 | Jeff says:
Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles! I know I said last night that
I wasn't going to mention the water again. This is because I was led
to believe that the hot water would be out for three to four weeks for
repairs. And I was okay with that, really. I got used to the cold
showers.
But this morning, I awoke to a post-rainstorm
Uralsk equivalent of Monterey in March. There was a gentle, cool
breeze, through the trees I could just barely discern a cloud-speckled
sky, and the air smelled fresh and clean. I fearlessly jumped
(gingerly stepped, really) into the shower and found that it was--and
I do not mean this in my typical "polyanna" style--ALMOST HOT!
Really! To quote Humphrey Bogart (including the lisp), "I came here
for the watersh. I wash mishinfawmed."
It was, however,
occasionally the color of watered-down root beer, or perhaps tea. Let
us say for the sake of positivity that I showered this morning in a
therapeutic spritz of lukewarm tea, and that if I had not dried off,
I'd look like I have a really sexy tan.
Alas, I am my
normal alabaster self today.
Also today was our
aforementioned pre-court appearance. We sat in chambers with the
chief judge of the local region. With us were a court stenographer
(who scribbled down a note or two when she was asked to), Assia (our
translator), Irina (the director of the babyhouse), Olga (the WPA
coordinator in these parts), and a representative from the Ministry of
Education (whose name I didn't catch when we were there a week ago,
nor, again, now). The judge asked us a set of predictable questions,
we gave him some predictable answers, and Irina presented a very
matter-of-fact official assessment of Alex' health status as the
doctors at the babyhouse have decreed it. Then we were officially
given a final court date of Tuesday, August 31, and we were on our
way. In and out in fifteen minutes. My dental sessions with Dr.
Evans (hi, Nouno!), which are admittedly and surprisingly somewhat
enjoyable for me, are tougher than that!
Assia then took us
shopping for some children's books, and we headed back for lunch.
Today at the Lakomka Bakery, they finally learned of a c. 8th century
B.C.E. invention called "a handwritten sign identifying the pieroshky
on the counter." This time, I recognized the delicious meat,
mushroom, and cabbage products with a simple visual inspection of the
text, and eagerly ordered six. I am positive that I used perfect
Russian to do so.
I immediately realized that it may be the
case that my Russian was perfect all along, and that they simply can't
understand the Queen's English Russian when
it's spoken to them. She loaded six cabbage pieroshkies into a bag
until I said calmly (again, in Russian), "The meat, mushroom, and
cabbage ones, please." Second time's the charm, apparently, in this
culture.
And then we headed across town for another visit
with our precious little boy. On the way there, I remarked once again
to myself that the same train we pass every day was still there on the
tracks near the hot-waterworks (no pun intended). Then it dawned on
me: the same train probably always will be on those tracks. It is a
linear collection of perhaps 50 rusting boxcars and flatcars, a relic
of a bygone age of shipping in these parts. They were probably parked
there by a company that went under when the Soviet system collapsed,
and have never budged an inch from that spot.
Come to think
of it, the entire transportation infrastructure here is somewhat
lacking. (Although, I will say they're paying just slightly less for
gas than we are right now! You won't find that to be the case
anywhere in Western Europe, that's for sure!) It strikes me as
interesting that amongst the once-was Volkswagens and Toyotas and the
rare but occasional American SUV, I see mostly Nivas and Lapas and
Volgas. There are no Yugos here, but last week I did notice an old
Volga parked near our apartment. It was perhaps a 1978 or so, or at
least, looked like a 1978 American car would look by now. It seemed
to me that the style was a half-witted attempt to imitate a 1969 Ford
Mustang, only, it was about as effective as attempting to imitate the
Boston Pops Orchestra with Home Depot's power tool department. The
end result was...a cheap car. It wasn't parked there the next
morning. That fact impressed me. You can't get a Volga in the United
States. I'm not entirely sure if it would pass emissions
standards...at a junkyard.
Our afternoon visit with Alex
was quite enjoyable, except for the fact that he was in some
discomfort. We did not really confirm this until later tonight. You
can read about it in Dina's entry as well.
We took him
outside in the Snugli very briefly. We were able to do this on our
own, which would imply that we now have training equivalent to that of
the National Guard, I suppose. He didn't mind it so much, and I now
know that we can configure the thing properly. It's actually pretty
comfortable for both of us. We should do alright in the Almaty,
Frankfurt, and San Francisco airports.
