Sunday April 23 - Happy Easter! – Russian Orthodox Style!

Easter in Uralsk was great!

Today was an all around great day – a great day with Joseph and it was Easter here in Uralsk. This morning somewhere around 4 am we heard the local church bells ringing out loud announcing Christ’s rising (although we were not yet ready to do the same!). The churches in our area look just like those around our house in Chicago and we can not wait to show the people here our churches as I think they will be impressed and surprised. We had breakfast with Henry and Anne and the hotel restaurant had some Easter decorations including traditional eggs and bread (which is similar to pannetone). It was nice to start the day with this special holiday.

At 9:50am, as usual, Igor picked us up and after wishing him a Happy Easter (Paska) he produced a beautiful blue Easter egg from his glove compartment with the Madonna and Child on it (see photo) – it was just wonderful and then gave it to me! It was VERY kind of him. We had a good visit with Joseph although he was a still a bit tense and still dealing with his cold. Aleea, one of the interpreters, asked the care givers if there was something we could give him but they said they no as they were giving him medicine. Laura had brought him a very colorful outfit perfect for our Easter visit! We took it a bit easy with him and had a more relaxed morning visit but it was great nonetheless. It was clear he was still congested, a bit warm and just not feeling at the top of his game.

After our morning visit, we went with Igor and Olga (translator) to meet with the other Olga (II) in order to see an available apartment. It was very nice and spacious but we decided to stay at the hotel at least for a week to get our bearings as this apartment was a bit off the beaten path. Olga (II) then gave us an Easter egg and some Easter bread (kliche) which was very kind of her. We then dropped off Olga (II) and asked Olga (I) if we could swing past a bakery as we wanted to bring Easter Bread to the caregivers at the baby house. We had to try two different places as people had bought so much of it the previous day in preparation for today. We then had enough time to go back to the hotel for a great, yes great primavera pizza at the hotel – it was excellent. During lunch we prepared our list of questions for the caregivers – surprising for us that it was only a list of 23 questions!

Following lunch we packed up the baby CD player, CD’s and the toys and blanket and headed back to see Joseph. He was already out waiting for us with Olga and he looked so much better! You could just tell he was feeling better and then did he prove it to us. His hands were not tense; he was smiling and then even laughing with us. We are pretty sure he is starting to remember these strange new faces. We set up the blanket, toys and started the music and away he went. He was grabbing for toys, for our glasses and noses and then with the music playing Laura got him laughing a bit as well. He was on his belly and on his back and seemed to like his back the best. His little arms and legs were bouncing around to the music and we couldn’t have had bigger smiles on our face! What a blast! As usual it ended way too soon especially after this breakthrough visit of ours! We can not wait until tomorrow! Oh yes, the caregivers were VERY happy and surprised with our gifts of Easter Bread. It is clear you do not need an interpreter to understand acts of kindness and respect. Until tomorrow….Happy Paska!!