Almost showtime...

Mike here.

I just wanted to check in tonight, but I'm not going to say much. Besides, we gave you two days worth of stuff to read yesterday... :-)

Plus, I've spent the evening writing my speech to the judge for Monday. It's much like the last one I wrote (which I brought along, since it was in the journal I wrote last time, and I've been reading the journal). I might post the final draft after the big day -- I feel like I'd be jinxing something if I did it now.

New moon Monday night. That seems appropriate.

I'll post some more movies tomorrow, too. In the meantime, check out the ones I posted yesterday.

-Mike

One More Visit

Linda Here

One more visit. Yes, only one more visit to the Baby House. Tucker has been counting down. He is very good at it. Two years ago on court day was a very emotional time for me. I cried on the walk out of the Baby House carrying Tucker in my arms who immediately fell asleep on the car ride to the airport.

Tomorrow we get pics developed for court and Monday is court day. Bacha seems ready to come home with us as Tucker was. I am so glad.

Bacha repeats everything I say. I don't think she will have a problem with English after the first few weeks. On the swing today today she asked me in Russian to push her I waited until she repeated "mama push". It didn't take long. I am curious about what her first English word will be on her own.

I visited the orphanage in Kokshetau today. Mike stayed at the Baby House with Bacha and Tucker. Sveta asked if I would take a few pictures of available children. Mike did not want me to go. I of course really wanted to go. The orphanage is in a building attached to the local public school which the children attend. The children live in groups which are like little families. The ages in the group vary. The orphanage has been there only about 5 years. The sibling group I photographed has been there for those 5 years. The older child girl is now 15. They are beautiful children. I wish we had a bigger house. I also photographed a little blond girl whose sister is at the Baby House. Mike took the photos of 3 children at the Baby House.

The thoughts and feelings I have for the "waiting" children I can't begin to write. The children in the baby house feel they will be adopted, In their minds they are waiting. If they haven't been adopted by the time they turn 4 or 5 they move to a different facility and their hope wanes.

The facilities for these children are soviet style buildings - a bit crumbly but they are kept clean and the staff at the facilities I have visited seem wonderful. The facilities I have seen are the Baby House in Tchuchinsk, Kokshetau children's shelter and the orphanage in Tchuchinsk.

I have to wait hours to get to this, MY computer, as Mike has lots to write. I can't complain, he is doing an excellent job of documenting this trip for us and especially Tucker and Bacha. We love reviewing the days events with Tucker whether through pictures, stories or yes, through Luke Skywalker adventures.

Reminder...

Hiya.

Just a reminder to read from the bottom up. I just posted something pretty lengthy, and a bunch of pictures. It will all make more sense if you read the oldest first...

-Mike

Castle Building...

Castle Building...
Originally uploaded by mmfranke.

Linda mentioned a while back that she bought "Tucker" a book that's basically a cut-out model of a castle. She thought it was a little one-day thing for me to do with Tucker, but it's really weeks worth of work that I do a little of during the evenings. I've only done about 4 days worth. Here's a picture of how far I've gotten, and what the workshop in the kitchen looks like in the evening.

Tucker and Kunpash

Tucker and Kunpash
Originally uploaded by mmfranke.

We'll see Kunpash one more time -- on Monday after court. I took this opportunity to snap this shot today. When Tucker was a the baby house, he was Kunpash's favorite child, and his leaving was very emotional for her. We're very happy we were able to "re-unite" them, in a sense, and she's happy to see him flourishing. In fact, today, she asked jokingly if Linda would consider adopting HER. :-)

Wishing Trees

Wishing Trees
Originally uploaded by mmfranke.

Part of the legend of the lake also includes "wishing trees." In certain places, certain trees and bushes are covered with pieces of cloth, each signifying a wish. They say if you tie a piece of cloth in this way, your wish is guaranteed to come true. Ours already has (almost, anyway). Here's a picture of one of those trees, with a closer view of the "pearl" in the background.



One more thing... Most of Kazakhstan is flat steppes -- so how is it that a place like Lake Varavoi exists here at all? Well, legend has it that the lake was created when God mistakenly dropped a few gifts around the area when he was creating the world.

