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Day 3 Day 3 (Tuesday April 29, 2003) – Meeting Bill Gates
Day started off
nicely with an awesome scallion and Kazak cheese omelet prepared by Pam. It’s a hot one in Almaty today (I’m
guessing around 90 degrees today). Morning at
orphanage today was a tough one. Alia started
crying as soon as she was given to us (c’mon look at me, can you blame her) and she
pretty much balled for the entire morning session. Leilani
is getting to the point where she can calm her down by picking Alia up and hugging and
kissing her. But so far, I think the biggest
lifesaver is the pacifier.
We hit a mall after
the morning session and the ladies did a little shopping.
We then ate lunch in a busy Turkish café where I had a hamburger sandwich
that consisted of a piece of bread and several mini turd-looking thingys (which believe it
or not, were quite tasty). After lunch we went
and did a little more shopping. After Roza
heard my exasperated wail at the thought of more shopping, she actually had to ask if I
liked shopping. The face I gave could easily
be translated into any language. (And by the
way, for those that have been inquiring…NO! You
cannot come over here to Kaz with the hopes of adopting Roza. She’s already taken!)
In the afternoon,
we met two other couples that are adopting baby girls at this orphanage (one couple from Connecticut, the other from Illinois). Nice people that are on the downward swing of their
journey. Connecticut is going to court
this Friday and Illinois will be in court
this coming Monday. We wish them all much luck
and happiness.
This afternoon
brought some nice progress with the kids. Karsten
and Pam are hitting it off fine and dandy. He’s
been flashing his pearly whites every once in awhile and has definitely found his home in
Pam’s lap. Our Kazakh Beauty was much
more pleasant this afternoon. She cried as
soon as she came in, but Leilani was able to calm her down right away. After that little episode, she was a happy camper
all afternoon. Highlights were her cooing and
Leilani has taught her to play patty cake (I can see that that song will be stuck in my
head for a long time). We are extremely happy
at the amazing coordination and dexterity that the lovely and talented Alia is displaying
in her virtuoso patty cake techniques (am I making you sick yet?). She’s got a winning smile and I can’t
wait until you all can see it. Unfortunately,
we were told today that we wouldn’t see the Orphanage director until Saturday, so the
photo blockade may last until then (but believe me, when it’s lifted, it’ll be
worth it). We had a blast with our daughter
this afternoon and again cannot wait until tomorrow.
After the
orphanage, we stopped at Roza’s husband’s family business. They own a auto parts store (with how bad the
pothole situation in Almaty is, I gotta believe this is a great business…just in
shocks alone). He helped set up my computer to
log onto the local Internet connection. He was
having trouble, so he brought over one of the neighboring businessmen whom her referred to
as the Kazakh Bill Gates (KBG, not to be confused with KGB).
“If he can’t get it working, it can’t be done.” Roza’s husband (Ildar) also allowed me to use
his computer to log onto the net, so that I could send the first two days worth of
updates. True to his word, KBG got the
connection up & running. After a little
political discussion with the locals, we took off for an evening at Pizzeria Venezia. Great pizza and has an Internet café, so if the
connection at the apartment is too slow we can go here during lunch to send updates.
In the evening we
had our first experience with a Kazak washing machine in the apartment. Since all the writing on the machine is in Russian,
we guessed at the settings. I have to believe
we guessed wrong since after three hours the machine still continued to fill up with water
and cycle. Pam finally stood watch and caught
it after the water flushed at the end of a cycle. Since
we had to wring out all the clothes before hanging (no dryers in Kaz unless your VERY
rich), I’m guessing we’ll need a lesson. We
ended the evening with introducing Pam to the game Guillotine-The French
Revolution.
Good night/day and
thanks to our webmaster for the Eagles draft update and the KOE rules.
Click on the Thumnails to
Enlarge the Picture
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We passed on eating at this Restaurant. Roza got a big
laugh when I explained what fart meant in the US. |
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Pam, Roza & Leilani at Pizzeria Venezia. Good food,
great pizza AND has an internet cafe attached. |
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mmmmmmm....pizza....good |
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Outside of Pizzeria Venezia |
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This is the Pizza delivery guys. |
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That's the Kazakh Bill Gates working on my notebook to
get it up and running to connect to a Kaz internet service. To his right is Ildar, Roza's
husband. They are doing this work at Ildar's business. Many thanks to them. |
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| Leilani taking a night vision shot
with the camera (she's so adventurous). Left to right - One of Ildar's employees, The Kaz
Bill Gates, Ildar, me (looking happy FINALLY logging in to orangesinthesnow.com). |
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Next Day