Imaginary friends and giggling babies

Arriving in baggage claim;

Nana meeting her newest grandchild:

Serik with his cousin Lissa and friend Isabel.

Thought I'd post a few pics from our homecoming as well as some more recent shots.

Serik entertaining Sasha: Sasha waiting to see the doctor at the Intertnational Adoption clinic Serik getting his Carolina blues from Papa Mama and Papa with their grandchildren. I hope to have more to add later when I find a minute. Serik has been so funny and saying the cutest things - he has an imaginary friend that he talks to on the phone,his 'dog' Rolly and his friend 'ca-ca roach' - all imaginary. Sasha is giggling and moving up a storm and is really an easy baby. Sleeps and eats like a champ. More later.

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays...

and no matter how far away you roam...

Ahhh it is so good to be back. The kids are slowly getting adjusted and are sleeping more. Sasha is almost back to her "I could sleep my days and nights away" self. Serik, on the other hand, has been sick, sick, sick. I think he got very run down with the jetlag and consequently Christmas night he and I ended up in the ER at 1 a.m. It was our first trip to the ER and luckily we were home by 3 a.m. with the croup diagnosis. Then yesterday afternoon his fever was spiking at 105 so the on-call nurse at our pediatrician's office sent us back there. He and Kurt were there from 7-11p.m. They did chest x-rays and blood work but all came back normal. So it's a bad bug and it's keeping us all sequestered and mellow.

In between all of this we managed to sneak in Christmas (thanks to the Pecks) as a new family of four and with Kurt's family. My brother Mike and his wife Maggie were with us off and on this week too as her sister, sister's husband and kids moved to MN a year and a half ago and they split their time here.

Serik continues to be great, if slightly aggressively affectionate with his new sister - wanting to feed, change and tickle her. His idea of tickling today was more a firm two handed CPR pump into her stomach - informed him that it might be a good idea to lighten up his touch a bit.

Will try to update once a week at least so until then....Happy Early New Year!

Home again, home again jiggity jog

As our son loves to say every time we walk in the door we are 'home again, jiggety jog'. The trip was uneventful - best kind I guess. We woke up early for our flight to Amsterdam - well, Kurt, Serik and Sasha had to wake up. I, unfortunately, did not sleep at all. Nice way to start the 24 hour trip. We made it to the Almaty airport with plenty of time to spare and then proceeded to wait at the counter for 40 minutes (yes, we were being helped). I kept asking if there was a problem? No. You have the baby's lap ticket? Yes. Okay then - finally all checked in. Tried to upgrade with our abundance of miles but the head lady said, 'no we can not upgrade children'. Well that's news to me and probably to KLM. Then it was 'you have a special meal so we can't'. I said I'll eat my special meal from economy class. Well then we'll be one short - ' 'no', I said, 'they can have my business class meal'. No luck - obviously.

So we're settled snug in our economy class seats when said 'biddy' comes on the plane to tell us that the baby doesn't have a ticket. What?! I sure hope she does because we gave the credit card number, her name was in the reservation. Something apparently happened when we switched from the 23rd to the 21st and Kurt ended up having to get off the plane and re-buy a new lap ticket. Which as it turns out was 2/8 the cost of the original.

The plane ride wasn't bad as the lovely KLM ladies (the Dutch ones on the plane) maneuvered things so we could have our own row. Serik watched movies and napped for a couple of hours. Sasha not so much.

We ran around the Amsterdam airport, tried to get Sasha and Serik to nap in the World Club Lounge - nope, in the Baby Lounge complete with mosquito netting - nope again. Finally gave up and had their picture taken with Santa and his little elf (courtesy of American Express).

On to Mpls.

The plane was 2-4-2 and we had a 2 and an isle. Serik was asleep within the first hour (before we even had the in-flight entertainment system turned on) and he slept the whole way - had to wake him up a half hour before we landed. Sasha slept about 6-6 1/2 hours of the almost 9 hour flight. We landed on time and had family and friends there to meet us (thanks Nana, Missy, Russ, Lissa, Isaac, Lisa, Bob, Katie, Alan, Davey, Amanda, Dave and Isabel).

