10/15/04-Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Let me start by saying the weather has definitely made a turn for the worse. It was below freezing with a wind chill that had to be close to 0. You can tell we are on the famed Steppes (the Eurasian version of our Great Plains) because the wind blows constantly. It was also snowing. Let’s just say we stayed in a long as we can. (Note to GMa Jan – Bring warm clothes!)

Inside, the day went well. The morning saw Grace getting another massage. As before, she liked the massage part (the rubbing), but hated the physical therapy part (the twisting). I took some video of it and will be posting it later. Though she cried through most of it, afterward she was in a good mood. She is getting more active and starting to explore. After the massage, the both of them hung around Mom and Dad and just played with their toys.

In the afternoon, Grace was in quite the mood. She crawled all over the place. She is becoming quite the babbler. As I’ve said before, the kids here are very quite. Other than some fussy crying, you don’t here a lot from them. Grace has broken through that and, at times, will just go off making all kinds of noises. Jack is quieter than her, but has begun to make noises too.

For a while, as you will see in the pictures, the two of them took over Lisa and Steve’s blanket and played with their toys. Grace also seems to understand what the camera is, because she looks like she is posing. Our camera has one of those red-eye lights and when she sees that, she looks at the camera. It also looks like she is posing for the camera during the video.

Jack spent some time with one of Lisa’s Little Einstein books. She has one that has mirrors in it. He loves to look at the baby in the mirror and “head butt it”. I noticed on the first day that he likes to head butt people. I saw today where he gets it from. His caregiver Tania does that to him. She calls his name, leans over and the butt heads. It’s cute now until he bangs some poor kid with his enormous forehead.

We brought in some apple juice for them today. They serve them tea with a lot of sugar and we wanted to try to start them on something else. They loved it. Grace has a rash on her face, which they think is from oranges, so she will be off orange juice. Three more days and we can give them whatever we want to eat and drink. We can’t wait.

Take a look at today’s pictures
Today’s video – Grace and Jack spending time together

10/15/04-Reposted: Timeline for trip

In cleaning up some duplicated posted, I deleted the entry with all the dates. This is a reposting of that message.
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We've been getting many questions about the timeline of things, so I thought I would take a moment to answer some of them.

We are in the middle of the 14-day bonding period. This is the time when we go to the orphanage to get to know our kids. The clock started on our first day at the orphanage, which was Monday, October 4. So, the 15th days should be Monday, 18th. We believe we will be able to take the kids out of the orphanage on that day. We have asked that, but have not gotten an answer from Tamara the facilitator. She has been busy with a group of families going to court. She is also working on our files.

Here is the schedule of events as I remember them:

Oct. 17 – Move out of the hotel into one of the apartments, after the current families leave.
Oct. 18 – 15th day – kids can come and live with us.
Oct. 25 – GMA Jan arrives from the states
Oct. 26 – Court Day – The Kids become legally ours; however, there is a second “probationary” period where they cannot leave the country. This is the reason for the MJ/GMA tag team.
Oct. 28 – MJ heads back to the states, leaving Bill and GMA Jan to fend for themselves in the harsh Kazakhstani wilderness
Nov. 16 – We leave Karaganda and head to Almaty, where the US Embassy is, to begin the immigration process
Nov. 20 – We depart for the long trip home at 4:00 AM Almaty time. We arrive in the Pittsburgh airport at 6:00 PM the same day. Ah the joys of time travel…

I hope that answers everyone questions. Please send more if I missed anything.

10/14/04-Riding the Karaganda roadways...

No travel dialog would be complete without a discussion of the local drivers. I would not say that Kazakhstan drivers are bad. I think the term would be closer to scary. In fact, they are very good at being scary. When one is a passenger, it is better that one does not really watch. Just trust that you are going to get where you are going in one piece. You basically do when you look at that the fact they you don’t see many cars with dents in them. So, somehow it works.

Some things that are important to know when driving in Kazakhstan:

1. The lines are more like guidelines. People generally try to follow them, unless they are inconvenient. Basically, your lane is defined by one inch outside the boundaries of you car.

