Family Outing!

Well, we have had a couple of interesting days! The weather is turning hot again but it cools off nicely at night! I don't think we are as hot as you are at home!

Yesterday we had the playroom all to ourselves for most of the morning while Marwan and Annette & Tony and Maegan were at court. We are so happy that everything went well for them and they are now officially the proud parents of two beautiful little girls! Marwan and Annette got a little visit in with their daughter after court and we were almost blinded by the glow radiating from them!!! We had to take Matthew downstairs to have some blood drawn. Thankfully we weren't allowed to watch since they ended up having to take it from his head. Michael turned a little pale when they told him and he said he might have fainted if he had to watch that! Matthew was facinated by a musical toy we got him. It is a cube that sings and rocks back and forth (unfortunately, it seems to sing "Mary had a litttle lamb" frequently - Michael keeps threatening to throw it out the window as he finds the voice annoying!) Matthew also spent a lot of time on his hands and knees rocking back and forth before launching himself forward, then doing the same thing again! He is really trying to figure out this crawling thing!

After our visit, we went for a business lunch at a new restaurant, with Aliya. We were supposed to be joined by a friend of hers who was back visiting after marrying an American. Unfortunately, they were held up and we never got to meet them. We then walked over to the Eurasian Mall and did some window shopping. It is huge! We were looking for a traditional Kazak outfit for Matthew, but couldn't find one small enough! We will have to keep looking. I love the traditional adult robes, maybe I will have to get one for myself if the price is right! I also love the traditional swords. I would love to hang one on the wall at home, if I could figure out how to get it home!

Restaurant we went to for business lunch with Aliya - the inside is as interesting as the outside.

Jennifer and Aliya at the Eurasian mall

Today was a GREAT day! We got to go on a "field trip"! Our family outing was to two doctors, and we got to go with just Aliya and Bayan, no caregiver (because they were all busy!). We went to the first where Matthew had what I think is an EEG or an EKG - they attached suction cups (actual suction cups, not the kind you see at home) to his arms and chest, with other straps on his legs. The technition said she thought everything looked good! Matthew was so brave! His little chin quivered a bit but he never cried! Then it was on to another clinic where he had an ultrasound of his abdomen. Again, every thing looked good! (He was very brave here too!) At first the tech told Michael he had to stay outside but Michael insisted he was staying and after Aliya said "Papa", she let him stay! This tech told Michael that she thought Matthew looked like him! We got back in time to have a few minutes in the playroom before nap time. We were told that Bayan was going to meet with the doctor tonight to go over the findings, and did we want to come?? Of course we did! We got to the doctor's office only to find out we were supposed to bring Matthew too! YEA!!! We got to see him again. What a treat!!! We had to wait quite awhile and he was so good! Then he had to have another ultrasound - of his heart this time. The doctor exclaimed over how good he was and called him "her little hero"! Wow, what an experience. We got to see his little heart pumping and then hear and see it beating! It must be something what it is like when you are pregnant and get to see it! We got a little choked up! Doctor said everything is fine!!!! Yea!!! Now we just have to wait on the results of the blood work which are supposed to come back on Thursday afternoon. Then on Saturday we are flying a Canadian approved doctor out from Karaganda to give him another check up!

After two family outings in one day, and one a huge surprise, you would think we would be all out of excuses to leave the baby house premise. But we got another nice surprise on our way back to the apartment tonight. It turns out we get one more outing tomorrow! We get to take Matthew for passport photos! We feel giddy with good fortune!

For lunch today we went to a restaurant that Marwan and Annette had found before. It was a going away party as Marwan was leaving to go home late this afternoon. We are sorry he is going as we have enjoyed getting to know him. At least we get to keep Annette for a few more weeks! Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch with all the couples we have met. We had very tasty lunches - Michael had a pilaf with meat and I had a dish with homemade noodles, veggies and meat (I can't remember what it is called). We all shared the most delicious "dumplings" for appitizers (can't remember what they are called either, Aliya told me yesterday though, and I had trouble pronouncing it!) They are a meat and onion filled pastry that are (not so) little bites of heaven! And very cheap!!! Including beer and other beverages, it worked out less than $80 for all nine of us!

This is Michael's spoon at that restaurant - he knew that Brian would love this one!

Tonight, Michael played basketball again with the young guys he has met on the court. After playing for awhile they asked him many questions about Canada. Was it the same as Kazakhstan? What is farming like? Michael said, "Imagine how hard it is to explain farming to a city boy who doesn't speak much English and I don't speak Russian!" They are very interested, none the less.

While he was gone I thought I might actually try to do a session of Pilates. Yes, I actually did it! Don't know if it will happen again though! What is really funny is that normally, the phone rarely rings and the door bell NEVER rings. Of course while I am trying to twist my body into positions it just doesn't want to be in, and becoming sweaty and red faced in the process, not only does the phone ring twice, but someone is also at the door! At the door was a woman and a little boy. She starts talking a mile a minute. When I finally got to say "Ya negavaru Parusky" (boy has that come in handy!) she starts to say in broken English something about needing couches for her son. If I were at work, it would mean she needed diapers but then she mimicked eating and I figured out she was asking for money. I didn't know what to think. Aliya had just told us yesterday that there is a group of people who live in Kazkahstan who's culture includes begging for money, even though they aren't poor. She said most Kazak people just ignore them. This mom and son didn't look poor but who really knows. I motioned them to wait in the hall, shut the door and got a little bit of money for her. She was very polite when I gave it to her and very dignified. She just made a little bowing motion and said something that must have been thank you. These are the tricky cultural things that we don't really understand and are terrified of getting wrong!