Monday April 17th

Sorry if yesterday’s post sounded a little grumpy. I have been going a bit stir-crazy the last few days as we haven’t left the house much and with 4 people in less than 600 sq ft, it gets a bit crowded and starts to drive me a bit nuts! The weather is improving daily. That being said, I am glad I did not bring any clothes that I won’t feel guilty about throwing in the trash once I return home in mid-to-late May. I am very thankful for the sun and warm weather, but I feel like I’m living in Steinbeck novel with all the dang dust!! My dad called last night; it’s great to hear a bit of home each week, as I rarely hear English except occasionally in the grocery store. Every once in a while, Kaz really gets to me and I b-tch to myself about this place or Tim and I laugh about our meager existence these days. In the end, we’re all learning to become a family of 4 which like everything has it’s ups and downs--thank-goodness it’s mostly ups. Today we ventured out and walked to the TSUM--a big building full of small shops. I may venture into some of them when it’s just Sam and me. It’s still so strange to not have access to anything. We’re so accustomed in the States to being able to go to a store, pick the product that we need and purchase it. Here you can look at everything behind glass panels and they may or may not have it, which can be a bit intimidating at times. Sam rode his first escalator today and was a bit nervous; he also heard his first bell tower clock and that threw him for a loop as well. We also had a bit of home as we went to Mario’s Pizza Shoppe. The pizza was quite good, though much different than in the US. Tim got us 2 pies and a ½ litre of pepsi for the 4 of us and it was about $10. He also purchased another pepsi for 86 tenge and instead of 14 tenge change, he got a stick of gum, not a pack, but a stick. I guess you had to be there, but it was hilarious. Granted its 129 tenge to the 1 US dollar, but just the thought of gum for change had us giggling. We walked home through some of Karaganda’s side streets and saw numerous apartment buildings and various “trash parks” as Ian likes to call them, and of course, we had to play at yet another one! The boys got their first “present” from Papa yesterday two toy race cars and they were in heaven for hours. We found out yesterday that our court date is set for Friday 28th of April. We’re hoping it will get moved up as we have completed our 14 required days of bonding. If it did get moved up Tim and Ian would still leave on May 1st, it would just mean that Sam and I would have less time in Kazakhstan alone.