Vicki's Two Cents

by Vicki.

I left St Louis on Sunday the 15th. It was 1 and 1/2 hours to Washington DC; 7 and 1/2 hours to Frankfurt; and 5 hours to Astana Kazakhstan! All pretty fast--fun to have my own little movie screen in the airplane to Frankfurt! The hard part was the 4 hrour drive from Astana to Kokshetau from 11:30pm  (Monday night) to 3:30 am (Tuesday morning)! (We hit a BIG rabbit at one point and I screamed--surprising my non-English speaking driver very much!) 

 I was very happy to see Susan and the wonderful place we are staying! I am a lucky person, I don't suffer much from jet lag (yes, I am hyper anyway-- Susan says jet lag just takes me down a notch), so we hit the ground running after 4 hours of sleep or so. (Also, I had a lot naps on the way from the US to Kaz.)!

Tuesday, Susan took me to see several little markets where we tried to figure out what various foods were and just picked something interesting and split it for lunch! A delicious piece of chicken that was piled high with a carrot/onion mixture, a hollandaise type sauce on top along with a bite or two of crispy potato! It was good!

THEN it was time to meet the babies!! I can vouch for the fact that they are just as darling as they look in pictures. Sooo sweet and busy! I had to cry at the sight of them and Susan together! We laughed our heads off at the daze Jesse went into prior to giving up and closing his eyes for a nap! That time goes very fast. The place where the babies are sits in what could look like an old apple orchard. Kind of a glenn-y, nice feeling.

We went to dinner at a delicious pizza place with all the other American adoptive families that are here. Susan had already tried a salad she suggested - very adventurous but delicious! It was called "Verona": julienned apples, potatoes, pickles, hard boiled egg, mayo I think AND beef tongue! HA! Really! it was good!

Today, Wednesday, Susan and I walked to the baby hospital--about 1 and 1/2 miles, an easy walk--and spent our time with the babies. Little Jesse wasn't really feeling his best and was pretty sleepy most of the time. He was so sweet, really telling his momma in his own little voice that he just wasn't a happy camper--not loud, just a little verbal fuss. Jess and Evelyn both slept a good amount right at first and then, right at the end, little baby Evelyn just came alive TALKING to Susan. I mean really telling her some stuff and totally engaged looking at her and interacting! Very dear to see.

On the walk home, we saw a perfect little babushka selling flowers and radishes on street corner. I wanted to take a picture, so I bought some flowers from her--motioning regarding taking a picture. She agreed and the next thing you know this happened :




What you didn't see was the 10 kisses or so she landed on my cheek!

[OK, this is Susan here: People around here seem to love mom. What is the DEAL? I don't get this kind of attention??? The peony flower came from an older gentlemen who came into the pizza restaurant to sell his flowers. She bought one and, I think stole his heart. He came back again later to say (maybe slightly drunken???) words. He went on for awhile. We have NO idea what he was going on about. And the grocery store that I've been going to EVERY DAY, I show up with mom and the attendant immediately strikes up a broken conversation with her and welcomes her to Kazakhstan!?! Geeeezzzz. O.K. Back to mom.]

We had a good salad lunch at home along with good swiss cheese and left over pizza! I am having FUN! Here are a few pictures of our visit w/ Evelyn and Jesse today.

One of the most fun things that is happening is that I get to take most of the pictures! These are just a very few out of all the good ones. I am one lucky dog to be here sharing all this! We will see you tomorrow! Now I have to go stalk my dinner...