Day 26, 27 & 28 - Four Full Weeks Completed

Day 26 (Wednesday, February 27th)

Today was likely one of the most fun days we’ve had yet! Following everyone’s regular visits with the children they are working on adopting, the three American families staying at The Medeo Hotel decided to so some afternoon bowling. We arrived at the seven lane bowling alley around 2:30pm only to learn they do not open until 4:00pm during the week…what were we to do for the next 1 ½ hours? Find some place to have a beer, of course. We strolled a few doors down to “Bavaria” Café (who brews their own beer) and did just that. At “Bavaria”, we also enjoyed pistachios and the most interesting smoked string cheese any of us had ever encountered. We had a 10 and 6 year old in our group who opted for hot tea and ice cream.

At the bowling alley we bowled, played pool, talked, laughed and had an overall wonderful time, including the kids. Mr. Tennessee was awarded a free bottle of vodka for scoring three strikes…add that to a few beers for all of us (except the kids, of course) and draw your own picture. Part of our fun included the realization that we were the prime entertainment for everyone else there. I guess it must be a rare sight to see a group of eight American’s at one time, let alone laughing and caring on like we would back in the US.

This was a fine last day for our new friends from Tennessee. They left the US for Kostanai Kazakhstan on January 7th, 52 days ago. Following their long awaited final court appointment tomorrow afternoon, they finally will get to return home to the US. We will miss them during our own final days here in Kostanai and wish them good luck in court and safe travel home.

Day 27 (Thursday, February 28th)

We experienced our first temper tantrum with Polly today. We’ve read about preparing to be tested and today, I believe, we passed one of many tests. After 10 minutes or so of trying and failing at comforting tears that were caused for no apparent reason, Brett and I finally opted to ignore the fit and let her “cry it out”. We took down some LEGOS and the two of us began to build things. She screamed in protest. After a few minutes Brett offered her a Lego’s piece to add to what we were building and she refused. We continued to build, while she continued to cry. A few minutes later she finally gave in, put a big smile on her face and decided if she couldn’t beat us she’d join us. It was a growing experience for all of us. The balance of our visit was warm and fun.

Our coordinator has been taking the families she’s working with out to a special place in the evening at least once each week. Tonight was this week’s adventure. We traveled about 20 minutes outside of Kostanai to a town we never did get the name of. Our destination was a rustic place known as “Silver”. “Silver” is situated in the middle of nowhere amongst what looked to be birch trees and field. It was built to resemble a log cabin with the smell of fresh wood and all. The ceiling is tongue and groove, the lighting fixtures are chandeliers created from what looked like old wagon wheels and the walls display numerous animal trophies. There is even a full size wolf that stands on the performance stage. Very different from anywhere else we’d been to date. No fancy dancers this time though. However, as usual, a nice time had by all.

Day 28 (Friday, March 1st)

At 12:15 am, as we were winding down from our evening out and trying to go to sleep, we were jolted out of bed by loud popping noises outside. We were surprised to discover the noise was being caused by fireworks. We asked Oleysa today what the occasion was for the fireworks and she surprised us with not having any idea. We’ve heard about the many holidays celebrated here and how the people go all out, but the celebration of last evening remains a mystery. However, the streets here are still glowing with the lights of their Russian New Year celebration which took place in early January.

While shopping with the girls the other day Laura picked up a children’s music CD of tunes from popular Russian cartoons. Today, we brought the notebook computer with us to our visit so we could play the music for Polly. What great fun! We danced and danced for most of our visit (the dancing also provided our daily workout).

This afternoon, Brett worked on the home movie he’s been creating of our Kazakhstan adventure while Laura went to the OTHER outdoor market with Mrs. New Jersey. She came home with a few treasured finds. She also came home with the beginnings of a cold. As the evening has progressed so has the cold. Hopefully she’ll feel healthy enough in the morning not to miss our visit with Polly.