Hello from Uralsk 

Day 3

Sorry- no pictures today. We tried going to a photo store to get a disc to put the photos on but they were closed to photograph a wedding party - maybe tomorrow.... We finally got our passports back and were able to go out and explore the city. We found a bakery and ordered peroskies- like good bread with mashed potato filling. Very good and cheap- $.44 to fill your belly. We were very happy. We had 2 visits with Krysta today. They still won’t let us put Krysta on the floor, so we take turns holding her. Maybe tomorrow... Anyway, she is happy and curious & not fussy at all. We got a little smiling from her and she made some sounds as she explored us and the toys. After the 2nd visit, we went with the Sarvers and ventured out for dinner and to walk around some more. We decided on Kamelot because the menu was in English. It didn’t help too much because the dishes have wierd names with no explanation. They do divide the menu into beef, chicken, pork, mutton, etc.. I had chicken with mushrooms and mash potatoes (thanks to Dina Holton for suggesting it). Mike had Beef Burgundy. Darren had the Autumn Feast and Crystal had Black Forest Schnitzel (again, thank you Dina for the recco). Everyone liked their food and the 4 of us ate for $26 American- not too shabby. And they accept MasterCard. *If you visit this restaurant, pay attention to the music. 1 song is reminisent of Meg Ryan in ‘When Harry Met Sally’ - the scene where she fakes it in the restaurant? Think of that, but with Muzak. We got a good giggle out of that.
Miss you all- more tomorrow and hopefully with pix.


Day 2 in Uralsk

Today was our 1st day with having 2 visits with Krysta. We are only allowed 30 minutes because she is recovering from pneumonia. When she breathes, she purrs like a cat. We are also not allowed to put her down on the carpet til she is 100%. She was a little crabby in the morning (I think they woke her for us). In the afternoon, she was perfect. She is teething big time. As you will be able to see from the picture - when we can get the computer to accept an upload- she is really gnawing on her toys. She made some noises and we may have gotten a smile from her.
Nothing special going on here. We stopped at a market for eggs, potatoes and water. We also bought peroskies which we will have for dinner tonite. We’ll let you know how that turns out.
Mike here....just to correct the posting from last night. The airport in Almaty was like a regular airport we are used to. We were approached by a taxi driver, but we found our interp and sent him away. The Uralsk airport was the one that is small and we walked in the dark to the outside front.
- the driving here is fun to watch. They drive in either lane and pedestrians better watch out. But at the same time, they expect the other vehicle to pull into their lane and slow down or move over to let them.
- we had to stay in the hotel for 1 nite because the 2 couples that had just adopted children had left on the same day. They needed to clean the apt before we could go into them. They are on the 1st floor and we are across the hall from our travel partners- it is good to have travel partners to ask questions and share with. The apt is fine and previous couples left some items to help others as they arrive. The floors creak and the doors and windows are hard to close, but it is only temporary. They have gas stoves- no toaster or microwave. So any handy dandy kitchen utensils will come in handy.
** Important note: Olga will take your passport on the day you arrive. They need to register us in Uralsk and that cannot be done til after our visit with the Dept of Ed. Our meeting was today so we will finally get our passports back tomorrow AM. We will finally be able to venture outside between baby visits.

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........