Hang on Griff... we'll be there soon!

We're heading back to Kazakhstan very soon to bring our son home.

The time between trips has been very difficult to endure. We've done our best to stay busy and concentrate on preparing for Griffin's arrival. His room is ready: the bed made, the clothes washed, the diapers purchased.

It won't be long until we have one Moore in the house.

The End of Trip One

Home Sweet Home

Our flights home were uneventful: very long and painful for the muscles and joints but well worth it upon seeing the smiling faces of Connor and Lana at the airport.

The only problem... we can't wait to get back to Kazakhstan.

A Day in Almaty

On Tuesday morning we took the quick flight from Shymkent to Almaty.

Arriving in Almaty was like taking in a breath of fresh air. The feel of Almaty is so different from Shymkent. The city sits in the mountains so the view is amazing. The streets are lined with big trees, the sidewalks are even, the drivers follow traffic laws and many young people speak English.

We spent the warm afternoon walking around the city. We walked to the tourist walking street (similar to Arbot Street in Moscow) where many vendors sell souvenirs. There are shops, restaurants and ice cream stands. We met up with the Dickey's and had one last dinner together. A very enjoyable day.

For anyone coming to Almaty soon... Hotel Almaty is clean and has big rooms and is centrally located, but we didn't like it that much. The room was $170 per night. We could hear the street traffic at night and the shower didn't work well.

Last Days in Shymkent

The last couple days in Shymkent...

Sunday we started the day with a brief meeting with Nurshia and Zhenia to discuss our court appointment. Later that day we finally made it to lunch at a place called AN, we can’t get there during the week because they close at 3:00p.m. They serve a dish called ‘plovf’. It’s a rice dish with carrots, raisins, chick peas and mutton / lamb meat. (I have eaten more lamb in the past month than I have my whole life!) Plovf is delicious and get this… a huge bowl of plovf is $1.25. One of the best lunches we’ve had and it only cost $2.50, amazing!

Sunday afternoon we were invited to a picnic. The invitation to the picnic came in the oddest of ways. We were invited by complete strangers. Saturday evening about 9:30 at night there is a knock on our hotel door and I open the door to find two smiling girls. They quickly say “hello”. They tell me they had heard about the American couple staying in the hotel and they wanted us to come to the picnic so they could practice speaking English with us. It goes against all things normal in the States: one the hotel staff gave them our room number, two they don’t know us at all and three they were so nice and sincere with their offer. The picnic time was pushed back so we were unable to attend… much to the disappointment to the girls. They came back to the hotel Monday night to say good-bye. Complete strangers coming to say good-bye. I honestly don’t even know their names.

The reason we were unable to attend the later picnic time was because we had plans with another stranger who wanted to speak English and ask questions about America. I know it’s very odd, but hey what else do we have to do?… might as well take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about Kazakhstan. We met this very intriguing young Russian girl while trying to figure out how to add minutes to our KZ cell phone. She over-heard us struggling with the Russian directions on the phone card and nicely asked if she can help us. After a few minutes of conversation and many thanks, she asked if we’d have coffee with her on Sunday.

The coffee conversation on Sunday was fascinating. She is desperate to get to the US or Europe to go to college. She’s trying to find a college that offers scholarships to International Students. She doesn't have the money to fund a US education by herself.

The fascinating part of the conversation revolved around her current education. She has an associate’s degree from a university in Shymkent, but the degree is considered worthless. Most of the college degrees earned in Shymkent have little merit in other cities in Kazakhstan and are not honored in other countries. She will have to start her education over in Russia, Europe or the US. How can that be??? In her words, “Corruption and bribes”. She describes an environment where students can pay professors for good grades. This practice is so common that it degrades the integrity of the entire higher education system. The students who get professional jobs after college get the jobs because of family connections or bribes. She completely understands this system is terrible for Shymkent and for the whole country and she’s wants out. If anyone out there knows of scholarships or internships for international students please let us know.

On Monday, the 28th, morning we prepared for court. We made a quick visit to the Baby House to see Griffin one last time before leaving but he was sleeping so we were told to come back later. We had our court appointment and everything went fine. The judge granted our adoption but it does not become official until the end of the 15 day appeal period. It’s hard to feel true excitement at this point.

After court we went for a quick visit with Griffin. He was in a good mood and didn’t understand the extra hugs and tearful good-bye. It’s so hard to leave him! We just keep telling ourselves it’s only one more month and he’ll be home.

