Four Bites and a Gulp

Survivor: Kazakhstan
Episode #2
What I didn’t add yesterday, perhaps because I was in denial, is that we are again without water. At this point we’re pretty used to it and we are getting good at “holding it” until we get to a place where toilets can be flushed. I think we look pretty good for not having showered and, since it has cooled off, it’s really not a catastrophe and we are doing fine.

Really, this season of Survivor isn’t that exciting because we are being so cool about things. Our hotel owner however, is not. Igor is his name, of course, and last night watching him was like watching a Russian soap opera. The first thing he said is he is so upset that there is no water. It gives him a headache (and he shows me the pills he is about to take). Igor is a great guy who is always available to us and doesn’t speak a WORD of English, but he and I have been yucking it up. He was kind of formal and strict the first couple of days, but you know me, I schmoozed him and now we are buddies and he even smiles sometimes.

Anyway, after our snacks with Mary Lou and Linda that I told you about in last night’s post, we came downstairs to go to bed and there he was, Sarah Bernhart, in his office taking his blood pressure. Mom could barely hold her burst of laughter until we got to the room. Oh, the drama.

This elimination ceremony has been quite dramatic. There were several votes for Igor to be eliminated, but that was just to show him that this tribe is flexible and rolling with and he’d better follow suit. Unfortunately, the tribe has voted to eliminate Linda, who really wanted to eliminate herself. She’s Mary Lou’s cousin and travel companion and just can’t hack it here in the depths of Central Asia and is trying to go home as soon as possible. We really like Linda and will be sad to see her go, but we understand she misses her four children and we wish her well. Linda, your torch has been extinguished. The tribe has spoken.

The Boogie Princess Diaries
When we got to the baby house this morning at 8:30, Anelya was still sleeping, as usual. I am really not sure why they have me arrive at 8:30 when the babies never get up until 9. They just always tell me to come back at 9:30, so I come back at 9. :-) So, after spending some time with Tammy and Bob's baby, who is now feeling much better, I went back down at 9 to just hang out until my little sack of sugar woke up. I just sat quietly and hung out, not bothering the busy caretakers. Then I heard a caretaker yell, “MAMA” and I went into the diaper room. There was Anelya, with a poopy diaper. I wish I had my camera with me, because they just carried her over to the bathtub and she stuck her little butt out and they washed it off. This is how the change poopy diapers. Then she brought her back to the changing table and started to put diaper cream on here. Miss Anelya was NOT HAVING IT and for the first time, I got to hear her really cry. It was SO CUTE. It’s this deep raspy little cry that you can barely hear, but her little tears shoot out at you projectile! It almost made me cry, but it was so cute at the same time.

I talked to the caretakers and they said that she slept very well and that she had eaten well the previous evening, which was good since she wanted nothing to do with lunch yesterday. Then they let me take her up to the bonding room where we just took it easy. Anelya loves the new teething toy I brought her. She has no teeth yet and none coming in that I have felt, but it’s just a matter of time. I mean she LOVES that new toy. She won’t let it out of her sight.

Today Anelya was making quite a statement in the world of orphanage fashion. As you can see, she had a crazy outfit on and Mama just made it even more crazy with the Zutano hat she put on her from home. We were allowed to go to the bonding room where Baba was waiting for us. Anelya lit up when she saw her and we played quite nicely on a blanket. She practiced her sitting for a while, then her tummy time and then… PROTEST! Walk me around, woman! Show me the trees! Show me the stuffed animals! If you stop I will make that funny cry! Those last 10 minutes she was CRANKY, but that’s because it was time for porridge. So, we gathered our stuff and made our way down to the baby room. When I got there, I found that the Baby House Doctor was examining someone and I knew Anelya would be next, so I asked if it would be ok for me to wait around to hear what she had to say.

The doctor said she has tonsillitis, which I think really means a sore throat. She said the problem is not in her lungs, but in her throat. I was VERY happy to hear that she is not on antibiotics, as you know I am not a fan of overusing them. With the help of our interpreter, I was able to offer the doctor some Baby Tylenol, as I have heard that what they have here is just not as good. She was VERY happy to hear this and I said I will be happy to bring this to you during the second visit today. So, I brought about 7 bottles of Baby Tylenol, with the promise to bring much more on the second trip.

Anelya making an orphanage fashion statement with a firm grip on her new favorite toy!

Doing the Baba pose and looking away for the shot

We were ready to leave when I heard the caregiver ask Daniel if I was going to feed Anelya. He said no, they are going now. I was so happy I understood that exchange because I said, "Please Daniel, if it is possible, I would like to feed her." The staff really does EVERYTHING they can to accommodate our wishes and so, he took Tammy & co to the zoo while we stayed and fed Anelya. Let me tell you something about my girl. She is such a punk when she is eating. She knows exactly what she wants. Four bites of porridge and then enormous gulps of tea and if you stray from that, she will stare straight forward like an ice princess until you get with the program. She hates it when Mommy cleans her face and her nose.

Drinking her morning tea out of a mug, after exactly four bites of porridge

I was so pleased with our first visit today and felt ok that it was time to leave for a few hours. Because I usually miss the first 30-45 minutes of bonding because she is sleeping, I am going to ask if I can continue to stay after and feed her. It's such a nice quiet way for us to be together and I want her to understand that I will meet all of her needs. I am the Mama.

Everyone who has adopted from Semey knows about the white Lada parked outside. This is the car that is used to bring the babies to the orphanage from the hospital and probably various other locations. It's a very amusing pastime when waiting for the other families. Every time you see that white Lada drive up or away, your heart stops a little. I am certain that this is the car that brought Anelya to the baby house when she was 8 days old.

