Rambling From Almaty

As far as adjusting and bonding goes, I think Leah is doing wonderfully. She makes great eye contact with me, loves to be held (would prefer this over everything!), and loves to laugh and play with me. She goes to sleep wonderfully, actually better in the pack and play than in the full size crib. She might whine for 5 mins, but she is asleep pretty fast. She is even getting to the point where she will play for a few minutes before falling asleep. The only “issue” we are having is she won’t let anyone else hold her and she won’t let me leave the room! I have lessened the leaving the room issue by making a game of it. She cries and starts crawling towards the kitchen and I hide around the corner and play peak-a-boo. She then laughs and thinks it’s a game. Hopefully, she will put it together that I haven’t left! I am hoping once we are settled at home that the separation anxiety goes away also. I can imagine how fearful she must be, to be taken out of the world as she knew it. She is clinging to me as her lifeline right now and hopefully she will feel more secure as time passes. She is so bad that when a stranger is around she grabs hold of my hair! The only person she has not cried with is our driver here in Almaty. He has held her twice and she didn’t cry either time. I am curious to see if it is because he is a man, or because he holds her away from him so she can only see me. She might associate women with her caregivers at the babyhouse and think they will take her away. I don’t believe she has ever seen a man (other than Milon). It will be interesting to see how she reacts to other men. I can say, if the attention is on her terms, she is much better. For instance, the lady on the airplane. I bet she would have let her hold her. I am not sure though.

Kate, my translator gave me some interesting facts on Kazakhstan. She said the average person makes $120 per month. This would include retail people and bus drivers. She said most people have their apartment given to them from when the former Soviet Union gave all their citizens apartments. She said that the average utility bill for electricity, water, and gas is $60. That leaves $60 a month for food, clothing and misc expenses! Groceries are not any cheaper here than in the US! Can you imagine feeding your family on $60 per month! She said this is why you see a lot of people begging for money. They simply cannot survive on such little income. Especially older folks who cannot work. She also said that Doctors make very little money here. She said her mom is a dentist and makes $180 per month! That is not much higher than a bus driver! She said it is still considered a prestigious job, but is equal in pay to a teacher. She said most people who have the money often give the doctors a tip to help them out.

We also talked about the clothing here. I couldn’t understand why the clothes are of such poor quality and are so expensive! I told her that everything in US if from China also. She said that our clothing comes from Hong Kong and Kazakhstan gets clothing that is made in small factories on the border of China and Kazakhstan. She said she has all of her clothing from the US from being a flight attendant and from escorting babies to the US.

We had a bad night last night. Leah woke at 1:00am hungry. She had a bottle and some cereal with prunes and then I tried to get her back down. She wanted to play. In fact, I laid her in my bed hoping she would fall asleep and instead she decided to climb on me. She then went to my face and I got a big sloppy wet kiss on my mouth! I had to start laughing even though by this time it was 3am! She finally went back to sleep at 5am only to wake at 6am by the garbage truck. They woke me up also, they were so loud! Then we went back to sleep until 7:30. Needless to say, I am tired today and fighting a sore throat. Leah has been having 3 naps a day instead of 2 longer ones. She will only sleep for 1 hour intervals and by 4pm she is exhausted. This will have to change when we get home, but for now it works fine.

It is very noisy around here. There are a ton of wild dogs and cats running around. You can actually see some that are from the same litter that have formed a pack. They don’t bother anyone, except me when I am trying to sleep! They bark all night and then I hear cats fighting the rest of the night. I have been closing my window because it is so loud. I can’t imagine living here and listening to this all the time.

Last night, I made a big bowl of pasta with spaghetti sauce (yes, they do have spaghetti sauce in Almaty) and watched the movie “The Assassination of Jessie James.” The movie was just okay. I figure I have enough new movies here to last me until Thurs night! These are the collection of movies Milon bought for $1 in China that we haven’t had time to watch in 2 years! Here is the line-up. Tell me if any of these are not worth watching!

Fri- Flags of Our Fathers

Sat- There Will Be Blood

Sun-Vantage Point

Mon- American Ganster

Tues-Bourne Ultimatum

Wed- Onion Movie

Thur- Sex and the City (yes, i have seen this and will watch it again!)

I did see a beautiful German Shepherd running off leash with his owner. It reminded me of Greta, and yes, I actually miss her! I think Leah is going to really like her as she has been very interested in all the dogs we have seen.

Leah and I went to the Ramstore today. There is an entire 3rd floor dedicated to souvenirs! I bought her a t-shirt that says Kazakhstan on it. I will go back in the next few days to look some more. There were so many things, it was overwhelming, not to mention we went to close to lunchtime!