Baseball Cap Day In Uralsk

This morning started early so I could squeeze in some science work which I have had lingering. While I am thinking about science, I want to say hello and thanks to my lab folks (Lara, Muhammad, and Suraj) who have been at the annual meeting of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine in Seattle. From all reports they did a great job with their presentations and I am very proud of their work. I also want to thank Matt and Erica for holding down the fort at UofC. All of them, and others, have made my absence easier as they have worked hard to keep things going. Thanks guys!

Well mornings in Uralsk have been just great – sunshine, a gentle breeze, people walking to work or to a café – just enough activity without being bustling to the point of anxiety. Our apartment is located in the center of things so we get a good exposure to the pulse of the city. With all of this going on outside Laura and I started to get ourselves going – tossed on some tea and coffee and grabbed some eggs to rustle up some French toast American style. Oh, speaking of eggs, there have been many times that Laura and I have seen something done a certain way here that we have remarked “That’s great…why don’t we do it that way back home?”. For example, when you run across a ramp for wheel chairs or strollers, it is not a solid ramp. What you usually see is a set of small stairs in the middle of the ramp so that the person pushing walks up stairs while the wheels are on the ramp. This appreciation for the Kazakh-way does not spread to the packaging of eggs (tying back to the French toast). When you go to the refrigerated section in the grocery store you will not find eggs in a carton but in a very thin plastic bag. No, they are not surrounded by anything or held in any special orientation utilizing the inherent structural strength of the eggshell – they’re just…there. Do the eggs in this photo look safe to you? And when you checkout with your other groceries…they’re just added to everything else…Maybe I am missing something, but I’m thinkin’ the egg carton might do well here. Well after breakfast it was shower time to get ready for the trip to see Joseph. After much fussing around and waiting Laura announced we had no hot water. We called Olga (I) who called Olga (II) and back again to us to say that there would be no hot water today. Therefore today became Baseball Cap Day in Uralsk! It turns out this happens every now and then and our whole area was without hot water as it is centrally supplied and was being serviced. So we just went with the flow.

Our morning with Joseph was good and he really seems to be happier to see us each day he comes into the room. We bought a new toy yesterday at the store and it seemed to go over very well as it is a ball, which he loves, and has pieces of various shapes which rattle and can be inserted into the ball. As you know, they like the kids to be kept warm here and so besides seeing him in his diaper for his massage, we do not get to see much skin. This morning we decided to look around for spots and checked his feet. As you can see here Joseph has feet, pretty cute ones in fact, and yes there is a spot of green! It looks like the green has been there a bit so we do not think there are any new spots. The doctor stopped today and said that he does not have a fever anymore and so is getting better. Hopefully he will be mostly spot free in-time for our airplane ride to Almaty.

We did not do anything much after our morning session but grab a quick bite to eat and then get back to Joseph. There were a ton of police on the street today pulling people over to check registrations and other papers. On the way back Igor was pulled over as his new car has Russian plates and stickers. We found out today that he is not changing them as he is moving to Russia at the end of May! This was news to us and we will probably be his last adoptive family! He is a great guy and we feel sorry future families will not know him. When we got to the baby house and Olga brought Joseph in to us not only was he full of smiles but she said that the caregivers said Joseph was waiting for us! This put a huge smile on our faces! I kept mouthing to Laura “He was waiting for us!”. In this photo you can see our little guy taking in our own concoction of apple juice and water. We are getting him accustomed to our style of bottles and nipples and also upping his fluid intake. Although none of these bottle photos are too flattering, we felt we needed to let you see. Besides the bottle, nothing else was too new – music, toys, a little of juggling by dad, mom dancin’ etc. We overstayed our hour as time just flies but we eventually had to say goodbye.

We decided to take a long walk this afternoon following the path we normally drive in the morning and to see one of the war memorials dedicated to the women who fought in WWII. You can see Laura here in front of the statue. As I mentioned on Victory Day, the women in this area and others around Kazakhstan were involved in the fighting and are remembered equally with the men. Unfortunately all of the flowers which were laid here on Tuesday were gone but it is still an impressive statue. This also appears to be an area for people to hang out – young and old – and we were actually chatting with this young girl although we did not understand a word she was saying. We did not need to know Russian to know that she was proud of her skates. She stayed with us for a bit and then hopped down the stairs and off she went! It was now about 5:30pm, people were walking home from work, many walking with a beer in their hand – yep, not a problem here – while others an ice cream cone. It was really nice to just sit and soak in the atmosphere. When we were heading back and talking about dinner we decided to take a night off of cooking and swing passed our old stomping ground, the Chagala Hotel, for a pizza. The staff was full of smiles for us and us for them. We took our regular table, placed our order for pizza, two Baltica #3 beers, and settled in for some Russian TV! What a nice ending to a pretty calm day. The hot water is still off but it is the end of our LAST Thursday at the Baby House in Uralsk!

Da Zavtra!