are a few things I have not really mentioned here but will do so now. The water here is very slick and when I first arrived smelled of fish. I don't notice the smell anymore so I know I have gotten used to that. On most of the buildings here they have these huge outdoor lights. They have no cover and are the brightest lights. Since most apartments don't have curtains or blinds you are treated to the light all night long. My bedroom has a sheer kind of curtain but it is still like sleeping on a Broadway stage. Minus the music and dancing of course. Though now that I think of it, that might be fun too. It's funny, but both the water and my super sized night light are things I already know I will remember fondly. It is just part of life here. Those and the steel doors that open and close all night long. I wonder where people are going or returning from at all hours of the night.

Something else I have noticed is cigarettes. Billboards for cigarettes are truly everywhere. But on many streets, you also see older women sitting in front of small tables (like tv trays) and they are selling cigarettes. Yesterday I saw a little boy not more than 8 years old buying cigarettes. I hope he was buying them for some older relative, but who knows.

I just met an American from the Peace Corps. She asked me if I was American and adopting. Yes on both counts. :-) She teaches English to 2nd through 10th graders. Wow.

So, I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! I had forgotten it was Saturday until a few minutes ago. :-) The days all kind of blend, but I'm doing great and enjoying the people and my experience here.