Day 1 – Getting our Feet Wet

 Talk about your jet lag.   Whew, we were hit bad; finally going to bed last night at around 2:30 am.  I woke around 9:30 and woke up Leilani around 10:30 (can’t think of the last time she slept so late) to the music of Etta James singing “At Last”.  After milling around for a little while, we cleaned ourselves up and waited to hear what our day would be like.  Roza called soon after and broke the news that we wouldn’t be able to see the baby today (Ministry of Education unable to handle our request on a Sunday).  While very disappointing, we chalked this up to another example of Semper Gumby.  We’ll see Alia tomorrow and have her for the rest of our lives.  I guess with all the waiting we’ve been through, another day won’t kill us.  But again, it is disappointing.

 Roza and Sagat picked us up at the apartment around 12:30, brought up the microwave (I guess since we’re Americans, they think we couldn’t live without one) and took us for a walk around the immediate vicinity.   They told us that a single woman will be coming in tonight (same flight we took, only a day later) that is also picking up a child in Baby House 3.  They asked if it would be alright if she stayed in the apartment as well (pullout couch in “MY computer room”).  No problem for us.   Quarters will be tight, but we relish the idea of making someone on their own, feel more comfortable. 

 There’s enough going on (in the shopping and eating domain) within a very short walk.  For the short period of time that Sagat was with me, he immediately reminded me of my father.  We walked maybe three city blocks and he had four different people stop him to shake his hand and chat him up a bit.  I think he may be the unofficial Mayor of Almaty (just like Big Joe was the Mayor of South Philly).  After Sagat gave us the quick briefing on all that was offered around us, he took off for the day.  Roza stuck around (even though it is her husband’s birthday today and he and their family were spending the day in the mountains to celebrate) to have lunch with us, help us do some shopping and pick up an I-Card (a Kazak “calling card” to call back to the US and dial-in to the internet locally, we shall see).   After we got some grocery shopping done, we bought Roza’s husband a bottle of good Georgian wine and told her to beat it and go to the birthday celebration.  We then went back and finished up the shopping ourselves.  Tested out the I-Card and of course we couldn’t get a connection (the phone situation in the apartment is a little lacking).  We’ll take up that issue, along with finding an internet café, tomorrow or when Galina gets back to town.  We wound up using my rented international cell phone (while very convenient and easy to use….very expense on a per minute call) to call back home and tell our parents that we’re here, everything’s OK and we’ll see her Royal Kazakh Princess Alia tomorrow. 

 In the meantime, I was called upon to fix the toilet in our apartment.  Wouldn’t flush.   I was successful in my first foray into the Kazak plumbing realm.  Toilet working top notch, so if we like it here I can hopefully make a successful bid as a Waste Management Engineer in Almaty.

 Evening was spent playing some games we brought along (by the way…..Hey Jay Fox!  Can you email us the rules for King of the Elves?) and having a traditional French dinner Kaz style consisting of wine, bread, cheese and some meat thing.  The meat thing was a stick of what looked like a salami-pepperoni blend and whatever it was called and made of, didn’t matter cuz it was good.  The wine was from Georgia (the country not the peach state) and was pretty darn good.  The bread was surprisingly fresh and French baguette-like.   And we feasted on two cheeses; one looked like Sharp Provolone (wasn’t but was damn tasty) and the other looked like Gouda but didn’t taste like it and was pretty bad (or should I say…it was no gooda….yuk, yuk, yuk).  Henny Yannone here, Ladies & Germs.  I’ll be here all week and don’t forget to tip your waiters and waitresses. 

 Good night/day, God Bless and we’ll talk to you soon.

Click on the Thumnails to Enlarge the Picture

Here's the Lovely & Talented Leilani.   Cheif Bag packer and Kazakh Adoption Apartment tour guide.  She's greeting us at the hallway entrance.

Our tour guide demonstrating the springy-ness of the bed (not now honey, I'm too worried about who the Eagles have drafted).

Here's Leilani preparing our Kazakh/French feast in our kitchen.  Notice the flowers on the table.  Prices here are very low.  The bouquet on the table cost less than $6.  We stacked up on food, essentials for the apartment, a pack of pampers, wine & beer for under $40!

My spacious computer room.

The bedroom - "The groom is in the bedroooooom" Bachelor Party

The living room.  TV gets only one Engligh language channel and it appears to be all sports.  Leilani is so happy.

The bathroom.  Tub/shower, sink and washing machine.  But, hey wait a minute where's the toilet?  Actually this is a one and a half bath apartment.  There is a separate bathroom with another sink and a toilet.

The beautiful view of the mountain range bordering China/Kazakhstan from our living room.

Next Day