Russian Word of the Day

  • present = padarak

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Vinegrete

Day 21

The caretakers have a new nickname for Garrett: "Vinigrete," the Russian word for grapes, on account of the silly purple grape hat I put him in every couple of days. When we show up they say "Posh lee, posh lee, Vinigrete! Mama ee Papa!" (Let's go, let's go, Grapes! Mama and Daddy are here!) Here are some pictures of my sweet little bunch of grapes today.
Yes, we took off the hat... but isn't his hair growing in nicely! He's so smart.


I've said it before, but isn't he a cute little bug!

(Calvin is checking out this blog over my shoulder and has recommended that I add "exlamation points to show that we are 'cited to 'dopt my baby brother." So here we go... Hooray for adopting Garrett!!!)
That's all I've got for today... not many comments anyway, so why bother, right... ;)
Paka!
Becca

Monday, March 30, 2009

Tid Bits

Day 20

No subject matter today, just tid bits from our day.

1. What's in Becca's i-pod? Having a full ipod is a must on the long drive to and from Schuchinsk each day. I loaded mine up with audiobooks before I left and so far have listened to Vicas Swarup's "Q & A" (a.k.a. Slumdog Millionare), Bernhard Schlink's "The Reader," and the hilarious P.G. Wodehouse's "Code of the Woosters." That is a combined total of over 20 hours of audiobooks. That drive really adds up! Right now I'm listening to "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. It's really good! When I don't feel like "reading," I've found myself drawn to a ridiculous mix of 1970s and 80s pop, including: "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina & the Waves, "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon, and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen, just to name a few. There is something enjoyably, almost hysterically, incongruous about listen to the Pointer Sisters "Jump for my Love" (the song that Hugh Grant dances to in Love, Actually) while driving through the muddy and crumbling outskirts of Kokshetau.
2. After over two weeks in Kazakhstan, today we found an American style grocery store. Now, don't get me wrong... I'm not the kind of traveler who is spending this precious time in Kazakhstan wishing that I was back in America. There is a definate charm to the scavenger-hunt shopping of the Viola Market, where you ask Ula for some tea (chai), pay, and then ask Zena for some cherry juice (vshe sok) and bottled water (bottelka vadre), pay, then ask the surly bread clerk for 2 loaves (deva klerba, pajaloosta) and pay... but when your vocabulary is as limited as ours is, it is awful nice to be able to walk up to the shelf and pick up what you want!
3. Calvin is a wild man on his little Kazakh bike. Lance Armstrong (or Leonard Armstrong as Makhabbat calls him) is one of the few American athletes anyone knows here because he rides for the Kazakhstani team Astana. Makhabbat is sure that Calvin is going to give him a run for his money! In the three days that he has been riding, Calvin has all but mastered that little bike. He can pedal, steer, and of course ring his bell all at the same time! Cal loves to ring his bell at everyone as he speeds around Kokshetau on his little green machine.

Here is Calvin biking around Kokshetau!

4. The neighbors here are starting to get to know us. Once solemn and watchful, the folks in the building around us are starting to smile at us as we pass. Some even startle us by shouting "Hallo!" and then smiling knowingly as if they are in on our little secret. While I would love to make some friends or at least easy acquaintences while we are here, I find that these greetings put me in an akward predicament. We have been cautioned repeatedly by those "in the know" not to make ourselves too visable as Americans and certainly never to tell anyone that we are here to adopt. But when a pretty young mother, Nadia, from across the street practiced her English on us while letting her one year old Ana admire Calvin's bike, these warnings burdened me so heavily that I wanted to escape back to the cottage as quickly as possible. At the same time it seemed so silly, I can tell that she's really nice.

From the belly dance instructor, a lean blond ex-gymnast with a pert little nose and inch-long maroon nails, to the sweet clerks at the Viola market, to the little boys playing cars with Calvin outside... everyone has been really nice. It feels both false and unnecessary to be so guarded. Mom, especially, has a tough time keeping a low profile. I may have mentioned before that all of Kazakhstan seems to have fallen deeply in love with my mother. Well, the feeling is recipricated by Mom who navigates the Kokshetau streets with a beaming California smile waving at small children and lobing friendly "preevets" at curious onlookers. I'm inclined to join her and, using my best judgement, cautiously enjoy my neighbors while I'm here!Here is a picture of Calvin being handfed sunflower seeds by his favorite clerk Ula at the Viola market. She smothers him with kisses when they meet. Here is the family next door. The eldest daughter speaks a little english and the son, Ali, is Calvin's fast friend. When we asked them to take this picture, Calvin ran up and held Ali's hand.

Here is a picture of Calvin playing with the neighbors. The boys have switched cars and the girls are happily giggling at the Americans.

