Baby It's Cold Outside

Since we’ve been in Kazakhstan the weather has been clear and in the low 30’s during the day, which is unseasonably warm. In fact Rada has been wishing for snow to cover the ice on the sidewalks so walking is easier (note however that the ice doesn’t stop Rada and all the other fashionable women from wearing boots with stiletto heels and doing just fine). But it appears that our good weather fortune has turned as we are now experiencing bitter cold and a wind storm so fierce that all the roads leading to and from Kokshetau were closed, several buildings have lost parts of their roofs, one of our double pane windows flew open in the middle of the night, birds are blown sideways as they try to fly, and the power* is out all over town. Welcome to a real near-Siberian winter.

Visits with the little man continue to be great although the time with him always goes much too quickly. Our only “problem” – and one that we’ve discovered the other couples share – is what we now call the Baby Wars. In other words, who gets to hold him, feed him, diaper him, change his clothes, carry him around the room, and so on. Bob and I really try to take turns but it is so hard to give him up once you get your hands on him! It’s one of the reasons we can’t wait until after court when we will hopefully be able to bring him back to the apartment … to have all that time with him will be heaven.

Rada, Inna, Vladimir and Oleg have shared many stories, customs and superstitions with us and I pass along a few for your consideration:

- Never pour your own vodka or you might become alcoholic
- Never whistle inside or your fortune will fly away
- Similarly, keep your money in your wallet arranged neatly by amount if you want to do well financially
- A woman who sits at the corner of the table will never marry
- Leaving an empty bottle on the table is bad luck – throw it out a window or under the table instead

So far Bob and I have found that we don’t really miss the material comforts of home; for example we have no idea what’s happening on “American Idol” and we don’t care, and we are fine living in an area no bigger than our family room and kitchen combined – although a real, hot shower would be very nice as would a bathroom that didn’t smell like a combination of sewage and cigar smoke! But we are definitely missing you all, and I’m missing Sadie, Beamer, Ava and Remy very much (Bob probably is as well although he wouldn’t want to admit it). We do get your emails and although I don’t always have time to respond we want you to know that we really appreciate your messages and always look forward to reading them and feeling closer to home.

And Jenna, thank you very much for your concern for Owen. I want to reassure you that what your mom and dad said is true – the “teachers” at the children’s hospital where he lives right now take good care of him and like him very much. He has his own crib and warm clothes and toys. And pretty soon we’ll get to take care of him all the time and before too much longer we’ll bring him home to Maryland and you can meet him in person!

* Weather update ... the power came back on within about two hours, the winds have finally calmed down and now it's snowing!

Post Note: I don't get the news most days, so I just found out that Barbaro had to be put down. As I'm sure you can all guess, I am heartbroken. Some people may say he was just a horse, but his fighting spirit meant a great deal to me, and to a lot of other animal lovers in the world. R.I.P Barbaro.