11/12/04-A view from the window...

Today’s journal comes to us from Gma Jan

As you know from Bilbo’s daily narratives, it has been very cold here – too cold to take the children outside. Therefore, my view of Karaganda has been primarily from the back of our building, looking “inside out.” Our apartment has three large windows, one in each window. The living room and bedroom windows are covered wall to wall, floor to ceiling by very large one-piece lace curtains. There are white with off-white appliquéd floral designs. The outside window openings are framed with “scroll-type” wrought iron bars – understandable since we are on the first floor. All the windows have white vertical blinds. Our windows overlook a type of courtyard. The apartment complex is in a large rectangle (a little bigger than a football field.) There are many trees and, I am sure, during the summer, you would not be able to see the building across from us because of the leaves. We face the front of the building across from us. It is interesting to see the comings and goings of our neighbors. One day, an elderly lady drug a large rug out and hung it over the fence (which surrounds three cylinder-type structures that resemble miniature silos.) Anyway, she proceeded to beat the rug with a rug beater – similar to the one I remember my grandmother using.

There is a small parking area shaped like an upside-down “T”. One day, a large delivery truck drove into the log (from the bottom of the “T” up to the right side of the “cross-bar”.) When he tried to turn around, a large branch of one of the trees had him “hemmed” in. He tried for half an hour to maneuver around it with no luck. He ended up breaking off part of the branch and the top of the truck must have been covered with numerous scratched as I could hear the rest of the limb scratching across the roof.

Yesterday, two elderly gentlemen stood outside our kitchen window. One of the men pulled a partial loaf of bread from his pocket, broke off a piece and gave it to his friend. They remained there quite awhile, conversing and eating their bread. Most of the older men and women wear long, dark coats to the shoe tops. I have not seen many “bright” colors, mostly dark browns and blacks. The men wear the typical Russian fur hat or a tam-like hat – more like our golf hats. The older women mostly wear scarf “babushkas” and carry large purses. The younger women wear fur or felt hats.

A few people walk their dogs in the area right outside our windows – to do not pooper-scoop here! It has been 4 or 5 days now since the 4-5 inches of snow fell. The steps of the apartments across the way still have snow on them. (OSHA – where are you when we need you?)

There are large birds here – a lot of them. They are the size of a crow – all black with white breast and white “shoulders” on the wings. The only other birds I’ve seen are common sparrows.

Here are some pictures of what were described.


Inside the apartment, the children are a delight! Jack has become the happiest boy – always busy, always laughing or smiling, constantly on the move and not all “clingy.” He entertains himself for long periods of time. I don’t know how much he has gained, but he is getting heavier to lift. Gracie is still somewhat serious. She tends to “stare into space” at times. I often wonder what she is thinking about. She is not as “pensive” as when I first came here. She is more ready with a smile. She doesn’t miss a thing! She is so observant. We call her the “beggar” – if we’re eating, you can be she wants whatever we have.

It has been a very interesting time for me – I feel very privileged to have been asked by Bilbo and Mary Jo to share in their dreams and happiness. Nevertheless, I look forward to returning to the good old USA where people are friendly and they smile!!!

For some who want their daily pictures of the kids, here are a couple for you. The first shows what happens when you don’t take your morning nap and the second show what happens when you do.