The Legend Goes...

The Legend Goes...
Originally uploaded by mmfranke.

Here's Mama and Tucker posing at Lake Varavoi. The big mountain you see in the background is called something like the "mountain that an arrow cannot reach." Legend has it that a beautiful maiden once had a number of potential suitors, and she climbed to the top of the mountain carrying a scarf, which she attached to a tree there. She told them that the one who could shoot the scarf with an arrow would be her husband. But nobody could shoot that high. So, in despair, she jumped into the lake and became the "Pearl of Lake Varavoi" -- the small rock in the lake that you see just to the left of Tucker's shoulder (Tucker's right). If you drive around the lake, the rock shows the profile of a young maiden, and as you drive around the profile turns into an old woman.

Reindeer, up close and personal

Reindeer, up close and personal
Originally uploaded by mmfranke.

You can't tell from this picture, but I'm standing up straight and tall, and looking this guy square in the eye to take this picture.

Tucker Sunbathing

Tucker Sunbathing
Originally uploaded by mmfranke.

Here's Tucker sunbathing on the shores of Lake Varavoi. Sometimes he looks so grown up.

Lake Varavoi

We had a very nice visit today. I was left to entertain both Tucker and Mia as Linda went to the local orphanage (kids 4 through 18 years of age) to take some pictures. (We were asked to take some pictures using our camera today, and of course Linda was curious...)

Bacha was very sweet. She's starting to repeat English words pretty easily -- especially when she wants something: "Mama push" and "Cooookie" are two of her favorites. She has yet to use an English word unsolicited, though.

In general, she seems much more "grounded." Also, she didn't do her little spitting ritual today, though she did try to throw something as a tester at one point. Also, when our visit was over and it was time for her to go play with her group instead of us, for the first time she made a pouty face and said "Ne Hocheesh" -- "I don't want to." Yes!

After our visit, we went to Lake Varavoi. The village of Shchuchinsk is actually the "gateway" village to Lake Varavoi -- it's what puts it "on the map," so to speak. The town of Varavoi itself is essentially a resort town. The lake and the surrounding terrain is absolutely stunning, and reminded me a lot of Lake Tahoe.

We went to the lake, and on the way stopped at a zoo. The zoo had its depressing parts, like any zoo, but there were some definite highlights. For instance, we got very up-close and personal with a friendly reindeer, saw some beautiful eagles, a great mountain goat (bighorn sheep), and assorted others. I was disappointed that we didn't get close to the wild boars, as they looked to be each about the size of a large refrigerator.

We then drove around the lake, making several stops for picture taking and, in Tucker's case, some fun rock climbing. A year ago, he couldn't climb. Today, he was climbing stuff that scared us several times. It's really fun to watch. See pictures (above) for more details on the lake.

On the way home, we stopped off to buy some take-out soup, with Sveta's assistance. She walked us into the little "cafe" from which she ordered our take-out last time. Turns out that it's right next to the military academy (errr.... "fireman" school) -- it's actually kind of inside the gate. It's not someplace I ever would have ventured into on my own. Really looks like you're going to be frisked on entry or something. It's where they cook for the military academy.

However, the lady there was very friendly and helpful, and the people sitting around eating (looked to be academy staff) were smiley and friendly, too. We walked out with three clay pots of soup -- two pea soups and one borshch -- all for 135 Tenge. Yes, that's about a buck. We have to return the clay pots tomorrow. Also, it turns out that this place is right next door to the "cottage" that the Louca family is staying in. I wonder if they know about it...

So, we have ONE MORE OFFICIAL VISITATION DAY! We won't be seeing Bacha tomorrow (day off for the baby house). Sunday it is. Then Monday is court date. Between now and then, we have a lot to do: put together gifts for the staff, complete several photo albums, complete several other special gifts, and I have to write my speech to the judge. We also have to buy a little potty for Mia (she'll be more comfortable since it's what she's used to), and we'd like to find a little child-sized table for Tucker and Mia to use to eat at. As it is, the table in the kitchen here will be a little hard for Mia to use, and we only have three stools anyway.

