We made it! I can tell where we are now, we're in the city of Uralsk, Kazakhstan. Uralsk is located in the northwest corner of Kazakhstan, surprisingly close to Siberia (?) I looked at the map and sure enough, within reading distance, at least, is Siberia.

We were supposed to leave Almaty on an 8am flight via Air Kazakhstan but we somehow ended up on Air Astana on a 4pm flight. Unfortunately, Kazakstan, like much of Europe and Asia, run on a different time schedule than we do. The flight actually left about 6pm.

It was the strangest 737 configuration I've ever seen. Instead of the normal 2 seats on one side and 3 seats on the other, there were two rows of 3 seats and the rows were very close together. No room for knees or even the tray table when the gentleman (and I use the term loosely) in front of me put his seat all the way back :) But, I'm going with the flow. Really.

We had to pay for 69kg over weight on the luggage. At 2.2 pounds per kg, that means we had about 150 pounds over the 88 pound limit for two people. Yikes!!

We arrived okay, though. It's much colder here in Uralsk than in Almaty but it felt very good. We were met at the airport by Aisia (prounounced I-see-a), Olga (who we can tell immediately is wonderful!), and drivers Phillipage and Vladimir (our driver). They grabbed all our luggage, loaded us up and took us to the apartment.

The apartment is very nice. Yes, Susan, there is a shower :) Our travel companion is across the hall and we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to unlock the door! We still don't have it down but we're working on it.

It has two bedrooms, what I guess would be called a water closet (just a toilet) and another room with the bathtub/shower and sink (I suppose the bathroom.) Also a large living room, a kitchen and a foyer. It's very comfortable and we'll be just fine there.

We were then taken to the market to pick up some necessities. Got two 5 liter bottles of water, a loaf of some sort of rye or graham bread, what Aisia told us was cream cheese but is more like cheez-whiz, and about a half pound of butter for a bit under $4. Wow!

Unfortunately, because we were so late, we didn't get to go see the children last night.

Everyone is right, the bread is excellent. We had bread and coffee (thank goodness the coffee maker with the converter works!) and Little Debbies for breakfast. Mmmmm!

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for......

Say "hello" to "Mommy" and Sasha!




Peaceful sight, isn't it? I've got to admit that this is not how the whole first meeting went :)

We arrived at the babyhouse at about 9:00 and were brought to the music room. I could hear Sasha crying while we were going through.

The caregiver (Zoya) brought her in and the poor thing was terrified! She has never been away from her group and there were these strange people with cameras and me, of course, with tears in my eyes. Little by little, she finally decided that the toy and the treats I bought were worth the risk of getting close to me just long enough to grab what she wanted, then she'd run back to the caregiver.

Finally, everyone left except Grandpa and Mommy and she was left with just us. She cried some, grabbed some treats, watched Mommy make a fool of herself making popping noises with her fingers in her mouth, playing the marachas and the triangle (all that training in high school finally paid off!) and basically just trying to put her at ease. She kept her distance but seemed a little interested. Suddenly, she started crying again, threw herself on the floor and fell asleep. Mommy picked her up and held her the rest of the time. She did stir a little but I'm sure she never knew I had her. At least I got to hold her!

I think Grandpa caught the entire scene on tape for posterity! :) Someday, I'll get to show it to her.

This afternoon, I'll be taking the little CD player because she really seems interested in music and I'll take more treats (two little bags of fruit snacks ran out too soon!) and the "Koshka" pillow. Wish me luck! At least we have the first meeting under our belts :)

Oh, as for the chicken pox issue. Sasha is not in the babyhouse that I reported had the chicken pox epidemic. All along I thought she was in BH #2 but she's in BH#1. However, they told us last night that BH #1 now has the chicken pox, too. They believe Sasha's already had it so we might be okay. Fingers crossed!

- posted by Jaime's Mommy @ 2:11 AM