Rough Afternoon

Anelya was ready to eat when I got to the baby house. She ate most of her lunch and had a good deal of compote, which is fruit that they boil in water again and again until it makes a weak juice. If you are one of my Swedish friends, it's like making natural saft. Because Anelya has a cold, I have to dress her in a sweater and hat when we go through the corridors.

Unfortunately, our afternoon bonding sessions are just unpleasant. A large family of 6 has joined us and the room is just loud and chaotic. Anelya and Tammy & Bob's baby are just not the same in the afternoon session. In the morning, Anelya is alert, curious, and engaging. In the afternoon, she does not want to sit, lie down, play or do anything other than be held. Of course I don't mind holding her for all of that time, but she has an active mind and I am frustrated that our bonding time is drastically effected by all of the chaos and screaming that occurs during the afternoon session. We have tried to make some kind of a change so that we can have a more relaxing time to get to know each other, but it seems to be impossible because of the baby's schedules. I don't mind an active family (remember that I had a boyfriend with three very active kids and I loved every second of it), but when it's so loud that the other babies in the room stop functioning, it's just not ok. I only get to bond with my baby once. Alright, I am done venting about that. We are all trying to work something out. We will see what happens.

Anelya was very happy to see me when I came to the baby room. She wasn't as sassy when I fed her. But when we got to the room, she didn't want to do anything. She didn't want to lie down, sit up, play with her toys, nothing. After about a half hour I actually had to put her in her carrier, all bundled up, and walk her around the hallways to get some peace for her. We went back the room after a while and it was still crazy, but the staff around the baby house was looking at me funny while I walked her around, so I had to go back. I kept her in her carrier and she put her head on my chest. I covered one ear and sang Norah Jones in her other ear for an hour in the corner of the room. She slept almost the whole rest of the bonding session. I loved the cuddling and all, but I suspect that she fell asleep because she was blocking out the over stimulation.


When Anelya woke up, she started coughing ans wheezing and it scared the heck out of me. Her cough is SO DEEP and it was as if she was having trouble clearing the goo out so she could breathe. I asked Tammy and Bob to come over and they said to go straight to the infirmary. So I raced downstairs and explained as best I could what was happening. The doctor doesn't work on weekends, and by this time Anelya was just breathing heavily, so I told the nurses to please tell the doctor what happened, that it wasn't a normal cough and I am worried about her breathing. I said I would take her to the baby group and to please check on her.

So, we made our way back to the baby group and I spoke with Farida and another caregiver. My translator wasn't there to pick me up yet, so I explained again in Russian and said, " this cough was not like yesterday's, it was more serious and I was afraid she was having trouble breathing." Then, Anelya let out one of those coughs and they understood why i meant business. My eyes were filled with tears. I kissed her goodbye for today and they took her to her crib. When she took her from me, Anelya let out a big cry and then was ok once she left the room.

When I came outside, Daniel and Pasha approached me and I explained what had happened. Daniel asked if I wanted to go in with him and talk to the caregivers with him. I said yes, just in case I had said something totally off mark. Turns out that they had understood me perfectly. Farida saw how upset I was and asked me if I wanted to see her sleeping soundly in her crib. I went in and she was lying there looking up at me. It's just too much.

By the time we got outside again, Tammy, Bob and Sarah had left their baby in her room and came out with all of the stuff i had to leave behind when I raced down to the infirmary. They also told Daniel how scary that choking/cough was, which was good because I really want them to know that it was not a normal cough. Anyway...

I forgot to mention that Mom decided to stay home this afternoon. The commotion of the afternoon visits have been rough on her too and she decided to just hang out, write some e-mails, and just have the place to herself for an afternoon.

Tammy, Bob, Sarah and I all decided to go for a nice walk in the Central and Victory Parks. Our ever-attentive Daniel followed and gave us the history about all of the monuments and signs. On our walk, we ran into a wedding party. Daniel asked if it would be ok for us to take pictures of them. Then their videographer said, "send them your wishes on this video!" So, I came up with some "I wish you a wonderful life together" yadda yadda yadda and they let us take pictures.

Daniel, who will bend over backwards to make anything happen for us asked them (unprompted) if they would let us get in the picture with them.

I felt like such a you know what, but ok, let's do it.

Gardens in the park. they are about to repave the pathways

"the best tank from WWII"

Memorial for fallen soldiers

We took Sarah to a mini amusement park and she took the mini roller coaster with her dad, and we all went on the Ferris wheel. There was a good view of Semey from the top! Look Semey mamas! It's Koffeman from above!

Group pic! Andrea, Daniel, Tammy, and Bob

Daniel won't even let us feel humiliated by beating us at anything...

This is a statue of the man whom Kazakhstan credits for reviving their histpry. Under Soviet rule, all Kazakh records and writing were burned. This man went to England and dug up all of the information he could about Kazakhstan and resurrected their entire historical background. He was executed by the Soviets, who threw him in an open grave so he could not have a proper funeral. You can see that people leave flowers at thsi memorial year round. Please also notice the lovely old man, in a traditional Kazakh hat, paying his respects.

I am absolutely whipped after such an emotional afternoon, so I am logging off now. Tomorrow will be a much more fun post, I'm sure.