We also played with
a new toy, a little poppy car that reminds me of the "popcorn"
thingies we used to have when I was a kid, the ones with the two
wheels and the balls inside, with a button in the middle that makes
the balls jump when it triggers, the one you push around like a
vacuum. Anyway, he really likes the car, and unless it was just an
occasional accident, I think he pretty much figured out how it works.
Genius, I tell you, genius.
I tried to read in the
afternoon. I realized when I heard a knock at the door that what I
had hoped was the sound of turning pages was actually the sound of me
snoring. I splashed by face with warm (!) water and we were off to
the Alton Dela. Recall that we attempted to go there about a week
ago, but it was closed for renovations.
Arriving at the
building (about two blocks from our apartment), we were surprised to
find the entrance completely surrounded by scaffolding, a few pieces
of heavy equipment, and a few construction workers. We peered through
the scaffolding at the entrance, and there was the hostess motioning
for us to come inside. So we did. It was a squeeze.
Once
inside, we found a lovely, small cafe with attractive decorations. We
selected a table, We were given menus which we could not read. No one
at the restaurant knew English. We pointed at a few things randomly,
then attempted to find out which meat was which. Dina happened to
know the word for "cow," and Sue said, "moo." Between the two of them
(including Sue's wiggly arm motion for "fish"), we managed to order
four dishes. They were...uhm...they were...
I haven't the
slightest clue in tarnation what the heck they were. They were good.
Part of me wants to go back there and order the same thing. The rest
of me is amused at the futility of the concept.
I received a lovely note in yesterday's comments from Karen
Walton, who married a good friend of mine from college. It deserves a
reply.
Karen, you may not remember this, but I actually met
you (as far as I know) at least once, in the Fall of 1995, 1996, or
1997, while I was on campus visiting. Or, perhaps, might it have been
at Andy and Audra's wedding? (Or both?) I am very glad that you've
dropped in and joined our growing community here. I hope Dave is
aware of what's going on as well!
If you happen to be in
regular contact with Mr. Michael Schultz, I would certainly appreciate
you passing this website along to him. Besides that, he has two
cassette tapes of mine that I've been intermittently trying to recover
from time to time for the past ten years!
Some of today's photos need explanation.
1: A billboard
explaining that the President's slogan is that children are our
future.
2: One of the pipes that delivers hot water around
town.
3: Our delicious pieroshkies.
20-24:
Dinner at the Alton Dela. Note John Shebler struggling through the
scaffolding that blocks the entrance.
I
may have slightly overestimated yesterday when I said that I read a
quarter of a million pages for this degree. I only took 24 courses,
and not all of them required a significant amount of reading. A much
more realistic estimate would probably put me somewhere in the
50,000-page range, but that would still make this class (an
independent study!) the only class for which I did this much reading,
and (I confess) the only class for which I actually finished 100% of
my assigned works.
I have 25 pages left. I was hoping I
could say tonight that I was finished, but that may have been a little
overambitious, as it's now already after 1am.
But I have
purposely saved until the very end a paper on the subject with which I
began, an investigation of a subject which I'm sure captivates all of
you: 16th century correspondence between pen-pal Lutheran theologians
from Tübingen and the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of
Constantinople. This paper was written by Eve Tibbs, who is a
doctoral student at my school, and whom I believe may be reading this
journal. Eve, if you're there, please do stop in and say hello!
Tomorrow I shall complete my readings, and begin writing. I
have a lot to say. I hope it's cohesive. If this journal is any
indication, I sincerely have my work cut out for me!
Outside of this journal, I promised a number of
up-and-coming adopters that I would give an explanation of useful
electrical adapters and such. Those of you not planning to travel
here would probably like to skip this section.
The one
thing you REALLY need to know about the electrical system here (and
most everywhere else in the world, other than the United States,
Canada, and Mexico), is that the voltage is 240.
(Or maybe it's 220. I can't remember for sure, but frankly, that's
close enough.) Ours is only 120V. What this means is that an
American device that's expecting a 120V source, if plugged into a 240V
source, will promptly fry its measly little brains out, This is the
exact opposite of "Scotty, I need more power!" and it is especially
true of hair dryers. Your hair will get VERY dry...for about a tenth
of a second, before the hairdryer's innards melt themselves apart in a
final gasp of existence. [Travel hairdryers are a notable exception.
