I got up about 6:45 on Tuesday morning and started playing around trying to get on the computer. I had called Mom the night before and given her the numbers, but what I was given wasn't right. I called her this morning on my cell phone and talked her through calling, using a different number. We got to talk for a little while. I was on the phone with Sarah when I plugged in too much stuff and blew a fuse. The phone and everything went dead. I didn't know how to turn it back on and knew I didn't have a phone for Maria to call us. I took a shower and started getting ready about 8 AM because I didn't know when they were coming. I got Jon up and made him start getting ready. About 8:30 or 8:45 I called Maria on my cell phone and got her. I told her what happened and she said she had been trying to call us and was on her way to get us. We hurried and got ready. They got here a few minutes later.
We got power back on when Sasha and Maria came to get us. Sasha came up to the door and immediatly flipped the breaker right outside the door and it came back on. The breakers are outside in the hallway. We then left and picked up a lady from the Ministry of Education and went to the orphanage. Maria got a full explantion of everything in the car and translated to the lady from the ministry on how we came to know Almira and about us sponsoring her. We went to the director's office and talked for about15 minutes. They brought in one of Almira's teachers and we talked and I showed them pictures of our house and family. Then they brought Almira in, but told us she was in school and could only stay for a few minutes. The poor thing looked scared to death. She is very small, about Sarah's height, but very small. Then she left and they asked if we wanted to adopt her. Of course we said yes. We went back at 3:00 to visit with Almira and it was slow getting started but by the end she was laughing with us and seemed excited about us coming back tomorrow. She had a lot of questions for us, especially about Sarah. At one point Maria had to leave and go to the director's office and left us alone with Almira. I asked her if she wanted me to read the book to her that I had brought. It was about a kitten seeing a bowl of milk in the sky (the moon) and trying to get it. I read it to her and she read some things along with me. She laughed at the story and pointed to the pictures. We did fine without Maria. I had put a picture of Sarah in front of the Christmas tree holding Snowball in the front of the book. I had also written a note to Almira in the front of the book and signed i t "Much Love to you". She kept reading it over and over again outloud. She would just say it and run her fingers over the words. She loved the picture of Sarah and kept getting it back out and looking at it.
She wanted to know all about Sarah. In our pictures from home she would see Sarah's picture and giggle and point and say "Sarah". Then she saw Star's picture and said "Star". She wanted to know about the cats and what their names were. She does not know a lot of English, but she wants to study hard and learn. She can read some in English as well. I think today she was very nervous and that probably didn't help.
After our morning visit at the orphanage, I came back and called Boris. I set up dinner for tonight. They are going to come by and pick us up around 7PM. We met Boris and his wife around the corner and started walking. We walked several blocks and then found a restaurant that he recommended. It was not far from the Skiff, though we still haven't seen it yet. It was at the entrance to City Park and you could see the Ministry building from there. We had a wonderful dinner. Jon and I both had pork tenderloin. It was quite tasty. They even had real french fries, like I cook at home. Like Jon says, just cut up a potato and throw it in the grease. That's what they were.
We enjoyed dinner with Boris and his wife, Sevta. They are so nice and we talked for 5 hours, from 7PM to midnight. They walked us home in the freezing cold. There is old dirty snow piled up everywhere. I got a lot of information about Almira from Boris. He knew a lot about her family history. It is sad to hear what a tough time she has had. I asked him what would happen to Almira if we didn't take her home, he said she has no future here. The Kazak government is making it harder and harder for the Russian people. They are changing the laws where everyone will have to speak Kazak in a few years. There is about 50% unemployment here. Very sad. Jody, I have Boris two bags of good Community coffee and he was tickled. He said he had run out of good coffee. He said the stuff in the stores here is not good coffee. I gave Sveta some Clinique lip liner and lipstick in a deep red. She is very beautiful and it will look good on her. Boris may come get us this afternoon again and take me to buy a coffee pot.