The house feels fabulous. Nana and Lisa had it cleaned and stocked and all decorated for Christmas.

Once home Sasha fell asleep from 8:30-9:30 p.m. and again at 10:30-5:30. Serik fell asleep at 11 and was up at 2 a.m. - fun. I've been on duty since then and just got her down for a nap. Serik is currently watching Curious George in a bit of a daze - hoping to get him down momentarily so I can follow suit. Happy Holidays to all and will post more later - including pics from our last day in Almaty.

Leaving on a jet plane

As I write this we have 7 1/2 hours before our driver picks us up to go to the airport. We're packed - well 99% packed - and ready to go. We had a full last day: finally made it to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Green Market and then to a Duggan (sp?) for lunch. We came back here so the kids could nap and we could hang with Irina and Baha. We have said our tearful goodbyes to Irina and Baha and to Kazakhstan - a country that will forever hold an incredibly special place in our hearts. We look forward to taking the kids back here within the next 10 years. That's all for now - when we touch down in the U.S. (or Amsterdam) I'll post again and then add pics of our last day. Thank you for all of your comments, love and support through this process! Love the Hammonds - Kurt, Chandra, Serik and Sasha p.s. we arrive at 5:50 pm on Sunday the 21st

Embassy and Final Meeting

Yesterday was our final meeting with the sisters. This time it was Aizhan and Gulzhan (whom I had never met) . We paid our apartment fees and then made our way over to the Embassy. Less than 45 minutes later we were done. Just some signing of papers, getting Sasha's visa and our sealed envelope to hand it to immigration.

The rest of the day was a sleepy one and Kurt and I started our packing. Today we will go to the Green Market with Irina and then meet up with Baha for lunch. It's also the day we say our good-byes to them since we leave tomorrow (Sunday) at 8:20 am. Don't really want to think about the good-bye part.

Arasan Baths

Vitalli picked up Irina and I at 9:30 this a.m. to hit the baths. Irina and I had both tried to frantically pack everything one might need for such an excursion: bathing suits, flip flops, soap, shampoo, towels. We collected our things and went to meet Vitalli - who by the way says that he and his friends go to the baths about 1-2x a month. When we got there Vitalli told me not to say anything in English as he was about to try and haggle with the man over a bunch of branches to thwack ourselves with. 400 Tenge later we were heading inside. Vitalli directed us to the appropriate place to go to buy tickets: 1500T p/p then 400T for 2 sheets (to lie on and wrap yourselves with). We got inside gave our tickets and checked our coats. We found our way up to the ladies domain and walked in and got a locker. Everywhere we were surrounded by nakedness - of all shapes and sizes. Hmmmm, we thought, does anyone where bathing suits? We sort of asked (by ask I mean held up a suit and gave a questioning look) one of the ladies who worked there and she smiled and said, 'no we're all women.' Well that settled that. Irina and I disrobed and took the first of our picturess wrapped in our sheets and hair cloths (which were another 200T). Yes, I know it was pretty ballsy to take pics in a room full of naked women but you'll see we positioned ourselves so noone was behind us. From the 'locker area' (where the nice people lock the locker for you and keep track of what time you come in - we had 2 hrs.) we proceeded to the bathing area. By bathing area I mean a series of 3 foot long marbles benches all divided by little walls. Each row of benches had water spickets at one end. You grabbed a pan/tub and filled it with water. We did two. One for us and one to soak our brances. Wouldn't believe the stuff I saw. I guess (and this may be ignorance on my part) I never thought of certain grooming requirements past a certain age - I was wrong - one woman was quite diligent. We soap up and splashed off and went to the first of the saunas, Turkish. It's a dry sauna meant to prepare your body for the warmer Russian sauna to come. We hung out there for a bit and then went to the cool pool. Took me a minute to get in but once I did it was very relaxing and felt so nice. Then up to the Russian sauna with our branches. This is a wet sauna so people would periodically open this big (and I mean big) vault like door and throw water in on the bricks/stones. While in there we thwacked ourselves silly with our Oak branches (must also say that it was at this timeI remembered that I'm allergic to Oak - ha). Then back to the water (which got considerably easier to get in). We repeated this a few times with various levels of entertainment by our fellow sauna goers. Our older well groomed (previously mentioned) neighbor was thwacking away at herself and leaves were flying around. Another lady asked her to not thwack so hard as leaves were landing on her. The thwacker called her an old cow and left in disgust but not before the 'cow' called her the same in return. Nice. This was all translated by Irina for me but it was pretty obvious what was going on. After a bit Irina decided she was melting needed water as we walked through the wall of heat (seriously) and outside we were asked if we wanted a massage. We had talked (and seen) about the massages (laying naked on a marble slab while you're scrubbed and exfoliated) and decided that the most cost effective and least painful would be the face and head massage. For the face, a healthy Russian woman poured oil on my face and massaged away - face, neck, ears, chest. Toward the end she put on a mask made of parsley and I don't know what else to lighten the skin. Then for the head massage - more oil and an herbal mask topped with a plastic cap. We were then sent back to the Russian sauna to bake, shower, pool , shower and head home. Needless to say (but I will) by the time I got back to Kurt and the kids all I wanted to do was take a nap. Nope no time. We had 30 minutes to load up the kiddos and go to the SOS clinic for Sasha's medical exam. No blood test this time (interesting that the embassy isn't requiring it for people under 15 anymore). She weighs about 9 1/2 kilos and had to interest in being weighed or measured and voiced her displeasure loudly. She was deemed healthy - no umbilical hernia or cardio myopathy like it said on her medical - and home we went. Not before a quick photo with the ambulance for Serik and a passing hello to Leigh Ann Keiffer and Gia who had appointments after us. We've been lounging around this afternoon - everyone is tired and it's snowing. Tomorrow we meet with the sisters at 12:30 and then have our Embassy appointment at 1:30. After that it's all official and the only thing left to do is land in Minneapolis on Sunday so Sasha becomes a US citizen.

