Hello from Astana!

Hello everyone. We arrived safely and it's been a busy couple of days. I'm at an Internet cafe now but only have a short time before we're off. I have two very nice detailed blogs on my laptop back at the hotel but haven't figured out how to get them uploaded here. Hopefully the apartment will have access so I can post from home and include photos.

We had a nice journey here, lots of sleeping on the planes. We arrived and were picked up at the airport and driven to the hotel. It's a great hotel and I'll be sorry to leave it but it'll be nice to have a kitchen. We're looking at apartments today.

Our hotel is next to the river and it's just beautiful. There are a few motorboats a day and you can rent paddleboats. Across the river is a huge park and an amusement park attached. It was open for the holiday Tuesday but I think it won't open again until summer. The weather is wonderful, we don't need jackets now and it's sunny. I'm hoping the apartment will be in the same area.

The first day we were here was a national holiday so all the government offices were closed. We went to a celebration (Kazakhstan's freedom from Germany after WWII) and saw a band and old tanks and trucks. We did a little shopping - I was told all the women wear only skirts but it's not the case at all. I had to buy another pair of pants and probably won't wear skirts much at all.

Yesterday (Wed) we went to the baby house - called orphange here and saw three babies. It looks like the one that will join our family is a boy, age 9 months. It's a long story and I'll give more details later, but we really liked another one and were all set when we learned there's a problem with his paperwork. So, after lunch we saw the 9 month old. He has a cold and a fever so he's not really active. He's 1/2 Russian and 1/2 Caucausion (can't remember exactly) but not Kazakh at all so he doesn 't have any Asian features. He's a cutie and hopefully when he's healthy we'll get more of an idea of his personality.

It was too late yesterday to look at apartments, so that's on tap for today.

Astana is a beautiful city, very clean and modern. The food is terrific although full of suprises. At the hotel , we get a free breakfast and Michael studied the menu before we went to translate it all for me. We were set to order but then they didn't ask us what we wanted but just brought us food. Owen loved it all - yohgurt, blinis (like crepes), kasha (like porridge) and tea. The second morning, Michael ordered but they brought different things - eggs and ham for Owen and Michael but for some reason I didn't get any. It's all a surprise and makes for a fun start to the morning.

It's so great being in a foreign country again. Although it's a mystery why, when I was in Japan, all my Spanish came out and here, all my Japanese comes out. I am remembering Japanese I haven't spoken for years. I'm working on reading the Cryllic alphabet (couldn't have started earlier, but who thought we'd actually be here??).

Owen is doing just great. He loved the babies and wanted to play with them. He's very excited to go to the babyhouse - he won't call it orphange, he says he doesn't want to say it in Russian. Haha.

I should go, but will be online soon since we now know where the Internet cafe is.

Love to all!
eileen