We ended the last day with a quick dinner at Istanbul and an evening of joyful packing.

Feasts and Beasts

The past few days have been a whirlwind of activity, alternating between preparations for court and our increasingly busy social schedule.  Above is a picture of our night out with the Dickey's (sounds like a Disney film, eh?) Thursday, at the Uzbekistani restaurant that Amy mentioned in the prior post.  For us, this restaurant probably has the best ambiance we have experienced in Shymkent, and the food is very good as well.  Oh, and we fed 10 people for around $75 US.  Great deal!  You can't tell from this picture, but we are sitting in an upstairs 'loft', overlooking an outdoor courtyard.  We have several other pictures in the slideshow that provide a better perspective and also has the name of the restaurant for those that will be heading to Shymkent (it's in Kazakh).

On Friday we had a very good visit with Griffin.  His head is healing nicely, and he continues to show us his determination and spirit.  He’s now excited to show us how he can walk across the room with mommy holding one hand, and daddy the other.  He’s also started to display his soccer (or football skills over here…), by ‘kicking’ at one of the bouncy balls in the toy room.  While he still has a long way to go to catch up, it is very encouraging to see how much his confidence and endurance has improved over such a short time.  I can’t wait to get him home and see what he can do with the full support of his new family and friends!

Speaking of new friends, we had a special evening Friday night with our new Shymkent friends Jon-Paul and Yuliya, and their two lovely youngsters Brianna and Ryan.  We were treated to a traditional Kazakh feast at a local restaurant, with seating much like the Uzbek restaurant from the prior evening (comfy seating on pillows around the low table in a private room).  During the meal, we were able to sample a few Kazakh dishes new to us, both a gift of the horse (fermented mare’s milk) and, well… the horse itself!  Surprisingly, the horse meat was fairly tasty.  Had we not known it, we probably would have mistaken it found a good piece of beef, perhaps a bit saltier, but tender and good flavor.  I just hope that I didn’t just lose my rights to travel back into Kentucky… 

Regarding Kymys, the mare’s milk, however… Yuliya dear, since I know that you’ll likely read this, let’s start by saying that we loved your enthusiasm and we really wanted to like your favorite drink.  But I must admit I was a bit skeptical when you described the fermentation process as ‘you kinda start with letting the milk set out for a few weeks, then skim off the top…’.  Yea, ok.  Think happy thoughts.  It’s only a drink, and plenty of people survive and actually like this.  Yuliya doesn’t seem to suffer any permanent twitches or other obvious effects, so let’s have it.

The drink looks like milk, only watered down.  It has a slight alcohol odor (there is some alcohol that is a result of the fermentation process).  Amy and I try a sip, and realizing that our hosts are watching, and that we do not have a chaser of any sort to be found, we do our best not to completely give away the fact that this is not a fluid that should be consumed by humans.  Ever.  Under any circumstances.  Yuliya politely notices that we are not gulping down our toxic mixture (again, love you dear!), and mentions that it’s an acquired taste.  I’m thinking that it’s probably acquired over several generations.

Amy Here:

I’m sorry to interrupt but I have to add a few comments. Jesse is correct – the horse meat wasn’t that bad. In case you’re wondering, they boil the meat and serve it cold. It had a casing around the outside that Jon-Paul said to take off.  I refuse to believe it was horse intestines so I’ll ignore how or why the casing was there.  The meat was sliced thin and attached to congealed fat. Sort of yin-yang looking, they said it was ok if we didn’t want to eat the fat (nice of them).  It reminded me of a salty beef jerky. 

As for the mare’s milk… I wish I could explain the taste. It was terrible! It was so soar, so bitter, so bad.  I honestly can’t believe it’s not dangerous to your body.

The rest of the dinner is absolutely delicious, and we ended the night with coffee and great conversation at Jon-Paul and Yuliya’s house.  While the bureaucratic processes in this country can be difficult to navigate and are often dictated by payoffs and corruption, Amy and I have been constantly amazed by the hospitality of the individual folks in Kazakhstan.  Certainly Jon-Paul and Yuliya are in a league of their own in this regard, and have made our stay much more rewarding due to their generosity and friendship.  Thanks guys, it’s nice to know that we’ll always have friends in Shymkent!         