The two characteristics that justify their "travel" designation are
their compact size, and a switch on them that allows you to select
which voltage source you are planning to use.]
The solution
to this would be a transformer, a remarkable little device with
a European plug on one side that takes in a 240V source, and a US
socket on the other side which provides a 120V source for your
American device.
I do not have one of these here with me.
They are big and heavy and somewhat expensive. They range in size
from a Dixie cup to a car battery (depending on how many "Watts" of
power they are to supply), and are essentially a very tightly-wound
coil of copper wire inside, hence the weight.
But there's
some good news! Most equipment manufacturers these days are well
aware that people travel, and that they plug in their devices all over
the place. Therefore, for the most part, power supplies are designed
to detect whether the voltage source is 120 or 240, and adjust itself
accordingly. Notably, most computers, cameras, battery chargers,
PDAs, etc., are designed this way. IT IS ALWAYS BEST TO BE SURE, so
check your power supply to see if it has a label that says something
like "110-240V" (or somewhere in that general range), which will let
you know that you don't need a transformer, since there's already one
built in.
If your power supply (or your equipment's manual)
says this, then the only remaining problems that you have are:
1) [most obvious] your plug won't fit in the socket in the
wall;
2) [less obvious] you might want to protect your
devices against surges in a substandard electrical system.
To solve the first problem, all you need is a plug adapter. This is
a simple and inexpensive little piece of metal and plastic. It allows
you to plug a device of one type (in our case, American) into one end,
and fit the other end into the local socket (in this case, European,
which is the style of electrical outlet throughout Kazakhstan and all
other former Soviet republics as well). Such a device should cost you
no more than a few dollars, and will have one of a variety of
appearances. I show below both a simple one...
 
 
...and a more complex-looking one. This latter one
below merely allows you to plug in a device of most ANY type
(American, Australian, or, strangely, European), and have it convert
to the European plug on the other side.
 
;
The one remaining piece of equipment you might want to
have (assuming you do not like living dangerously) is a surge
protector. The one I brought (borrowed gratefully from Joan Norvelle
and Charles Lester) is shown below. I suspect they don't mind that I
am posting photos of their property here.
 
 
Please note that this device IS NOT A TRANSFORMER. That is, the outlets on the close side may look like your familiar 120V US sockets that you find at home, but they're only going to deliver the same voltage source that's coming in from the far side. You may notice that the two devices shown plugged in are power supplies for Macintosh computers, which I happen to know will handle any worldwide voltage source.
You may also notice that the device includes a phone jack. Actually, it includes two. Since power surges *can* occasionally come down a phone line, the surge protector can help protect your computer's modem from being fried by one of these anomalies. (Oddly, I could not get a dialtone through the surge protector, so I am bravely not using it while here in country. Since I do not have a second surge protector to work with, I do not know if it is because of a faulty surge protector, or a higher-than-expected normal voltage on the telephone line which fools the surge protector into thinking there is a constant surge. I lean towards the latter.)
See the E-loop archives for my explanation (just posted a few hours ago as of this writing) on how to obtain internet access in Kazakhstan.
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 | Dina says:
We had pre-court this morning. I wore makeup and lipstick today!
That sure felt good. I’ve been very low-maintenance since we’ve
been here, mainly because it’s been so hot that I’d sweat everything
off, and lipstick would just get in the way of kissing Alex's sweet little face. We forgot to take a picture of us all dolled up, but I’ll be wearing the exact same outfit for court, so you’ll see me then. Anyway, court was fine. It went pretty much as expected. We got there on time, but we didn’t go in to see the judge until about 10:20. It was fairly informal, in the judge’s chambers. You will read more details in Jeff’s journal, so you will know who was there and what else happened. So I’ll move on.
Since our court time was at 10:00, we missed our first visit with Alex. After we left court, Assia took us to a couple of bookstores to pick up some neat Russian books. We got some really great items, but I won’t go into detail, because I’ll be ruining surprises if I do! Jeff and I changed out of our “good clothes”, ate lunch, relaxed a bit, then Philippich picked us up to go to the baby house to see Alex.
