Day 13

It's Sunday. Our 13th, which is next to last, day of visitation. Can't believe how fast our 2 week bonding time has gone by. We didn't bring in anything new today, just played with the things we've brought before. We played with Play Dough, Julia made another necklace, we played more card games, including a new one we taught Borya. And of course more pillow fights. Besides "Oh snap!", Julia has also learned how to yell "Enough!" as well as "Calm down!" to her brother. Calm down comes out as callum down. These are phrases that I'm sure will get put to good use once we're home. For her as well as for me.

Afterwards we did some more shopping, as we still needed a coat, hat, gloves, scarf, pants and shirts for Julia, and another shirt and some gloves and a scarf for Borya. We were able to get most of the things, but still have a few more things to check off our list. We then took Olga to lunch, as today was our last day with her. We went to a place we haven't been before called The Pancake House. It was very good. We had tea, and chicken noodle soup, and Fred had a Russian dish - a minced meat thing in a little fried dough ball. And some yummy bliny for dessert (Russian pancakes with sweet filling). Olga had tongue. Tomorrow she goes back to school and we will use someone else whenever we need translation services from here on in. We will miss her!

It's much colder today. We've had a few light snow showers througout the day, and the mountains in the distance are now snow-covered. I don't think it was too much below freezing, but when the wind picked up, yikes! Siberian air chillin' our bones.

Day 12

We had to go to the notary this morning before our visit with the kids. We were joined in the office (which was about 120 degrees) by our coordinator, our translator, and two other adoptive couples that we know. After signing countless documents (hopefully we didn't sign away our house or our kids, because all the documents were in Russian) we all went our separate ways to visit with our children.

We had a great time with the kids today! We had pillow fights and Borya made gross eyeballs and boogers with Play Dough. We had wheelbarrow races with Bella and Julia. We taught Julia how to say "Oh snap", so that everytime Borya was about to throw a pillow at her she would say "Oh snap!" before she ducked. I'm sure she'll teach all her little friends at the orphanage how to say it, too. I do believe we just made the world a smaller place.

It's been pretty mild weather since we got here. Unseasonably so. Right now it's raining, but word on the street is that it's going to get cold, and we'll probably get snow tomorrow or the next day. I know, as Fred keeps pointing out to me, that if it turns cold we won't be able to get out and about as easily, but I'm still looking forward to some colder weather and some snow, I just can't help myself.

Speaking of Fred, our coordinator was prepping us for our court statements today. She was explaining the things we would need to include in our statements, one of which was, how long we have ben married. Fred asked her, "How do you say 'too long' in Russian?" Wise guy.

Day 11

Bella brought her laptop along on our visit today. There's a thing on it where you can take pictures of your face all distorted, like with only one eye or a huge forehead and tiny mouth, etc. Borya and Julia were laughing so hard at all the crazy pictures they were taking. You can also make mini movies on it, which Borya loved b/c he wants to make movies when he grows up (Aunt Mary, can you get him connected?).

Bella's been really good on this trip. Right now she's watching Drake and Josh in Russian on TV. It's fun trying to figure out what they're saying. I taught her how to crochet, so that's something we can do to pass the time. She's finished most of the homework that she brought with her, and she's done a 550 piece puzzle a couple times, but she never really sems bored. She misses her brothers and sister back home, but she's having a great time playing with her new brother and sister here, even though it's only two hours a day.

Day 10

Today we brought some books for the kids to look at. We had Borya and the Burps, a story about a Russian baby boy who is adopted by an American couple; Russian Barbie ABC, which is an ABC book in Russian with the English words also (we bought that when we were in Kaz last time for Bella); and First 1000 Words in Russian, which has pictures of everyday things (classroom, kitchen, city street, farm, etc) with all the things in the pictures written in English and Russian. We had the kids practice their new names again, as well as our names and their brothers and sisters. Whenever they try to say Fred, it comes out friend, which I think is cute.

Afterwards we went shopping to buy Borya and Julia clothes they will need for their journey home. That was more difficult than I thought, and way more expensive. Five yrs ago, prices in Kazakhstan were a fraction of what they were back in the states. Today we've found that the regular stores' prices are just out of the question. So then we went to "the markets", thinking we could get things much cheaper if we were walking through puddles, down narrow, dark aisles covered by tarps, and crossing over planks. Nyet. We still had a heck of a time finding a coat for less than 6000 tenge, which is about $50.00. Even then, the coat we bought Borya, which is so heavy I have a hard time carrying it, caused our sweet translator Olga to look at us sideways and shake her head. Though the kids will not be walking the streets in winter Kaz weather, we are expected to bundle these kids as if they're going on an Arctic expedition. They will be driven by heated car back and forth to buildings so hot you could roast your Thanksgiving turkey in them, but we were given a list of things to buy the kids for the trip which included long underwear, tights, fur boots, jackets, coats (yes, I said jackets AND coats), scarves, gloves, caps and more.

Ooh, gotta go! Without looking at the TV, I can tell you that Russian SpongeBob is on. And it's not just the music I recognize (sad but true). The other day in the car I found myself singing along to a Kazakh pop song I've heard a couple times. You know you've been in Kazakhstan too long when .....

Day 9

Not a whole lot to report today about our visit. We brought Uno and taught the kids how to play that. We also brought Silly Putty and had fun showing them how to lift pictures off a page, and make bouncy-balls with it. I made a colored-pencil drawing for Julia of an embroidered flower picture on the wall.

It was interesting watching the election results in Kazakhstan. When we got up on the morning (about 8pm EST) things were looking pretty favorable for Obama. By the time we got back from our visitation, it was all but over. Seems strange to be heralding in a new era so far from home, and to be learning all the details from Euro CNN.

We've been meeting more Americans the last couple days. We've met up a couple times since we've been here with Dee and Craig, the couple from Mass who is adopting brothers from Ridder, where Borya is from. We've also met people from NJ, Indiana, Chicago, and more. All of them are adopting from the baby house. We had lunch today with a sizable crowd and it was nice talking shop with folks of the same language and culture. We got to compare notes about the places with the best bathrooms, how to procure more tp from housekeeping, and places to eat that have recognizable food and English menus. We all sympathized with the family whose peanut butter was seized at the airport. She had brought a healthy supply with her for her little boy, but someone decided it was contraband. Alas.