Over the Bonding Period Hump

Major event of the day: Bonding Day 7, We’re Half Way There!

This morning was another shopping adventure. Although we had already purchased the main items like jackets, jeans and shoes, we still had all the accouterments like socks, underwear, pajamas, and belts to buy. Masha is great! She took us to several inexpensive stores and then the big flea market so we found everything else at very reasonable prices. Finding a belt for LB was interesting. Many shopkeepers said to just pick one and they would cut it to size. We found a good leather one for $5, then the shopkeeper spent the next 10 minutes disassembling the buckle, removing the excess leather, then reassembling it with a new rivet as if it had originally come in that size. All we need now are a couple nice outfit accessories for court.

There was also a lot of activity on the streets and we noticed distinct Police presence where before we had only seen an occasional Police car passing by. Today the President is coming to town! Yesterday we saw one of their very high-tech street cleaning trucks: A big water truck with a high pressure sprayer on the front, driving down the street spraying water on everything. At least the driver turned off the water at intersections so the pedestrians didn’t get “cleaned” too. (of course that meant mud in the gutter areas and crosswalks). Also, all of the bus stops were spruced up with a fresh coat of paint, right over all the “For Sale” and “House Cleaning” ads people post there.

As several families have mentioned before, we’re settling into the Groundhog Day routine. Since that happens to be one of Bill’s favorite movies (we’ve even visited Woodstock, IL and Punxsutawny, PA), we picked up a copy in one of the local video stores. If anyone remembers the Cheech-and-Chong “What I did on my summer vacation” routine, you’ll understand. Although we have been doing some sight seeing, our lives revolve around those two precious hours each day when we get to visit our children.

On the way to the RBS we saw a lot of Police and military presence, about one a block. Sasha, our driver, explained that it would be their job to stop traffic when the President came. We didn’t get to see him. Instead, we had another great visit with the children, though we did hope he would swing by the RBS to say, “Hi” while passing through town.

Again we were amazed at how much activity can be compressed into two short hours. First Bill went over the sight-words flash cards with LB while Cathe reviewed ABCs with LG. Then we did some name writing on the blackboard, are doing very well with the unfamiliar alphabet and can spell their names. A few of their friends wandered in and the kids took a short “photo break.” They’re definitely budding photographers and will keep us busy. We’ll have to re-read the camera instructions so we can find more kid-friendly settings to catch all of the action. (They haven’t quite figured out that they need to wait for the second flash when we’re using red-eye reduction…). Thank goodness we can enjoy the photos without having to print them all out. Today we took a combined 98 snapshots!

We met one of the children’s caretakers today and learned a lot more about the children and their background. Caretaker #1 (we didn’t write down her name, but it means Hope) shared that LB and LG came to the RBS a little over a year ago, they’re very eager to please and very helpful in their family group and with other children. She also told us that they both had a slow start at school because they were not academically on grade level, probably associated with their early upbringing. She explained that LG arrived to RBS barely able to read and write, well below grade level. As a testament to the dedication of the teachers at the regional boarding school, LG made significant improvements and is now able to read and write at grade level. The caretaker told us that both put forth their best effort, although LB has been slacking on his Kazakh this week... We're sure he has already figured out that there won't be much need for it once we get home...

School is structured a bit differently in Kazakhstan. Children do not begin grade school until the age of 7, but they usually have a grasp of their ABCs (or whatever you call them in Cyrillic), numbers, and a few reading words if they attended pre-school. We are speculating that LG may not have made it to school regularly based on the information we have learned about their past situation. Having taught in inner city schools, Cathe knows how hard it is for children to focus on school if they are tired, hungry or just need a bath and a change of clothes. LG was 8 or just barely 9 when she and LB came to the RBS.

It was another beautiful day so we wandered outside so LB and LG can show off on the monkey bars. They would alternate calling for our attention and shout “look at Papa” or “look Mama” and we are all to eager to oblige their call. Another one of their friends came over with a soccer ball and suddenly boys from nowhere appeared and an impromptu soccer game materialized. Cathe was assisting at the Goalie, the smallest player on the playground, and with his assistance they blocked 2 goal attempts. Once the boy saw that Cathe could handle things, he took off to be a player in the game. Meanwhile, Bill was playing a rousing game of badminton with LG.

We did have some interesting observations today. When LG got a little over aggressive while playing with a boy about her size, Cathe told her to stop and told her that it’s not right to play that way. LG explained that some of the other kids told her that boys in America play rough, so she will have to be aggressive to protect herself. Recently, she and LB have been “hearing” bad information from other kids at the RBS. Nothing too serious, but we will have to set several misconceptions straight. Another area we will work on is unsupervised TV/movie watching. Neither LB or LG go much into specifics yet, but we get the impression that they’ve been watching some age inappropriate movies and shows. Anyway, Cathe’s quick intervention and explanation de-fused the situation and we let her know that it won’t be necessary to protect herself in this manner.

One of the last things we worked on today was a “What I Like, What I Don’t Like” survey Masha put together. We don’t want to embarrass her, but do want to let her know how much we appreciate the little things, such as putting together this survey for the children and us, really means to us and how those little things will really help our family as we grow together.

What a super day! We’re over the hump with 7 bonding days down, 7 to go!

P.S. In addition to those we mentioned yesterday, we also want to thank Antares Orphans for all that they do to help the children in the Northern Kazakhstan region orphanages. It does make a difference, and we have seen it first hand.