Go Into the Light

There's light at the end of the tunnel...and it's the train to Almaty! On the night of January 15, we spent 10 hours on the overnight train traveling from Taraz to Almaty. We purchased a room with four bunk beds and it was still barely enough space for the two of us and our luggage (which may be more of a commentary on all the luggage we had!). We shared a train car with several people, some of whom slept in rooms like ours, others slept in the corridor. A young Kazakh man shoveled coal into a furnace all night to keep the car warm. Our room was closest to the furnace so we had plenty of heat. For some reason, the "coal man" opened our door in the middle of the night and Michael jumped out of bed, thinking we must be at our destination. I looked out the window and saw nothing but snow covered hills. I told him to go back to sleep, but he insisted on trying to getting more information. He left our room without remembering the number, and then went door-to-door trying to find his way back. By the time he found our room, he'd woken up most of the car and was insistent that "something must be happening because everyone's awake." (Do you think it could be because of the crazy American?)

After we arrived in Almaty, we went to the U.S. Consulate, which is on the 17th floor of a modern office building. We spent five minutes and $380, and Kyra now has her Visa for entry into the U.S. I expected balloons, streamers and the Marine Corps band, but it was pretty anti-climactic. Our flights to Frankfurt and then to LA were great. Fortunately, we made it out the day before the big storm hit Germany.

We'll return to Kazakhstan from February 2-7 for our court date, which is on February 6th. We haven't broken the news to our son, Nicholas. He was so excited to see us that I just can't tell him that we're leaving again. However, this time will be much shorter and when it's over, he'll officially have a baby sister.

Happy Days Are Here Again!

Our visit with Kyra went really well today. She whined for the first few minutes, but then spent an hour and a half playing with us. We also bought her some new shoes (as my daughter, this will be the first of many new pairs she'll receive), and a hat and scarf (which she loved).


We're winding down our time here in Taraz. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we will appear before the Guardianship Council on Monday. It is a group of six people (one of whom is the vice-mayor of Taraz) who will hear our request to adopt Kyra. If approved, they will send a formal recommendation to the court and the judge will schedule a date (probably in early February) to officially approve the adoption. After that, it will take two weeks to get Kyra's "exit paperwork" so she can leave Kazakhstan and become an American citizen. We'll return home during this process and our coordinator, Vera, will fly Kyra home after everything is completed. We are expecting them to arrive in the U.S. in mid to late February. Once the plane lands and Kyra's foot touches the ground, she will instantly become an American citizen. For some reason, it doesn't happen until she actually touches American soil. It will be a great day for the Schwartz family!

Double Down(er)

The last two days with Kyra have been really challenging. She screams and throws a tantrum at the beginning of each visit, and it takes about 20 minutes to calm her down. It could be the language barrier (we haven't had a translator in the room with us for the last few weeks, and communication is down to gestures and sounds). It could be that her friend, Alexandra, was adopted and left for the U.S. this week. It could simply be that she's two and is going through a phase. After she calms down, we are able to play (in this photo, Michael is teaching her how to play Blackjack), but I think her transition to our family will take some time.

As many of you know, two of my husband's passions are cards and caffeine. He's already located every casino in Taraz, and yesterday he sniffed out the only restaurant in town with a cappuccino machine. We were in espresso heaven! We drank so much that we couldn't sleep for most of the night. It was worth it. I've been having serious White Mocha withdrawals, and this will get me through until we're home. As soon as we land in LA, I'm heading to the first Starbucks! (Does anyone know where I can find one close to LAX?)

Earlier today, we went to the mausoleum of a Muslim warrior from the 10th century. (Our translator told us his name, but there's no way I'm going to attempt to spell it in English.) We had to take our shoes off (even though it was snowing outside) and go inside a cold, dark room that was about 20 x 20 feet. In the middle of the room was a coffin, which was covered with white silk with gold embroidery. There were no lights, no candles...the only illumination was through small openings in the brick walls. A large Muslim man, who seemed to be keeping watch over the coffin, motioned for us to kneel on the mats that lined the edge of the room. As soon as we did, he locked the door and then started chanting from the Koran. At this point, our translator told us we could make a wish and it would come true. I don't know if I believe that, but it was an interesting experience. After ten minutes--and 200 tenge (we actually had to "tip" the guy)--we were back out in the snow and, you guessed it, heading to our favorite pizza place.

Reality Bites

We're on Day 15 of Survivor - Kazakhstan. On this show, we don't win a million dollars. Instead, we spend thousands of dollars, sleep on mattresses that are more like patio furniture cushions, and use towels so stiff they feel more like a loofah than cotton. And the food? Most of the time, we have no idea what we're ordering. Only two restaurants have menus with English translations. It's not as good as it sounds because the translations are flawed. One menu item is "A jack of the spaghetti." Another says, "Mutton in the test." And several entrees include "forcemeat." I thought I'd be safe with the "original salad." The waitress brought eggs, beef tongue and mayonnaise all mixed together. We did find one place that makes pizza. We eat there every day.