Heh... Tucker's taking a bath and is demanding a "Luke story." Tucker's addicted to them. Of course, Linda's taking her crocheting into the bathroom to oblige the little man. Sheesh -- they're both addicted.

Hide and Seek

Tucker, Bacha and I played hide-and-seek in the playground today. Here's a peek-a-boo shot of her coming around a corner looking for me.

Family Time

Today was a fantastic visit with Bacha. Linda and I both felt that we started to feel like a family today. Bacha and I played together with a balloon, which was a rare treat, as her usual reaction to me is to walk away and say "nyet." We also had a little "time out" incident when she acted out because she couldn't have a toy she wanted. We're finding that we need to be much more strict with Bacha than we did with Tucker. We're also finding that we are now having to be more strict with Tucker. There are indeed some interesting times ahead.

Anyway, we went outside for a walk, as it was a beautiful day. We have a little routine where we walk around the building and then end up in the playground. This time, before that, however, Bacha decided to walk outside the baby house grounds, kind of around the block. So we did, but Linda had to run back to drop off a bag. So we got way ahead of Linda. At one point I asked here where Mama was, and she stopped, looked back, and pointed at Linda, who was just rounding the corner a block away. She looked at me and said something with a smile on her face. I said "so we'll wait here for Mama?" She said "da." And we waited very patiently before continuing our walk.

Even getting Bacha to go the direction we were going was easy today. She seemed to want to be with us.

We also bumped into Chris and Suzanna, from Connecticut (don't know their last name yet), the third American family that's here right now. Actually, Linda met Chris right in the middle of Tucker having a complete meltdown in the middle of the Viola Market. Oh, great. There he was, melting into the floor, whining "I waaaaannnt thaaaat yooooguuurt", and throwing his sunglasses on the floor. Chris casually picked them up, and Linda could sense that Chris' "energy" was different than everybody else in the store -- she hadn't seen his face yet. Then they introduced themselves to each other -- carefully, as the rule is to keep a low profile. Linda asked "how long are you here?" and Chris was vague. Linda says "10-year old?" At that point, everyone was "outed." Yes, they're adopting a 10-year-old, and it's been a challenge, apparently.

Incidentally, Tucker had another meltdown outside the same market, prior to entering, in which he didn't want to get out of the stroller. Linda got so fed up with him, that she dumped him on his butt right in front of the front door. I do believe it caught Tucker by surprise. Caught Linda by surprise, too.

Tucker had a rough day. He was really hungry, as we were out of food. Hence the trip to the market. Anyway, he ended the day on a positive note.

Anyway, we will be getting together with them again, for sure.

Oh -- here's an interesting little tidbit. It's become a running joke that everyone in a military outfit is called a "fireman." The Louca family, who lives right next to the military academy, was also told that they are "firemen." Today, on the way to our visit, we came across two "platoons" of "firemen" marching in formation down a back road. Wearing camouflage. Firemen, you say? Indeed. We asked Sveta about this, and she, too, called them "firemen," but smiled and explained that the military does all the firefighting. It's very strange. It really seems like they don't want Americans knowing that there's a military academy here, so they use this silly cover story, and just assume we'll never figure it out. Hmmm... stay tuned for more on this mystery.

One more thing, regarding "Bacha." Linda and I still refer to our daughter as "Mia" between ourselves, but we call her Bacha when we address her, because it's what she understands. I'm learning to write it, because it seems like it will be less confusing for friends and family who will meet her when she arrives. But, to be honest, I might slip up -- writing "Bacha" is hard.

Finally, to continue a popular previous post...

"You know you're far from home when..."
- Firemen wear camouflage.
- The police broadcast traffic rules over a loudspeaker in the afternoon.
- The chives you bought from old lady street vendor are tied together with old cassette tape.
- The instant coffee actually tastes pretty good.
- The words for "beef" and "horse meat" sound a lot alike.
- The sidewalks are swept religiously, but lawnmowers seem to be unheard of.

Bacha doodles

Bacha discovered the little drawing tablet today, and demonstrated pretty darned good dexterity. She could draw nice little circles (repeating "circles" pretty well, too). And with both hands. Here's she's showing off her lefty talents.

Concensus

Linda here...

