A hum drum day

Day 13

I've got those "day after Nauryz" blues, don't you?

For the first time since arriving here in Kokshetau, I found myself irritated with our daily routine. Just a touch of meloncholy, mind you, but on the ride to Schuchinsk, I nursed this emotion like you might nurse a headache in order to stay in a warm bed a little longer. Rather than straining out the window for glimpses of Kazakh life, I settled into myself and let it all wash over me. Snow. Stands of bare birch trees. Magpies gliding over thawing wheat fields. Signs I can't read. Bright green gas stations. Roads that I will never drive down. A man filling a bucket at the tap on the side of the road. Silence except for the gutteral noises of the van driving over the slushy pothole covered street. The soft comfort of the fake fur lining of my hood on my cheek.

I don't know what I wanted instead... just a bit of freedom. It is very clostraphobic, living in a country where you don't speak the language. We are all sticking to our small circle of comfortable activities: trips to the market and long cold walks to the war memorial. Art projects with Calvin. Those are the only activities we can manage by ourselves. Everything else we do is outside is pretty heavily supervised and the presence of listening ears is weighing a bit heavy on me at the moment. Not a black and white photo. This is just how the steppe looks in early spring.

This is my view of the road ahead of us every morning, over our driver Nursultan's shoulder.

Arriving at the babyhouse, the smile of recognition from Garrett perked me right up of course. He was really excited to see us and wouldn't stop smiling at us. The caretakers said that he was very fussy yesterday and wouldn't nap because he missed us. I like their interpretation, but part of me suspects that he was just teething. He sure was teething hard by the end of our visit. At one point he grabbed my finger, bit it, growled with satisfaction for a moment, and then started crying. Poor little pumpkin. But it was a good day with a lot of snuggles. I LOVE his snuggles. Have I mentioned that... LOVE LOVE LOVE his snuggles. He's such a sweet little pie.


The drive back to Kokshetau put me back in a funk. I finally realized that I am desperate to see something green and growing. Even a weed. Just something! So, when Makhabbat picked us up a couple hours later for our mandatory Kazakh cultural enlightenment (today she took us to a work out club/Kazakh sauna that just opened) we had her take us to a plant shop. It is really hard to keep plants alive through the Kazakh winter, so everything was soo expensive. We finally found a plant we could afford and very carefully took it home. Ridiculous as it sounds, I love this plant. It changes the whole look of our cottage to have something green and growing in it. It's like a breath of fresh air.

I was so invigorated by the presence of a real live plant in our midst that I spent the next hour bustling around making this place look more like our own. I put away boxes of baby toys that some other family had left on a shelf. I hung up the glittery easter egg pictures that Calvin and Nana have been working so hard on. I found a window that would actually open... and I opened it! Then we all danced around the living room to Huey Lewis and the New's "Hip to be Square" and "Working for a Living."

So there you go. That's the story of how a very cute baby, a little green plant and some California decorating sensabilities saved the day.

Paka,

Becca