Day 6 and Day 7, This is a vacation!

In planning for this trip I (Laura) read many journals just like this. Time and time again I read “bring plenty of books to read, games to play, etc. to help pass the time”. We brought plenty to help pass the time sitting in the hotel room but have not had the time to do any of it (no complaining here, we like keeping busy). Every day begins at approximately 7am for coffee and showers followed by a hotel breakfast either in our room or in the dining room by 8am. At 8:45am we get picked up by Andre, our driver, who takes us to the baby home. Our visits with Polly occur every day from 9am to 11:30am. Andre’ is always outside, on time, to pick us up for our return trip to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel we rush quickly back to our room and make a plan for lunch. Yes, we’re eating three meals a day but since the food portions given are what we should be eating rather than what we’re used to getting in the US, we do not feel like we’re over doing it. We make excuses to have various errands every day so typically we do this following lunch. Because we do not have a car and Andre’ is only hired for our round trip to the baby home we get around on foot. I would guess that we are walking a minimum of 1 ½ miles daily. Most days are likely 2 ½ miles or more. Although the temperature has been very cold, the days are usually filled with sunny blue skies so walking is a pleasure and you warm up when you walk.

Our evenings have been filled as much as our days. As you’ve already read, we’ve been lucky to have met two other American families whose company we enjoy. We’ve dined out with both on a couple of occasions which makes for bonus evenings. While one of these families is leaving this afternoon for Almaty (where the American Embassy is located to return here Wednesday) and the other family tomorrow, we know of three other families who are working with our agency that are due to arrive within the next week or so. Having people to do things with (that speak your language) really helps. It’s only coincidental that we are here at the same time as other families. We have been blessed in so many ways preparing for this journey…having other American families here at the same time is just another one of those blessings.

We’ve had a couple of other extra special experiences as well. Thursday evening we attended the circus. No, it was not what you would expect with The Ringling Brothers Circus but a treat nonetheless. In an auditorium that probably doesn’t hold any more than 200 or 300 people (set up like a high school auditorium) we experienced this specially scheduled event. Our guess is that there were no more than 10 or so people in the circus rotating all of the acts. There were no elephants or tigers but very talented poodles, an emu, a snake and a pony who took their turns performing on the stage.

Last night (Friday night) our coordinator, Olesya, took us to a restaurant known as “The Castle” that was decorated with a Medieval flair. There was a dance floor in the center of all the dining booths where we enjoyed choreographed dancing performed by four beautiful women. In between their routines we listened to the MC sing while we, ourselves, boogied on the dance floor. Another wonderful evening!

Today at 4pm, we are scheduled for private massages in our hotel room (1:15 minutes each for a rate of 1900 tenge which equates to about $15). Yah, we bored (NOT!)

The icing on the cake is although very few people speak English, the music we hear in restaurants, at the grocery store and in retail establishments is all the popular music we listen to back home. Do you think I’m giving it away that I am an American if I’m singing along out load?