Arrival & Day 1
Hello from Uralsk.I’m not sure what day it is but it might be Friday September 25 - due to the time changes/zones, I am unsure. The trip was a little rough. We boarded United Airlines on Monday afternoon & flew to Dulles. Our luggage was checked through to Kaz so we didn’t have to worry or haul it around. Anyway, we layed over in Washington then flew to Frankfurt, Germany. Despite having jeans and a jacket on, I was cold. The combo of cold and cramped in the plane got old quickly as my knees began to ache. We were fed dinner on this flight around 8 pm then we went to sleep. At midnight, they woke us up for breakfast. We landed at 3:00 Am our time. We had a 4 hour layover in the Frankfurt airport. Mike bought a croissant and Coke for $7- Beware! We boarded Lufthansa for our last leg to Almaty. This was particularly grueling as we had not stretched or had any real sleep or a real meal in almost 20 hours. We arrived in Almaty at night and followed the crowd across an unlit tarmac where we were approached by Dilnoza and Dema (interp & driver). We collected our luggage, which included a 70## duffel bag full of donations for Zhaus Dauren- the older kids orphanage. We got into a car w/Dema & headed in the dead of the night. About 25 minutes later, we arrived at our apartment. We were on the 6th floor- and no, there is no elevator. We left the duffel bag in the car, but our other 4 bags were quite a lot to haul up, especially since it was only for 1 night.
The apt was pretty much what we expected- kind of flea market furnished. The bed was just a mattress on the floor. We were so tired, it didn’t matter what it was. In the morning, Dema picked us up to meet the sisters & pay our fees. There we met the Sarvers- our travel partners. We were told our flight to Uralsk wouldn’t be until 7 pm, so we got rested. We napped in the afternoon, then dragged our luggage back to the car and through the airport.
* Future travelers...the international weight limit is 70#, but the flight to Uralsk has a 45# limit and the overweight charges are high. They weren’t going to let us take the donation duffel bag for any amount of money. Email me privately to find out how we got out of that mess!
Arrived in Uralsk and met 3 drivers and 2 interpreters (Assia and Masha). We loaded all our luggage and the Sarver’s luggage and us into 3 cars and drove to a hotel for 1 night. It didn’t happen quickly, there was much standing around and talking about what to do next. We arrived at the hotel and met Olga and waited again while they decided what to do with us.
* Future travelers- the hotel is 1 step up from the Almaty apts- flea market furnished. But it did have a real bed- no microwave.
We were given a bag with bread, cheese and juice for breakfast. They told us we would be picked up at 11:50 to see the Minister of Education and answer some questions.
So the next day we sat around and waited- we couldn’t go for a walk since Masha had our passports. Philipige picked us up on time and we sat for close to an hour + waited for Olga to arrive. Finally Philipige got on his cell phone and found out the meeting had been cancelled- so much wasted time! SO they took us to a grocery store to buy some food. Since we had no microwave or stove in the hotel, we only bought a loaf of bread and Pepsi. Mike bought some sort of meat dish out of the case. He said it was good but I didn’t feel very adventurous.
We went back to the hotel and waited with the Sarvers til 3:30. Then we were picked up to move to the apt. We moved our stuff then drove to the baby house. We met with the director who gave us Ainur’s history. Then they brought her in. She is sick with upper respiratory infection (they said she is always catching a cold). They brought her in and she went to me after about a minute. 5 minutes later I handed her to Mike and she let us touch her and play with her. We even made her laugh. Unfortunately the battery in the camera & the camcorder went dead so we got no pictures. Maybe tomorrow........
The apt was pretty much what we expected- kind of flea market furnished. The bed was just a mattress on the floor. We were so tired, it didn’t matter what it was. In the morning, Dema picked us up to meet the sisters & pay our fees. There we met the Sarvers- our travel partners. We were told our flight to Uralsk wouldn’t be until 7 pm, so we got rested. We napped in the afternoon, then dragged our luggage back to the car and through the airport.
* Future travelers...the international weight limit is 70#, but the flight to Uralsk has a 45# limit and the overweight charges are high. They weren’t going to let us take the donation duffel bag for any amount of money. Email me privately to find out how we got out of that mess!
Arrived in Uralsk and met 3 drivers and 2 interpreters (Assia and Masha). We loaded all our luggage and the Sarver’s luggage and us into 3 cars and drove to a hotel for 1 night. It didn’t happen quickly, there was much standing around and talking about what to do next. We arrived at the hotel and met Olga and waited again while they decided what to do with us.
* Future travelers- the hotel is 1 step up from the Almaty apts- flea market furnished. But it did have a real bed- no microwave.
We were given a bag with bread, cheese and juice for breakfast. They told us we would be picked up at 11:50 to see the Minister of Education and answer some questions.
So the next day we sat around and waited- we couldn’t go for a walk since Masha had our passports. Philipige picked us up on time and we sat for close to an hour + waited for Olga to arrive. Finally Philipige got on his cell phone and found out the meeting had been cancelled- so much wasted time! SO they took us to a grocery store to buy some food. Since we had no microwave or stove in the hotel, we only bought a loaf of bread and Pepsi. Mike bought some sort of meat dish out of the case. He said it was good but I didn’t feel very adventurous.
We went back to the hotel and waited with the Sarvers til 3:30. Then we were picked up to move to the apt. We moved our stuff then drove to the baby house. We met with the director who gave us Ainur’s history. Then they brought her in. She is sick with upper respiratory infection (they said she is always catching a cold). They brought her in and she went to me after about a minute. 5 minutes later I handed her to Mike and she let us touch her and play with her. We even made her laugh. Unfortunately the battery in the camera & the camcorder went dead so we got no pictures. Maybe tomorrow........
posted by Eileen H @ 12:01 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home