We have reached consensus. Mia Bayht Franke will be known as Bacha. I knew this would come together in time.

What a full day today. There was the celebration which included bumper tricycles, Baby House Olympics, and performed by the Americans (us) Itsy bitsy spider, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and Schaf Kindlein -the lullaby Mike wrote. We invited the Kazak adults to join in on the first two but got no takers.

At 3pm Shey, Sirka, Sasha (interpreter) and I took off for the green market in search of yarn and miscellaneous items. Sirka found diapers, Shey found tea I found shoe laces and we all found yarn. Lots of Russian yarn. The weather wasn't so good so the woman I had purchased yarn from before only had a couple of bundles hanging. I asked ( with the help of Sasha) if she had any that matched what I had bought previously and I showed her my a small piece I had cut. She started to walk across the street. Sasha asked if we could come with her and before we knew it we were peering into the closet in her apartment. It was full of yarn. What a treat. We left with Three Bags Full - humm that is the name of a yarn store in San Francisco.

I can't believe it. I have been missing my large Q size crochet hook, the one I bought here for .70 is really small. Mike surprised me and whittled, yes whittled, me a new crochet hook - it is about a size P. It is the most beautiful hook I have ever seen. How sweet! What a good husband.

Mike here...

As I'm posting this, I just wanted to add a note to say that "Bakka" (which is what Linda liked) seemed wrong to me. Linda liked it because she said it was "stronger" than "Bacca" -- true, but I guess I saw it as too masculine. It's completely irrational, of course, but I couldn't get over it. "Bacca" was OK to me, but Linda didn't like it. As it turns out, "Bacha," if you pronounce it with a bak-of-the-throat-clearing "ch" sound, is actually the correct procunciation of her nickname in Russian. Maybe even Kazakh. Of course, nobody will pronounce it that way the the States -- it'll sound like "Becca" with an "a" anyway. Oi... I'm making a big deal out of this. anyway, Bacha it is. (Perhaps she'll be a famous musician...)

60th Anniversary Celebration

Today was the 60th Anniversary celebration for the Shchuchinsk baby house, and also happened to be national childrens' day. Yes, Kazakhstan has a holiday for children. A number of important officials were in attendance: the governor of Shchuchinsk, the Head of the Ministry of Education, Head Doctor at the Regional Hospital, and someone from the Ministry of Health. They all gave speeches at the end of the festivities, and most gave gifts to the Director of the baby house.

The celebration was wonderful. It was about an hour long, full of skits, games, dances, and music. Both the children and the staff participated. The kids were very enthusiastic, and when they competed in games against the staff, they always seemed to win.

Linda and I also did our bit, as promised. "Itsy Bitsy Spider" went over very well with the kids, as did "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" (though the adults in the audience were reluctant to participate in the latter. Then I played a borrowed guitar and Linda and I sang two verses of "Schlaf, Kindlein," a lullaby I wrote years ago. We dedicated the song to the babyhouse staff, and promised to record it when we return to the States, and send CDs. We will include a Russian verse, and if we can get someone here to work up a Kazakh verse, we might do that, too, somehow.

Tucker, by the way, sat through the whole thing like a real trooper, only getting a little restless near the end. Bacca was involved in the festivities only a little, and we didn't see her one-on-one at all today.

The staff of the baby house are truly amazing. It's humbling to see what these ladies do for these children every day, and then to see what they do for a celebration like this on top of everything else the do... it's unbelievable. We've been interviewing some of the staff for our video, and it's heartwarming to hear many of them talk about how much they love their job and admire their coworkers and adore the children, in the same breath as saying they wish their job didn't have to exist.

We spent dinnertime over at the Louca family's home away from home (the cottage), and had a sumptuous meal of various prepared salads and meats, as well as a variety of desserts, including a baked apple dish that Sirka made up.

Mini Kitchen

I've been asked to post pictures of our apartment. I feel kinda silly about it, because there's not much to show. Everything's pretty much the same as any American apartment, only everything's in miniature. Appliances are a bit different, too. The stove (on the left) has a flip-up top, and it's propane. The propane tank is under the sink, and you have to be careful to close the valve on the tank after using the stove, or you leak gas. Also, you can't set the oven to a temperature -- no thermostat. There is a themometer on the front of the glass -- you have to crank up the oven enough to hit your mark, and then monitor it (haven't done that ourselves yet -- the Louca family showed us tonight at their house for dinner).

