Day 20, 21 & 22 - More fun in Kostanai

Day 20 (Thursday, February 22nd)

Today our coordinator will travel the approximate two hours to the town where Polly was born. Before a child can officially be adopted from the baby home, an attempt to locate the biological mother and bring before a Kostanai judge is required. We’ll be on pins and needles all day.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been here almost three weeks already…my, my, how time flies! As time passes, we are finding it more difficult to find ways to pass our time. We still enjoy a daily walk even if it only takes us to the grocery store. A couple of days ago we actually took a new route and found the train station. We talked about how fun it might be just to hop a train one afternoon to see outside downtown Kostanai. We fear, though, we would not understand how to get on the train, let alone get off. We may still do this if we can get some translation done first.

Some of the other things we are doing to pass the time include:
Brett: puzzles, reading, knapping, push ups, Discovery Channel series on World War 2 and email.
Laura: beading, shopping, journaling, exercising the 3 flights of back stairs in the hotel and email.

What would we do without our email?!

We’re both trying to get a bit of exercise daily so in addition to our daily walks and personal exercise routines we have created “home made” weights out of 5 liter water jugs we each get a little time with.

Day 21 (Friday, February 23rd)

While visiting Polly today, our coordinator stopped in with the news of her travels from yesterday. She will meet with the judge herself later today to give her report. We may now proceed to our pre-court which has been scheduled for Monday the 26th of February.

Even though it was very windy and cold outside, Laura ventured out for more shopping at the outdoor market while Brett stayed in and read. These outdoor markets are a never ending fun fest for anyone who enjoys flea markets and garage sales (although everything is new).

For dinner, with our coordinator and the two American families we befriended at the hotel, we piled into three taxies and traveled into a neighboring town to experience “444” which is also referred to as “the shish kabob place”. It is a favorite of everyone who has told us of this place. We ate shish kabobs, drank beer, and danced, danced, danced. When we weren’t dancing we were being entertained by dancers. Once again, a wonderful time had by all.

At the end of the evening, we all piled back into our designated taxies for the ride back into Kostanai. Those with children (all but us) went back to the hotel. Our coordinator thought it might be fun for the three of us to stop at a dance club on the way home. We did. This was a whole new experience. In this place we chose to sit and people watch rather than dance. The hired entertainment and the club’s customers were equally entertaining. We people watched, until 2am.

Day 22 (Saturday, February 24th)

Still very tired from being out late last night, we managed to get up for our routine visit with Polly. She brought the life back into us.

Following our visit we grabbed a quick bite to eat and napped the rest of the afternoon. A luxury we don’t generally take advantage of at home. We napped for over three hours.

After our nap, we took a long walk then strolled across the street to the pastry shop. For 1081 tenge ($8.65 US), we purchased two small pizza’s, two beers, a whole cake wrapped in peanuts (hummm) and two apples. We spent a relaxing evening watching a DVD we brought from home and dined in.