We got off to a lazy start this morning. Jon called Dickie on my cell phone finally. It was 10AM here and 11PM there, so we hung up after a couple of rings. Thankfully Dickie called back pretty quickly. For those out there that don’t know us, Dickie is Jon’s best friend. They have been best friends since elementary school. I know they must talk on the phone just about every day. I know Jon has been in Dickie withdrawals. I also know he would hate me putting this in there, you know how men are. A few times on this trip, Jon and I would be alone somewhere and he would say “Where you at, Mule?” For those people that know Jon, they are just laughing right now reading that, because they’ve heard him say it so many times in the way that only Jon can say it. Well, the two best friends have been reunited by phone for just a short time. Everyone back home as well as Jon and I are pretty ready to return back to Monroe. We are past the home sick stage now. Just being with Almira and talking to Sarah and Mom every day is making it possible to stand it.
Almira and her three friends arrived shortly after 11AM with Boris. Today she has with her friends Rosa, Altyl, and Zhenya for her Antares outing, birthday celebration. First we started off with watching the Pirates of the Carribean 2 movie that she picked out last weekend, in Russian of course. Jon and I had already watched it in English, so we could follow. We had juice (sok) and chips for the girls. I told Jon I wanted to make deviled eggs for them. I told Boris it was a southern tradition to have deviled eggs and he said they have something similar here, with garlic and mayonnaise. I guess things aren’t so different in our two worlds. Doug, I was thinking about you when we served deviled eggs, I know you love them.
Then after the movie we left and headed down to the Doner Café. We ate lunch and then Almira picked out her birthday cake. We barely ate half of a beautiful round chocolate cake. I'm going to be one of the only people to come to Kazakhstan and not lose weight. I have been to 2 birthday parties and Almira loves ice cream, along with Jon. We lost track of the time, got a late start going to the bowling alley. We arrived at the bowling alley about 3:45 and there were two people in front of us to bowl. The other girls had to be back to the orphanage by 5:00 so we headed on back to take Altyl, Rosa and Zhenya. We pulled up to the orphanage in the van and so many of the children were outside playing. It was a beautiful day here, almost 60 degrees and sunny. When we stepped out of the van we were swarmed by children. Vika came running and hugged and kissed me. Then someone yelled at us from the 3rd floor window and we looked up and there was Katya hanging out the window yelling at us. She had her hair in those two long blond ponytails like she did on Friday. She is a sweetie as well. We had to take tons of pictures of all the children. Almira had the camera and she started taking pictures. Katya came down in just a few minutes and joined the fun. I’ve got so many pictures to post when I get back to the states and can do it faster. The children are just wonderful. Then Boris mentioned to me that there was a little girl hanging on to him and it was her birthday. He asked if she could have one little piece of cake. There was a teacher there and I told him to give her all the cake that was left. She and the teacher went in the orphanage with the little girl running all the way.
We left then and headed back to the apartment. Jon and I told Almira that she could open one birthday present at the apartment today. She knew what she was getting from Mom, her CD player, because we already used it. But she didn’t know what she was getting from Sarah. Almira opened her birthday bag and just loved it. Sarah had picked out a newborn kitten from Furfriends. It has batteries and it meows, purrs, opens and closes its eyes and moves its head. She was so excited. She said she wanted to name her kitten “Milky” because it was the color of milk. Beth you will appreciate that, another animal in our house named for it’s color. :-) She would not open the birthday card from Sarah; she wanted to wait until her real birthday. She did not know what it was, Boris told her. I told Almira that I had a scrap book for her and I wanted to take all the pictures we had made so far and let her pick out which ones she wanted for her scrap book and which ones she wanted to get copies of for her friends. Then we put them all on our flash drive and walked to the Iceberg. We went to the photo counter and Almira ordered her photos. I bet she printed about 100 pictures total.
Almira and her three friends arrived shortly after 11AM with Boris. Today she has with her friends Rosa, Altyl, and Zhenya for her Antares outing, birthday celebration. First we started off with watching the Pirates of the Carribean 2 movie that she picked out last weekend, in Russian of course. Jon and I had already watched it in English, so we could follow. We had juice (sok) and chips for the girls. I told Jon I wanted to make deviled eggs for them. I told Boris it was a southern tradition to have deviled eggs and he said they have something similar here, with garlic and mayonnaise. I guess things aren’t so different in our two worlds. Doug, I was thinking about you when we served deviled eggs, I know you love them.
Then after the movie we left and headed down to the Doner Café. We ate lunch and then Almira picked out her birthday cake. We barely ate half of a beautiful round chocolate cake. I'm going to be one of the only people to come to Kazakhstan and not lose weight. I have been to 2 birthday parties and Almira loves ice cream, along with Jon. We lost track of the time, got a late start going to the bowling alley. We arrived at the bowling alley about 3:45 and there were two people in front of us to bowl. The other girls had to be back to the orphanage by 5:00 so we headed on back to take Altyl, Rosa and Zhenya. We pulled up to the orphanage in the van and so many of the children were outside playing. It was a beautiful day here, almost 60 degrees and sunny. When we stepped out of the van we were swarmed by children. Vika came running and hugged and kissed me. Then someone yelled at us from the 3rd floor window and we looked up and there was Katya hanging out the window yelling at us. She had her hair in those two long blond ponytails like she did on Friday. She is a sweetie as well. We had to take tons of pictures of all the children. Almira had the camera and she started taking pictures. Katya came down in just a few minutes and joined the fun. I’ve got so many pictures to post when I get back to the states and can do it faster. The children are just wonderful. Then Boris mentioned to me that there was a little girl hanging on to him and it was her birthday. He asked if she could have one little piece of cake. There was a teacher there and I told him to give her all the cake that was left. She and the teacher went in the orphanage with the little girl running all the way.
We left then and headed back to the apartment. Jon and I told Almira that she could open one birthday present at the apartment today. She knew what she was getting from Mom, her CD player, because we already used it. But she didn’t know what she was getting from Sarah. Almira opened her birthday bag and just loved it. Sarah had picked out a newborn kitten from Furfriends. It has batteries and it meows, purrs, opens and closes its eyes and moves its head. She was so excited. She said she wanted to name her kitten “Milky” because it was the color of milk. Beth you will appreciate that, another animal in our house named for it’s color. :-) She would not open the birthday card from Sarah; she wanted to wait until her real birthday. She did not know what it was, Boris told her. I told Almira that I had a scrap book for her and I wanted to take all the pictures we had made so far and let her pick out which ones she wanted for her scrap book and which ones she wanted to get copies of for her friends. Then we put them all on our flash drive and walked to the Iceberg. We went to the photo counter and Almira ordered her photos. I bet she printed about 100 pictures total.
We ran out of time today, but when we pick up Almira tomorrow she wants to work on her scrap book. There is some inspection at the orphanage tomorrow and we can’t do our visitation there. The director gave us permission to take Almira out of the orphanage for her birthday tomorrow. I’m guessing we will go have lunch with her, since they eat around 2:30 and then come back here and work on her scrap book. We are looking forward to her actual birthday tomorrow when she can open her birthday cards and she can open her other presents. We’ve been working on English again today. She told me “Thank you for the pictures and thank you for a wonderful day.” She is really coming along. We practiced English today as we walked, just talking about every day things, like sidewalks, roads, parked cars, apartment buildings and things like this. We just can’t wait to get her home with us. Today was day 13 of bonding. Just one more day to go and then hopefully by tomorrow night we will have a court date. Let’s just pray for 3 or 4 days. ]
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