10/06/04-Some random thoughts...

Tonight, we have some random comments and updates. First, my adventure to exchange Grace’s shoes was successful. Two of the same girls were working and they laughed when I walked in. They had a smaller shoe in the same size, but they only had brown. I liked the red, but the brown are cute, too. They fit perfect. She kept them on all day.

Gma and I are still experimenting with different foods. At the last trip to the grocery, I had Lena help me find some meats. We got some meat that looked to be packaged in some seasoning. (She assured me it was not horse.) She also got me some sausage to cook.) When we got it back, we went on to WorldLingo, which is a great online translator, to see what we had purchased. The first item was beef and the second was labeled Salami. In the end of the day, we figured out we got corned beef and bologna. The beef was very good as a sandwich, especially with the Gouda cheese I previously bought. Gma fried the bologna tonight with some BBQ sauce. Yes, Pittsburghers, I came all the way to Kazakhstan to have some fried jumbo.

On my walk today, I think I found the answer to one of the questions I’ve had that some you may also be wondering – What do they do about the snow on the roads? Apparently, nothing at all. The snow is not too heavy, but they just drive on it until it melts. I noticed the side streets are very icy. I didn’t see a lot of cars (or people) slipping too much, so I guess they know what they are doing. I’ve told you a little about the drivers here, but one thing I noticed is that they really don’t go that fast. They are aggressive, but they are not moving very quickly.

We’ve realized what the first complex concept Jack is going to learn – the concept of the time-out. The kid is into everything. We’ve been working on “No”, which we think he understands. He just looks at you and smiles and then goes right back to what he was doing. Today, when Gma told him “No,” he just looked back and waved her off. Again, he always does it with his wonderful smile, but he still just says, “Forget you.” Just think – “Little Jack Horner sat in his corner…”

Before Mary Jo left, she had Jack waving bye-bye. One of her last orders to us was that she wanted Grace waving before she came home. Well, Mom, task accomplished. She was definitely waving today. In fact, I captured one picture that looked liked the kids were waving at each other. OK, they were waving and happened to be facing each other, but it was a great effect. Jack has taken it a step further and actually says “Bye-Bye” sometimes.

Well, those are my random thoughts for today. As of today, we are two weeks from going home. Check out some pictures.

11/05/04-A trip to buy shoes...

If the schedules had remained the way they were originally planned, we would probably be making our way down to Almaty to begin our journey home. Instead, Gma and I still hanging out with our children waiting for the bureaucracy to finish their business. The main reason this happened is that there has been some growing resistance to International adoption in Kazakhstan . As a result, more barriers and longer wait times have been put in place to discourage adoption. While I was browsing the Internet today, I found the website for Kazpravda, the national daily newspaper and surprisingly you could view it in English. On the site, I did a search on “adoption” and I found the article below. It appears to be an editorial directed at the people who oppose international adoptions. To summarize it, Eugeny Kononovich, my new best friend, says they lament international adoption, but ignore the orphans. The writer commends the adoptive parents, especially Americans, for a willingness to take on the “invalid” children and raise them with love. Check out the article. I thought it gives some insight into the situation here.

Kazpravda Article - A Bone of Contention

On the home front, I had another new retail experience today. Grace has begun to pull herself up more and more on the couches. Unfortunately, the floor is slippery and she has taken a couple spills. So Dad decided we need to get her some shoes. After discussing with Gma and deciding we wanted some kind of tennis shoe and drawing an outline of her foot on a piece of paper, I set off in search of children’s shoes. I hit every “baby store” I could think of. The selection was not large. Remember, Grace is very small, probably close to a US 2 shoe size. (Though, that may even be big.) The only shoes most of them had close to that size were slippers. We already have that and it isn’t adequate. By the way, I also took one of her slippers with me. In some stores, the people just looked at me and shook their heads “Nyet” when I tried to mimic the need for a smaller shoe. In one store, the saleslady really tried to help me, but she didn’t have what I was looking for.

