Pizza anyone?

The weather was not great until around 4 today. It was cold and rainy, just dreary all around. Zach and Pops went to the orphanage for both visits, and we of course had a great time with Alex. He again spit up a ton, and christened Pops and Zach. That was a little humorous, but don’t think Zach would agree with me. We had a great afternoon visit, and Alex was very mobile (and giggly) throughout. The drivers dropped us off at Marios, a pizzeria that Larissa recommended and we had some decent pizza for dinner with Beth and Phil. Zach and I watched some Star Wars while they played cards, let’s just say it didn’t end well for our familyJ Overall we had a good day, and tomorrow begins the countdown from 10 to going home. Have a great day and read a People magazine on us!

Layers!

Today we cleaned……. so the cleaning lady could come and clean the clean. How we have been shaped by Barbara! Feeding Alex was slightly painful today as he clearly did not want to eat. However it was eat the porridge from me or be fed it very, very quickly by a caregiver with a large spoon. He took the lesser of two evils but we still paid for it later. Otherwise we had a nice visit today with Alex, and Pops and Zach joined us for both. We got a roast chicken from a street vender for dinner and it was delicious. The breads and cheeses are wonderful and we have been enjoying both. They are so good I would pay more for them, but they’re very inexpensive.
Alex was very mobile today in the afternoon, and we have no doubt he will be crawling before we leave. He was quite a fashion disaster in the afternoon, but had less layers on, which was nice. In the morning Alex had 2 layers on his bottom half and 4 on his top. It is a part of their culture for children to be dressed far warmer than the adults. We still see some people with winter coats on and are not allowed to open any windows in the orphanage. Have a great day, and enjoy a Stewarts milkshake on us!

Zach's End of the Rainbow

Zach Shopping Up a Storm

The Streets of Karaganda

Little Market Next to the Apt.

Our Apartment on the Right-4th Floor

The Back of Our Apartment Building

Priorities

No orphanage today so we decided to do some shopping. We walked to the 3 story mall, hit the mall across the street from it and another strip mall on the way home. We found some great stuff that was Kazak, Russian, as well as Chinese. The adults looked for ethnic treasures to bring home, Zach’s priority; police cars and fire trucks. Some things never change. Don bought us some food from a kiosk outside of our apartment. It was a popover and though I think it had pork in it; it was very good. After that Don and I crashed while Pops tackled Zach and the schoolwork. It was a struggle, but Pops was victorious! After we got up we went to the mall above the grocery store that’s two blocks from the house and then came back home. Not too much to do, but it was a full day.
I just wanted to give you a little insight on how different prices are here for some things. Some of these prices are crazy! $67 for 1.5 pounds of scallops. $38 for 5 pounds of French Fries. $44 for 1.5 pounds of shrimp. $10 for all four of us to eat at the café. $80 for a regular Barbie, $67 for a 5 inch Brat doll. $18 for all of us to eat at a nice café.
Have a great day and enjoy some Dunkin Donuts coffee on us!

School outside the Orphanage