Our LAST Saturday in Uralsk!

The internet problems continue but we are doing our best to get an abbreviated version of our days posted. We would like to say congratulations to our friends Dave and Ann Geenen as their eldest daughter Emily and future son-in-law John are getting married today in Holland Michigan. We spoke to Dave this evening (his morning) and it sounded like things were going well!

Another Saturday has come to Uralsk and it is our 4^th and final Saturday in Uralsk. You know from our previous posts that Laura really loves Saturdays in Uralsk. After the rains yesterday and last night, the air had a fresher smell to it and the sun was now shining with a gentle and somewhat cool breeze. As we waited for Igor we were able to do some people watching as on Saturdays the streets are pretty busy with people taking care of business. Today we are going to take care of some more business of our own as Olga (II) and Aleea will be meeting with us in preparation for our final court appearance on Monday! Yes, our “Gotcha Day” is only two days away! We are nervous and excited. Igor arrived with a big smile on his face and his famous and endearing “Hello!” and off we went. We had a very good time with Joseph this morning as you can see from this photo. It shows Joseph and Laura having a great time and you can see Laura’s blurred clapping hands and he stares at her with such intensity. Near the end of our visit, I started rolling a ball across the floor to him as he was sitting with Laura and he loved it! He had this intense look on his face and each time it reached him, he would smack it with his hand, raise his eyebrows and help Laura push it back to me. It is really wonderful that more and more we feel true communication between the three of us. Our time came to an end and away we all went – Joseph to his group and we to meet Igor.

Although we have driven past it, we have not had a chance yet to visit the new mosque in town so that was in our morning plans. It is a beautiful building with a large glass dome on top. We have heard different estimates but it seems that Kazakhstan is approximately half Muslim and half Russian Orthodox although Uralsk is primarily Russian Orthodox. This was the first time I was in a mosque and we entered the building, removed our shoes and placed them in the cubby holes provided. We made our way upstairs covered with a very rich red carpet to a landing from which we could look down into the main prayer area. The photo shows this area and I think it shows what I found to be quite surprising and in contrast to my Catholic upbringing – the emptiness of it all. The carpet was pretty and the windows (not shown) had some decoration but that was about it. It kind of looked like a home someone just moved into but did not decorate. Then it struck me that this was the point. The point was to keep their time focused on prayer and on the communal experience of prayer which would obviously be present in such a space when filled with others. It was a very peaceful and powerful realization and a “now I get it” moment. There were no major prayer sessions going on so we made our way back to Igor and back to the apartment for lunch.

When we arrived for our afternoon session we asked if we could go outside as it was so nice today. Olga went to ask, but she needed to ask a doctor and since they were not around no one else could give that permission so we were stuck inside. We took out the standard issue toys and started to entertain and be entertained by Joseph. We have been working on sitting quite a bit and today he was a champ. Not only does he like music but he likes his CD player. Here in this photo Laura captures him looking up from it to say hi and then he went back to focusing on it and banging buttons etc! We have a short video of him dancin’ and bangin’ on his CD player – it is very entertaining. We should also let you know that his spots are going away and so he is at the end of the whole pox thing! This afternoon was a lot of fun but we needed to stick to our schedule as Olga and Aleea were up next for us and we had to get back to the apartment. It is always sad to say goodbye to Joseph but he will soon be with us 24/7!

We got back to the apartment just in time as Aleea arrived a bit early followed by Olga. They went through some documents which we had to sign as well as others we just needed to review. They discussed with us possible scenarios in court and how they thought we should respond. I will be asked questions first in regards to our family and my profession and then what we are asking of the court. The judge will also ask Laura questions similar to the pre-court day. (By the way, it will occur in the same room and with the same judge we saw before.) At the end of the proceeding both Laura and I will be asked if we have anything to say in our defense. This is the time when we give our speeches. These speeches should be less than 2 minutes and we can use notes. The responses to the other questions must be given without notes. We both feel like we understood everything and although we will be nervous we should be okay.

So after our training Laura and I decided to go out to eat and revisited the Kamelot restaurant down the block. This was the same restaurant the previous couples had their celebration dinner. We had a good dinner and some good beer. This time Laura’s beer had a straw in it! We looked around and other women drinking beer also had straws so when in Rome…Laura used the straw! After our dinner and dessert (crepes/belini) we walked home and on the way I finally got a decent picture of a raven. You can't really tell from this photograph but they are larger than a large crow. They are also everywhere here – almost as plentiful as pigeons. We have even seen a few fighting with cats! That is about all for today and our last Saturday in Uralsk.