 | Jeff says:
Bye, bye, Bai
President Nazarbaev is
inconvenient.
I will grant that I've never knowingly been
within forty miles of a U.S. President (although I have seen Air Force
One on the tarmac at Moffet Field from time to time), but I know for
sure that I was within a hundred meters of Nursultan Nazarbaev this
morning. Yesterday, I watched the police escort for his motorcade on
their way to the airport to get him. Today, they were everywhere.
When we left the apartment this morning, there were important
looking uniformed policemen about every hundred meters all along
Dostick Avenue. Between them, on each side, every ten to thirty
meters, there would be a uniformed paramilitary troop. The latter
wear these simple, blue-gray camouflage jumpsuits with matching caps,
with no other markings whatsoever, giving them the appearance of
cadets. Since there were so many of them (for crowd control) at the
futbol game we went to the other night, we've taken to referring to
them as "cheerleaders."
In Russian, Philipich told us,
"Nazarbaev here today." Yeah, as if we needed to be told. At one
point, I mentioned (again, in Russian), "Nazarbaev in our
apartment?"
Philipich goes out of his way to avoid the
police. I asked him if he was a criminal. I'm not sure he entirely
understood the question. He said (and we needed Assia's later help to
decipher this) that Nazarbaev is afraid, but Philipich is not afraid,
hence the reason for all the police.
The word "criminal"
has been adopted into the Russian vocabulary. In fact, there's a soap
opera with a title something like "St. Petersburg Criminals" or
somesuch. I'm pretty sure he said that everybody in Uralsk was a
criminal.
The concentration of police was worse before our
afternoon visit. When we got in the car (after Philipich gave Dina a
bouquet of flowers, somewhat randomly, and a pear for each of us), we
pulled around the building to find no cars in our way. (We need to
turn left across traffic to head out towards the babyhouse.) There is
a reason why there were no cars in our way: they weren't allowing any
cars on the main road. A rather important-looking policeman with a
lot of shiny stuff on his jacket blew his whistle at Philipich and
demanded rather gruffly that he turn around. I immediately conjured
up images of me becoming the Kazakh version of Arlo Guthrie: "There I
was sitting on the Group W bench..." Anyway, we went out the back way
(think of it as a paved road in an unincorporated area), and at every
intersection, Philipich would look ninety degrees over and comment
that there were more policeman at the intersection of the main road.
We took a rather circuitous route to go pick up Assia.
Every trip to and from the babyhouse takes us about 15 minutes. We
go through the main, downtown part of Uralsk, up and over the train
tracks by the steamworks (where the hot water for the whole city is
produced in the wintertime), past the police station and the Assia's
apartment building, and then up and over another set of train tracks
before we get to the edge of town where the babyhouse is.
Just before we passed the police station today, we saw two policemen
walking toward the station, next to each other, on the overpass. I
mentioned to Philipich in my broken Russian, "Policemen here...big hats." He agreed, and I asked, "Big heads?"
He laughed a good, hearty laugh, and then retorted, "No. Very small heads!" And then he added, "But *I* have a big head!"
And then *I* laughed a good, hearty laugh.
Then he said, as if to surprise us, "Ya politsei" (I'm a policeman). We thought he was joking, until he produced an identification card from his sunshade. There it was, in a small, red, ID-size folder... Apparently, he retired in 1997 after 17 years on the local force. This man has done everything!
He also looked striking, cold, communist in his crisp uniform with shiny medals on the shoulders. This was the visage of a professional, political, party member, not the Philipich that we know today. I'll try to get a picture of the ID card, but I'm not sure how appropriate it would be to post it.
Still, this explains a bit more of the mystery of Philipich, just exactly why he has so many drugiy around town, how he knows his way around so well (and all the shortcuts!), and just why he's justified to be critical of the police.
Late in the afternoon, once we knew that Mr. Nazarbaev had (as Philipich puts it) "spleet," I said, "Bye, bye, Bai." Philipich again found me somewhat amusing (he's easy to please). Immediately after I said it, I had a frightening mental image of the Backstreet Boys stepping out from behind a building and doing a little dance. Indeed.
Teething rings and crinkly things
Alex continues to enjoy books. We showed him a small photo album today, including a picture of his Nana and Grampy. He hit them. I think that was a sign of affection.
The sippy cup continues to be a useful substitute for a teething ring, but the sound of his gums squeaking on it is something akin to nails on a chalkboard.
We did find a new passtime today. He likes standing on daddy's chest (with assistance, of course) and laughing at mama, flailing his arms about. At around 18 pounds (and occasionally kicking and/or trying to jump), I'm not sure how much longer he'll be doing that.
Pattycake also works wonders on 8-month-olds, apparently.
We also found that classical music is quite pleasant in the background. I just plugged in my iPod to my iBook and searched for "Schroeder" (since I have an album called "Schroeder's Greatest Hits"). All was going well until it finished the album and immediately broke into Gerhard Schröder's "Ein Flasche Bier." Oh, well.