News! and Tsum time

First the news - our Embassy appointment was changed from Monday to tomorrow which means that we will now leave Kazakhstan on the 21st (and arrive the same day - the benefit of flying west) instead of the 23rd.

A short post for yesterday. It was all about the Tsum. Kurt was amazed at the amount of stuff there and was thrilled that I was wondering from stall to stall looking at what appeared to be the same slippers.

Got a few things to bring home and all the ladies there remembered Serik from our previous plate shopping excursion. We grabbed a quick bite at a nice little cafe and tried to entice Serik with 'pancakes'/blinis but no luck all he wanted to do was check out the little water pond and fountain that was right behind our table. Nice. Hope he gets back to normal eating at home.

We were going to hit the Green Market but put that off for today since Irina and I will be near by taking in the Arasan baths. Yes, the baths. Irina is a little bit freaked - do you go naked or wear suits - as she's never been to one. Also, she spent the night last night since she didn't want to have to tell (or couldn't tell) her boyfriend's mother (with whom she's staying) because they would have had a fit.

She's going to be staying with us for the next two nights since she once again got booted out of the family's apartment in order to make room for Zaure sister, Saule and Uncle Shamrat. Don't know if we'll see them again before we leave but we will see Baha who comes back to Almaty tomorrow. Will write at length about the baths - don't know if pictures will happen though.

Gorky Park

Tuesday we decided to go to Gorky Park. The park, besides being a park, also houses the zoo, an aqua park, kiddie ride land (making up that name) and other attractions.

Our driver thought that maybe the kiddie rides would be open but no such luck. We made our way through the park past the aqua park to the 'zoo'. I use the quotes because this place was a cross between Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and I don't know what.

It was a bummer to see the animals in pens/cages that were too small for them. Most of the animals had been brought in for the winter so animals like the crocodiles and lions had to have been less than thrilled with their smaller winter homes. I think that some of the big birds - eagles, vultures, etc. got the best deal as they have nice big domed cages.

It was cold wandering around and we ended up popping into the Lion house to warm up. I was snapping a few pictures and was immediately accosted by a woman draped in rabbits and guinea pigs. She said something about getting a photograph taken - at first I thought she was talking about us having to pay to take pics but then I realized that you too (or your child) could be draped in scared animals for the low, low, cost of 50 tenge.