Mia's Party Dress

They dressed Mia up in this bright red little dress for the 60th anniversary celebration today. We got to be with her for a very short time prior to the festivities, and she was fascinated with this toy on the shelf.

You know you're a long way from home when...

- The take-out you ordered is delivered on a cut up piece of old cardboard box.
- There's an open sewer hole in the middle of the playground.
- Vodka costs $1 a liter.
- A phone call home costs over a buck a minute -- IF you can figure out how.
- Tomatoes taste like tomatoes.
- The utensils at the cafe come wrapped in a very small piece of what looks like toilet paper (it's really paper towel).
- Milk comes in a bag.
- Heck, everything comes in a bag.
- You wonder about what kind of animal you're eating.
- There's soccer on TV (yes!).
- Your front door creates a hermetic seal.
- Cows have the right of way on the freeway.
- The French movie on TV is dubbed in Russian, with French subtitles. (Huh?)
- You have a minor panic attack when you realize you almost put your passport in the laundry.

No Spitting!

Tucker went to bed at 6:30pm last night which was wonderful, but he woke up at 5:11 am. Tucker immediately wanted a Luke Skywalker story. I kept falling back asleep as I was telling it. Perhaps this was just the push he needed as when we got in the car he created his own story! Yea! Oh no, separation anxiety.

Mia and I had some real contact today. She came into the music room took a look at us, tried to find something to throw, walked over to a fern and said in Russian that she was going to pull off the leaf. Sveta said no and then Mia spit on the floor. Yes, spit. She has spit once at each visit.

I told Sveta about the spitting and she immediately left the room. Mia was on the other side of the room at this point. She ran over to my side of the room, walked over to the guitar looked at me with a look that meant I am not supposed to touch this but I am going to. I told her no and put her in a chair and she cried. We "touch/talked it out" and I think got a little closer from the experience. She is testing us out.

Sveta had been promising earlier in the week to bring in the pediatrican to talk with us incase we had questions. Sveta asked if we would like to have our visit with the pediatrician now and we said sure. I asked about Mia's general health. Mia had chicken pox last April 2004 which I didn't know about but that was really about all that was new to me.

The pediatrician brought up the spitting incidents and said what we basically thought - that this was a way to get attention but also that she wasn't doing this with the other children when in group. One thing she also said was that this brought shame to the baby house and she turned to Mia and said that if she spit anymore we would not take her home. Of course Mike and I were mortified, but Mia just casually said she wouldn't do it anymore. I didn't sense any real fear. To me the spitting seemed quite a clever way of making sure she had our attention but keeping her distance at the same time. We will get to know the real Mia after she leaves the baby house. I do really appreciate this time together. I wonder if one of the most important aspects of the visits is that Mia has the opportunity to see how we interact with the people that have been important in her life.

We not only met with the pediatrician but we had rehearsal with the children. Mike and I will be performing tomorrow at the Celebration. We will do both Itsy Bitsy Spider and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. It was quite cute to watch the children learn this song. Sveta translated of course as we performed it for them first.

The other day we accidentally taped over the interview with Kunpash - with youghurt bowling - and so we redid the interview. it worked out quite well as this time we did it in her office and she was more in her element. I am just so moved that we are able to capture these momemts on tape.

I left the baby house feeling quite spent, but we had some shopping to do.

Sveta took us to the open market today to find tricycles. It was a successful trip but Mike was carrying Tucker on his shoulders when he was abruptly stopped. There are ropes running along the market I guess to hang tarps over for shelter. One of the ropes caught Tucker just above the neck. Ouch. It could have been ugly.

