Babushka is Here!

My mom landed in Almaty with complications. She landed and went thru immigrations and got her bags and walked thru the mob of Taxi drivers only to find no one holding her name! She was suppose to meet the translator named Kate however Kate was under the impression that she was flying Lufthansa, and my mom was flying BMI. My mom tried to call my cell phone (which I had been sleeping with anticipating her call) and it didn’t work. Turns out she didn’t know how to dial the international Plus code and I forgot to tell her! My mom finds a Taxi driver who spoke very little English who was able to bring her to the Air Astana ticket counter upstairs and help her buy a ticket to Aktobe. She sat down and waited for 6 hours until her next flight. The taxi driver was very nice and didn’t even accept a tip from her. He recognized Kate downstairs and told her my mom was waiting upstairs. Kate goes upstairs and sees my mom. She had bought a ticket for her as well. Luckily, they were able to get a refund on one of the tickets. I feel so bad that my mom had this experience in Almaty. The Almaty airport is extremely intimidating. It is very crowded and small and virtually no one speaks English. Luckily, she arrived in Aktobe safe and sound and we were anxiously awaiting her arrival. I had to use the bathroom in the Aktobe airport and here is what I found! A hole in the ground to pee over! No toilet paper provided!

We went to the babyhouse today immediately after picking her up from the airport and she met Leah. She couldn’t believe Leah’s resemblance of Milon. My mom couldn't believe how beautiful and well adjusted she is. She said she was exactly like the pictures and Leah fell asleep towards the end of the visit. We then went to the notary later in the day only to find out the notary doesn’t know how to do Power of Attorneys. We must go back tomorrow at noon when she had figured out how to do the paperwork….very scary huh!

Milon got bad news that he won’t be able to leave until the 10th at the earliest. He had already booked his tickets home and told his company when he would be back. His return trip is turning into a ever changing date!

I am really glad my mom got a glimpse of our day to day life. I have complained off and on about how nothing makes sense here and that a lot of what goes on is shady. She definitely got a glimpse today and that she had no idea what we have been going through here. You would think by now these kinks would have been worked out, but clearly they are ever evolving. If it isn’t one thing, it is something else.