Power and Shopping in Kaz

We knew that power outages were common in Kazakhstan, so we weren’t at all surprised when we returned to the apartment this evening and had no electricity. What did surprise us was when we noticed that the apartments across the way had power, as did those on the 1st and 3rd floors of our wing. So we moved the contents of the fridge to the enclosed porch, and called Radda, who called Oleg, who called “the electrician”, and an hour and a half later we have light again!

Our visitation time with Owen is now 10:00 to 12:00, which puts us at the hospital with two other adoptive parents, Steve and Mechelle, and Joan. It’s nice to get the chance to talk with them, especially since they are both here adopting their second child and have some good advice.

There are currently five babies being adopted from the hospital. They were all born in July, and we have found out they all had chicken pox in December. Owen does have a few pox marks from the ordeal, but we have to admit that we are glad we’ve got that particular illness out of the way.

The last two days with Owen were amazing. We think he really enjoys being with us now. Of course the downside to this is that he has begun to fight dozing off during the visits, and when we put him in his crib when it’s time to go he lets loose with some serious crying!

But for most of our visit he is happy to play, bang on the CD player, take a walk outside, enjoy his bottle and a teething biscuit, and try out a pacifier for the first time. He does so many little things that make us laugh and every day brings a new joy. When he reaches for us, or smiles at us, or falls asleep in our arms, we just look at him (and each other) and wonder how we got so very lucky.

And while we’d happily spend all day with Owen, we can’t yet and so we do have to fill up the other hours of the day. Today that meant lunch at the Rainbow Café with the other families and our drivers and interpreters, then shopping at the Green Market. This is rather like a farmer’s market, with butchered meats; stalls of fruits, vegetables, nuts and sweets; and long deli counters. The minute you get close to the counters the saleswomen cut a slice of cheese or salami and offer it to you to try. I finally found a cheese that is somewhat close to cheddar – although when I first asked to sample it the saleswoman said ok, but I wouldn’t like it! It seems that their tastes in food are different here than in the US; they seem to like a lot of either sour, pickled or bland food, and apparently cheddar does not met those criteria. We also got good salami, now we just have to find crackers and we’ll have a favorite snack/lunch.

After the market we went to some other stores and purchased clothes hangers and a sharp knife for the apartment, and some items for Owen to have as he grows up that represent his birth country. Bob also had the opportunity to try on a traditional Kazakh robe (trying on interesting hats and taking pictures is something Bob does often when we travel!), which Radda found rather amusing.

All in all another good day in Kokshetau. Now we are going to fix a vodka and cherry juice (Jodi), grab a beer (Bob) and watch a movie before bed. We hope you are doing well! Paka (bye) for now.