 We continued our adventures on Saturday by traveling to Turkistan (not to confuse with the country Turkmenistan), to visit a mausoleum dating to the late 14^th century.  The mausoleum (see slide show) was named for the first great Turkic Muslim holy man, Kozha Akhmed Yasaui.  Turkistan is a region of Kazakhstan, so we didn’t actually leave the country, but it was a 2-2 ½ hour jostling ride by car through the countryside and several small villages.  It’s about 90 miles from Shymkent.

The trip provided us an excellent opportunity to witness how people live in Kazakhstan outside the ‘big city’.   The first thing that hits you is the physical beauty of Kazakhstan’s rolling hills and steppes.  And since much of the land is not well developed outside the city, it’s obvious that the basic landscape has not changed much in the past several thousand years.  In many places farmers still herd sheep, cattle, and goats while riding donkeys.  However, in other areas, we noticed some technology (circa 1960-70’s) in the form of tractors, old trucks, and basic farm equipment.  Life is certainly much different in the villages than in the city, and a world away from what is typical in the States.

One of the highlights of our trip was during a stop to a camel farm.  Our driver, Kostria, felt the camel and I had the same teeth, and that his picture below was proof.   I believe my childhood orthodontist may take offense, but I do see his point.

For those that haven’t had the joy of spending quality time with these creatures, they are intimidating.  They’re bigger than you think, they smell very bad, and they have an attitude.  Our friend here was particularly cantankerous, and started our visit with an immediate ‘Urrggnnnhhhh’.  Can’t do it justice in written format, so you’ll just have to ask Amy and she’ll recreate the sound for you.  Let me just tell you, it wasn’t ‘Hello’, and it wasn’t welcoming.

Amy wanted nothing to do with this creature, which you will notice by the one picture (in the slideshow) with her stiff-arming the thing from as far away as possible.  By the end of our brief visit, Mrs. Camel was tired of the picture-happy Americans, and started to become more aggressive.  The farmer motioned that we would be fine, but I’ll bet that he was secretly hoping that I’d get a chunk of my hide removed by the inch long teeth housed in mouth of my surly new friend.  The last picture taken shows the camel’s head as it was swinging toward me.  Fortunately, you can’t see the panicked look on my face as I realized there was nowhere to hide from the freakishly flexible neck on this beast.  If it wanted to extract a pound of my flesh, it could have without a problem.  I escaped unharmed, and without being spat upon.     

Amy here again:

Excuse the interruption again… look in the dictionary next to the words “Good Sport” and you better see a picture of my smiling face. Remember the night before I ate horse meat and drank poison, got little sleep and had to be up early for the drive to Turkistan. 2 ½ hours one way, Jesse said it is a jostling ride… jostling my butt.  My neck is still sore from the ride there and back: think bobble head doll.  It was 90 degrees that day and in the mausoleum, an official asked me to cover my head and provided me with a large napkin thing. I refuse to call it a scarf. God (or should I say Allah) knows how many other woman had worn it before me.  Interesting place.

I’m happy to be back on the road to the hotel, but the boys want to stop at the camel farm.  Can you imagine pulling up to a house/hut in the middle of nowhere asking if the silly Americans can see your camels?  The old farmer must think we’re nuts!  I, being the good sport, get out of the car and start towards the camel. As I’m walking toward them I see the farmer has just loosely tied the front legs of the camel.  (Made me think of walking up to a dog as someone is putting a mussel on it.)  I’m surprised at its size, as it’s much bigger than I imagined. The creature is making this really loud  ‘Urrggnnnhhhh’ sound.  All signs are blinking “stay away”.  I give into peer pressure and get close enough to touch the camel. Clouds of dirt come off as I touch her and she really stinks. I’m done… get the picture as proof and I’ll meet you in the car. Call me a city girl; actually just call me a girl from Ohio where we have dogs, not camels.

Then Kostria encourages Jesse to give the camel a big hug.  I stop my retreat to the car and turn to witness this trick. As Jesse reaches up to hug it, the camel starts moaning and coughing and then turns his head and neck toward him.  I think it was preparing to spit on him. Ahhh, the look on Jesse’s face was truly priceless. It scared him to death – he couldn’t get away fast enough. The four of us (Zhenia, Kostria, old farmer and I) are cracking up laughing. Made the whole trip worth it!

