3.10.2005
Day 23 & Day 24
On Wednesday, Paige set her own schedule. She was absolutely miserable most of the day…we now think it’s got to do with her change in diet. She’s only happy for about an hour after her bottle of formula. Right after that, the fussing begins.
The high point of the day was when Chris went out with Emil to find something good for dinner. He took her to a gourmet deli type place that was recommended by a previous adoptive family. It was so thrilling for her to get out of the apartment, even if it was only for less than an hour!
On Thursday, we had cabin fever so bad we decided we were going out no matter what! It turned out to be 60 degrees so we called Emil and asked him to pick us up at 10:30 am. First we went to Memorial Park, which is a park dedicated to Kazakhs who fought for the Soviet Union from the Russian Revolution to their war with Afghanistan. It was very interesting and a nice park (even though there was a lot of construction going within the park). Emil was extremely helpful as our tour guide and took photos of us. There was also a beautiful old Russian Orthodox church there and we went inside and lit two candles for our children. Paige slept through our first outing, and Justin cried briefly in the car, but by the end of our excursion he was giving Emil the “high five”! As we were heading home for the kids’ lunch and naptime, we received a phone call from Gulnara who advised us that all our documents are in order and we could leave next Tuesday, March 15! If everything goes well, we’ll be on our way home a few days early.
We went home, fed the kids, they had a short nap, and Emil picked us up again at 3:15 pm. This time we went to the Old Soviet Square (seat of former Soviet government), and then on to the New Kazakh Square (new seat for local government since the capital is now located in Astana). Because it was so warm, Emil suggested we take a ride to the top of a gondola station where we could get a view of the entire city of Almaty. The road had been closed for the winter because of recent mudslides and he hadn’t been able to get there for a very long time. As we headed up the road, the “no entry” signs were posted, but we took our chances and continued on our way. When we got to the top there were several other cars parked, so we got out and took in the view, which was well worth the trip! It was very hazy, but we really got a sense of how large the city is, and we could see several landmarks of places we had visited. As we headed back to the car, the police were there giving tickets to those who had ignored the signs. Emil offered the police a few bucks to avoid an expensive ticket, which apparently is still an acceptable thing to do here. Too bad that doesn’t work in New York!
Anyway, we headed home, had some dinner, and put the kids to bed. Tomorrow we have our clinic appointments for Justin and Paige, and we will confirm when we are departing and book the children’s tickets.
The high point of the day was when Chris went out with Emil to find something good for dinner. He took her to a gourmet deli type place that was recommended by a previous adoptive family. It was so thrilling for her to get out of the apartment, even if it was only for less than an hour!
On Thursday, we had cabin fever so bad we decided we were going out no matter what! It turned out to be 60 degrees so we called Emil and asked him to pick us up at 10:30 am. First we went to Memorial Park, which is a park dedicated to Kazakhs who fought for the Soviet Union from the Russian Revolution to their war with Afghanistan. It was very interesting and a nice park (even though there was a lot of construction going within the park). Emil was extremely helpful as our tour guide and took photos of us. There was also a beautiful old Russian Orthodox church there and we went inside and lit two candles for our children. Paige slept through our first outing, and Justin cried briefly in the car, but by the end of our excursion he was giving Emil the “high five”! As we were heading home for the kids’ lunch and naptime, we received a phone call from Gulnara who advised us that all our documents are in order and we could leave next Tuesday, March 15! If everything goes well, we’ll be on our way home a few days early.
We went home, fed the kids, they had a short nap, and Emil picked us up again at 3:15 pm. This time we went to the Old Soviet Square (seat of former Soviet government), and then on to the New Kazakh Square (new seat for local government since the capital is now located in Astana). Because it was so warm, Emil suggested we take a ride to the top of a gondola station where we could get a view of the entire city of Almaty. The road had been closed for the winter because of recent mudslides and he hadn’t been able to get there for a very long time. As we headed up the road, the “no entry” signs were posted, but we took our chances and continued on our way. When we got to the top there were several other cars parked, so we got out and took in the view, which was well worth the trip! It was very hazy, but we really got a sense of how large the city is, and we could see several landmarks of places we had visited. As we headed back to the car, the police were there giving tickets to those who had ignored the signs. Emil offered the police a few bucks to avoid an expensive ticket, which apparently is still an acceptable thing to do here. Too bad that doesn’t work in New York!
Anyway, we headed home, had some dinner, and put the kids to bed. Tomorrow we have our clinic appointments for Justin and Paige, and we will confirm when we are departing and book the children’s tickets.
# posted by kaztree @ 6:10 PM 
