Day 51. Major events of the day: Connected at Last! & Rain, Rain, Go Away!
Since I didn’t get a connection until later today, it’s the mid-afternoon weather update…
Almaty weather: 43, feels like 40. Overcast, haze, damp, drizzle, rain and sleet. Yep, does sound like a wintry day in Seattle! (Gene & Deb: can you confirm?)
Last Petropavlovsk update: “17, feels like 10.” More snow predicted for the next few days there
Meanwhile back in Memphis: Overnight low of 34, but heading back to 56. Forecast has pretty good weather for the next few days. Save some nice weather for our return!
Today’s entry is quite late due to connectivity issues (lack of). The weather these past two days has been dreary, but we have been able to get out between drizzle sessions and missed a couple light rain showers.
Two treks to the Ramstore today. We needed more milk and I wanted to try connecting again. The kids really like to ice skate, and ask when we’re going back. Kate still sticks close to the wall, but is not doing bad. David takes off across the ice and tries a few tricks, but still needs a little work on the fancy stuff (most of his spin-outs ended up including a power slide on the knees). They are going to be pretty scary on rollerblades (watch out neighborhood!). Anyway, we reached an agreement: if I could get an internet connection, they would get to ice skate for an hour. Sadly, they didn’t get to skate this morning.
We returned to the apartment with our bags of groceries. All the contents made it back safely too. Yesterday’s shopping adventure didn’t go quite as well though. One thing about our kids is that they want to help with and be in the middle of everything. I was having a hard time supervising grocery bagging while paying the bill. At least I made sure the eggs and potato chips were in a bag, with the eggs on the bottom as well as ensuring the bread and rolls were in their own bag. It was good up to that point. I was carrying the heavy liquid items while the kids each had two light bags. Proper weight and balance was achieved for our up hill trek back to the apartment.
Unfortunately, I was busily navigating through the lunch time crowd, especially by the bus stop, and didn’t notice how they were swinging and twirling the bags as we walked along until we were nearly to our destination. So, we had an opportunity to discuss being gentle with things when we arrived at the apartment. The bread was fine, but two eggs, a banana, and a bag of chips suffered significant injuries along the way. It’s normal “kid stuff,” and nothing malicious, so I want them to continue being helpful. However, it’s stretching the bounds of my limited Russian and pantomime (and their patience with me) to slow them down enough to show the way to do things without breakage or damage. (things like tossing a sack of potatoes into a bag, on top of the bread…)
By the way, the Ramstore grocery store has a member discount card, just like Kroger or many other stores back home, which gives you a price break on several items. I saw the little “price break” signs but figured we wouldn’t be here long enough to make much difference. I changed my mind this afternoon when I noticed the 2/3 of the items were items which would be discounted if I had The Card, so we headed to Customer Service. As it turns out, all I had to do was ask the cashier and pay the requisite 200 kzt to obtain one. No paperwork, muss, or fuss. Our first purchase saved 400 kzt, so we’re ahead from day one and have another souvenir.
Also like Kroger, the candy, gum, and a small selection of movies and CDs are right there at the registers for parents to contend with. We’ve picked up a couple more movies to add to our collection of “computer-only” movies in Russian. (if you look carefully, many, but not all, have an English soundtrack or at least English subtitles) Today’s addition was В Гости к Роъинсонам (“Meet the Robinson’s”). Since it was a rainy afternoon, I figured it would be better than just watching Jetix (the equivalent of Cartoon Network, and just as annoying to anyone of teenage years or beyond. They got a big laugh at Cathe’s favorite part where a dinosaur is trying to reach the hero but can’t because he has a big head and short arms (watch the trailer online and you’ll laugh too).Around 4:30 we headed back to the mall to try again. This time I promised ice cream regardless of success or failure to establish a connection, but with the same “no connection, no skating” clause. When they saw the little “Connected” icon in the system tray, both were ecstatic. So be warned, internet connectivity at the Ramstore costs 1400 kzt/hour, but you get two free kids tickets to the ice skating rink. 8-)
While the kids were skating, I received an e-mail saying the kids passports had been delayed a day, which means we won’t be done tomorrow and will have to stay the weekend. Adding to that, the KLM flights leave at 8:10 am, but there’s no flight on Tuesdays so we need extra prayers to avoid further delays. Hopefully the weather will clear up for the next few days (forecast looks good) so we can see the mountains and maybe make a trek up the cable car to get a bird’s eye view of the city.
We stayed up a little than usual, at least for the kids. I was able to get a connection a little after 10 and stayed connected for an hour (this post wasn’t ready then). Although their bed time has been 10-ish, there was an interesting program on Animal Planet (I think it’s called Meerkat Manor) which they were enjoying (and very quietly). Then it was bed time and I had two tired and overtly cranky kids on my hands. Kate wanted to be a Tae-Bo expert and David wanted to be the camera man. Once they actually got to bed, things were ok. It just took a few minutes longer than I would have liked, but they sensed when my patience had nearly run out and didn’t press too far. They didn’t appreciate the 8 am wake-up call, but there wasn’t any grumbling. We’ll try to be active today so tonight I can slide bedtime back to 9 pm (sneaky dad at work! I’m learning a few tricks from Laura in Virginia).
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