A Little Rain, A Little Rest


Yesterday we woke up to the sound of rain, which was a welcome sound after many days of heat. It ended up raining all day, which made for a nice, cozy, relaxing day. So far, we have not been able to sleep until sunrise, as we are still not entirely used to the time change. That’s okay, though, as our daily routine has taken shape. Each morning we get up in the dark and put on a dvd for Jacob. We make coffee in the little coffee pot that Vera, our coordinator, arranged to have put in our room. In Kazakhstan, no one drinks brewed coffee. They all drink instant coffee like Nescafe. It isn’t bad, but it definitely isn’t Starbucks! We brought a bunch of Starbucks from home, so it is nice to start the day with it. Since they don’t drink brewed coffee, they also don’t have coffee filters in the stores. I have perfected the art of the toilet paper coffee filter, and have become quite the hotel barista. We have a little refrigerator in our room that Vera also had placed for us. It is mostly filled with juice boxes for Jacob, and a little milk for our coffee. The morning movie yesterday was “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. When Jacob saw the part with Max the dog, he said to us, “I miss Max. Do you you guys miss Max?” For those of you that don’t know, Max is one of our dogs. Jacob is definitely homesick, and we are, too!

After we have coffee in the room, we get ready for the day. A few days ago that included a cold shower, as all the hot water was out in the entire city. Yesterday that included not taking a shower, as the water was mysteriously turned off. Ah the joys of a third world country. Honestly, though, if that is the worst that we have to endure, then that is just fine. It just makes for good stories when we get home, and makes me appreciate Girl Scout campouts all the more – Amber, I might just want to stay TWO nights this year because it won’t feel like roughing it anymore!!! J The hotel has a little restaurant downstairs where breakfast is free for us. We eat at the same table, in the same chairs every day, just like at home. The waitress is there morning until night and knows us well now. She is so sweet and kind, and speaks a little English with us. Yesterday she brought family photos to share with us of her little son, and this morning she brought a toy car for Jacob. Apparently she has been worried that Jacob doesn’t like the food because he always leaves so much on his plate. She asked our coordinator yesterday if there was anything that they could make special for Jacob since she was worried that he doesn’t eat enough. Actually, it is Jacob’s favorite meal of the day here, and he eats a ton, but there is just a lot of food. We forget that in this part of the world, children eat everything that is given to them because many of them do not know when they will eat next. They are not used to seeing so much food go to waste. It is really quite humbling. After breakfast we usually go outside and walk around, or we get to go on tours of the museum and historical sites in the city when our coordinator arranges it for us. That has been so great to get to know the history and culture of Kazakhstan so that we can share it with our child when she grows up. By the time we are done walking around for an hour or so, we are usually so tired that all of us go back up to our room and take a nap. I can’t believe we are getting Jacob to nap every day, but he is so tired (as are we) after waking up early in a different time zone every day, walking up and down 3 flights of stairs to our hotel room (actually 4 flights of stairs when we go to the restaurant), and just from the emotion of each day. After we wake up from our nap, it is time to make a quick lunch in our room. We have been buying loaves of bread and jam to go with the peanut butter we brought and just making sandwiches for lunch each day. We have to break off hunks of bread, because they do not have sliced bread here. Then it is time to go to the orphanage to see our child. We get to visit from 4-6 each day. When we return back to the hotel, it is usually 6:30, and we head back down to the restaurant for dinner. The food has actually been quite good. The only bad call so far was something Jeff ordered last night that we think may have been the horsemeat. He hasn’t keeled over yet, so it must be okay, but he said he will definitely not order it again! We have had good intentions of going out to the town square each night after dinner, but we have all been so drained after dinner (including Jacob) that we just return to our rooms and fall asleep quickly thereafter. One of these nights we want to go to the town square, which is right outside our hotel room. Every single night there is a “bounce house party”, or at least that is what Jacob calls it since he sees the big blow-up slide, and all the carnival games. They do this to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the town, which apparently happened a couple of years ago. Kind of like Disneyland celebrating the 50th anniversary for two years, too. There is also an area a few blocks further away that has little fair rides that we would like to get to, also, but we would have to stay awake longer for that!

