Bread and Meat

Linda here.

I woke up in a sweat. Someone pulled the canvas car like cover off the creature. It was a giant spider, actually two spiders and one was coming after me it was about 2 1/2 feet long and 8" wide. I woke up. That's what I get for telling a Luke Skywalker story set on planet arachnid.

It has been a busy day. We headed out at 8am. I unlocked the two enormous doors. Twice I turn the key on the first door and four times I turn the 4" key on the second two inch thick solid steel door. I still haven't gotten used to the sound of that door opening. We walk down the four flights of stairs. I usually need to carry Tucker as I haven't left enough time to let him do the walk on his own. Mike is the pack horse and is carrying the camera bag, food bag and tour/book bag. It was a windy but beautiful morning.

Tucker requested a Luke story as soon as we got in the car. This is the second day I would not get to sleep on the ride there. I must be a good Luke Skywalker storyteller. Tucker is always mesmerized. Today's story was set on planet Crochet that was populated by the life form yarn. A menace had invaded the planet. The menace - mothra - was eating away at the population. Luke Skywalker had to be called in.

I have been encouraging Tucker to help me with these stories. He usually says "no mama you say it". Today he surprised me. I had worked out a nice solution to the mothra menace. Chewbacca was loading the coccoons onto the Melenium Falcon to tranport them to planet New Zealander. There the mothra, when metamorphized, would feed off of the excess wool of the large population of sheep. I was about to tell of this wonderful symbiotic relationship about to form, "so Chewbacca loaded the cocoons onto the ship..." then Tucker chimes in "and he made a fire and burned them". Hummm...

Yesterday we arrived in time to watch music games. Four barely two year olds toddled into the music room. Four hoops were set flat on the floor about 6 feet apart from each other. Six small bean bags were placed in two of the rings. The first two children walked up and were instructed that when the music started they were to pick up a bean bag and run it over to the ring six feet away and drop the bag then run back for the second and so forth. Well, it was the funniest thing to watch. The music teacher began playing the accordian and the caregiver would coach the first two. Bean bags were flying everywhere. We couldn't stop laughing. They soon picked up on what was requested and there was a winner.

As I write this Mike is ecstatic over the chance to watch a championship soccer game. He has watched soccer every night. I have to admit even I got into this game between Milan and Liverpool. Liverpool won in penalty kicks.

Today Tucker had an opportunity to act as big brother. A younger little boy was taking a ball away from Mia. Tucker walked up to him and said "you be nice to Mia". It was pretty cute. Mia is wanting to be held a lot - she is not hugging but she is playing with our faces, pulling ears etc. She is also very proud of her mama and papa and will let every adult that comes near know that this is her mama and papa.

The same little boy that took the ball away from Mia told his caregiver that he fell in love with us and wanted to steal us away from Mia to be his parents. He is a cute little blond boy with brown eyes built to play baseball. I hope he finds a home soon.

We met with the director yesterday and she tells us that Bakka's personality is the opposite of Tucker. I am not sure what that means, but I think it has to do with her obvious strong will and scream when she doesn't get her way. Tucker was always much more serious.

I expect the screaming will pass. The children do all sorts of animated things to get attention in the baby house. One little girl makes clown faces at us constantly. It all makes sense considering their environment. The ratio of caregivers to children is 1 to six. You can only give so much individual attention and they really do do a wonderful job.

If you are vegetarian or sensitive about animals you may not want to read this and the next paragraph. Mike has been writing about the green market. We went again today. We were happy to be introduced to the second floor in one of the main buildings yesterday. It is laid out such that when you get to the top of the stairs the sausage meat vendors are directly ahead. To the right are the dried fruit and nut vendors and to the left is a large area of vendors who sell raw meat. I will get back to the raw meat. To the back right is an area with baked goods including bread. Yesterday we found our favorite loaf of bread - it costs .18 U.S. (25 tenge). This bread has no preservatives so you need to buy a loaf every day. Yesterday I was caught up in the visual spectacle of all this and I didn't notice, but today I could smell warm raw meat as I was walking up the stairs into the building. The images of animal parts lying out on tables with vendors sitting or standing behind came right back to me. Today I didn't want to look at the enormous cow livers in a metal bowl, the duck feet or what I found most disconcerting, the animal heads on display next to the cut up body parts.

In a way the head of the animal on display seemed a way to honor the animal that was sacrificed but well... anyway I didn't want to linger. We left the building after buying a loaf of bread and youghurt. As we walked out of the building I saw large pieces of meat being unloaded from the back of a vehicle. On the ground was a horse's head. It was time to leave the green market for today.

Mike is after me to get off the computer - his turn. I must put in a good word for what a good daddy he is. Oh, that's right I have to get off the computer ... next time I will write more on that.