In the end, I found myself back at the “ Three Story Mall ”, so named by we ugly Americans because we have not been able to figure out what it is called and well, it has three stories. I was again finding limited selection, even though I did actually find a store where one of the sales people spoke English. Sadly, they didn’t have anything in Grace’s size. I was able to figure out the sizes and realized I probably needed a size 12. Then I remembered the store across the aisle had a large selection of children’s shoes. I was looking at the shoes when a nice lady turned to me and asked if I needed help. At least that is what I think she said. Anyway, I adroitly explained my need for a small shoe with a sole in size 12. Soon, I had four very nice ladies actively trying to help me. First, they pointed to two mannequins to determine that I wanted a girl’s shoe. Then they showed me different kinds to see what I wanted – rubber sole, low top, etc. I showed one of them the paper with the outline of Grace’s foot and she asked me if she could cut it. Now we had a pattern to use. We then used that to compare to every shoe. I soon resolved that I was going to buy shoes in that store just because they were so helpful. In the end, I purchased a very cute red leather sandal for just over $10. Gma also agreed that they were cute. You can see a picture of them in today’s pictures. Sadly, our story does not have a totally happy ending. After seeing the fall off numerous times, we realized that Grace is probably an 11. Man, she has tiny feet. I have no idea how they hold her up, but they do. So, tomorrow, I get a continuation of my adventure as attempt to exchange my purchase. Wish me luck.

We have a few pictures today.

11/04/04-A very special visitor...

Today, we had a special visitor. The cleaning lady came. OK, before saying we don’t have it so bad, please keep in mind that we have nothing with which to clean this place. I broke down and bought a small broom and dustpan because of all the dirt on the floor. (Proof, Mary Jo, that I am not a complete Oscar Madison. Oscar would never have bought a broom.) Apparently, our friend the cleaning lady doesn’t have the common cleaning devices either as she got on her hands and knees and scrubbed the entire floor. S must be connected to the orphanage because she knew Grace. She kept talking to her and calling her “Tania”. I held back my arrogant American fatherly instincts to scream, “LISTEN LADY, SHE HAS NEW LIFE NOW! HER NAME IS GRACE!” and just smiled. Hey, she obviously had real affection for my daughter, so I couldn’t hold that against her. And she was on her knees cleaning my bathroom.

Today’s other big event was a trip to the GROS market. I basically go to the “market” every day to buy some little thing we need. It is part of my daily ritual to avoid cabin fever. But, once or twice a week, Lena schedules a trip to the bigger market to really stock up. This time, Joe and Amika came with Damir. It was nice to see them and catch up. We are both tied up in our little lives, so we don’t talk much. Joe commented that it was nice to have a little adult time.

The trip to the GROS market is always an adventure. I know where everything is now, so I have my little list and hit all the main aisles to get water, juice, cereal, etc. Then I branch out and look to see what thing we want to give a try. I’ve started to drag Lena to certain sections and ask here what things are. The hardest thing about shopping in an all Russian language store is that I don’t know what is in some of the things. I think I shared the experience where Mary Jo and I “took a chance” on some “raviolis” only to get back and find they were basically periogies. (Hey, if I wanted periogies, I would have stayed in Pittsburgh.) Gma and I have discovered a couple “local” items we like, but they have different things in them. One is a type of tortellini which usually has a mixture of beef and pork in it. The other item is Blinchikis (Blintzes). They can come with meat, cheese, fruit, etc. We like the ham and cheese ones. I also have branched into trying different meats. Gma is game for anything, so I pick something out and she figures out how to serve it. Tonight, we had a great ham, topped with some Heinz BBQ sauce. (Mr. Heinz comes to the rescue again.)

The oddest moment was when I tried to by Gma her dill pickles. I found the pickles, but I had to pull Lena over and ask her which ones are were the dills. Her response was, “What is dill?” I was quite surprise that she didn’t know what it was, especially since the café in our hotel used dill in everything, so I figured it was something common here. Since holding fingers by my head and saying “moo” wouldn’t work as it did in a restaurant one night when ordering beef – how does one act out a dill – I tried to explain what dill was. Then I remembered the spices in that market have English on the labels. So I drug her to the spice aisle and found the dill weed. Once she saw that, she knew what I was talking about. So, back to the pickle aisle to find ones with dill in them. After much debate, we settled on a jar that looked to be the correct size for snacking and obviously had dill in them. (Lena pointed to the dill picture on the label. So that is what a dill weed looks like.) Apparently, we picked the correct ones, Gma said they were delicious. (and kosher too.)

