Monday 22nd

Hello from Almaty, I'm Europe, ok, it' s not that nice, but so much better than I anticpated! I actually had a hazlenut latte today!! It was SO good! I met a women from NY today who is adopting a little 16 month old girl. Aidianna. She's a spitfire and her mom is a ton of fun!! She went to a very remote region and has had it 10x worse than I have in regards to living conditions et al. We had a nice day walking around a bit, having a coffee at an outdoor cafe and then eating our deli salads like savages as we had no utensils in our hotel. We both have our Embassy appoints at 1500 and are on the same flight to Newark. Not to much to report except that Sam is blossoming every day into a wonderfully kind and polite little boy!!! He's made such strides in his language skills and social skills, I'm truly amazed, as well as won over many people's hearts!!! Plus, he's a ham with a wonderful laugh that keeps me smiling when I've just about had enough of "living abroad" Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well for tomorrow. Sam's passport is arriving tonight from Karaganda and that makes me very nervous. I know with adoption you need to go with the flow and while I think we've done that most of the time, I"m no longer feeling "giving" about things "slipping dates, etc." I'll just hope for the best and if we have to stay a few more days so be it, at least it's in a decent size city with English menus and a nice foo-foo supermarket. Yes, at this point, it's all about the food!! But come on, for those who know me well, when isn't it!!!

Paka
Nell