2. If there is not a lane to you suit your needs, create one. If a car is going a little slow and there is room between it and the car on the left, then suddenly, you have a three lane road. If you are coming to a left turn and the line is long, ride up on the right and create a new turn line. The same can be done on the left.

3. The right of way is defined by the size of the vehicle. In Kazakhstan, might makes right. And always remember, when you are pedestrian, you are the smallest vehicle on the road. I am amazed at how close the pedestrians and the cars get as they pass. If we were not already obvious outsiders, you could easily tell we Americans by the fact that we flinch when a car rushes by us.

As I said, in spite of all this, I see very little to damage to the cars, so I generally trust we will get where we are going.

As for our day, things were fine today. The kids were in good moods up to the end. I think we wore them out today, so they looked tired at the end. In the morning we were in the Music Room, which is nice room with new wood floors and a nice rug. In the afternoon, we were back in our main room. The temperature really dropped in the afternoon. When we left, it was freezing. It feels like the heat is on in the room, though we stupidly left a window open, so we may have to wait for some warmth.

We are moving along on the process. Mary Jo was filling out some more paperwork today. Today, she did the applications for the kids’ passports. That starts to make it more real.

Today we have a few pictures. Also, there are two new videos.
Today’s Pictures
Video 1 – Grace with Lena
Video 2 – The world at Jack’s level

10/13/04-Time for a baby massage...

It was another beautiful day today in Karaganda. We are counting down the days. It is supposed to get cold on Saturday, with a possibility of snow. I don’t think it will get warm again after that. I hear next week it will get down to the single digits in temp.

The biggest event today was Grace’s massage. They have a woman who gives the kids baby massages. It is actually a cross between a massage and physical therapy. She rubs them down with lotion, massages their muscles and then works their limbs. Grace was OK with the rubbing, but didn’t really like the twisting part. The therapist was twisting her ankle and legs and I think it hurt a little. Then she turned her over and she liked the rubbing, but then she did stretching with, again, Grace was not happy about. I, myself, was jealous, but Grace apparently has not learned the utter joys of a massage.

Jack was a little cuddly with MJ late in the morning. This is the first time we’ve seen this. I think it may be the start of some attachment with us. When she took him back to his room, he didn’t go easily to his caregiver.

In the afternoon, we took the kids outside. They weren’t as excited as we were. Grace looked at me as if she was saying, “we could have been in the big room full of toys and you brought us out here?” They were painting in the orphanage and there were these horrible fumes, so we wanted to get outside while the weather was good. After pushing them around in strollers, we hung out in the “playground” for a while.

We took them in early to try on some clothes. We brought a lot of clothes from home, but weren’t sure if they would fit. Well they fit just fine. MJ can’t wait to get these kids into some normal clothes. She also wants to get them out so they can start to “smell like babies.” Just 5 more days and we can bring them out with us.

Not much else to say. Check out today’s pictures. (Sorry, I didn’t have the camera during the baby massage.)

10/12/04-Tonight on The Adoption Show

From Bill:
You will notice that we renamed the title on our journal "The Adoption Show". My mom said my niece Sophia (the one who gave me the name Bilbo) came over to her house and asked "has Bilbo's adoption show been on the computer today yet?" So, now you can wait for the teasers for "The Adoption Show". (Tonight, on a very special Adoption Show, Jack learns a very important life lesson…)

Grace felt better today. She had no temp and was in a good mood. In the morning, she sat and hung with MJ. She also crawled around a bit. Jack was all over the place. Of course, he couldn't play with his stuff, but insisted on getting into other people’s things. I tried to stand in the way, block him, move things, etc., but he stubbornly kept going until he got what he wanted. There are plenty of pictures and a new video available on the morning.

It was a beautiful day, so in the afternoon, we took them outside. Of course, this started with them being bundled up as if we were going into a snow storm. Grace was in a fuzzy pink snow suit, while Jack was in a patchwork of different pieces; include a very undignified pink hat. I had Grace in our snuggly, while they gave MJ a stroller for Jack. It had to be the worst stroller in the world. The poor kid was scrunched in it, so we had to take him out of it. Eventually, we settle in the old playground. They have one of those old merry-go-rounds that have been outlawed in most places back home. MJ sat on it and rocked back and forth with Jack. He fell fast asleep. Grace stayed in the snuggly and was fine as long as Dad kept moving. Eventually, we started on show tunes and she was happy, eventually singing along. (MJ said she sounded better. At least, it seemed like she knew the words better than me.) We brought them back in at the end of the day and took them straight to their rooms.

