Day 8 (Sunday May 4, 2003) – She’s Baaaaaaaaaaack!

Roza came by around 9:30 to get our passports to make copies of the registration.  She never seems to take off, she’s been with us every day and we couldn’t be happier with the Interpreter/driver that the Frank Foundation arranged for us.  Again, we didn’t get to go to the orphanage until the afternoon, so for breakfast we feasted on the best darn yogurt I’ve ever had.  I’m serious the stuff back in the US is drippy tasteless garbage compared (and I know this is the first time and hopefully the last that I spend so much time proclaiming the qualities of yogurt).

Alia was good today, but got tired later on and she’s back as the Queen of Fussiness.  She got so beside herself because she was obviously so tired, yet would not go to sleep.  She was pushing Leilani away, wouldn’t sit, wouldn’t lay, couldn’t put her down and wouldn’t go to sleep even though she looked so exhausted.  They finally came in and took her a little earlier.  One of the caretakers came in to say she was asleep as soon as she finished her juice.  Well now we know what to do when we can give her something to drink.   I requested that we go back to the two-a-day schedule and they said OK.  No matter what we see or do, our days’ highlights are always the time we spend with the kids.   And we thought the two-a-days, gave us a little more quality with the kids even though it’s the same amount of time.

Afterwards, Team Kaz did more shopping (yeah!).  I am so delirious from shopping that after we were done, I said Nyet to shopping tomorrow.  For dinner we enjoyed reheating some of our leftovers. 

After dinner, I decided to take a stroll by myself to the City Center (a mini mall near us with a grocery store) and pick up more pampers for the kids (already getting into Dad mode).  It’s an interesting little walk and the weather was nice, so what the heck.  I always feel as though I’m getting away with being a foreigner in a foreign land and that no one can tell I’m not a Russian (even though I have not seen one other person with facial hair since I’ve been here), then reality sets in.  While shopping, at least four different women came up to me and started speaking Russian (at the bigger shops here - they have attractive women, who work for a particular brand, try and talk you into buying that brand).  I hit them with the old arched brow, that debonair smile of mine and charismatically say “English?”   Back in the old days women would swoon when I hit them full force with that package (I would have to be careful back then, if I went full wattage with the smile, I feared some might actually disrobe).  Now all I’m getting in return is “NO!”  (OK so truth be told, that’s what I would get back in the old days too.)  After finishing the Pampers and grocery shopping, I took a little walk around the rest of the mall (was actually looking to see if they had an Internet café inside).  During my stroll another woman came up to me (Geez this is starting to get ridiculous, I mean I know I’m irresistible and all but….) and started the Russian-speak.  I hit her with old faithful “English?”  She said, “Beeell”.  Huh?  “Envoice.”  Oh, OK.  She wants to see my receipt.  Since I was carrying bags, I thought she might have thought that I was shoplifting or something.  So I pulled out the receipt.  She took a look and said, “Geeeft.  From Proctor Gamble”.  And I was bestowed with my very own brand spanking new green, Velcro Pampers wallet.  I left confident and head held high with my new wallet in tow.

What lies in store for tomorrow?  Talk to ya soon!

 Click on the Thumnails to Enlarge the Picture

The face that launched a thousand ships.

Hey, why's the cute little chippy chewing on my toys Mommy Pam?

Aliya Fisher, happy with the news that tonight will be the LAST night she'll be in the orphanage.

Peek-a-boo!

Aliya Fisher with the Orphange Director

Alia with (1) her speech therapist and (2) one of the care takers.

Karsten auditioning for a part in the new film Boyz in da Hood II

Alia fetching in her outfit and striking a pose. By the way, these are differnt days. For some reason they've had the kids in the same clothes for four straight days now. Starting to get a little ripe.

Big smiles from the Yannone family.

Jodi watching Aliya Fisher perform her rendition of the YMCA dance. She's demonstrating the "Y" here.

Karsten doing his best Elvis impersonation. I personally thought he looked more like Tom Jones, but when he heard that he gave me the Elvis sneer and told me to go fetch him a peanut butter & bannana sandwich.

Alia loves the Orphanage Director. We love her too. She'll be there during court as support for us.

OK! That's like the millionth time today Ma. My face is starting to get water logged.

The calm before the storm.

Sheeeee's Baaaaaaaack. The afternoon meltdown. Wow! Luckily Leilani doesn't get stressed over this. Right, hon? This picture is a guarentee that your web author is gonna get smacked in the head when she sees this.

A couple examples of the Kazakh squat. You see many men squating like this out on the streets.

This is who greeted us this morning in the kitchen. People told us not to drink the water. Guess her didn't get the message.

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