Passports & Visas

16 Nov 07, Friday, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Day 52. Major events of the day: Happy Birthday Stephen! First real view of the mountains, A long walk, Passports & Visas!, and A visit to the SOS Clinic

Morning Weather Report:
Almaty weather: 30, feels like 30, with a projected high of 45. A sunny, but hazy day.
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!

First things first: Happy Birthday Stephen! We’re all looking forward to your visit in December!

Since it was a nice day, I wanted to get out for a walk and some sight seeing. Our apartment is only a couple blocks from the old Parliament building, and there are some photo opportunities. Using Google Earth, I plotted out a course which will wear some little feet out while taking us through Republic Square and a few other sights. By the time I was ready to initiate the trek, it was still a little cool, but sunny. We also had a pretty good view from the back window in the apartment.

We went a different way than on any of our past treks to the Ramstore, working our way down to Republic Square to see the Golden Man statue. Looking back to the south, past the Parliament building, you could see the mountains and one of the many construction cranes. Somehow I even caught a large bird in the frame (it really isn’t an add-in). It would be nice to think it is an eagle, the bird on the Kazakhstan flag. If not, just imagine that it is. While in the square we also paused at a camel statue with a lot of graffiti on it. I wasn’t sure what it was all about at the time, but when we passed by the statue en-route to the SOS Clinic later in the afternoon, there were at lest half a dozen limos and many wedding parties taking pictures. Maybe it is one of the local equivalents to the ribbon trees in Petropavlovsk…

Continuing north on a nice pedestrian walkway, we passed several consulates. I did not see a sign for the US Consulate, but we were really close. I’m told that it is in one of the high-rise towers close to Republic Square. That’s where we will go for our entry interview and visas. Although it was only one block, it was a lot longer than one block in the states, at least a quarter mile. Looking at the shops, we were in a ritzy area which could have easily been transplanted into any large city in the US. Not only did I want to make sure they would be adequately tired to go right to sleep, I also wanted to see the small-scale Eifel Tower we had seen while heading to the apartment.





Remember my comment about the leaf sweepers in Petropavlovsk and how someone could make a mint opening a franchise to sell leaf blowers? Well, it looks like we had better hurry, because one of the leaf sweepers we saw today was equipped with a leaf blower. His pals didn’t have one yet, so there’s still an opportunity! I don’t think the concept is fully developed yet… He was blowing the leaves out of the grass so his buddies could sweep them up. It’s a start though.

As we were walking, the winds shifted and a cold fog came rolling down the hillside, forcing us to zip up our jackets. Up to that point, we had been pretty warm, especially since we were walking at a very brisk pace. Cathe is going to have a workout keeping up since the kids were pressing me to a fast pace which I usually don’t reach unless I’m walking alone. We probably covered 3 miles, with some of that being up-hill, so I hope it does the trick.

The one thing which kept the kids on track during our walk was a promised visit to the Ramstore to get some groceries, including ice cream. Some little things end up being big motivators! I must have planned the route perfectly because then we were about 300 yards from the store, the kids asked, “How much longer?” Although it was still out of sight, I pointed ahead and told them it was just past the next big building. Viola! Spirits immediately lifted, and they wanted to walk even faster. They got to rest their tired feet, and I got to check e-mail.

Good news this afternoon: Masha obtained the children’s passports and got their visas (Thank you Masha)! With a fax in hand, we went to the SOS Clinic for the required check ups. Kate was fine, but David needed one more shot to bring him up to date. The doctor even filled out the US forms which will suffice for school registration, so the kids shouldn’t need much when we get back.

The past two days I have hit home runs in the dinner department. Yesterday we had the equivalent of hot dogs along with mashed potatoes and cucumber-tomato salad. Today we bought a smoked/roasted chicken (didn’t know it was smoked though) and made mashed potatoes and salad again. I know the kids liked it because by the time the plates were clean, there was still a lot of bread left (that’s the touchstone). We’re going to do just fine in the food department.

This past week, and especially the past five days, have been super bonding days. We’ve had our downs, and the children have learned about time-out, but we’ve also had some great ups. We have been forced to figure things out and to work together to communicate. I am truly amazed at how far we have come in such a short time.