May 25, Thursday Finally Home
Yikes, what a journey.. The good news, we're home safe and sound and everyone is doing quite well. Sam and I took Ian to school today and then went to Walmart for groceries et all. He was amazed at how big it was and that he could ride in the cart!! I can't say how thankful I am to be home. We had a big scare on Tuesday morning as I awoke to our hotel room door being ajar and no longer possessed my passport, $700 cash, credit card, military id card and some tenge. Tuesday day I was a wreck, trying to get a new passport in order to have our exit interview to get home. Sam was great, just went with the flow. It was a nightmare I then had to lie to the police and say I "lost" my passport in order to get some paper that had to be turned into the Min of Educ. to get a new exit visa, etc. I would not recommend staying at the Hotel Kazzohl, as they're attitude towards everything was poor. It's too bad because it's so close to the TSUM and cafes. Our flight from Almaty to Frankfurt was uneventful and as always the staff of Lufthansa were great Sam slept for about 4 hours of the trip, but I was still restless and had a bit of a tummy ache so no sleep for me. We then hung out in the Frankfurt terminal for 7hrs. I thought I would be able to go to the USO, but because Sam was not yet a cititzen we could not leave the terminal to walk outside a mere 100ft to the other terminal where the USO was located. There were not too many seats open in the main terminal so finally we sat in an extra car that the airport uses to help elderly people reach their destinations. We then found a different McDonalds where we could eat lunch and watch the plane for hours. I met some nice people while waiting. A mother with 3 of her 7 children waiting to depart for Nigeria, a man from Ghana, and 2 nice men from India who shared their seat with us at Micky D's.
The next flight was easy as well, but I think we may have had a head wind because it took about 7.5 hrs to return home and when we left it was only 6.5 or maybe daylight savings or something like that. Anyhow, Sam was the star of the plane, very well behaved. I spoke to a nice woman from Germany the majority of the flight and we had no problems whatsoever with customs or immigration. We then headed to Auntie Robin's house for a bit as the traffic in NJ was horrendous and spent a few hours with some extended family. That's about it!
Thanks for reading!
posted by The 4 McCaffery's @ 5:00 PM
4 Comments:
Dear Nell and family,
So glad to read you are home. I have been following your blog throughout, hopeing to travel this fall ourselves. We adopted our eldest in Nov 2003 from Kaz and are going back.
I will miss waking up to read your adventures, I hope you will post updates now that you are home on how your sweet boy is doing and how your sweet family is adjusting. We had always thought we would adopt another girl, but I can honestly say reading about your experience with Sam has opened the doors in my mind (and heart) to a possibly adopt a boy. We are now hopeing for a sibling pair with with a boy and a girl.
Take care, and again, so glad you made it home safe!
Sarah
WELCOME HOME! What a miserable end to your time in Kaz! Reconfirms my thought that the extra $$ for the Hyatt might be worth it. Your blog has become a bit of an obsession with me - gonna miss hearing about your daily adventures. Hope all continues to go well with Sam's adjustment to family life and your move to CO. Hope you'll post occasionally to let us all know how you're doing.
Best of luck to the whole family,
Debbie
I know what you mean about the Hotel Kazzol, we were there for a tiny bit before going to Astana 2 years ago & it was nasty, our friends encountered "bedbugs" when they stayed. I'm so glad you are safe at home with your family, I will miss reading about your adventures, I have loved keeping up with you all.
Blessings!
Ann
Welcome home. Am sorry you had such problems at the very end of your stay. Now you can settle in and enjoy your new son. My daughter will be adopting from Kaz for the 2nd time sometine soon we hope. Will miss your daily postings.
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