Kazakh Belly Bombs

Major events of the day: Bonding Day 14, Submitting our Application and experiencing Kazakh Belly Bombs (or if you are from the upper Midwest: Gut Grenades or Grease Sliders).

Before going into any details, we have to share our excitement in having reached day 14 of the 14 required days of bonding. Our application was submitted to the Judge and the Department of Guardianship this morning. Our official court date, barring delays, is Oct 23rd at 10 am (11 pm on the 22nd for those night owls back home who may want to say a prayer or two on our behalf before turning in for the night). In celebration, we hunted down the “Hot Pocket” stand after making a stop to see the “Kabob Guy” and the “Fruit Lady.” More about that new treat later in today’s entry…

On our way to the orphanage Cathe had two cultural questions for Masha and Sasha. First question: Why do we see people lugging around 40 lb bags of Vidalia onions? She said that it is customary to buy staple items, like onions, potatoes, sugar, etc. in large sizes so they get a better price on them. She gave an example that her family buys a large bag of sugar that will last them a little over half a year. (The Fruit Lady had been amazed that Cathe only wanted one onion the other day when buying ingredients for soup). Second question: How are the older people (those who are retired or will soon be retiring) adjusting to Kazakhstan being an independent country instead of being a part of the Soviet Union. We were wondering how their retirement system compares to Social Security. Sasha said that at first it was much better, then got a little worse, then got a little better, but is not as good now. We don’t know what to make of this, but it sounds like they need some sort of 401(k) equivalent as they move from socialism to capitalism.

As we were driving to the RBS, Masha handed back the left over pictures we had submitted yesterday. We had printed a set of photos for the D.o.G. Lady’s files as well as a few to be submitted to the Judge with our application. The judge picked out a few and was particularly impressed by one of us clustered around the camera. Bill had picked up a tip somewhere about using the camera’s self-timer, setting it on the floor, then huddling around while looking at the camera. The result is pretty entertaining and was something the Judge had not seen before. She took two copies of that one! Clockwise from teh left: D.o.G. Lady, Bill, Masha, Cathe, LB, LG.

Although we did well on our own yesterday, it was nice to have Masha’s services once again. Her quick check with the kids confirms that they also consider yesterday a success. Yesterday we all learned that we will have to be patient with one another. We also learned that we have a lot of fun tools at our fingertips which will make learning the language easier, and more fun for all of us. Bill struck a deal with LB that each will help the other learn their respective languages. LG was a little concerned when Bill handed her a packet of jellybeans then pulled out the flash cards. She had fun with yesterday’s drill, but didn’t like giving any candies back when she got an answer wrong… There was visible relief when Bill told her that today all of the candies were hers, regardless of errors.

Although they don’t have full confidence in their memory of all the letters, the both know all of the sounds for the letters. Kudos to their English teacher at the RBS! LB can sound out words, so he will be reading and writing as fast as his vocabulary grows. LG is a little behind since she has had only one year of English, but will do fine with coaching from Mama and Papa.

After our academic review, we took a short break. Both children wanted to know how many more days before they will be able to come home with us. We explained that it will depend on the judge and that there is a 15 day waiting period after court. Because they are both over 10, they will both come to court had have a say in the proceedings. Perhaps we will be lucky and the judge will reduce or waive the waiting period. It’s a long shot, but we can always ask and pray. God brought us to these two, so He already knows.

Just as we were wrapping up break, one of their caregivers came into the room for a few minutes. She wanted to tell us how happy she was for these two and that they had found us. We have received translated copies of their medical records, but not their school records (hopefully tomorrow). The caregiver and the teacher whose classroom we’ve been using for our daily sessions both told us that the kids are not the best students, but do try hard. Now that they have a family, both are trying even harder (except that LB is still slacking in Kazakh, since he figured out that he won’t have that subject back in the states). In the last two weeks their grades have actually gone up. With Mom being a teacher and Dad being and engineer/computer geek, they will get a lot of focused one-on-one help. We also discovered that the Memphis public library offers free online access to Rosetta Stone English Edition on their ESL resources page. Since it is an exact parallel to the Russian edition we already have, it will be a huge help (LG and LB have played with the Russian edition while pursuing the contents of our computer). It was very nice to talk with the caregiver for a few minutes, especially when she told us that her son just started college this fall as an English major.

Bill was bringing our visit journal up to date while LG was coloring and Cathe worked with LB on writing back to his soon to be friend JD. (LB was pretty excited when he realized that Cathe had homework because she needed to translate what he wrote). Since Saturday and Sunday were off-campus days, and Masha was on her mission yesterday, so we had three days to fill in. Because we have done so much, we had to pause for a moment to recall exactly what we had done each day. We have covered so much ground these past two weeks that the days have all blurred together, none exactly like the other. Like Bill Murray’s final day in “Groundhog Day,” we have gotten this right. Even the weather was right, crystal clear and a little over 60 degrees. We didn’t wear jackets today, just sweaters.

When our visiting time was up, we hugged and said our goodbyes then went to the front steps to wait for Sasha, our driver. We had a moment of deja’ vu when we saw two little girls who we had seen in Airtau on our first try. One smiled at Cathe when she recognized us. They had just been moved up from Airtau today. The RBS is pretty full, so new children are moved in only as children are adopted or “graduate” from the system.

The only hard thing about going home will be the sadness that we won’t be taking more children home with us. Some day their forever family will come looking for them too.

Upon returning to our apartment we felt the need for a celebratory dinner to commemorate completion of our 14 days of bonding. Having heard about some terrifically tasty “hot pocket” type sandwiches, we had hunted down the stand in the little flea market this morning when we went fruit shopping. After dropping off our book bags, we dashed across the street and made our selections. 6 hot pockets for about 240 kzt (about $2). Anyone who has savored White Castle or Krystal burgers will understand the “Belly Bomb” analogy. The triangular ones had a flaky pastry crust and were filled with cooked ground beef and onions as were the round ones which were in a bread dough. The oblong ones that looked like the shape of a potato were filled with mashed potatoes in a bread dough. They had been deep-fried to perfection! Rachel Ray would be proud of our successful searches for culinary delights on a budget. They do have good food here!

Another great day to add to the log. Tomorrow, the Countdown to Court begins.