The kiddos are great. They were basically only children in the morning as they were both on different sleeping schedules. Grace got up first, then Jack at which time Grace went down for a nap and so on from there. They got back on track in the afternoon and took their naps at the same time. We had to stall them at dinner time as the cleaning lady was still here, but they were fine. Jack was getting irritable, but was fine when he finally ate. After that, we gave them baths. We’ve been giving them baths every other day, but tonight they were a mess so we gave them another one. In that long list of changes we’ve seen in them, the bath is a complete difference from the first week. When we gave Grace her first couple baths, you would have thought we were torturing the poor girl. Now she goes in with no fuss. I won’t say it is fun, but it is definitely better.
Here’s a couple pictures to satisfy your Jack and Grace jones.

11/03/04-Smiles all around...

Tonight’s entry is coming a little later than usual courtesy of Mr. Jack and Miss Gracie. The nice thing is that it isn’t because they are up crying for some reason we cannot figure out. No, they are up because they are wide awake and in great moods. I tried putting them down at their regular time, but they were just not ready. I could tell I made a mistake, so I brought them back to the big room. They spent the next hour just crawling around and playing with whatever they could find. Finally, an hour later, they began to show the real signs of sleepiness and went down with little fuss.

I am sure it has been said before but I have definitely concluded that one of the most heartwrenching occurrences is a baby crying when you don’t know why. You can see your baby in pain, but have no idea what to do. It is the most frustrating feeling I’ve ever experienced. Along with that, I found that one of the most heartwarming occurrences is seeing your baby smile. It can make your day and be an event that keeps you going through all the other stuff. We’ve told you about Jack’s smile and you’ve seen it in the pictures. It can brighten a room, especially when it is accompanied by his laugh. We’ve begun to discover that Gracie has a similar smile. You just don’t see it as often. Gma has commented on how serious Gracie is. In the past couple days, she has really come out of her shell and smiles all the time, especially now that we are learning her signs and know what she biological needs. (All concerns about her eating have gone out the window. This kid can eat like a horse and sometimes she is fussy because she wants MORE!)

I had already loaded some pictures, but I added a couple from tonights events. Check out the smiles.

11/2/04-Sleeping habits...

We have a short entry today. Nothing earthshattering or deep to talk about. It’s still cold outside, but no new snow. The sidewalks were a little treacherous as all the melted snow from yesterday turned to ice. Apparently, salt is not something used in Karaganda.

The kids are fine. Grace was fiesty today. She has been taking up to three naps each day and always goes down right after lunch. Seldom does she stay up for more than a 3 hour stretch. Well, she really fought her nap today. We would put her down and she would wail. I went in with both of them in the afternoon and laid on a blanket on the floor. Jack just watched me and dozed off. Grace stood right up and screamed. Eventually, Gma had the touch and was able to get her to sleep around 3:45. She slept until dinner. It didn’t hurt bed-time too much. We just put them both down at 7 and they went right to sleep. We think she may be getting a little stronger and emotional settled, so she doesn’t need as much sleep as before. We will see how she settles in. I have definitely seen her more at ease. Jack has always been at ease. Right now, Gma thinks he is piling on the pounds. He does seem to be heavier. Grace is still tiny, but she is eating plenty – more and more each day.

11/01/04-Anniversaries and milestones...

Today has been a day ofanniversaries and milestones. Today, Gracie turned 11 months. Today was also the second anniversary of Mary Jo and my first date. Wow, it has gone fast and man, are we catching up.

Also, for everyone’s information, we had our change on daylight savings time last night, so we are still 11 hours ahead of Pittsburgh. Of course, we didn’t realize it until tonight and we realized we were feeding them at 4 pm and they were looking at a 5 pm bedtime. They rallied a little and we were able to catch up some of the lost time. We did not relish the idea of a 5 am wake-up time for the kids.

We got our first real snowfall last night. I’ve included some pictures to show it to you. Back when I was at that small Catholic university with a mediocre football team, I used to say, “Notre Dame was built to have snow on it.” After my daily walk, I was beginning to think some of that is true of Karaganda. I don’t think my camera captured how pretty the parks were with all the trees covered with snow. Of course, you must also refer back to my discussion of yesterday to also understand that certain parts of Karaganda were not built to have snow on them – like the sidewalks. I consider it a victory that I did not fall once.