We got back to the apartment and while I was cleaning - seems to be happening everyday now, (this is not normal for me) I tried to open the bathroom door. I knew Mike wasn't in there and Tucker was in the bedroom. Seems Tucker had set the door to lock and then closed it. We called Sveta who laughed and called the apartment manager. Oleg was over in 15 minutes and gave us keys. See all the doors have locks. It could have been really ugly. What if Tucker had locked the living room door while we were in the bedroom?! We would not have had access to the phone. Of course worse case is Tucker could have taken the front door key out and put it in the living room and we would have been locked in the apartment with no access to the phone - anyway the worst didn't happen and we believe Tucker understands not to mess with the locks. We are happy Oleg gave us the keys anyway.

After the locked door incident we decided to take a walk to the clothing area of the green market. It is much quieter than the main area and Mike needed a pair of socks.

There are numerous obstacles on the streets here. Lots of open sewer holes and pipes jutting out of the ground. Today was extra bad as it rained which meant all the pot holes were filled with water. We walked out of the apartment this afternoon and made it about 50' before Tucker stepped in a nice puddle. We had to walk back up the four flights of stairs and change his socks.

Mike found socks and we found Tucker another Spiderman shirt - you can never have too many Spiderman shirts when you are a four year old boy.

Spiderman cards

Tucker is truly trying in vain to interest Mia in his prized collection of spiderman cards. Poor guy. Here he is, playing with them while Mia seems distracted.

Blowing up balloons

I guess the ladies figured a big American windbag like me would be perfectly equipped to help blow up a bunch of balloons for the celebration tomorrow... I was glad to help.

Big celebration tomorrow...

Mike here.

Tomorrow it the 60th anniversary celebration of the baby house. We're fortunate to be there, and I've been enlisted (thanks, Linda) as the official videographer. Linda and I will also be performing a couple of childrens' songs (the time-honored classics "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes). We'll finish with a two-verse a-cappela version of my own song, "Schlaf Kindlein" -- a lullaby I wrote years ago. Linda will sing in English, and I in German. We will dedicate the song to the baby house, and announce that we'll be recording it when we get back home, and will send CDs of it to the baby house as our final gift.

Speaking of gifts, today we made a monetary donation to the baby house to be used for improvements in the massage facilities, and also bought five small tricycles as the completion of our donation. We went to the green market for the tricycles, with Sveta, and they all fit in the trunk of Alexander's car. Very small.

So tomorrow will be a full, exciting day.

Regarding Mia... It turns out that she's very consciously, purposely finding ways to test our authority. The caregivers have noticed it, too, and we've been instructed to be very strict with her. It's very calculated -- like she's got a plan or something. This child is definitely different than the first one.

Short visit today for Mike

Mike here.

Our visit seemed terribly short for me today, because I spent much of what little time we had with Mia before it was time to go off to the "sauna" with Sveta, running paperwork errands. I didn't even take any good pictures of little Bacca.

We learned the other day that there are, in fact, a lot of German-speaking people in Kokshetau, because many Germans were relocated to Kazakhstan during the war. Today, I walked into the bank across the street to get smaller bills (all I had was a 5000 Tenge note -- seldom used here), and the guard at the door immediately waved over the guy who spoke German. They both recognized me from a couple of days ago. Heh. The only disadvantage to being able to speak German in a situation like this is that I had to be creative when he started asking me what we were doing here, where we were staying, etc. I said we were tourists, and visiting friends.

Including today, we have exactly one week left as a three-person family. Whoa. We're going a little stir-crazy right now, and addition of the little monster should at least break up the monotony. See below for Linda's post, and pictures.

Finally, I just want to add that we really, really appreciate the comments that people post to our blog, or the emails they send us. Have I mentioned that we're going a little stir-crazy? Well, any correspondence is very, very welcome -- even little one-liners from people telling us they read something we wrote is a gem.

Entertaining two

Mike went off to interview the psychologist today for the celebration and left me with Mia and Tucker. They were not interested in playing with each other or being entertained with the same activities, but both wanted attention. I decided on a Luke Skywalker story for Tucker - all the creatures on the planet Tres Flores lost cell phone access at the same time. R2D2 found the computer that operated them at the baby house in Tchuchinsk. I am skipping the details. I was bouncing Mia on one leg and dropping her down to make her hat fall off while I was telling the story to Tucker. Tucker had no patience if I lost my cadence "finish it mama, finish it".