5. For those of you who are interested, I uploaded the pictures of Sasha and Kerial from my posting four days ago. Check out the blog posting called "Garrett's Playtime and the Big Kid Lunch" and scroll to the bottom for pictures of these highly adoptable cutie pies in their frilly aprons helping with lunch.

6. Our baby is absolutely adorable and practically perfect in every way. He was all smiles when we arrived today. We have so much fun together. I wish I could take him home right now!!! We are so ready for our court date!

7. We left Garrett in his orphanage clothes today so that you would be able to see what he is dressed in before we pick him up. The babies here don't get diaper rash because they don't wear diapers. They just have these cotton overall leggings on all the time.





Paka!

Becca

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Spring is Here!

Day 19

It's official. Spring has come to Kazakhstan. Though there is still nary a blade of green grass to be seen, the occurance of two sunny days in a row has wrought a change on the people of Kokshetau. Everyone is outside today. Grown women walk arm and arm in slightly thinner leather coats that usual. The last of the snow, sprayed brown from the sludge of passing cars, is being shoveled into the streets to melt. Families are tidying up the yards and walkways outside their homes, picking up bottles and wrappers that were left there all winter long. Kids are playing. Young mothers sit quietly on benches holding babies so heavily swaddled that they look like pastel bundles of laundry.

While the scenary is not alive with growth, there is a definate thawing in the people of Kazakhstan. The Kazakhs are soaking up the sun and I'm with them. It feels great!

As further evidence of spring, there are new fruit and vegis at the local market. Last week heralded the arrival of cucumbers, which we have consumed daily with the same moans of satisfaction typically reserved for decadent pieces of chocolate cake. Then yesterday, you could have blown me over with a feather, because Calvin greeted me at the door with... green grapes! I think I might actually have danced for joy. Today we found lettuce and parsley and bananas and were so proud that we actually took a picture of the bounty. This is what a couple weeks of late winter in Kazakhstan will do to you. Never again will I take Safeway for granted. I might even hug the clerk who is stocking peaches!
Oh, fun story... We were asking our driver Nursultan how he likes the van he just bought last week. He said that he liked it, but that the smell of the previous owner's smoking bothered him. At this our translator, Makhabbat, laughed and said that at least this car didn't smell like sheep. "Sheep?" we asked. Nursultan wouldn't explain, but Makhabbat was happy to. It seems that a couple months ago Nursultan offered to do a friend a favor by driving his sheep from one farm to another. At the time Nursultan only owned a 1994 Audi sedan. Makhabbat said that for weeks after chauffering the sheep, Nursultan's car smelled wretched. But, she added, at least he had transported it in the trunk of the car. Only in Kazakhstan would someone drive around with a live sheep in the trunk of an old audi! Classic.

I got some good pictures on the way to the babyhouse this morning. Nursultan agreed to stop at a WWII memorial in the little town that we pass through everyday. Here is what I saw-
A very moving farewell to fallen soliders.


A woman draws water up from a well and pours it into a large metal can. Her son sits on a fence and waits. Another local is on his way to the well with his bucket for pulling the water up and his large metal jug. There are lots of wells in this town and we see about a dozen people getting their water each day.


Tim got a picture that he's been wanting too. A mustang sign in Schuchinsk!
In other news, we have a very cute baby! Did you know? He was pretty cranky today because none of the babies would take their morning nap. All the same, he gave us a huge smile when we came in today, as if to say: "My Mommy and Daddy are here!"

We played for a little bit before he got super sleepy.

This is what Garrett looks like when he wants to take a nap and you won't let him. Poor little bumpkin!

When we were leaving for the day, the caregivers told us that Garrett (Ruslan as they call him) is a real American baby now because he has become more demanding. They say that we have spoiled him. I offered to take him off of there hands right now... but no luck!

Paka!

Becca

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Sunny Day = Pictures Only

Day 18

Blue sky!!! I see blue sky!!! Look!
Sorry everyone, but I'm claiming a sunny day exemption from writing. Calvin is absolutely jamming on his little Kazakh bike, so we're going to get out into the sun while it lasts!


Enjoy the pictures of my beautiful boy!

Paka!

Becca

Friday, March 27, 2009

Tour of the neighborhood

Day 17

Welome to the neighborhood!
I was feeling particularily devoid of inspiration today and nearly resigned myself to posting only pictures. Tim, however, encouraged me to take some pictures around the neighborhood and give you all a tour. So here goes, grab your fur lined parka and stilletto heeled leather boots and let's hit the town. This is our little corner of Kazakhstan.
This is our cottage, a two story three bedroom/two bath duplex on a fairly standard corner here in Kokshetau. Directly behind our building is the Kazakhstan Fireman Training Facility (below), where men from all over Kazakhstan train for four years to become firemen. We see them marching every morning in two straight lines. They dress in military uniforms, not because they are associated with the military, but because the military uniforms are cheaper.
Out the front door, however, is a sort of courtyard/garbage dump/parking lot in between three concrete high rise apartment buildings. Sometimes we see the local kids running through here on their way from one unsupervised adventure to another. More often, however, we see the local stray dogs nosing for food. Every street in Kazakhstan is lined with huge rusty bundles of pipes. I think that they are water pipes but I can't be sure.
When the pipes reach a walkway or street, they arch up and over and you pass underneath. This welcoming pipe arch is just a few steps from our front door.


