Christmas and Boxing Day

Or in our case, baggage day.

Christmas wasn’t very Christmas-sy – no family, no church since it seems like there was only a midnight mass, no nice dinner, no lights – but the kids seemed to enjoy it anyway since Santa was able to find us in Kaz and leave a couple of presents and a note promising another delivery on New Year’s Eve in DE. He even signed it “Mr. C” like in the movie Polar Express so Tim was beside himself with excitement about the note Santa left. This was also the first time that he was able to help write part of the note to Santa when we put out his cookies and apple juice. He was quite proud.

Santa's delivery

Santa found us in Kaz!

Unwrapping


After we played with the new toys that Santa brought Mike and I started the onerous task of laundry, cleaning and packing. Matt had also been sick for the last few days so we had Zhanara call a Dr. for us – turns out the house-call is still alive and well in Kaz so a nice Dr. came to see us, gave us a list of meds for Matt and left without requiring payment. Then we went with Zhanara to take pictures of the microdistrict (neighborhood) that Hope lived in with her birth parents. Her house had been torn down and replaced with a flower shop, but at least we will have something to show her when she gets older.


We were up bright and early on the 26th to finish packing, dismantle the crib and head out to the airport for our flight to Almaty.

Astana International Airport (shaped like a yurt) at 8 AM


We said a final good-bye to Zhanara and Irina (unless they decide to come to the States since we don’t expect to be back to Kazakhstan for many, many years!) and a 2.5 hr. delay in our flight (not uncommon in the winter here) we were on our way to Almaty. Because we arrived so late, Nikolai took us directly to the SOS clinic for Hope’s exam for the US Embassy. After the clinic we checked in at the Hotel Kazzhol. It was nicer than we expected due to recent, and on-going, renovations and it is much more centrally located so we it is easier to walk to shopping and restaurants than the Hyatt – and all for half the price with breakfast included. We have a large room with 2 double beds (no Sealy Posturpedic mattress, but more comfy than the apartment), a sitting/work area with a 2nd TV (which has become the laundry drying/stroller storage area)and plenty of space for Matt's crib. The bathroom is tiny and only has a shower which makes it challenging to bathe 3 small children, but we can manage for a couple of days.





Hope has been a real trooper. She continues to amaze us daily. She was all smiles and full of anticipation for the plane ride and really seemed to enjoy it. She did seem a bit leery of Nikolai, but we told her it was OK since she was with us, not to mention, Nikolai had the luggage cart with Matt and Tim was right beside him (they became buddies on our last trip here) so I think she decided it was probably OK. She did great at the clinic – just a bit of crying with the doctor and her blood test, but even then she managed to calm down – a huge accomplishment for her since we’d been told she would only go kicking and screaming with doctors she didn’t know at the hospital in Astana. She also was a bit weepy when she walked into our hotel room, but again, once we explained that we were all staying and it would still be a few days until we took the plane home, she was fine.

Bedtime at Hotel Kazzhol


She’s really become an old pro at traveling and eating out already! She’s also gotten much better about eating the last few days and today was sure to tell us before we went to lunch/dinner “No soup!” Well, OK then. We had fed her lots of soup in Astana when she wouldn’t eat because we knew she would eat that, but I guess she enjoyed her chicken twisters (not-so-greasy chicken fingers) and fries last night and wanted them again today.

Almaty is several degrees warmer than Astana. It feels like a heat wave to us. Mike and I have even gone out without hats (good thing since mine got lost somewhere between leaving the apartment and arriving in Almaty). We don’t dare take the kids out like that though! As it is, I was reproached by some woman on the street today because Tim’s hat was turned sideways and she didn’t think he could see. She obviously hasn’t had a strong-willed 4 year old boy in quite a while because I was just thankful the hat was on at all since it was relatively warm here. The increased temperature has made it very comfortable to walk around, but the down side is that it is also very messy since everything melts and is all slushy during the day. We discovered a restaurant called the Chicken House Café about half a block from the hotel. We ended up eating there last night and tonight because we couldn’t find the pizzeria. It is a chicken and egg market in the front and a nice café in the back with excellent chicken that can be ordered prepared in several different ways.


It looks like we are still on schedule to come home on Friday. Oleg delivered our paperwork to the Embassy today and our appointment with them is tomorrow afternoon. After that we should have enough time to get a quick bite to eat, bathe the kids, have them sleep a few hours while we re-pack and leave for the airport very early Friday morning. Lufthansa leaves at the ungodly hour of 3:30 AM. The upside is that we should land in Philly around 4:20 PM on Friday afternoon, and, as long as the luggage comes out in a reasonable amount of time (40-60 odds on that at Philly!) and we aren’t held up too long at immigration (have to go through 2 lines because Hope will have paperwork that has to be processed) we should be home around 6:30. We can’t wait – it’s been a loooonnnngggg 57 days so far!