I have brought clothes in a bag for Mia, but she hasn't been interested in them. Cute little blue jeans with a ruffle, flowered shirts. I also have extra clothes for Tucker. Mia found a pair of Tucker's pants and was very excited to put them on under her dress. Perhaps she is not a girly girl. We'll see how much tomboy she has in her. Maybe she will be wearing Tucker's hand me downs.

When it was time to leave, Tucker started crying and didn't want to say goodbye. Mia punched him on the back with a good thug, as if to say "get over it, I will see you tomorrow".

It was a rainy day. We stayed in at the baby house and we were in all day at the apartment. Tucker had no nap but went to bed at 6:30pm. I hope he sleeps all night - we'll see. Only 5 more visiting days. Yikes!

Crochet

Linda has discovered the local yarn vendors, and has purchased the biggest crochet needle she could find (still much smaller than what she usually uses). So now, instead of sleeping during the drive to and from Shchuchinsk, she makes a blanket and tells "Luke" stories to Tucker. In this picture, even Tucker has temporarily hit his limit with Luke Skywalker's adventures. I, incidentally, pass the time by taking, editing, and organizing these pictures.

Sheep crossing

Today was livestock day, it seemed. We were stopped by a herd of sheep crossing the road, quite under their own direction, apparently.

Cows and cowboys

Cows crossing the roads on the way to Shchuchinsk is a common occurrence. The cowboys today were a rare treat.

Tucker being goofy...

It's bedtime, and Tucker's running around the house being goofy, driving Mama to the limit of her patience. Here he's donning Mia's newest hat and making a funny face.

Mike is such a good daddy!

Before we left for our trip I purchased some Usborne books from Marike Tamm. They are such wonderful books. One of the books is a build a medieval castle book. Well, I had in mind the books I knew as a child where you punch out the pieces and stick the tabs into the slots - takes just a few minutes and viola! This medieval castle book is different. I suppose if I read the instructions I would see that you need glue and a sharp knife etc. There are 93 pieces in all. Mike will be spending the next week putting the castle together and then of course we have to put it up high as I don't know that little Bacca will appreciate it.

Mike taught Tucker how to bowl yesterday with youghurt bowling. He placed little soccer ball stickers on the linoleum floor - lots of linoleum here - and created the spots for the pins. The orange we had was the perfect ball. Mike taught Tucker how to roll the ball rather than toss it and yes, now we have youghurt bowling as yet another form of cheap entertainment.

If Tucker isn't using the climbing gym outside, then he is all over Mike. Tucker uses him as his personal jungle gym - a regular dad activity. I expect that now that we know where some local parks are that they will be playing soccer together as well.

Mike does the laundry, as he does at home. There is a trick to the washing machine here which he figured out. We don't have a dryer. If you don't turn the switch the right way it means no hot water for showers the next day. We found this out after the first try at the washer. The clothes go out on the balcony on a portable clothes hanger unless it rains. It seems we did a good job packing as we are using all our clothes.

Today I vacuumed, cleaned and dusted the apartment. How nice and quick a job it is when your living arrangements are so small, adequate, but small. Sveta brought us over some flowers this morning which was very sweet of her. Tucker has really taken to Sveta she is like a most beloved aunt. He greets her with a hug.

It was a quiet Sunday other than the play and restaurant experience that Mike wrote about. Tucker and I had a nice nap. I am so proud of how he is taking this all in.

Mike worked on movies and organizing pictures on the laptop while we slept. He created a great slide show of our trip so far. He keeps it running on the laptop when we are not using it for anything else.

I had images and thoughts of Mia running through my head today. There was no visit today. To think that she will be coming home with us in 8 days. Wow! The energy level will be going up quite a few notches.

I am looking forward to tricycle shopping on Tuesday - we and the Jacobsens from Columbia, SC will be donating these to the Baby House. Rebecca Jacobsen sent me pics of their daughter Hannah, who was also adopted from Tchuchinsk baby house. She also sent cash to purchase donations to the baby house. What a beautiful little girl Hannah is. It is great to be able to share in the joys of adoption with other families who went through this same process.

We leave at 8am tomorrow for Tchuchinsk, back to our routine.