I'm becoming quite the conossuier of graffiti here in Kokshetau. It is a safe city, but it is heavily adorned. A lot of the graffiti is in english and some of it is pretty funny from an American standpoint. So far I have seen "Tractor Bowling!", "Jane Air!", "Bless the Fall!", "Be Happy!" and "Zeus!" proclaimed in spray paint on the concrete walls of our neighborhood. Just before you cross the street to the market, if you look to the left on the brick foundation of the apartment building, you'll also see this strange black and white spray painted picture of a woman with glasses. Kokshetau art!
Across a muddy potholed street is a building with blue awnings which contains a market on one side, and on the other side a nightclub on the bottom floor with a small gym up the stairs. Talk about multi-purpose! It is strangely named Domino. Mom and I have passed through the bottom floor nightclub on several occasions on the way to the gym upstairs. There are always a couple of scantily-clad women and laughing men lounging on couches downstairs. The gym is serviceable but sweaty! It seems to be used primarily by weighlifters in small neon shorts. Powerlifting is a big sport in Kazakhstan. In the last olympics several of the powerlifting metalist were from Kazakhstan. Mom also attends Wednesday night "step" class here at the gym, during which she gets her fill of 1980s rock ballads set to thumping Kazakhstani backbeats. The other exercises offered are "belly dancing" and "club strip plastic." Don't ask.
Crossing the street again at the corner of the Domino building, you pass by an elementary school on your left. At the end of the school yard there are always several old women in headscarves selling newspapers, shiny black sunflower seeds (by the scoop from a large tin can), homemade pickles by the can, and even fresh fish in plastic bags. I think the fish are caught on the frozen lake just outside town. Below is a picture of me and Mom at the lake.
Just beyond the Babushkas is the now famous viola store, where Calvin has taken to chatting up the clerks.
Backtracking a little, let's pass by the Babushkas and their wares again and hugging the colorful fencing around the grade school walk down an alley to the main cross street beyond.
I say "alley" but only for a lack of a better term. Traffic laws and right of ways are very fluid here in Kazakhstan. The main streets here are clearly defined, but to get between these main streets pedestrians simply walk in between the many concrete apartments. When the gaps between buildings are wide enough, cars will squeeze through as well.At the end of the alley, you emerge onto a typical shopping street here in Kokshetau , lined with all sorts of shops (below). Don't ask me what kind of shops, however, because deprived of my ability to read signs, I have no way of telling. There is no such thing as "window shopping" here because the windows of the shops are empty. To combat the harsh weather, the front door of every shop opens onto a small blank foyer with another door just behind. Here you stomp the muck off your feet and shake the snow off your coat before really entering the shop. While undoubtedly practical, the upshot of this floorplan for a hesitant American is that you can't tell if the shop you are about to walk into is a bar or a market or a dentist or a shoe shop.
Kokshetau is a walking town, but walking this time of year is an adventure. Without any apparent thought, the locals here drift down the streets in wavy lines, effortlessly avoiding the giant muddy puddles and sidestepping the mucky rims as best they can. We Americans seem to tread more heavily than the Kazakhs do. On more than once occasion I have taken a comical swooping slipping step in the mud, in the style of woman-stepping-on-a-banana peel.

Above the shops, are apartments. Most people here in Kokshetau live in apartments and the standard of living in these soviet era high rise buildings seems much better than the small dachas on the outskirts of town.So, that's about it for our immediate neighborhood, tripping home through the squelchy mud we see several small boys calling up to a friend on a balcony. We pass a solemn looking man in a black leather cap. When we see the "Smile" sign we know we're home.

Smile, you're in Kokshetau!
Life here in Kazakhstan really has been amazing. I focus a lot on the mud and muck, but being here has really made me appreciate the simple pleasures around me. A fresh cucumber with dinner. Walking free and easy down an unknown street. The solemn beauty of the people around us. I'm grateful for all of it and for this strange moment in my life.

I other news, we saw our cute baby today. He's so perfect and I can't seem to squeeze him enough. Today was a red letter day, because he didn't even throw up on me! Hooray! Here are some pictures of my little dumpling!

That's it. I'm off to belly dancing class with Mom and Makhabbat. No really. I am. More on that later.

Paka,

Becca