Greetings from Kazakhstan July 13, 2005

Greetings once again from Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan!

Things are continuing to go well here for the T family, thanks to everyone’s love and prayers. Thank you all very much!

We moved hotels Monday morning as planned. All ten of us were packed and ready to go at 10 Monday morning. A few people needed to settle their bill at the front desk and needed our translator to help. It seems that we were not all charged the same rate. Our rate was really reasonable for the room that we had, so we just paid and moved on. Others were not so fortunate. Bridgett and Eugene had a "single" with two cots and were being asked to pay almost as much as we were and we had a two-room suite and a queen size bed. Once all of the bills were settled, we loaded up the van with all of our luggage and off we went to the new hotel. The Beibers is very opulent compared to our previous hotel. The lobby has marble floors and crystal chandeliers and wall sconces. On the second floor there is a huge pool table that looks like it would fit nicely into the Biltmore Estate. The grounds are well manicured (considering that they only have two or three months for a growing season) and there is a fountain out front that is surrounded by petunias. Our new room is very lovely as well. As you enter from the hallway, there is a little alcove for leaving your shoes and coat in the winter. There is a powder room directly off of the alcove as well. Once you move through the double doors you enter the living room. We have two plush wingback chairs, a couch, coffee table and a TV in this room. There is a nice sized balcony off of this room as well. The bedroom is directly off of the living room to your right. It is a nice size room as well and we have two twin beds that have been put together to almost form a king-size bed. We are out in the country compared to our other hotel so it is nice and quiet. We sat on the balcony of our new room last night and listened to what we think are frogs making a real racket. It almost felt like home, only not nearly as humid and there was no Sherman looking for lizards in the bushes. We are now all unpacked and ready to start phase two of our trip.

Monday morning we arrived at the orphanage a little late, due to the hotel switcharoo. Charlotte went to get Ivan from his room. The caregiver brought him out as usual and quickly dressed him for our visit. He was a little clingy to start with (he is a slow to wake up) but once he got on the floor he was ready to get busy walking. We are pretty convinced that Sunday was his first time walking without assistance. In fact, he still won’t walk without assistance if his caregivers are within sight. The stinker. Joe and Ivan played while Charlotte worked with our translator on our adoption petition. She had to hand write the petition while sitting at the piano in the playroom. What a way to fill out one of the most important documents within the process! Joe took Ivan back to his room for lunch and fed him "caregiver style". That is to say, getting the food into Ivan as fast as possible. Apparently Ivan had cabbage soup as his "soup course" and according to Joe it stunk.

Since we cleaned out our fridge at the old hotel, we were rather limited as far as lunch options since we had not been to the store yet. So we decided to eat the complimentary snacks that we found in the fridge (unlike in the US, they are free and are replaced daily). What a mistake that was! First we opened the little bag of potato chips…cheese flavor. They did not taste like any cheese we had ever had before or that would ever care to encounter again! Then we opened the little bag of crouton snacks. We thought that we were safe so we each took a big handful. Oh my gosh they were horrible! It turns out that they were caviar flavored! Very fishy and very bad. After that we just gave up and hoped for better things at dinner.

Our afternoon visit was filled with a lot more walking and very proud smiles from Ivan. He is just thrilled with himself every time he walks! By the end of the visit he was no longer satisfied just walking to and from us. Now he knew his freedom and he wanted to exercise that freedom. He was very interested in Leo’s toys and kept making a b-line for them. The only problem was that Leo had a fever and we really did not want Ivan to put Leo’s toys into his mouth. So we kept having to intercept him. Finally he wound down a bit and wanted to snuggle on Mom’s shoulder until snack time. Charlotte took him back to his room for snack. Once he was done with his snack, he was off to bed for a nap. He has had a very busy couple of days, so he welcomes his naptime.