Well, I'm up and it's Wednesday morning here. I had better get off my computer so I can get my morning call from Sarah and Mom. Skype is working great for them. I tried to call them last night late and it keeps adding the country code for America and it won't dial right. I'm working on that.
I'll try and post more tonight. I'll also work on loading some pictures. I'll try and post a picture of Boris and Sveta, our friends.
Kathy
We got power back on when Sasha and Maria came to get us. Sasha came up to the door and immediatly flipped the breaker right outside the door and it came back on. The breakers are outside in the hallway. We then left and picked up a lady from the Ministry of Education and went to the orphanage. Maria got a full explantion of everything in the car and translated to the lady from the ministry on how we came to know Almira and about us sponsoring her. We went to the director's office and talked for about15 minutes. They brought in one of Almira's teachers and we talked and I showed them pictures of our house and family. Then they brought Almira in, but told us she was in school and could only stay for a few minutes. The poor thing looked scared to death. She is very small, about Sarah's height, but very small. Then she left and they asked if we wanted to adopt her. Of course we said yes. We went back at 3:00 to visit with Almira and it was slow getting started but by the end she was laughing with us and seemed excited about us coming back tomorrow. She had a lot of questions for us, especially about Sarah. At one point Maria had to leave and go to the director's office and left us alone with Almira. I asked her if she wanted me to read the book to her that I had brought. It was about a kitten seeing a bowl of milk in the sky (the moon) and trying to get it. I read it to her and she read some things along with me. She laughed at the story and pointed to the pictures. We did fine without Maria. I had put a picture of Sarah in front of the Christmas tree holding Snowball in the front of the book. I had also written a note to Almira in the front of the book and signed i t "Much Love to you". She kept reading it over and over again outloud. She would just say it and run her fingers over the words. She loved the picture of Sarah and kept getting it back out and looking at it.
She wanted to know all about Sarah. In our pictures from home she would see Sarah's picture and giggle and point and say "Sarah". Then she saw Star's picture and said "Star". She wanted to know about the cats and what their names were. She does not know a lot of English, but she wants to study hard and learn. She can read some in English as well. I think today she was very nervous and that probably didn't help.
After our morning visit at the orphanage, I came back and called Boris. I set up dinner for tonight. They are going to come by and pick us up around 7PM. We met Boris and his wife around the corner and started walking. We walked several blocks and then found a restaurant that he recommended. It was not far from the Skiff, though we still haven't seen it yet. It was at the entrance to City Park and you could see the Ministry building from there. We had a wonderful dinner. Jon and I both had pork tenderloin. It was quite tasty. They even had real french fries, like I cook at home. Like Jon says, just cut up a potato and throw it in the grease. That's what they were.
We enjoyed dinner with Boris and his wife, Sevta. They are so nice and we talked for 5 hours, from 7PM to midnight. They walked us home in the freezing cold. There is old dirty snow piled up everywhere. I got a lot of information about Almira from Boris. He knew a lot about her family history. It is sad to hear what a tough time she has had. I asked him what would happen to Almira if we didn't take her home, he said she has no future here. The Kazak government is making it harder and harder for the Russian people. They are changing the laws where everyone will have to speak Kazak in a few years. There is about 50% unemployment here. Very sad. Jody, I have Boris two bags of good Community coffee and he was tickled. He said he had run out of good coffee. He said the stuff in the stores here is not good coffee. I gave Sveta some Clinique lip liner and lipstick in a deep red. She is very beautiful and it will look good on her. Boris may come get us this afternoon again and take me to buy a coffee pot.
Well, I'm up and it's Wednesday morning here. I had better get off my computer so I can get my morning call from Sarah and Mom. Skype is working great for them. I tried to call them last night late and it keeps adding the country code for America and it won't dial right. I'm working on that.
I'll try and post more tonight. I'll also work on loading some pictures. I'll try and post a picture of Boris and Sveta, our friends.
Kathy
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