A play for Tucker, and a talk with Sveta

Mike here. Tucker and Linda are taking a nap, and I'm enjoying some quiet time alone (don't get much of that these days).

Today, Sveta took us to a children's play at the cultural center. The Cultural Center is a very nice, newly remodeled building with all modern facilities. The play was an hour and a half long, and very entertaining -- even if you didn't speak Russian. Tucker sat next to Sveta and she tried her best to translate what was going on for him, but it was difficult because some of the plot of the play involved plays on words, in Russian of course. But still, it was great fun for all (and only 600 Tenge for the four of us -- about $4.60).

After the play, we went to a little cafe. Sveta ordered a variety of bliniys (little pancakes) for us -- jam-covered, fruit-filled, with sour-cream. Also some coffee, a "milk-chocolate cocktail" for Tucker (which downed in about a minute), and a cup of tea for Sveta (she wouldn't order more, though we pressed her). The whole thing cost us just under 1000 Tenge -- about $7.60.

We had a nice talk with Sveta. We opened up to her a little about how self-conscious we are about how Americans are viewed here -- and around the world in general. It seems that often the "worst" (our opinion) parts of American culture are all people see: violent movies, overindulgence, waste. We're also embarrassed that we're often viewed as pushy and arrogant. We realize that every interaction with local people may be the only interaction with an American that person has ever had, and we feel a strong responsibility to be good ambassadors, even though we're always trying to keep a "low profile."

The reason for keeping a low profile is that apparently much of the country has a negative view of adopting Kazakh children out of the country. Sveta says it's largely because the common person has no idea that there are so many children available for adoption, because the baby houses and orphanages themselves usually keep a low profil. Why? Because the idea of "orphans" or children otherwise available for adoption is shameful. So there's a lot of dis- and mis-information. Anyway, while we do our best to not "flaunt" the fact that we're even here, and certainly do our best to avoid the subject of WHY we're here, it's truly impossible to really "blend in" in any real way. We stand out like sore thumbs everywhere we go, and we raise even more eyebrows walking around with an English-only-speaking Kazakh child. Can't WAIT to see how it is when we have Mia as well. Whenever we actually interact with people, let alone "meet" them in some more in-depth way, we always fall back on the general policy of revealing as little about ourselves as we can without being rude, and generally trying to be friendly, courteous, and appreciative. We figure if we stick to that, we can't lose.

We also realize that Sveta herself is often in a difficult position because she is often seen with American couples around her own home town. We asked her if this is ever a problem, and she didn't really open up. But she didn't say "no," either. She said that "different people have different opinions." I think it's tough for her sometimes, and I'm very grateful to her for sticking her neck out for us. I've only seen her a little uncomfortable in public places sometimes: the time I started talking German with a guy at the restaurant; the fact that we did take-out at that restaurant instead of eating there; stuff like that. In fact, it was a rare treat to be at the cafe with Sveta the way we were during this conversation. It was a Sunday (slow day), but still a very public, outdoor place on a prominent street corner, and (duh!) we chose a very visible seat.

After the cafe, Sveta took us for a walk around a slightly different part of the neighborhood. She know the area well because she lives only a short walk from our apartment. We saw (from the outside) a swimming pool, tennis facility, a lot of official government buildings, lots of little stores, a soccer stadium, and a new playground. We stopped at the playground, and Tucker climbed and climbed. He's actually almost able to traverse a horizontal ladder by hanging by his hands and going from rung to rung, monkey-style.

Be sure to check below for new pictures...

Heating Pipes

I've mentioned the central heating pipes before. They're very common. These pipes carry steam, apparently, from the heating plant like the one in the "fishing" picture, to the buildings. The pipes are often quite large, and are wrapped in insulation and covered in what is often very beat-up sheet metal. It's the sheet metal you're seeing, not the pipe itself. The pipes are above ground because the winters are so cold that putting them below ground would make maintenance a real problem. Winters are often in the 35-below-zero range (Fahrenheit). The pipe in this picture is just outside our apartment -- it's very common for them to just go up and over walkway, like this one, or a road.

Tucker and Mia

I just can't get enough of these kinds of pictures.