Another trip off campus

Major event of the day: Bonding Day 5, Lunch at the Döner Café and Movie at the Apt

Perhaps our internal clocks are finally adjusting or we’re just getting tired enough to sleep through the night. We’re trying to stay up to “normal” times while resisting the urge for a nap. It’s hard because the apartment is so warm, but we don’t want to leave the windows open at night. We finally gave up and rolled out of bed at 6:30.

Days are quickly getting shorter, both literally and figuratively. Checking sunrise and sunset times on Weather Underground (direct link to Petropavlovsk at the bottom of our blog page) indicates that each day is progressively 4+ minutes shorter than the previous. It’s a little after 6:30 pm as I type, and it’s already getting dark. It doesn’t get light in the morning until almost 8. And the temperatures are dropping as well. This morning was a crisp “34F, feels like 29” according to MSN Weather (type in Petropavl, KZ). The high was in the mid 50s and very nice: sunny and no breeze. Our days are mostly spent counting down the hours until our next visit. I can imagine the trouble that the kids must be having with staying focused during the school day, knowing that we will be there promptly at 3pm, right after their “lunch.”

On a side note: There is a lot of smog and dust in the air here. There is also a lot of dirt on the streets and sidewalks. They need a few really good “gulley-washer” rainstorms to clean things off, but that would just create more mud… Except for the small proportion of new cars, most of the cars would not have the slightest chance of passing an emissions test. Busses and trucks are worse. At least the city busses on the main routes are electric, so they don’t add to the pollution. There is a huge steam plant to the east of the city which provides heat for all of the buildings in the city. There are steam pipes everywhere, carrying the steam to the homes, apartments, and shops. One morning, the wind was from the east and you could smell the sulfur/coal smell on the air. To make matters worse, the leaves are now falling and the most popular way to dispose of them is by burning. When we come in from a walk outside, we have that smog/smutz smell on our clothing. I think it’s giving us both a little congestion. We look forward to getting back to the clean air of home.

Interesting Facts: Friday, October 5 was National Teacher Appreciation Day in Kazakhstan. It wasn't hard to figure out who on the streets were teaches since many were carrying flowers home Friday afternoon. There was a big sign on the door at RBS. They used Mama instead of Teacher since the teachers are much like Mom’s to the children.



Fashion here is very interesting. ALL women wear boots, mostly having high heels. It’s obvious that some focus more on fashion while others on function. As Cathe says, most boots are cute and stylish. I sure would like to see how those ladies with stiletto heels handle the snow! Masha, for example, likes boots which are really “cute, conservative and practical” according to Cathe, while her sister’s opinion is, “To heck with practicality. I want fashion!” Cathe tried on several boots but couldn’t find any with the right blend of fashion and practicality which came in size 10 (most women here have small feet).

Since it was Sunday and the children didn’t have school today, we arranged to pick them up early and have a longer visit. We arrived at the RBS at 1 pm to see LB waiting by the gate for us. LG was in the courtyard playing with her friends. Both were VERY excited to see us and wanted to tell us about their pop quizzes in their English classes yesterday. LG could hardly wait to tell us that she got a 5 (best score) and her brother only got a 4. She was very proud of the fact, but is still reluctant to try many phrases. We’ll continue to bolster her confidence.

Yesterday when we returned back to the RBS, we noticed that LG looked like she wasn’t feeling all that good, a little clammy and pale. Today we asked LG is she was feeling ok and she explained that she didn’t feel good at the end of the trip because she had not been feeling well and was hungry (didn’t eat breakfast or lunch) and perhaps a little bit car sick. Masha reminded both the children that they should let us know if they don’t like something, they’re hungry, or if they’re not feeling well. Both are real troopers and want to make the best impression possible. There are also several children with sniffles, so the bug must be making its rounds. LG reassures us that she had eaten today and was feeling fine today.

After a quick wardrobe change at the apartment (they both wanted to wear their new clothes) we headed over to the Döner Café for lunch. It was an adventure to say the least. LB and LG wanted to try everything, but we settled on pizza, getting two different ones to try. While waiting for the pizza, it was time to try out the play area. Although both LB and LG are on the big side for the slides and ball bin, they did enjoy the whack-a-mole game and got pretty good at it, running us out of 50 tenge coins about the time the pizza arrived. One was a basic cheese pizza, except they use something more like Colby instead of mozzarella. The other was a Deluxe, which came with mushrooms, peas, hard boiled egg pieces, tomato chunks, tomato sauce, and the same cheese, on a thin Italian-style crust. Tasty, but not like anything we’re used to at home. We also ordered carrot salad and Krab salad, both of which were very good. When we were eating we found out that LG does not like carrots nor does she like the cheese that they serve on the pizza. LB will probably eat whatever is in front of him. We encouraged the children to try the food and if they don’t like to let us know.

With most of the food consumes, it was time for dessert. Dee from Georgia had recommended the baklava. Primo! The kids also wanted a milkshake-like drink which was basically frothed Strawberry Nestle Quick. I think we will easily top that with US milk instead of hi-temp milk. Worst mistake was having the kids come up to the register to order dessert. As soon as they saw the gelato in the freezer by the register, they wanted some of that too. How could I say no? (Cathe gave me the evil eye look, so I’m sure I’ll hear something about overdoing it later).

We walked back to the apartment after lunch as it is only one and a half of those “looooong” blocks Jim pointed out on his map (~1/4 mile or so). There is a nice playground around the corner from our apartment, so the kids had to hit the swings and monkey bars until Masha mentioned we had bought some DVDs. They could hardly wait to see our small collection of movies in Russian and English, and selected Disney/PIXAR Мачки (Cars). We watched it in Russian with English sub-titles so we could all enjoy the movie. (There are many little shops where you can buy movies at pretty reasonable prices. This one was 2000 kzt, ~$17.50, and has 6 languages.) We also bought a few other familiar titles like В Поисках Немо (Finding Nemo) and Ночь в Музее (Night at the Museum). Masha helped us find ones which have English and Russian so we can play the movie in English with Russian sub-titles as a way to help get the children more accustomed to hearing English and following conversations, and occasionally play them in Russian.

The staff at the RBS does an excellent job of bringing as much wholesome normalcy back into the children’s lives. Politeness, courtesy, and sharing are strongly enforced. There are a lot of great kids, and a few other strays, looking for good homes.



Meanwhile, it is clear that the children are becoming more comfortable with us since every day, more bits and pieces of their personalities emerge. We will have to time-share the computer at home because both are very creative and want to demonstrate their skills. LG is a “girly girl” who likes all the Easter type colors, especially Purple. LB is energetic and athletic. We look forward to the day when their shields truly come down and they can share their feelings, worries and fears with us, so we can really get to know them.

Yesterday and again today they both asked, “When is the court date so we can come home with you?” They want to move out of the RBS be with us now, but we still have a few more weeks. We explained that we still have 9 more days of bonding, followed by court, then by the waiting period. We know it doesn’t happen often, but we will pray that waiting period would be waived. Either way, God will decide what’s best for us. If all goes well, they will leave the RBS with us in 5 weeks or less, which is now our goal.

Despite the fact that our visit was twice as long as our week-day visits, we had to pack everyone back into the car and trek back to the RBS far sooner than any of us really wanted. We really have to complement our cruise director/translator Masha and driver Sasha for helping us pack so much into such a short time every day. Another great day, but still too short.