Serik and Kurt walked away and as I was unwrapping Sasha a rabbit was dropped in her lap and a man started snapping away. Okay. Thanks for dropping the rabbit on my kid's newly cleaned snow suit. The guy showed me the pics on the digital screen and I said, 'maybe later'.

Little did I know that we would be accosted again in the 'aquarium' (see pic of what constitutes an aquarium), and the reptile/small mammal house (how those two fit together I don't know).

A lady with a little blue cockatiel accosted us with little slips of paper to buy for 50 T. I thought at first that they were packets of bird seed and you could feed the bird and take a picture with it. Turns out they were little prayers or sayings (we think). She, like everyone else, was fascinated that Serik and Sasha were our children and had 50 million questions about us. Tried my best to answer while simultaneously trying to disengage and catch up to Kurt who had snuck away with Serik.

We wandered around for an hour or so checking out the various 'exhibits'. While I fed Sasha in the reptile house Kurt and Serik checked it out. Kurt marveled at how there were all sorts of spaces between the glass and the walls for little animals to escape. I was amazed at that and the fact that some of the outside enclosures for things like alligators or lions only had 3 ft walls or flimsy barriers between the animals and humans. Guess they assume that the 'warning' signs they have posted will be enough protection.

The rest of the day was filled with naps and grocery shopping. I'm getting a good workout carting groceries home 6 blocks every other day. I was followed home yesterday by a sweet dog who could smell my food. Poor thing wanted to take her home too but Kurt figures one new addition right now is enough.

Plan to hit the Tsum and Green market again today. Tomorrow is our doctors appointment and then there's a chance that our embassy appointment will be switched from Monday to Friday. IF so that would mean we'd fly home on Sunday instead of Tues. Will keep you posted should know either today or tomorrow. Will leave you with pics of the kiddos from dinner last night.

Antiquing

We decided to try to find some old CCP Kazakhstan memorabilia while we're here to bring home. We didn't get anything 'big' last time so why not. Our driver brought us to an 'antique expert' who had several salons which varied in degree of cost. We started at the middle, then he showed us the really expensive stuff, back to the middle and finally the more affordable selection. In the middle when I'd try to ask a price I never got an answer. Guess he thought we couldn't afford it. In the lower end 'salon' as they're called they had tapestries, flags, paintings, medals, jewelry etc. They had a great flag with Lenin on it but it was 25,000.00 - maybe not. Ended up buying a small oriental rug from the 19th century (but who knows), 2 flags (one a children's propaganda with Lenin as a child and the rules to follow and the other a small Kazakh CCP one), and two medals. Set us back a little but they're fun and interesting. We hit one more store and then went to lunch at Venezia for pizza for the guys. Then home. Didn't take any pictures but plan to today as we're going to Gorky Park and the zoo for Serik.

Sightseeing Sunday

We loaded up the kids in strollers (thankfully there's an extra one where we're staying) after lunch yesterday and decided to head to Panfilov Park to see the Cathedral and the other sights. Kurt had missed the park two years ago because he was sick in bed for the majority of the time we were in Almaty so I was eager for him to get to see the beautiful cathedral. Two kids in strollers in a city that isn't exactly handicapped accessible is an interesting task. Some of the street crossings here provide underground tunnels (with shops of course) to avoid the traffic - great but there's a lot of stairs. Kurt would lift up Sasha's stroller and then come up and help me get down and then back up again. Fun. We got to Panfilov park and the weather was beautiful. We went toward the Museum of Musical Instruments first. I had told Serik about the Museum of Musical Instruments and he was excited to see the 'guitars' (dombras) but of course he fell asleep just as we were getting to the park. Kurt stayed outside the museum with the kids while I went in to take a look. I paid the 200 tenge and quickly breezed through. There are a lot of dombras there - and all the descriptions were in Kaz or Russian so it didn't take me too long to go through. We walked by the war memorial with it's hulking tribute to those fallen from the Almaty Unit during the war. Then it was on to the Cathedral. It really is a beautiful place. Apparently constructed of all wood. I made sure to get several good pics this time as last time the quality wasn't so great. The sad part of this is that the cathedral is surrounded by stray dogs and homeless people (usually much older) all trying to get food and any extra change you have. They were all sharing food and I couldn't help but drop a few tenge to some of the babushkas. Kurt and I took turns going inside to see and I got some pics. You'll notice that almost all of our pictures by the cathedral have a sleeping Serik and a sometimes sleeping Sasha. Oh well.