I'm still completely amazed at Alex' ability to sit still and watch while we read a book to him. Of course, as soon as we're done, he wants to eat the book, but still! So my son has a culinary fixation? He's *still* a genius!
His soft ladybug book remains a favorite toy. There's so much to do on it! It squeaks, jingles, and crinkles, plus it includes a book with a story and a little mirror on one page (to appease his vanity, not that he has any yet), and little ladybug antennae on which to chew. What fun!
He gave me a kiss today. At least, I think it was a real, live kiss. If it was just an accident, I'm certainly going to encourage him to have more accidents in the near future.
Zhas Daurien
We went to visit the older children today at their orphanage. It's a complex about ten or fifteen miles past the babyhouse we've been visiting. This made up for missing last night's performance.
There are about 400 children there, ranging in age from 8 to 18. We met several of them. They crowded close around us as we distributed the packages and letters we brought with us from America in the large duffel, even closer when we were done and they just wanted to chat or have their photos taken, and yet closer still when I pulled out my Russian phrasebook.
The children there are amazing, not rude or pushy, talented, and smart. They wait their turns. They support each other. Some of the boys are typical hams (which is why you see Misha and his two or three friends in all three pictures we posted today). Two of the older girls spoke excellent English, and I am not at all worried about what they will do when they turn 18. I think they have their tickets written for them already!
Two younger children in particular caught our attention. Zhenia is an adorable little girl who latched onto Dina almost immediately. She's also shown in a picture with Dina and a boy named Vova. Given the way it's spelled in Russian, I shall henceforth refer to him--likely for the rest of my life--as Boba Fett.
We plan to request our driver and translator to take us there at least once more. We would like to meet with the children a second time, and we also want to find out how we can sponsor one or more. I have grand images of where this could lead, and I can think of far worse ways to spend our surplus than on an investment in the life of a human being.
How to write like Jeff
I'm going to give you my secret. I admit it. I'm not as smart as y'all think. (Heck, I can use "y'all" in a sentence. Like, c'mon.)
The secret to writing impressive-looking prose is peppering the work with words that you barely know the meanings to yourself.
That's it.
Actually, I have been known to go back and read papers I wrote early in graduate school and think to myself, "Who the heck wrote this? I can't understand his vocabulary!"
So I've decided to give you all an assignment. I want your comments to include one or more of the following impressive-looking words:
1. vicarious
2. rubric
3. pontificate
4. antithetical
5. pyrrhic
6. aileron
7. edjumacated
I don't want to take all the credit here. I'm hearing rumors that our journals and photos are creating quite a stir in several places on multiple continents. I want "y'all" to get some recognition as well, so PLEASE, feel free to outwrite me. Your use of hyperinflated diction will help take the spotlight off me--and you--and leave it securely on Alex.
...Which is what we all want, of course.
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 | Dina says:
Our visits today were business as usual. Since it’s the weekend, the
music room was available to us! Hallelujah! Despite Alex’s
teething, he was in a pretty good mood. He really seems to love it
when I look at him and sing and clap my hands. He gets VERY excited
and smiles BIG smiles and bounces up and down. It’s just about the
cutest thing you’ll ever see. Then, he tries to clap his hands, too,
but he’s not quite coordinated enough. He ends up just flailing his
arms around, but he gets extra cuteness points just for his effort.
Yesterday, we asked one of his caregivers if she had his updated
weight. As of a couple weeks ago, Alex weighed 8.1 kilograms, and was
69 centimeters long. I think that’s about 17 pounds and about 27
inches long. It’s neat to see how much he’s growing.
In
between visits today, we had the privilege of delivering letters and
gifts to the older children’s orphanage, Zhas Daurien. This is where
the kids go when they get too old for the baby house. There are 400
kids there between the ages of 8 and 18. They are beautiful and
amazing children, and I wish we could have spent more time with them.
As we were driving in, the kids started to notice us and wave and
follow the cars. We brought the big duffle bag out that we were asked
to carry over. We got to call out the kids’ names and hand their
gifts and letters to them. They were all very sweet and polite and
excited to see us. There were a few little ones, in particular, who
seemed to be drawn to me- two little girls, about 8 years old, Zhenya
and Nastya, and a little boy, Vova. You’ll see their photos with me
in the photographs from today. Zhenya was particularly sweet, and
about halfway through the visit, she put her arm in mine. She held on
to me until we left; my heart just about burst. I could have stayed
with them all day, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to go back before we
leave. Jeff was so cute; he got out his Russian phrasebook and all
the kids swarmed to him. He was trying out funny phrases with them,
and they were all helping him with his Russian pronunciations. Then
it was my turn with the phrasebook. I said a few things, and they
were all very sweet and repeated things back to me. At one point, a
particularly outgoing boy, Misha, walks up to me and asks, “How is
your health?” What a funny thing for a little boy to ask! But he
said it in a very good American accent. Of the 400 kids there, only
about 160 have sponsor families. Our adoption agency has set up a
program where families in the US can sponsor a child for $25 a month.
