Almost Famous

Here's our girl. Isn't she beautiful? Nicholas, we can't wait for you to meet her. We know you'll have so much fun playing together. We really enjoy our visits to the orphanage when we get to play with her, too.

During the rest of the time, Michael and I are busy becoming the infamous Americans in Taraz. Yesterday, everywhere we went--from the grocery store to the bank--people were staring at us and smiling. I thought, "This is great. They really like Americans here." Then we asked two girls who spoke broken English why everyone was smiling. They pointed at Michael's plaid pants and started giggling. All of the people here wear dark, solid color pants and I guess they hadn't seen plaid before. Michael's ego will heal.

Never one to be outdone, I got some attention of my own when we went for a walk in the middle of town. I slipped on the snow (I was not built for cold climates) and fell flat on my back. Michael said that it was because I insist on wearing my high-heeled, black boots. I pointed out that I wear them because they look great, especially when my feet are in the air and people can really see them.

We're also adjusting to the time change (Taraz is 14 hours ahead of California) and the fact that the sun doesn't come up until 8:30am. Hot water and heat are also intermittent so we've really come to appreciate a warm shower in the morning. The food is good: for breakfast we have eggs and coffee, lunch is borscht and beer. We haven't had dinner yet since we usually pass out around 3pm and don't wake up again until all the restaurants are closed. We'll try to stay up tonight for the New Year's Eve festivities. We hope you all have a Happy New Year!

We've Arrived!

It took 48 hours, but we finally made it to Taraz, Kazakhstan. We flew from LAX to Frankfurt, and should have continued from Frankfurt to Almaty; however, we couldn't land due to fog and were diverted to Astana (the capitol of Kazahstan). Twenty hours later, we were on another flight and finally arrived in Almaty at 8:00pm on Thursday. We had missed the train to Taraz so our only transportation was via taxi. I guess I should mention that Taraz is a six hour drive. Our coordinator found a very kind, 60-something man to drive us all the way for $150. We sped through the night at 70 mph on a two-lane highway, weaving in and out of a steady stream of buses and trucks. I was sure we were going to get in an accident ("Two Americans were killed this morning in Kazakhstan...") and I was tempted to use Michael's scarf as a blindfold. However, we said non-stop prayers and arrived safely at 3:ooam on Friday. The man dropped us at the Hotel Gazovik and then immediately started the drive back to Almaty.

Our hotel is located at the center of the city, on the corner of a large rectangle that is the main gathering area. There is a large statue of Genghis Khan in the center (NOTE: Since writing this post, I found out that this is not accurate. Most of the people we've spoken with in Taraz have assured me it's not Khan; however, no one seems to know who it is), and the rest of the area is decorated for a big New Year's Eve celebration tonight. There are food and game booths (one is a shooting gallery, and it looks like they're using real BB guns), and several booths where you pay to take a photo in front of a decorated background. Firecrackers have been going off for the last 24 hours, and we've been told to expect a huge fireworks display tonight. New Year's seems to be a very big holiday here.

Now to the important part of our journey...we visited the orphanage on Friday morning. We were interviewed by the director and then asked to watch the children's Christmas program. It was beautiful! All of the little girls, including Kyra, were dressed in white, frilly dresses and wearing silver crowns. The little boys were dressed as various stuffed animals. A few adults also wore costumes: Santa Claus, reindeer, a Christmas princess wearing a long white dress, etc. The children performed some songs and dances, and were then given gifts donated by a local company. We noticed Kyra immediately. She very meticulously followed the dance steps and lead the other children through their routines. She's very smart and a definite leader (another Type-A for the Schwartz family!).

We visited her again this morning (Saturday). She likes the musical toys that we brought, and we also gave her the stuffed bear that Nicholas made for her at Build-a-Bear. She doesn't speak English and we don't speak Kazakh, so there is an interpreter with us during the visits. We will spend 14 consecutive days visiting her and then file for a court date.