We decided to head to the green market after to get Sasha a hat since hers kept falling over most of her face and she wasn't too happy about it. We didn't make it there last time so I wanted to see. It's massive, like the Tsum, and is filled to the brim with everything you need. One large open area is devoted to food and then as you walk into the next section it's all stalls packed with whatever.

Serik had woken up by this time and kept asking about the museum. He's bummed he missed it so we'll have to swing by so he can see all of his 'guitars'. We found a hat then headed uphill toward home.

Serik wanted to run around the park and was having a great time. I was trying to get him to stay near us and called 'Serik'. A woman who was selling balloons and flowers came over to me to ask if Serik was my son. I said yes. She asked if he was Kazakh - yes again. Then she asked about Sasha (whom Kurt had up the way) I said she was Kazakh and something else. She thought Uzbek (another person). She proceeded to try to ask me questions about America (in Russian), "is it nice? my daughter wants to go, how much to fly?" Tried my best to answer her. She and a young man (who told me he was Uzbek) then started running for a limo. As I walked to catch up with Kurt I saw a wedding party arriving (one of many as this is the place to go for pics like the ball is in Astana). The woman and young man were trying to get the wedding party to buy their wares. We said congrats to the groom - who grinned a big grin - and continued on our way.

We got to Shevchenko and found the Biscuit Cafe and popped in for a snack and a drink. Sprite, latte, ice cream, pancakes and one absinthe. Yuk. Don't know what the big deal is - Absinthe is just super strong smelly black licorice tasting liquor - not my thing. Made our way home with a quick stop at the grocery store. Sasha was asleep by 7:30, Serik by 8, Kurt by 9. I woke up at 8 and Serik and Sasha around 8:30 - Kurt's still sleeping. Today we'll head to a souvenir shop that has old communist stuff. Curious to see it.

Will add more pics later.

Chimbulak

First off I'm happy to report that my red, hivey, splotchy, itchy face and neck have improved after many benadryl tablets and crazy ointments (of which I have no idea what's in them). To not be itchy was a great way to start the day and the weather was beautiful so we asked our driver if we could go to the mountains. Serik loved the ride up - especially as we came around a curve and had to stop short because of 2cows and a calf crossing the road. We saw more cows grazing on the mountain side and Serik said, "Holy God I see a lot of cows over there". No idea where he came up with the HG but it cracked us up. We got to Chimbulak (which is the site of the 2011 Asian Games and is about 3200+ meters at the summit)took some pictures and decided to sit on the deck for lunch and soak in the sun. We enjoyed tea, shashlik (like a kabob), a Russian mushroom soup and french fries for our carb addicted son. There was a little boy who was sitting with his father behind us who kept turning around and trying to talk to Serik in Russian. Serik would stare at him and say, 'mommy what's he saying'. I told the boy that my son didn't speak Russian (in Russian)but he was not to be deterred. Soon the two were running up and down the deck with the little boy (Egon I think his name was)calling for Serik to run and come back. When it was time to leave our little man had no interest until Daddy tempted him with a waffle to take on the road. Both kids fell asleep hard on the winding way down - hairpin turns and a steep grade (eek) not withstanding. The weren't even phased by our having to stop and pull over because our brakes were smoking - hmm not a good sign when you still have more than half way to go. I kept in visioning us careening of the side of the cliff and just had to breathe and not look.

Kurt noticed that they're building what looks to be a long and very high cable car to the ski area from the foothills below. No way I'd ride that thing as it looks like some serious distance between poles (not to mention the height). Came home borrowed a stroller and took the two kids grocery shopping. We're planning on exploring on foot tomorrow to go to Panfilov park and see that cathedral as well as the one near us. Only 9 days left - back in the US on the 23rd!