Every penny of that goes toward the child to spend in a supervised
manner on necessary items such as clothing and medicine. The majority
of the money is kept for them to use when they graduate out of the
orphanage. If any of you are interested in sponsoring a child, please
click here.
We came home for a short time after visiting the older kids and before tour second visit. The president of Kazakhstan is in town, and must be VERY close to us, because there were police about every 50 yards or so. The main street where we live was closed to traffic, as well. We’re not exactly sure where he was or what he was doing, but we thought it was pretty cool that we got so close.
Phillipich brought me flowers today, which I thought was very sweet. He also has a pear for each of us to snack on on our way to the baby house. He is a very sweet man with a great sense of humor and we’re really enjoying our time with him. We learned something new about him today. He told us that he was a police officer in Uralsk for 17 years and retired in1997. No wonder he knows everyone in town!
We came home in the afternoon and each took a long nap. We woke up around 6:30 and headed over to the Chagala. We knocked on John and Sue’s door on our way out, but they weren’t there. It turned out they were already at the bar! Great minds think alike! We enjoyed dinner and had fun watching the Olympics. We got all excited when we saw the a Kazak woman throwing the javelin. We may have cheered more for her that we did for the US woman!
Now we’re in for the night and trying to stay cool. The apartment now feels like home and everything around here is not nearly as foreign as it felt a week and a half ago. That is not to say I don’t miss home, but I’m not as homesick as I thought I might be.
Thank you all for your prayers about my health. I woke up this morning feeling healthy and refreshed. I think my daily glass of orange juice may be helping me fight off any sickness. I’m also drinking lots of water (bottled, Uncle Dan), too.
I hope you are all doing well and taking good care of yourselves. Each that that goes by gets us one day closer to seeing you all. We love you and miss you!
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Comments for August 21
Comment from
Julianna | Because I am not EDJUMACATED I had to look up all the words. I will have to live VICARIOUSLY through you, Jeff, and PONTIFICATE here: your RUBRICS are very interesting to read. OK, that's the best I can do, and it's not too good. :) I love your pictures. Those kids at Zhas Daurien are so beautiful!
-Julianna | Comment from
Yiayia Connie | Wow, I am the first today!!! As always the pictures are cuter than yesterday if that is possible. I love seeing the kids at the older orphanage. They really look happy and healthy. What a great experience to visit them there.
Alex looks cute in his red shirt and khaki overalls, he such a little fashion plate now. 'The book pictures are the greatest. I can't wail to read to him.
Lots of love and hugs to all of you
Yiayia | Comment from
Yiayia Connie | Well, I guess I wasn't first, sorry Julianna! | Comment from
Deltamiss | Jeff, you are such wordsmith I doubt anyone can keep up with you! But, it is amusing to pontificate on the antithetical culture clashes between you and your driver. Perhaps if my life were more interesting I would not have to live vicariously through yours. Fortunately, yours is not a pyrrhic victory in the game of adoption so the vicariousness is a pleasure! Your transitional rubrics have intensified my anticipation while reading your journal about that precious new son of yours. Were I more edjucamated, perhaps I could remember the definition of "aileron" so as to make my post even more turgid! Therefore, I dub thee Writer Exemplar and capitulate the throne...for what it is worth. | Comment from
Julianna | That's OK, Connie! :) We probably posted at the same time!
-Julianna | Comment from
Lana | HAH! I know what all those words mean...sort of...Jeff I really hope Dina doesn't get tired taking care of 2 kids!! haha just kidding!
Talk to you guys soon!
<3 Lana | Comment from
David | Look at this. Do you think there is any truth to it, based on your experience?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3583596.stm
Love your site, your photos, and the principal looks worth all of the time, and work you have put in. | Comment from
Andrew | Jeff -
I know you like to think you are EDJUMACATED but you are still an AILERON short of a wing. To PONTIFICATE further would be a PYRRHIC gain as my VICARIOUS visit to Kazakhstan is ANTITHETICAL of the RUBRIC you've created. There, that sounds good, eh? I may even know two of the words. Maybe. ;)
Andrew | Comment from
colene | Im glad to see you have those mosquitoes under control, I hate to think that Jeff has an ail-er-on his arms or legs. I hear those mosquiters really like red meat - kind of vicar-ivor-ious little fellows. All you need to to do is get a big hand full of anti- thetical creme and rub-it-ric on the bite, it will feel alot better. If you light a match near the window, the smoke will send the bugs away too. Dont have too much fun playing with the matches tho, people will think you are a pyrrhic-maniac.
Well, as far as edjumacated, I know thats not a real word. HA! You thought you had me on that one.
Enjoy your trip, Im sure glad you tought us how to be smart.
Colene
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