Alex seemed happy to see us and didn’t seem to have a grudge that we didn’t visit in the morning. He was in a fairly good mood, even though we subjected him to the Snugli. He actually doesn’t really mind it, which is great since we’ll be using it on our way home. Toward the end of the visit, he started fussing, as he usually does when he’s tired. Except this time, he was crying, as opposed to fussing. He seemed to be in pain. I was concerned and thought it was because of his teething. But he kept moving his tummy and hips like they were hurting. I checked his diaper and nothing seemed to be wrong there. We took him up to his caregiver at the end of the visit and Assia asked her to keep an eye on him. We found out later, as we were walking to dinner with John and Sue, that when they went to pick up A.J. about a half hour after we dropped off Alex, the caregiver whisked by with Alex at arms length away. Apparently, he had the biggest poopy diaper you could imagine and needed to be bathed! They dunked him up to his armpits in a bucket of water and he seemed very happy to be getting cleaned up. It seems like the poor little guy had a tummy ache and just needed to get things moving along! I was relieved to hear that from Sue.
We had dinner tonight with John and Sue. We’ve been wanting to try Alton Della since we arrived here in Uralsk. We tried going once before, but they were closed for renovation. We heard from Olga that they were up and running again, so we decided to go there tonight. We walked the three blocks or so to the restaurant, only to find scaffolding blocking the entrance. We looked around a bit and a woman appeared in the doorway waving us in. We couldn’t read the sign in Russian that must have said “Pardon our mess, we’re open while renovating”. The menu was in Russian only, so none of us knew what to order. We were all feeling adventurous, so we decided to just point at random items on the menu and hope for the best. Jeff’s journal entry will go into more detail, but it was quite funny. The food turned out great, and we tried things that we probably would have never ordered had we known what we were doing.
Now, we’re just relaxing, and you’re all wondering why we haven’t posted yet. Sorry that we kept you all waiting, but I just had to finish a book that I started last night. Yes, I read a book in one day. Someone left “Beach House” here in the apartment and I picked it up last night. It was a fun and fast read, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
I’m looking forward to seeing Alex tomorrow. In the morning, a representative from the Ministry of Education will be coming to observe us with the baby. I guess we’ll leave the matches and knives out of the baby bag for tomorrow. Just kidding, of course.
I can’t believe that in about 81 hours, assuming everything goes as planned, Jeff and I will officially be the proud parents of Alexander Jeffrey Holton. We can’t believe the time here has gone by so fast. It seems like yesterday that I was counting down the days to leave for this trip. For those of you who are new to the adoption process, or waiting patiently (or not-so-patiently), trust me when I say it’s all worth everything we put into this process. The reward is so much greater than what we do to get to this point. We are grateful for everyone who has helped us get here. It is because of the support of our friends and family (YOU), and our wonderful agency (Jim, Cindy, Susan, etc) that our dream of becoming parents has come true.
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Comments for August 27
Comment from
Darcy McGowan | THat is great news that the first court visit went well. whew.... I was getting really antsy waiting for what happened.
could there be any problem with you getting Alex - I'm assuming this is a done deal but I don't really know.
I'll keep praying that all will go according to God's plan. He knows best. :)
Darcy | Comment from
Dina Holton | It isn't a done deal until the judge says so. We have no reason to think that anything would go wrong, though. Our agency has a 100% success rate in Kazakhstan, and we feel confident that everything will be just fine.
The thing that we're really praying for (besides the judge granting our adoption) is that the judge will grant immediate execution, which means he'll waive the 15 day post court waiting period.
Thanks for your prayers and support! | Comment from
Joanna | That's great your date went well. They didn't yell at you for not bundling him up more in the horrendously hot weather? I'm so bummed...Zee and I are leaving for Spokane this weekend (his brother and wife just had a baby about two months ago) and I won't be able to access the web again until the 7th! Maybe I can sneak on there to offset my withdrawls... | Comment from
Jeff | ¡Oh, goodness gracias!
I'm sure they'll let you get online from there. Heck, have them chime in! Everyone else is! :) | Comment from
Lana | <3...That's all I can never think of anything clever or witty to say =/ it's always somewhat disappointing but you both know how excited I am for you guys so I figure that this will be enough!!!
Love you both <33 | Comment from
Julianna | Hi! We have one of those push/vacuum toys that go *pop pop*. It's a favorite! I'm glad to hear your court date went just as planned. The next one will, too!
-Julianna | Comment from
Uncle Dan | Whew!! Here you are! I can breath again! Sounds like it went well today. I'm looking forward to good news on Terrific Tuesday and am praying for the waiver on that additional time.
