Curious about the weather in Uralsk? SNOW!! :-) No change other than just so much more of it and it has been snowing all day today too. More on that in a minute.

My afternoon birthday visit with Abby was, in a word, incredible. She was in the best mood and we just laughed and played the whole time. And ate cheerios. They will likely be finding cheerios in that music room for years after we have left here. :-) The best part of the afternoon though was at the end. Assia was holding Abby and all of a sudden Abby just reached out her arms for me. Oh words can not describe!

Assia took today off because she has a final exam on Thursday but the days between now and then will be filled helping me. So Masha is my interpreter for today. This meant I got to see a new (to me) part of Uralsk as Masha lives in a part of town I had not been to. And then another first. Masha was late. Olga, Igor, and Assia are incredibly punctual. We waited outside for around 10-15 minutes for Masha and were thus late to the baby house.

When Masha brought me Abby, she was definitely more subdued today. Laughing but not as much. But still we played. Unlike Assia, Masha did not stay in the room with us for long and it was honestly the longest I have been alone with Abby. Abby began to get a little restless/fussy so I walked around the room with her and before I knew it, she fell asleep. She slept with me holding her for over 30 minutes when Masha came to take her back. It was a moment in time I won't forget.

I found out later that apparently Olga had scolded Masha for being late, so I was allowed to stay with Abby longer than I was supposed to. After we left the baby house, we stopped by the big market and then I went to the apartment for lunch.

Soooo, back to the weather. I swear yesterday felt like I lived in a slapstick sit com. I kept looking for the cameras and listening for the laugh track. Some of you know that I have this, shall I say, knack, for being splashed by cars, trucks, whatever if I happen to be standing on the corner of a street when it is raining. Well, apparently this knack carries over to snow in Kazakhstan. Not once, not twice, but three different times yesterday I was sprayed with snow/mud while waiting to cross the street. And so it began.....

After lunch I decided to go to the little market near my apartment (I did this all by myself too!). Well somehow it managed to warm up enough yesterday that the snow melted a little where people walked and yet it was still below freezing so it would freeze back up again immediately. You probably see where I'm going with this. Ice. It was very difficult for me to walk on the ice though people who lived here scurried right along as if they were walking on carpet. I had to take it very slow and no kidding was lapped by 2 little babushkas on walkers. So, I realized that if I walked on the edge of the "sidewalks" it was still fresh snow. The problem with this was the snow was so deep I had to march to get anywhere. So here I am with my army of one making the loudest noise just to move forward. People usually ignore me but they all stared at me yesterday. It was one long 2 blocks. :-) On the way back, I hit a very icy spot, took one step, and next thing I know I am in front of my apartment. No, I did not fall, but I did that whole arms and legs flailing thing usually reserved for bad television. Looking back, though, sliding a whole 2 blocks was pretty fun. I do not believe anyone can make arms and legs flailing look graceful but graceful was not even my vocabulary yesterday. I did hit the heck out of my leg on my big steel door as I came in for a landing. Just a lovely bruise that I may still have when I get back to Atlanta. :-)

Then we have the drive home. As I have said before, Igor is a wonderful driver. Yesterday was proof of this fact as I swear pedestrians were testing him from every angle. He might as well have just duct taped his horn in the honk position because he had to hit it every 2 seconds. It was like playing real life frogger - only we were one of the cars. :-)

Yesterday I finally saw snowmen!!! And I saw 2 different snowball fights. It was great to see all the snowmen, snowwomen, and snowbabies. :-) I had been wondering why the children of Kazakhstan skipped out on such a fun tradition but I guess they just saved it for a Sunday.

Today is a holiday here too. No, it is not MLK Day though. It is a traditional Russian Orthodox holiday which involves swimming in the lake (or river?) here. Something about cleansing oneself. Before you even ask, no, I will not be partaking of this activity. Even though I have gotten used to the temperatures here, I will not be pushing my luck by dunking myself in frozen water.

So, there you go. :-)

Take care and enjoy your holiday!