Koktobe

Yesterday was a lovely day. We all slept well and Serik is having a blast in the new apartment (new toys to play with here). Vitalli picked us up around 10:30 so we could head to Koktobe (cable car up one of the foothills on the edge of town). On the way we stopped and got a picture taken of Sasha for her Kaz passport - not the prettiest one of her ever taken but it'll work. At Koktobe last time I had been chastised for not having Serik bundled well enough (the kid had 3 hats on) - this time it was much milder and I had no reprimands. Serik loved the ride to the top and once up there we checked out the various birds in the 'zoo', sheep, goats and the fallow deer with the green antlers. Yup, green antlers. Kurt and I are assuming that they painted the poor things antlers for the holidays but who knows what the deal is. Don't know if you can make out the mountains in the background behind Kurt and Serik because of all the smog. But they are beautiful and are around 10,500-11,000 feet.

We went to the Koktobe yurt restaurant for tea and lunch and sat at the same table that we had two years ago. We were the only ones in the place which was good because Serik was wandering around checking out the wall hangings/dead animals and crawling under tables. At the end of lunch Serik announced from under one of the tables that he was pooping. Thankfully it was a false alarm but as we were window shopping on the way down he graced us with a treat. I didn't realize it until we were in the cable car and I thought that someone (other than us) had 'cut the cheese' - ah no - it was our beloved little boy. He ended up getting a diaper change in the back of Vitalli's car. I talked to Irina to find out about the mountains but that didn't end up panning out as Uncle Serik and Zaure were trying to get a kitchen picked out and installed.

Serik and I ended up meeting up with Irina after nap time and Vitalli took us to the Tsum here. This place is huge and jammed packed with everything. Not at all like the sedate Tsum in Astana. My goal, to by a large Uzbek plate. I had seen them last time we were in Kaz and had really admired them so this time I decided to one. No idea how we'll get it home - carry on I guess. Took a good 45 minutes looking at the pottery at all the different stalls and comparing prices. Irina and I haggled the ladies down from 7000 to 5000 tenge for the one I finally decided on.

While we were looking Serik made friends with a little Kazakh girl who's mother was blowing up balloons for her to play with. She gave one to Serik and the two of them bounced them up and down in the hall. Kid charms everyone. While we were there I noticed that my face had started to itch. By the time we left I was pretty darn itchy and Irina kept scolding me for scratching.

Baha (her boyfriend and our friend) met up with us there and then we went to the Aptika (pharmacy) to buy me some sleeping medicine, miracle cold cure (for Kurt and to bring home), extra pacifier and clip (for Sasha). Then found out that Uncle Serik and Zaure were meeting up with us and they wanted us to go out to dinner with them. I wasn't sure that Kurt would be up for it since he's been tired and fighting a cold. We walked in the door and Sasha was screaming and had been for 2 hrs. That combined with my itchy (and as it turned out red/hive) face made us say 'thanks but not tonight'. I spent all of last night popping Benadryl and still am splotchy this a.m. I'm thinking about getting Irina and heading to a pharmacy or clinic to get something stronger than Benadryl because this is no fun.

Not sure what we plan to do today. Sasha is fighting a pretty good cold. Might walk around the corner to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas which we didn't see last time and then to the swank grocery down the road for a few things. I say swank because it is cool - there's another one a 1/2 block away and it's got all the basics and then some but the other night when I ran to get a few things (that were too heavy to carry from the swank place) the lights were all out and I was using my cell flashlight to find things - turned out to be a bit difficult. It's supposed to be sunny and around 40 so we'll take advantage of the walking weather.

This is the view from our apartment and Sasha showing off her sexy self.

Notes: Forgot to mention on the other post that we drank fermented mare's milk and camel milk at the Muslim celebration. Not exactly thirst quenchers. I only had a few sips of the mare's milk (which you can apparently get drunk off if you have a couple of cups) but did like the camels milk.It's served warm in a bowl/cup and I think they might mix it with something like water and butter but not sure.

Also, Absinthe is legal here and they have it at the Biscuit Cafe where we would go to get coffee last time. Thinking about trying it as I'm sure I'll never get the chance to try the infamous drink again - will let you know.

Forgot to mention that I found out that the two babies I was worried about at the baby house are all set. One is getting adopted by an American couple and the other has a mom and is only there temporarily.