Since we took extra time with Anelya today, we waited for Pasha for about 15 minutes, which was absolutely fine with us. It was another glorious day in Kazakhstan. The weather right now is absolutely perfect. Sunny, dry, and about 75 degrees. We hit the JACKPOT in every way. Best baby house, best agency, best weather, best BABY, best everything. I am so thankful.

While we were waiting, I took pictures of the grounds of the baby house and Mom (WHO is this woman???) took a walk "all by the self" and disappeared, doing a loop around the whole baby house. If our translator had come back early he would have burst a blood vessel. Don't blame me! I told her to zip it and sit still. She's just a renegade now!

Path around the baby house - it's beautiful!

The baby house

A little house across the street from the baby house

Path around the other side of the baby house - lots of marigolds and cosmos!

We went back to the hotel and conked out for lunch. When we got back to the baby house, it was time to feed Little Miss Four Bites and a Gulp again. Today it was just straight mashed potatoes. I asked if I could mix some of her drink into the food because it was too thick for her. I think they liked that I noticed that and said, "of course!". Anelya sits on my lap when I feed her, which works just fine. We sat across the table from our favorite caretaker, Yeena, who was feeding Tate! Tate is an adorable little boy who has been adopted by my blog friends Ben and Suzette. He will hopefully be going home very soon!

After Anelya (who has only been eating with a spoon for less than a week) told me what's what about how she wants to be fed, I cleaned her face, she got sassy about it and we went up to the bonding room. While we were there, I went to the baby house doctor's office and met a woman whom I have never seen before. She said, "Mama Anelya". I was thrilled to hear that she knew who I was. Here's the thing: They ALL know who we are! It's like the baby house KGB ;-) Anyway, I told her that I had promised the doctor several bottles of Baby Tylenol and would she please give them to her. She seemed very happy.

Tummy Time!

Much better orphanage fashion statement, with another barrette from the bazaar

Anelya LOVES the stacking rings!

I could not get her off this donkey!

Things got a little wild in the bonding room and Tammy's family and I were all going a little nuts with all of the commotion. It's so nice to have kindred spirits here to share our journey with and the fact that they live so close is such an invaluable bonus. Towards the end, Tammy said something that made us all die laughing: "You know, that spiked mare's milk is sounding better by the minute!" It was a really hilarious moment and it was so nice for someone else to put words to our shared frustration.

I was thrilled with our time together today. Anelya is feeling much better and she was playful and happy. I gave her a kiss and told her I would see her tomorrow. We had made plans with Tammy, Bob, and Sarah to go to the bazaar after the visits. However, when we met Pasha and Daniel outside, Daniel said, "Do you have your passports on you?" We didn't and there was some bickering exchange between him and Pasha which resulted in Daniel telling pasha, "I never told them." I love that I can understand all of this behind the scenes stuff. It makes it all so much more fun.

Well, it was 3:57p.m. We were apparently supposed to be at the governmental notary office at 4:00p.m., which was news to us. Problem was, I needed my passport. So, Uncle Pasha drove like a bat out of hell to the hotel. I almost needed a helmet, but I trust him. He knows what he is doing. So we ran inside, got our passports, dropped Tammy, Bob, and Sarah at their apartment on the other side of town and then flew to the Notary.

When we came in we saw the two other LMI families waiting. It was great for us, but a little embarrassing that they called us as soon as we got there and the others continued to wait. In the office, we had another translator, Veronika, who kind of translated what I was signing, but I really had to decipher most of it myself. That's all I will say about that. If I understand correctly, I signed a paper (in Kazakh) that gives Power of Attorney to someone at the Department of Education to handle my adoption case. I also signed one stating that Olga will represent me in court. And one other paper I have no idea what it is, but I know so many people who have done this that I just checked to see that the information about me was written correctly and called it a day. I very nicely asked the government official if it would be possible for me to get copies of the documents and she happily obliged. I will keep these for the scrapbook of Anelya's adoption story so she can see it all when she gets older. It was a very pleasant experience in a government office, which was quite unexpected.

Here's whatever I just signed in Kazakhstan.

Please call Bill Clinton if they come and take me away. :-)

After the notary, we asked Pasha to take us to the Kulinaria Aristocrat around the corner so we could buy dinner. We are totally digging the meat and vegetable filled pockets. Mom got some lemon tort this time. When we got home, we met our friend Igor, who thanked me for the Excedrin Migraine I had left for him via Tanya, the hotel's cleaning woman. He wanted to know if it was for his headache or for his blood pressure. I told him, "headache. Take two. If you want more, let me know." I guess that makes me a dealer in Kazakhstan now. It fixed him right up though!

I asked Tanya if we could do some laundry and she said yes of course. I have never done laundry in Russian, since in my host family the mother always did it. So, she pointed to the cycle I should use if I want to do it again. But she really did it for me. I came back to hang it an hour later and she had already done it for me. Then she started the second load, which I later hung. I feel very comfortable here. Mom does too. We are safe and welcome here.

Here's a story from today to demonstrate how safe we are. Last night, when Mom was sound asleep at 10p.m., I heard someone tapping on the window. We are on the first floor. Our window was open, but I really wasn't scared because there are bars, so it's not like anyone is getting in. I just ignored him and he moved on. I guess he must have moved on to Mary Lou's room because this morning when we met Pasha, he asked us in a pantamine/yelling/Russglish combination if this happened. She must have told Daniel. I said, yes but "Nyet Problem" we are fine. He said in a mix of pantamime andRussglish,"Tonight window (knocking pantamine), YOU IGOR. Igor sleep office. You Igor. He (showing me the weapon he has in his office window) *making a gun pantamine* him. Pow!" I laughed and said, "Pasha, this is exactly why I didn't tell Igor!" And we all laughed. God we are having such fun!