Today’s Pictures – Plenty of new pictures from the morning. Unfortunately, I left the memory stick in the hotel in the afternoon, so no outdoor pictures.

Today’s video – One long video of both kids; they don’t do much, but it will get some people their Jack and Grace fixes for the day.

10/11/04-Things we now know...

From Bill:
Well, Grace was sick again today. I think it is just hard for these kids to shake these things. She had a small temp. The doctor gave her some children's Tylenol and I fed her. She ate everything, including an extra bottle of tea. (What is it -- "feed a cold, starve a fever" or the other way around?) In the morning, the drugs helped and she kicked in for a while. In the afternoon, she was more fussy and cranky. So, we just walked her around. I still think she is teething because she was putting a lot of things in her month and chewing. I gave her a teething ring and I thought she would devour it. She was also a little hungry, since she devoured her afternoon snack of milk and cookies and crushed bananas. (Mary Jo did not have as much success feeding Jack. It would probably help if they gave her a spoon smaller than a tablespoon. I said, "What was someone using the ladle?")

Jack doesn't seem be getting the bug Grace is getting. Of course, how would we know? He is so consistent in his personality, very even tempered. He still likes to go exploring. We sat on the play pad awhile but he wanted to get off. The pad is about 3 inches high and he went to the edge, but he still doesn't have the whole depth thing figured out. He would touch the ground and look like he wanted to get off, but he acted as if he was on the edge of a cliff. As he inched out, he would then turn and get back on the pad. Later, Grace and I were sitting in the Pit of Balls and MJ brought Jack over and sat him in them. He wailed. It was the first time he really cried. (Other than the time Dad let him fall on his head, but we won't go into that one.) After she pulled him out, he was fine. I'm not sure what the problem was since he's been in them before, but today he didn't want to. Here is a family picture in the balls.



Some other things we've learned here:
Before we came here, we were told "they don't turn on the heat until October 15. We thought that was something the hotel did. We have now discovered that it is the entire city of Karaganda that does not turn on the heat. Also, there is no hot water in any homes or apartments. We are lucky in that we have small individual hot water tanks in our bathrooms for the shower, so we do not have to take cold showers. We don't really take showers since there is no shower curtain the pressure on the handheld shower head goes down if you stand up. Take more of combined bath/shower or what we like to call a shath.

We are on the list to move into one of the apartments on October 18th. These are much larger and will be better for 2 kids. That is about the day we expect to be able to take the kids out of the orphanage. We hope the heat and hot water will be back on, but I understand it is still better. You can always boil water for the bath.

My fears that I wouldn't get pizza for two months were way off. Pizza has become sort of a staple of our diet, especially for MJ. "Marguerita Pizza" will get you something in most restaurants. We found Mario's Pizza today, which was the best we've had to date. I expect to go there again.

Another thing we've noticed is that people here always wear some sort of coat. I noticed it on the first day when it was very hot. Today was another beautiful day, yet we saw people in parka, sweaters, long coats, etc. I'm not sure what that is. I don't know if people protecting themselves against the elements or they are modest. I've also noticed that people do dress modestly, not exposing too much skin. It may be a Muslim influence in the culture.

That is all for today. I hope everyone is well in the states. Go Steelers & Irish!!!

10/10/04-Half Day and some exploring...