Samar and I are having dinner with Ramzi, Ragheda, and Lana while Daniel is at work. We've looked at the site here and I'd like to say that we didn't mention the adventure your're having, but what an Olympic Gold Lie that would be. Everyone is so happy for you and enjoying "participating".
I'm thinking about your allegies, colds, etc. Please see that Alex has no cold or sinus problems before he flies. We big guys (or most of us) know how to equalize the pressure in the ears after take-off and during landings. The bad news is that babies don't know how to do that. The worse news is that if there's a cold or a sinue problem, it's impossible for anyone to stop the pain in the ears. The best you can do for Alex is to make sure that he's sucking a bottle during take-offs and landings. This worked for Sammie and Daniel who both had major travels before their first birthdays. For 'big guys', chewing gum enthusiastically can be beneficial. OK! Shut up!
We are counting the days and hours along with you. Now let us go see today's pictures. Yeah!! | Comment from
Uncle Dan | OK, I'm using more than my share of disk space, but after the pictures, I can not resist coming back. The Snugli is exactly what I though it was. It can be a God-send. You can carry two suitcases (or bags of groceries), the baby, and still have your teeth free for a purse or briefcase! The world will entertain Alex as you walk about, but prepare for protests when you try to stop! After all, you're merely a beast of burden, the litter bearer, the rickshaw driver, whatever. Despite all that, you'll enjoy the device and so will Mr. Mugs.
| Comment from
Nana Nina | Thank goodness everything went well this morning.
Poor baby Alex ~ he just had gas. Too bad they can't harness it to heat the water!! I trust he's O.K. by now. So he likes his bath, huh? That's good. I saw the neatest thing in Toys R Us: it's a little chair like a high chair seat with suction cups on the bottom, with a sort of arm that comes up from it and has a little platform with a padded cushion. You put the chair in the tub, and the arm comes up and holds the platform on the side of the tub, so the adult has a place to rest the elbow while playing with the baby, who can't fall out of the chair and therefore can't go under the water. The baby in the picture on the box looked quite happy.
I'm so excited for us all, and can hardly wait until September. | Comment from
Mary Ann Sanford | Hi Dina, Jeff and Alex! Just wanted to say hello and let you know how happy we all are for you. Scott, Katena, Jesse and I have really enjoyed the great photos and writings. Looking forward to seeing you and meeting your precious little one! | Comment from
Aunt Janet Holton | Your pictures today remind me so much of Mongolia--especially the hot water pipes. And the electrical shots of the much fried printer I took to China. Yes, the protection may be expensive (not all) but very much worth it.
Of course the pictures of that handsome young man of yours are the best. I too am especially fond of the "snugli" ones. I know how much more comfortable you will be in traveling with your child close to your person--face front or towards you.
Much love and prayers especially for Tuesday.
Aunt Janet | Comment from
mairesue | Hi Jeff and Dina,
I haven't commented in awhile but I check out pictures and read the journal everyday. I was looking at Alex and trying to remember when my two kidlings were the same age as him. It is a great age. Able to do things on their own yet still very baby like. You son is adorable and you two make great parents.
I am glad the pre court visit went nice and smoothly and we are praying that all goes well on the 31.
Thanks for being so open and for all the great pictures of Alex, Ketchup and Mtn Dew.
| Comment from
Lou Evans | Jeff, loved your comment yesterday about Alex falling asleep in your arms. It will happen many,many times in the next few years and you will never get tired of it!! | Comment from
Melanie | Okay... admittedly, I've had to play catch-up! I'm sorry I forgot!! I feel awful about it. But I'm happy to see that everything is going well and that Alex is getting even more used to y'all hanging around. I know his transition home will be awesome.
As far as the pictures. I think one of my favorite so far has been from this day's shots. It's the one where Alex is looking up at Dina, but you only see part of his head... just his profile, really. You need that blown up into a 5x7 or 8x10 and placed somewhere prominant!
I love y'all. | Comment from
jeney | It's moving right along! Court today - tomorrow (or soon after :D) - the world! Okay, home, but that might seem even better than conquering the world.
What is the landscape like there?
You haven't even brought him home yet and you already know when he's fussy crying and hurt crying :D | Comment from
Eve Tibbs | Hi Jeff, and thanks for the honorable mention! As always, my prayers are with you, Dina and Alex for a safe and uneventful return, as well as completion of your Master's studies. (which I well know is an accomplishment at any age!) |
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