Not the best weather today, chilly and spitting outside. However, that didn’t effect Wyatt’s day. He greeted us with smiles and played hard. We shared the playroom again with Isabelle and her mom and grandmother. Isabelle and Wyatt love this since they can play with each others’ toys. We don’t so much love it, since when they are playing with the toys, we are playing “how can we keep that out of your mouth?” We lose that game every time. At the end of the visit, Jenn and Peter came for their bonding time with their boy, Jack. That’s the 6 of us in the picture above.
After the baby house, we came home and read a little bit and walked to the Astana Market shops. We bought cakes that are traditional around the holidays. They look like giant cupcakes. Unfortunately, the frosting isn’t layered on like the good ole’ American cupcakes…can you figure out who is writing this, Jason or Michelle? This weekend is their Easter, so the cake came in a basket with eggs and a little pie-like dessert. The cake tasted similar to a breakfast pastry. The pie had a familiar taste, but we couldn’t put our finger on it…maybe citrus custard. Around 3, we met Jenn and Peter out for lunch. We originally planned to go to the Astana Market to introduce them to Jason’s best friend, Mr. Pilov, but due to the weather, we went to the old faithful, Shymkent. Well Michelle had beet salad, “nyet (no) mayonnaise” (which ended up being shredded beets) and noodle soup with meatballs. The use of mayo is impressive here…squirted over about any salad, served on the side for potatoes, rice, etc. And a visit to Shymkent isn’t complete without their bread…yum! After lunch we headed to Pucha and Astana Market shops. We didn’t buy anything this time, just window shopped.
Now, it’s about 7 pm and we’re hanging out watching Moonstruck. Tomorrow we’re heading over to Jenn and Peter’s apartment. They’re cooking us lunch and then we’re going to play some cards and the PS2 they brought. It has been a blessing having another couple that we really enjoy hanging out with here. Unfortunately, they will be leaving after their court date which may be at the end of next week.
Today’s Kazakhstan Cultural Lesson:
We told our coordinator and translator about our doorbell ringing and people knocking at our door yesterday. No biggie, they only rang it twice and knocked a few times. Nothing compared to the cops! Anyways, they told us, again, not to open the door to anyone. They said how there are lots of beggars that could be coming to the door asking for money (little do they know, we may be doing this by the end of May, ha ha). But these are not your average, run of the mill beggars. They were talking about gypsy beggars. Beggars that will hypnotize you and then make you give them all of your money. Due to your hypnotic state, you may not remember this occurring until days later. Interesting. Too bad for them that they can’t hypnotize you to open the door; it seems as if they may make a little more that way.
No baby house tomorrow since it’s Sunday. At home, we live for the weekends. Here, everyday is a weekend and we dread Sundays. Not for long!
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