Yet Another Day

Today was another warm day even though it snowed all day! We visited Leah today and she must be feeling better because they had her in normal clothes. I motioned to the nannies if her nose was still running and they said yes, so I assumed it was another day on the couch. She is a very smart girl. She can already shake her head No, starting to wave bye bye, and can imitate clicking noses with her tongue! She loves Davis! If he is at one end of the couch, she will crawl down to him and laugh as she pulls up on him.

We explored another mall today. It is the mall on the same side of the street as the Nurdaulet but is further down. It is a big building with lots of glass! This was a mall more like we are use to! It was very nice and not crowded! We bought 3 nursery books that had Russian, Kazakh and English translations! We also saw a playland inside the mall. Davis went nuts wanting to go in but we didn’t have enough time. For those that are bringing kids to Aktobe, this is a must in the winter! The playground outside the Nurdaulet has not been open the whole time we have been here.

Our afternoon visit was cut short today because we have to go to the notary. Milon must give me power of attorney to complete the rest of the paperwork for the adoption on his behalf. Unfortunately, the notary had left for the day so we must go back tomorrow.

My mom leaves tomorrow from the U.S. I took detailed notes of what to expect at each stop for her although most is common sense. I hope her flights are okay and waiting in Almaty for 6 hours goes quickly! Milon says he wishes my mom had come with us in the beginning because she would appreciate flying by herself more! Quietness is sometimes a wonderful thing!

Milon is set to leave Aktobe on the 8th. This will work out nice because my mom and I will have a couple days to go shopping without Davis (and Milon). Let’s face it, just because we are in Kazakhstan doesn’t mean boys all of a sudden like to shop!

Some more tidbits on Kazakhstan. Everyone here sees President Obama as a good change. They all think he will move America in the right direction. We even saw a biography of Obama in the book store we were in today! It was displayed right in front of the store. I am glad we are here when Americans are viewed more favorably. I am becoming very paranoid watching CNN day and night! All that is on CNN is how bad terrorism is and the economy! I am beginning to feel like we are all going to hell in a hand basket!

You can find almost everything you need as far as food here. The only things we have not found are granola bars, mac and cheese, oatmeal (although not the flavored kind) peanut butter (although it was in Almaty), syrup and spaghetti sauce! We have made our own spaghetti sauce by mixing pizza sauce with a jar that has a picture of a tomato on it. I assume it might be tomato paste. We brought coffee, creamer, shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotions, dish detergent, washing detergent, etc but this is all readily available in the stores and I would not bring again!

Meals get kind of boring. We eat a lot of chicken. We have a few standard dishes we make. French toast, Chicken with pasta and spaghetti sauce, chicken noodle soup, Chicken fried rice, eggs with fried potatoes and onions. Tonight we are getting fancy and making Chicken Franchaise!

Our apartment does have a great location. It is in walking distance to everything. The apartment itself is big. It has a huge room we don’t even use and the 2 bedrooms works out perfectly. I love the kitchen! It reminds me of a grandma’s kitchen. There is a clothes line here and we left clothes pins. Last time we brought a lot we didn’t need like a plastic cutting board, ice cub tray, sink stoppers, funnels, travel iron, etc. The only thing we were glad we had was another sharp knife which we have donated to the apt!

This is a tip for someone bringing a toddler to Aktobe. Our stroller has been a lifeline! The grocery store and mall is too far for our 3 yr old to walk. He rides in it everyday. We also used it the entire time in the airport. The Nardaulet is not stroller friendly and we have had to carry it around that mall, but the stroller worked great in the big glass mall we went to. The market behind the stadium was stroller friendly as well. Another tip is to bring a portable DVD player. We have hooked it up to the TV and are able to watch movies on the big screen. It’s wonderful! We also take it to the babyhouse so Davis can watch movies to pass some time. Another tip is to bring a rubber ball to the babyhouse. The bonding room is huge and we play with a ball everyday. They hardly have any toys to play with in there so you really need to bring your own. We also had been bringing a blanket from the Apt to the babyhouse. The nannies said we could leave toys and the blanket in the big closet so we didn’t have to lug it around every time. We have done this and nothing has been taken.