In the last two days, we've visited the local Russian Orthodox Church and the art gallery, where we bought a small painting by a Taraz artist. We have no idea how we're going to carry that on to Lufthansa, but it was so beautiful that we couldn't resist. We've also been back to the bazaar. There's something oddly fascinating about outdoor merchants, narrow corridors covered by tarps, and one place where you can buy everything from butter to boots. (I know you're thinking that last part sounds like WalMart, but the bazaar is completely different. It's comprised of hundreds of individual merchants and has been on this same site for 2,000 years. The ruins of early Taraz lie beneath it and archaeologists have been unable to access them because no one wants to upset the bazaar.)

The photo shows Michael wearing the coat he bought at the bazaar. He looks really handsome, and more like his Russian side of the family (his Mom was born in Kiev). We're still working on his language skills. He knows one Russian nursery rhyme and the word chetireh, which means four. Unless we're buying something for four tenge or doing something at 4:00, it really doesn't help us.

Well, that's it for now. We're off to the pizza place for dinner.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Today, Kyra laughed for the first time. Michael was throwing her up in the air and she laughed out loud. It was quite an accomplishment. Until now, she's been fairly stoic and withdrawn. It's good to see a glimpse of the little girl she will be once we get her home.

After our visit to the orphanage, we went to the exact location where Kyra was found. She was abandoned in a remote part of Taraz in October 2005. We drove around the area--there are several industrial buildings, several vacant buildings, and a prison. The police brought her to the orphanage in November 2005, and then waited six months to see if someone would claim her. No one did, so she was put up for adoption. It's a sad beginning for such a beautiful little girl, and it's no wonder she doesn't show a lot of emotion yet.

On a more positive note, we can't imagine anyone else as our daughter. We have grown so attached to her over the past few weeks. She is a great addition to our family and she deserves a peaceful, stable and loving home. Now she'll have one.

One Step at a Time...

Today was the eighth day of our 14-day mandatory bonding period with Kyra. Progress has been two steps forward, one step back. Yesterday, she wanted to be held for most of the visit. We also gave her some new clothes, which she modeled for her playgroup (11 other children she lives with, one of whom is being adopted by a family in Irvine). All clothes and toys at the orphanage are communal so she's never really had anything that is her own. She is so proud of these clothes and strokes her sweater like it's some kind of pet. Despite yesterday's "success," today was more of a struggle. She hung out with us for about 90 minutes and then started crying. She wanted to go back to her playgroup. We try not to take it personal. We also found out that we'll go to court on Monday, January 15th at 4:00pm and then we'll take the overnight train to Almaty. On Tuesday, we'll visit the U.S. Consulate in Almaty for an official interview to apply for Kyra's Visa to the U.S. On Wednesday, we will fly home. We will return to Kazakhstan for three days in February to finalize the adoption, and then Kyra will be able to fly home to California.

When we're not visiting Kyra, Michael and I are trying to stay busy. Every day, we walk around the city until our feet are so frozen we have to go back to the hotel and warm them up with the hairdryer. On one of our recent walks, we met the camel at the top of this post.

Earlier today we went to the bazaar, which is where most people do their shopping. (Yes, even in Kazakhstan I can figure out a way to work shopping into the itinerary.) Michael bought a sweater and I bought a coat with arctic fox fur trim for 28000 tenge (about $200). I'm guessing that the same coat would cost about $800 in the U.S. Yesterday, we went to the museum. Our coordinator arranged a private tour with Svetlana, a very kind Russian woman who also speaks English. We learned a lot about Taraz, which is the oldest city in Kazakhstan. The city originated in 54 BC when Zhi Zhi Chanyu (a Mongolian prince) built a settlement here. Since that time, the city has been alternately controlled by the Persians, Byzantine, Turks, Mongols, Kazakhs and, of course, the Russians (who controlled the city from 1864-1991). The museum has several artifacts from all of the different periods and we were even allowed to touch some statues and other items from the 4th-10th centuries. We also learned that Taraz's sister city is Fresno, California.

Despite all of the interesting things we're doing, we really miss home and especially our son, Nicholas. We've never been away from him this long before, and it's been very hard on all of us. We are counting down the days until we can see him again.

It's Great to be a Trojan!

Wow! What a game. We could hear the smack down all the way over here in Kazakhstan. Actually, we "watched" the game via the Internet. We couldn't get a live video or radio feed, so Michael (complete in his USC t-shirt and hat) refreshed the Fox Sports web site every 30 seconds and read the play-by-play out loud. When USC had a comfortable lead, he told me that he'd bet $300 on the game. (Special thanks to George Musick. He always bets against the Trojans and is slowly funding our kids' college educations.)

We had a great visit with Kyra today. We go to the orphanage every day between 10am-12pm. Today, we took packages of peanut butter crackers. Kyra ate two whole packages and still wanted more. She's starving! After our visit, Michael and I went to the grocery store and, with the help of our translator, bought all sorts of food for tomorrow's visit.

It has been snowing every night and is bone chilling cold. We wake up each morning at 7:00am, when the world is still dark outside and the only sound is the chanting from the local mosque. Islam is the most commonly practiced religion in Kazakhstan, with 47% of the population identified as Muslim (a slight majority over the 46% identified as Christian). Every morning, a man's voice chants over a loud speaker to call all the Muslims to morning prayer. I don't know if it's live or recorded, but it's a beautiful and peaceful sound. I'm going to see if I can get Michael to continue the tradition once we're back in Ladera Ranch.

Well, that's all from this side of the world. We love and miss you all.