Friday May 12

After posting to our blog last night I realized it was only the 11th and not the 12th, what a bummer. Last night I did not sleep well, towards morning I had many mini-nightmares. Then to come to the realization that it was “still the 12th” was not too grand! Although we did have another sunny day, we did not leave the apartment until noon to go and pick up another Nursat card and some fruit and bread from the supermarket. Sam loves going to the supermarket. Since I was internally in a bit of a bad mood, I decided I needed to do something goofy and I decided we would have a picnic in our living room. Sam enjoyed it immensely and thus my mood improved. Thank goodness he is a very easy child over all. How we were blessed with two wonderful children I know not and had he come with a ton of “issues” staying the entire time would have been truly trying.

Agnes called to say the kids were at Trash Park and invited us down to play. By the time we got to the park they had gone in for a bit, but Sam and I still had fun pretending we were Beckham and Pele! We played for about 40 minutes until Agnes came back down and we walked once again to Asia to window shop!! It was quite warm and Agnes invited Sam and I up for a drink. Oh how I wished it were a margarita and I was on a beach in the Maldives, but just having good adult conversation and laughter was a good runner up There son, Ryan, had made a list of what he’d miss and not miss about Kazakhstan, and we were all in tears at least 10x. They received some great news that they will have their court date on Monday. While I’m extremely happy for them, I’ll be sad to see them leave as they have made my trip so much more enjoyable. I’m so glad they live in MA. It will be great to see them down the road and laugh about old times and to marvel at the improvement in our children’s English language skills and overall development. Plus, I’ve always wanted to visit Salem, MA. Yes, they do have a black cat and yes, Halloween is crazy and fun in Salem!! I had asked the same two questions myself!!

After hanging out at the Taj Mahal for a couple hours Sam and I headed home for dinner, a few books and bed. Not too terribly exciting, but it was a sunny warm day and that makes all the difference for me!! 6 weeks ago today we left Newark for Kaz. I hope to talk to Tim and Ian this week-end. I miss them very much! Being apart from both of them for nearly two weeks has been very, very difficult. Today’s pictures are of silly Sam with my travel pillow on his head, and of Karaganda’s alternative to trash pick-up!! .Oh, before I forget, the bad news of the day is that my friends, Anjanette, Ronnie, and their daughter, Reagan, had another really tough day. The soon to be son, Bennett is in the hospital with what they say is bronchitis and due to Kaz’s bureaucracy they will only get to visit him once or twice and maybe not til Monday. Please think good thoughts for them and give your own children or pets extra hugs tonight and be thankful you and yours are healthy. Night-Night.