The group decided that we would give the new hotel’s restaurant a try. We met at 7:30 and went down to the gorgeous restaurant. We were served on fine china and drank from crystal. We knew from past experience at the other hotel, that we needed to order quickly or things could take a while. We all ordered right away (Curtis and John had brought us a copy of the menu that afternoon so that we would know what we wanted when we arrived). So our orders were placed no later than 7:45. Everyone had beer, except Mary and Charlotte. They split a bottle of white Kazak wine. Mary and Charlotte agreed that the wine probably would have been ok, had it been their second bottle and not their first. So, everyone had his or her beer and wine. Then as time ticked on, another round of beer was consumed. Then a little before 9 o’clock the folks that had ordered starters received their first course. There were two orders of herring and several bowls of soup. Joe and several of the others ordered the chicken and egg soup, but Curtis was brave and ordered the salty cucumber soup. The chicken egg soup seemed to be exactly that…chicken broth with scrambled eggs in it. The cucumber soup was something to behold. It was bright red (like borsht) and had black olives and onions in it. It was indeed very salty, but not a single cucumber was found in the whole bowl. After the starters arrived, we thought that our meals would be out shortly. No doubt the kitchen staff was laughing at us silly Americans thinking that we would receive our entrees shortly after our starters! Ha Ha Ha Ha!! A little over an hour later some of our entrees arrived. It was nearly 10 PM at this point and we were just now getting our dinners! The worst part was that Charlotte could see into the kitchen from where she was sitting, and many times when she looked in, she saw people sitting around and chatting. Or on occasion, something was being put into the microwave! The last entree arrived a little after 10. The food was good, but not 2.5 hour wait good. Charlotte had a chicken breast cooked in a cream/wine sauce with mushrooms. It was a little spicy and very garlicky, very good. Joe ordered the pan-grilled veal. His was good, but cooked a little too much and so it was a dry. No one wanted to take their chances on dessert, we were afraid that it might take until Tuesday morning to actually receive it. After that we came up to our room and enjoyed the balcony for a few minutes before turning in for the night.

Tuesday we went downstairs for breakfast since it is included, we thought that we would give it a try. It was a lovely buffet of boiled eggs, plain crepes, pound cake and many other breads. We were also given the option of ordering an omelet, fried eggs or porridge. We both opted for the omelet. It was plain, but quite tasty. Alan ordered the porridge, and said that it was cooked with heavy cream and very rich.

Our morning visit this morning was fun as always. Charlotte went to get Ivan as usual, since he tends to be a little shy in the morning (that slow wake up thing again). He was excited to see her and attempted a few steps on his own in his room. He fell after one or two though…thankfully Mom was expecting this and caught him before he smacked the hard floor with his head. He thought it was hoot and smiled as we left the room. We decided to take advantage of the nice weather today, so we grabbed a hat from his room and went off to explore the grounds for a little while. Joe carried him in his arms face forward in anticipation of the Baby Bjorn. He loved it! He was so busy just looking around and taking it all in, it was a joy to watch him discover his surroundings. We finally headed back upstairs and did some more walking. Today he was into taking a few steps away from Charlotte, and then abruptly turning around and walking right back. Each time he would just grin from ear to ear as he started the turn and all the way back into Mom’s arms. Charlotte loved it as much as Ivan did, if not more.

The afternoon visit was much like the morning except that we brought the Baby Bjorn carrier with us. Joe immediately put Ivan in it and off we went on a walk outside. Ivan seemed to really love it. He was perfectly content to walk around strapped to Dad’s chest and continue his exploration of the world. We switched up at one point and put the carrier on Charlotte…again very content. So, at least for the next little while, we think that Ivan will enjoy the carrier. The best part about this carrier will be while we are in the airports trying to get from one gate to the other. After a nice walk around the grounds of the orphanage we returned to the playroom. Ivan was interested in the ball pit today, so that is where we spent a great deal of our time. He loves to hand us the balls (or puppies) and hear us say thank you in Russian and then in English. He lights up when we say that to him. Joe took him back for snack/nap time and we returned to the hotel.

We are planning to have our driver take us into town for dinner. The plan is to go to the Black Bull Pub again. We are leaving shortly, so we will sign off for now. Love to everyone at home! We miss you all very much and are really looking forward to sharing the blessing that is Ivan with you all!

TTFN,
Charlotte and Joe