I have not shared one of our other daily activities. Each morning, Gma and I turn on the TV and watch “Morning Kazakhstan.” It started as a way to just have some background noise in the room, but it is odd to say that we enjoy it. It is very similar to the morning shows in the states. There appear to be two sets of hosts. One is a young girl and a very young boy we will call Tania and Sasha, since we have no idea what their names are. Also, there is another host we will call Rosie because of her similarity to a famous former talk show host in the States. They basically talk, interview guests, and introduce musical guests. There are a couple other women who appear to do the news. Our favorite time is when Sasha reads the newspaper to us. True, we have no idea what is going on, but it is fascinating watching.

The other interesting part of the show is that they mix it with music videos. As far as I can tell, the station we watch is MTV Russia or at least it is patched into it. There is the whole cornucopia of pop music types – singers of love songs, dance music, techno, boy bands, pop Britney/Christina types, etc. But, also included are obvious Kazakhstan based performers. There is the multicultural boy band duo made up of a boy of Russian decent and a boy of Kazakh decent. There are the two women in long white veils and high cone hats. Two of my favorites are the group I call the Three Kazakh Men because they wear traditional Kazakh clothing and they never give their names and the man who plays the dombra, a Kazakh instrument similar to mandolin with two strings. Many of the videos have medieval themes to them, telling some story from the nomadic, warrior times of the Kazakh people – lots of fur, horses, spears and yurts, a round tent. There is also a definite emphasis on family with a lot of children in them. The last performer I mentioned is all instrumental, but his video tells of a woman who disguises herself as a warrior and participates in a joust. Sadly, she is killed and her opponent (or is it her lover?) discovers she was a woman. She floats off for her burial. It is amazing how much you can eventually figure out when you see the same videos over and over. I have to say – the music is starting to grow on me.

Of course, one of our less exciting daily rituals is the electricity going out. It went out today for the third straight day. I am not sure what is happening, but I can’t really call the electric company to complain. Luckily, it has not been a big deal.

On the home front, we have now reach two developmental milestones for both kids. Both can now pull themselves up in their cribs and take their bottles all on their own. Grace can only hold about half the bottle, but once she reaches that, she takes it on her own. She enjoys herself so much, that she actually ends up drinking more. The standing up has led to one issue – the getting down. Sometimes they will climb up, but be afraid to get down, so they scream. Unfortunately, they have done this a few times at the beginning of a nap and it is hard to get them to settle down for their nap. Ah well, two steps forward, one step back.

We only have a few pictures today. Check them out.

10/31/04-Happy Halloween, have a nice fall...

First, let me start by wishing everyone a Happy Halloween. I have now spent an entire month in Kazakhstan -- quite an ominous anniversary.

At Alcoa, as many of you know, we are insane about safety. We go to training four times a year. We talk about it at meetings. We even have a drawing in the Pittsburgh office every month of all the people who have reported a “near miss”, something that could have been an accident, but caught before it happened. Well, let me tell you. If I was counted in the drawing now, the odds are I would never lose. Kazakhstan is just one big tripping hazard. Every doorway has a threshold that is at least 3 inches high. On every stairway, indoor and outdoor, none of the steps are the same height. All the restaurants seem to have that one drop-off step placed for no other reason than to wrench someone’s back. And the sidewalks – oh, my God. Gma has been trying to get a picture of the sidewalks. It is almost impossible to push a stroller. They have more potholes than Pennsylvania roads. About 10% of the crosswalks have a ramp on and off the street. (I think I’ve mentioned the ramps they do have. Most are at a 45 degree angle.) When Gma was in Almaty she asked Almaz if anything was handicapped accessible. His response was, “What is handicapped accessible?” After Gma explained it, he responded, “Oh, they just stay inside.” Lucky for them, they have no concept of lawsuits here or Edgar Snyder would be setting up an office in Karaganda. How do you say, “You pay nothing until we collect for you” in Russian?

Today was a pretty joyous day. The kids were good. Jack was himself, though what appeared to be a minor tummy ache hit him at the end of the day. Grace was in a real chipper mood. She had one melt down in the afternoon. I thought she looked tired and put her to bed. She lost it and stayed that way for a few minutes. We soon realized it was not a sleepy meltdown, but a hunger meltdown. We fed her and she was fine. She really does try to tell you when something is wrong.

The big event today was that Grace went to Gma all on her own. She crawled over to her when she was reading to Jack and wanted to participate. Below is a nice picture of it. Right after that, Jack got down and came to me. It lasted about ten minutes, but it was first time Jack was with me and Grace with Gma since she got here.


Check out the video of the kids “playing “ together.