From Bill:

Today was Sunday, which means we only make one visit to the Orphanage. We went over in the morning at the usual time. MJ went to get Jack and I went to get Grace. When I got to her room, no kids were there. They said they were all asleep. I went around the back and peeked in the room. There was Grace with her big brown eyes wide open. Our eyes met and I knew she would want up. I let the caregiver know she was up and she got her out of bed. I found out there is still a bug going through the room, so they checked her temp and it was fine. They were ready to feed her, so I took her out to the big room to meet up with Mom and Jack. We just hung and looked at books until ten minutes later when I took her back to the room for Breakfast. I mentioned last time about the feeding process here, so I won’t go into details, but let me say I’m getting pretty good. At least they didn’t have to change her cloths after we were done. The doctor checked her out and said she did have some redness in her throat, but her temp and chest were fine. So out to the room we went.

In the big room, Grace hung out with Mom for most of the morning. As I said before, we’re trying to get her to sit-up more. Well, today, she sat on her own for most of the time with very little fuss. She played with her rattle, looked at books with Mom and imitated Mom doing the traditional “la-la-la-la” sound with her tongue.

Jack and I spent the morning together. Actually, I should say it was my turn to follow Jack around the room. He went on his typical explorations. He saw a little plastic half ball that he just had to get and didn’t let anyone or anything get in his way. Got a little tangled under a chair, but persisted and got his object. Then we went over to the Lego box and dumped it on the floor. Jack tasted every piece, of course. Eventually, Grace decided to take a crawl and joined us. We hung the rest of the morning.

On answer to a question we’ve received – Jack’s hair appears to be blonde. In pictures it will sometimes looks like it is red, but I think it is blonde. We will see as we get more nutrients in this kid.

MJ took Jack back to the room where he settled back in. I took Grace into her room. She cried when I put her back in the big crib in the room, which, of course, tugged at my heart. I tore myself away and left. I missed not getting to see them in the afternoon.

Check out the pictures in the morning

In the afternoon, MJ wanted to rest a little, so I went exploring. Lisa and Steve, who were here 3 years ago, mentioned a lake and a park and I wanted to find it in case we want to take the kids there later. So, I grabbed the camera and took a walk.

One of my biggest frustrations here is the language. There is just no way to communicate. I feel like a typical ugly American, but every attempt to learn even rudimentary words have failed. When you are walking around, it gets more frustrating. When we are at the orphanage, we have Lena as our translator to help with any conversations, but outside, we have no one. So, as I walk around and see monuments or buildings, being the big history geek (as MJ calls me), I want to know the story behind the item or what the building is and there is no one to ask. You will see that in the pictures I took.

Kazakhstan is really a country in transition, still trying to find its identity. You can see the burgeoning retail market all around us. There are markets and malls everywhere. We are right next to a new three story Mall where they are still installing the escalators. The stores are all sizes, from full enclosed rooms to a corner divided by curtains. They sell everything, though I find the most striking being the electronics stores. There are tons of them. You can also buy a cell phone every 10 feet it seems.

As I walked around, I saw a lot of new building and construction. But there are also parts that are very run down. After finding the Lenin statue, which was obviously not torn down like it was done in other former Soviet and Eastern Bloc countries; I walked through a couple parks. I was struck by the run-down condition of the parks. They just didn’t seem to be taken care of. The grass was growing long and many places looked like they had not been painted for some time.

I eventually did find the lake and park that Lisa and Steve mentioned and it was also striking. The park was actually an amusement park with full function rides. (After it snowed earlier this week, the weather was nice, so there were families out and about.) The rides were rusted and the paint coming off. The grass was also brown and very long. There were a lot of booths that were no longer in use. As someone else said, it looked like a nice place “in its day”, but I’m not sure when its day was. I was a little saddened by what I saw, but I want to be careful. As I said at the start, I really don’t know the story behind all this, so I don’t know if this is something this is one its way back up or on its way out. I try not to judge, but it is hard not to when you bring your American eyes to a completely different place and have no narration to explain what you are seeing.

Check out the pictures from my explorations.

10/10/04-Some extra videos...

I had some extra videos left over from yesterday. It takes a long time to load them on a 28.8 modem. (I'm so spoiled by my cable modem now.)

Video5- Jack's Favorite Toy - Jack playing with his ring toy. I just seems to like to pull the rings off.
Video6- Jack on the Swing - Some more video on the swing. Both kids like to go on the swing.
Video7- The kids with Mom - Just some hanging out with Mom and the new rattle.