Enough of our daily schedule, on to the important part – our visit with our child. Yesterday since it was raining, we could not go outside with her, which was a bummer. Each day we bring little treats for all of the children, and something special for just her and Jacob that we give when we go outside. When we have to stay inside, this orphanage does not have a special visiting room for families. We have to stay in the main group room with all of the children, which makes for a very interesting visit. When we got there yesterday, the children were all still napping. The sweet caregiver for her group ushered us in and took me by the hand to the bedroom. I saw 8 little beds, none of them big enough for the age children that had to sleep in them, all lined up against the walls. Each child was fast asleep, including ours. I saw the sweetest sight that really was just another way that God had to calm me down about this process. Our daughter was lying asleep in her bed, with a sweet expression on her face, clutching the stuffed kitty cat that we had given her on our first day. The caregiver told me that she has not let go of it since we gave it to her. She let me wake her up and get her out of bed. Poor little thing, she was so out of sorts, but she clutched my hand and took me to the other room where all of the children have their own little lockers. They all sleep in only their underwear, and must get their own clothes on. Each child’s locker has two shirts (one short sleeve and one long sleeve), and a pair of pants and pair of shorts. The children wear the same clothes every day. I helped her get her clothes on, and I am sure she has never had an adult help her with that before. Then the caregiver pointed to the little dressing table, a plastic table that looks like something American children have for dress up play. Here it is actually furniture. There is one comb shared by all the children, and a bunch of grown-up colognes and toiletries. I helped her to comb her hair and then she led me to our usual spot on the couch, where we stayed the entire two hours. She still doesn’t speak in words to us, but the caregiver assured us that she is completely talkative when we are not there. It is still just too much pressure for her. We were told that about a year ago, she was adopted by a local couple who spoke Kazakh instead of the Russian that she speaks. They returned her to the orphanage a month later because she hadn’t learned Kazakh yet. I am okay with it if she doesn’t talk to us for a long time, because her non-verbal language is enough for me. She smiles and makes eye contact now, and shakes her head yes or no when asked questions in Russian. We got to show her a video that Amber and Mitchell made before we left of our house. Our coordinator translated it and she was fascinated by it (as were all of the other children and orphanage workers). When our coordinator asked her if she would like to live in that house with our family, she emphatically shook her head “Yes”. When she saw Amber’s “princess room”, she also answered the coordinator that she would like a princess room, too. Looks like Jeff has a lot to hang up in the room, now! Other than that, though, she just pressed her little body into my side and held my hand in hers for the entire visit. She giggled when Papa and Grandad did silly things, but she did not want to move from her spot. We had to convince her that we were not leaving when the rest of the group was called to come eat snack. She grudgingly went after several times being told that we would wait for her. The bonding is happening.

The rest of the children are really full of energy. I was shocked to find out that most of them are five years old, as none of them look a day over three. They are such sweet children, and my heart just hurts for them. Most of them will spend their entire childhood there, as they have older, teenage siblings that would have to be adopted with them, or their family will not release them even though they never come to visit. At age 18, they are turned out on their own, and I have been told that the suicide rate among them is very high. There is just no future for them. The little kids are just so much fun. Jacob has been having a good time showing them all his dance moves. Once again, my dad has proven his talent as the pied piper of children, because even in a different language, they can’t get enough of him. They all jump all over him and vie for his attention. Then they move on to Jeff to try to get all of his attention, too. This is a little bewildering for Jacob, as these two are his heroes, and are usually available at his beck and call. He is definitely having a hard adjustment to all of this, but he is really being a trooper and a good kid. A couple of nights ago, he was so tired at dinner that he actually fell asleep standing up next to his chair, with his face down on the chair before our dinner came. Poor thing!!!!
We are getting ready to go see some historical sites with our coordinator now, followed by today’s visit to the orphanage. Who knows? Maybe she will speak to us today. If she doesn’t that is still okay, thou