LIFE with LEXIE

Here are those pictures of the "lawn mowing" going on at the Kindergarten across the street from our apartment. It's damn hard work but the rain stopped them for the day. We'll see how long it takes to mow a lawn Kazakh style.

The woman holding Lexie is Zina our interpreter. Isn't she pretty. She's looking for a husband, so any of you guys looking for a smart, independent, pretty, nice Kazakh girl let me know and I'll see if I can set you up. We'll just have to work out the whole Visa thing.

The last is a picture of Lexie and I outside yesterday. I'm sure there will be more tomorrow. I'm going to try to get some of my past journals about the country and pictures of the area posted but these pictures took over an hour so we'll see how much I get on. Paka Paka

Pictures of Lexie before she went to get her passport photo taken. The first pictue is Lexie with Meruert, her favorite caregiver. She's just great with Lexie and is trying to make the transition as smooth as possible. I know she's going to miss Alexis when she goes home with me. I'm so grateful that Meruert has had a part in raising Lexie up to this point in her life. She's one of the many hands that have held her and helped her to blossom into the beautiful child she is today. Thanks Meruert.

YES you read it right, we have internet at the apartment. Zina dropped us off at lunch today and said wait until she calls. About 1:30 she calls to say THEY will come be ready. So 10 minutes later there is a knock at the door. So I open all the bolts and there stands two teenage boys. Not exactly what I was expecting but I should have guess computer geeks are alike everywhere. They walked in with a short hello in Russian and sit in front of the computer push a couple of buttons and of course it works. It took me longer to call Zina then it did for them to get it working. They were walking out the door as I was giving them the phone. I told Zina that they needed to wait until I tried it. I tried it and of course it DIDN'T work. So they chat to Zina and between themselves,then push a few buttons and it slowly comes back up. I say wait - I still don't know what they did. But I did finally get it going myself and Zina said 1000 tenge would be good (which is about $7.50) and off they go. I'm sure I will be worth a good laugh at the dinner table for them tonight. All I know is that I am typing in our own little apartment and life is good. I just hope that the pictures will download then we'll really be in business.

Last night when we got home it was so cool that we actually turned off the A/C and opened the windows. Then this morning we woke up to a cool breeze with a little overcast and I had to check outside to make sure we weren't back in Seattle. Nope definitely Aktau since there are a couple of older ladies across the street (I'm using that term loosely) burning the overgrown grass. They would rake an area up to loosen the weeds then throw a match on it and push dirt on it with their rakes if the flames got too big. Who needs a lawn mower when alls you really need is a couple of old ladies, a rake and a book of matches! I'll show you the before and after pictures. When they picked us up this morning I asked Zina what the building was and she said it's a kindergarten and they are getting rid of the "bad grasses."

Off we went to the Baby House were I thought I was going to take Alexis to get her passport picture for her Kazakh passport. When we got there I feed her first and they let Mom help feed the one of the other babies. Of course they fed two babies in the time it takes me to feed Lexie but I'm getting better. Today she just wanted to be held but it's really impossible to feed her that way so I was the stern Mommy and made her sit in the new high chairs while I feed her. I confess, I picked her up twice but she was really pathetic. Then we were off to change her and I was ready to take her on her first car ride. Boy was I disappointed when Zina came in and told me that I wasn't allowed to go. The director said only Zina, the babies and a nurse could go. WHAT!?! I was not happy but of course I don't get to say anything about it yet. So off they go, no seat belts or car seats in site. I had to wait while remembering how crazy they drive here. But of course they got back just fine and I was please to find out that Alexis wouldn't smile for them or give them a good picture. She has her mouth wide open like she's in the middle of a big scream. That's what they get for saying her nurse would know better how to get her to smile then I would. HA HA. We showed them.

After that I just had a half an hour with her and off she went for her nap so I came back here to meet the computer guys. That's if for now. I'll try to get back on later. I want to attempt to put pictures on as well. We'll see.

It’s 8 o’clock at night and I didn’t get to post anything because it had some kind of error on the blog site. The instructions are still in Russian and so are the error codes so I have no idea what happened. I’ll try again. I also couldn’t get on Windermere to check my mail so I don’t know if this is going to work out from the apartment or not.

On a different note, Alexis was just great as usual for the afternoon visit. She was a little clingier but I don’t mind. She is still so cute and just happy to be with us. She climbs all over me and plays with my face or watches me speak. She get’s more confident in me and our relationship every day. It’s wonderful to see her blossom.

On the drive over Flora was with us and I could tell there was some problem between her and Zina. Later Zina told me that Flora was mad that I paid the computer guys 1000 tenge because she thought that was too much. That Zina shouldn’t have let them over charge me just because I’m an American. For me I was happy to pay that or more since I’m paying between $20-26 a day to use the internet café. Zina said she told Flora that but Flora was just outraged and was yelling at Zina. They have to share an apartment while they are here and it drives Zina crazy being with Flora so much. Plus Flora had promised her that this time she could have her own apartment but when we all got here Flora said no that they had to share again. There is a lot of tension between them and I feel bad for Zina. She really has very little control over the situation. I’d like to help her but I can’t upset Flora because she is the one making sure the adoption happens. This will be an interesting month. On the way home Flora said my hand carry documents had been translated in Almaty and where sent today. They should be here tomorrow in plenty of time for court. On the other hand Rosa’s documents are still up in the air and I’m not sure how that’s going to turn out. I’m sure sooner or later they will work it out but I really hope it doesn’t affect the court date. I can’t believe they will want to get the whole group of players together twice so they may make me wait until Rosa gets her documents here and translated. Luckily Flora really likes me and I think she will do her best to push me on through even if Rosa has problems. Rosa’s agency also didn’t tell her to bring new bills so Flora has made her exchange six 500 euros already and she’s not happy about it. Even the prosecutor yesterday said I am the American that had her documents in early and all correct so I think they appreciate that. Anything to get Lexie out of there sooner. Okay I’m going to try to go on line and post this along with some pictures. Let’s hope this works or it’s back to the café for me tomorrow.