On an educational note: what do they do with camels?  They drink the milk, sheer them for warm wool, use them for transportation, and eventually eat them. (Jesse here – I would have paid to participate in the eating part… particularly with this angry beast.)

Court Date

Our court date has been set!

We go to court on Monday at noon. (7 days exactly from our last bonding day). I think Nurshia had to pull a few strings to get us to court so quickly. She ask for copies of our plane tickets to show the courts.

We'll go to court Monday, then flight from Shymkent to Almaty on Tuesday, then fly home on Wednesday. We leave Wednesday morning here, travel for 23 hours, but still get home Wednesday night there. I'm sure our heads will be spinning for a few days.

English Class

It’s Thursday night here in Shymkent and we’ve had a long but fulfilling day. We started the day with a visit to the baby house. Griffin’s new health issue is being addressed and seems to be getting better. The Baby House doctor requested we go buy him medicine and bring it to them. We set our driver right away to purchase an antibiotic and cream. We also practiced walking today. With Jesse holding one hand and me the other he walked the length of the room and back. It’s a huge improvement from day one when he couldn’t / wouldn’t take a step. The cute thing is how he gets excited about his accomplishment. His smile is infectious.

After the baby house visit we had to grab a quick lunch. We go to the mall and walk up to the “pizza” place. The girl that works there starts entering our order without us saying anything. We’ve only eaten there three times and she knows exactly what we like. Doesn’t she know we like struggling through the ordering process?  Don’t take away our fun!

Later in the afternoon we were invited to The English Center to work with students learning to speak English. The students sign up for the free class to help them learn to speak 'conversational' English. It’s not often they get to practice speaking English with people other than their teacher, Frances, who is from Texas, so they were eager to talk. The class was divided into 4 groups and we Americans rotated through the groups. (Michael and Graham Dickey were with us. They’ve been there before).

It was a great experience. The language barrier has really hampered our ability to learn about the true Kazakhstan culture. So far our only source of knowledge has been from a select few, which are primarily Zhenia, Ulia, and John Paul.  Remember, we can’t read the papers or understand the local news stations on TV. Today we had the ability to ask questions to about 20 students who were willing and able to communicate with us. They in turn asked us questions about our lives or American culture.

I was asked very basic questions like… “Do you like your husband?” I had to answer yes since Jesse was sitting at the next table. “Are you a tourist in our city?” I didn’t realize Shymkent was a hot spot for tourism. “Do you like our food?” Let me set the record straight, in America we do not eat horses.

Q&A from me to them.
Q: Age to get married? A: 18 – 24. Usually the bride goes to live with his parents, which they help to support.  Don't get any ideas Maw-Maw and Papa...

Q: Places you’d like to see in America? A: Florida, California, and New York.

Q: Do you watch American movies? A: Yes, they watch all American movies, translated into Russian.

Q: Do you like American music? A: Yes. (By the way, they play American music everywhere and a lot of “raw” rap music. Obviously they don’t understand the words).  Beyonce was a favorite among one of the 'guy' tables.

When finished the evening by going to dinner with the Dickey's, their translator Erera and our shared driver Kostra. Kostra is a blast to be around. He speaks Russian but talks to us directly like we understand him. Erera spends a lot of time translating and is usually laughing as she does so. It's really amusing. We went to an Uzbek restaurant where we sat on pillows around a ground level table. We ordered a bunch of food and shared it. An evening that will surely be one of our best in Kazakhstan.  We'll soon have pictures posted to view.

Quick story about our old driver. We had scheduled for him to pick us up at 6:00 in the evening to take us to a Chinese restaurant on Wednesday. We usually walk everywhere, so it was a special request. He did not show up to get us. The next day Nurshai (our coordinator) apologized to us. She said, "we had an agreement, he broke the agreement, you have a new driver". Alrightly then... nothing more to be said.

Jesse here -- one quick addition.  After Nurshai has made her impassioned apology and is satisfied that she has adequately dealt with the problem, she proudly asks that we follow her to our new car and driver to head off to our daily baby house visit. As we get to the corner of the road where we typically meet the car, she slowly starts to look around, then stops. A grin emerges on her face. Then she busts out laughing. Our new driver is nowhere to be found! Her moment of redemption appears to be slipping by, but fortunately Kostra arrives a minute later, all smiles and personality (unlike our prior driver). At least everyone has been able to keep their sense of humor throughout this ordeal!