More of the Same
6/25/2007 10:21:00 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
Sorry it's been a couple of days since I've been able to post anything but we keep running into technical difficulties - I'm sure that's a big shock to everyone. We went to the Internet Cafe to post something on the blog today but when we got there we found out that the Internet is down and won't be working again until Thursday. I find that very strange but "whatever" as they say around here. Of course, I had to call Zina, the interpreter, to figure this out since Mom and I are on our own here. The day after court Flora, Zina & Rosa flew to Almaty and Rosa went on home from there. Our driver, ReNot, picks us up twice a day to go see Lexie and after that we just point to where we want to go on a sheet of paper of places we've been to that Zina wrote out in Russian and English for us. The system works pretty well except for things like broken Internet Cafes or people not understanding my gesturing. If all else fails, I call Zina, tell her what the problem is and then hand the person the phone. It's really funny how people will just take a phone handed to them and say "ha-low." Today I was trying to buy a DVD of Finding Nemo for Lexie on the plane. I found what I thought was the movie but figured out was some games, so I tried to get the clerk to understand that I wanted the moive of Finding Nemo but 5 minutes and lots of gesturing and stacks of videos later I called Zina who was on a bus from Almaty to her village to visit her family. A few minutes later the lady hangs up with Zina and then hands me a DVD that is just songs and scenes from Nemo but not the DVD. After more gesturing with no luck she pushes me out of her shop and points down the hallway. I'm guessing I offended her or something so I'm saying "Spa-See-Bo" and bowing and shrugging my shoulders but she finally grabs my hand and pulls me down to another video shop where she tells the clerk about Nemo and leaves. I have to say it's REALLY hard to get across the simplest requests when not one word in Russian or Kazakh sounds like ours. So the new lady doesn't have it either but I settled on another movie she had and went back to the first lady to buy the songs for Finding Nemo. I figured she worked too hard not to get a sale. Nothing is easy around here but it's kinda entertaining.
Our other technical difficulties are the usual. We are going on day 14 of no "technical water" which means we haul a bucket of water to fill up the tank to flush the toilet every time we use it. Mom still doesn't understand the sequence of events that have to occur to make it flush and not just run through the tank without flushing it, so I end up taking care of that little chore most of the time. This morning we also woke up to no hot water and very little cold water. The shower was not only cold but it was more like being spit on than an actually shower. So we stopped at the store and I got 20 more gallons of water. An extra trip up the 66 steps to our apartment later we have enough water for 4 flushes (since it takes 5 gallons to flush) and maybe tooth brushing and face washing if we wake up tomorrow to no water at all. With the heat in the 90s most days I don't even want to think about not showering but we are prepared. Don't worry though, we still have enough drinking water since the water from the tap was never drinkable even before this latest lack of water.
Miss Lexie is doing just great though. No technical difficulties there. She does have a bunch of new bug bites which drives me crazy since she wouldn't have that problem if she was with me. It's been a month now since we got here and they exterminated the orphanage for bugs and it clearly needs to be done again. I tried to talk to Meruert, Lexie's head caregiver, about it today but of course it was a very short conversation. Lexie has these bites that look like ant bites with puss in them on her hands and feet. It's like an ant got in her hand and it bite her about 10 times before it moved on. Her whole little palm is covered with them and some she's scratched so hard that they are scabbing over. She has them in between her toes too. She also gets new mosquito bites everyday but as long as I put Benadryl on them they seem to clear up pretty fast. I just want to get her out of there and we are 10 days away from that. I can hardly wait. I just wish for all the children's sake that they could take care of the bug problem. When I first got here, I talked to the Pediatrician about it but she said they have done all they can but I can put on whatever medication I want. I'm going to be sending to them as much Benadryl as I can when I get back to the states. Her nurse called it the "miracle medicine" after it cleared up Lexie's bites and peeling feet when I first started using it. I just wish I had more for the rest of the kids right now.
Anyway, I had planned on putting pictures of the Caspian Sea, Open Market and other places in Aktau but it would take me days from here. So you'll just have to wait like I do until the Internet is back up at the Internet cafe. Sorry but that's the breaks in Aktau. I will try to put on a couple of pictures of Alexis though. I know you need to see her sweet face.
Our other technical difficulties are the usual. We are going on day 14 of no "technical water" which means we haul a bucket of water to fill up the tank to flush the toilet every time we use it. Mom still doesn't understand the sequence of events that have to occur to make it flush and not just run through the tank without flushing it, so I end up taking care of that little chore most of the time. This morning we also woke up to no hot water and very little cold water. The shower was not only cold but it was more like being spit on than an actually shower. So we stopped at the store and I got 20 more gallons of water. An extra trip up the 66 steps to our apartment later we have enough water for 4 flushes (since it takes 5 gallons to flush) and maybe tooth brushing and face washing if we wake up tomorrow to no water at all. With the heat in the 90s most days I don't even want to think about not showering but we are prepared. Don't worry though, we still have enough drinking water since the water from the tap was never drinkable even before this latest lack of water.
Miss Lexie is doing just great though. No technical difficulties there. She does have a bunch of new bug bites which drives me crazy since she wouldn't have that problem if she was with me. It's been a month now since we got here and they exterminated the orphanage for bugs and it clearly needs to be done again. I tried to talk to Meruert, Lexie's head caregiver, about it today but of course it was a very short conversation. Lexie has these bites that look like ant bites with puss in them on her hands and feet. It's like an ant got in her hand and it bite her about 10 times before it moved on. Her whole little palm is covered with them and some she's scratched so hard that they are scabbing over. She has them in between her toes too. She also gets new mosquito bites everyday but as long as I put Benadryl on them they seem to clear up pretty fast. I just want to get her out of there and we are 10 days away from that. I can hardly wait. I just wish for all the children's sake that they could take care of the bug problem. When I first got here, I talked to the Pediatrician about it but she said they have done all they can but I can put on whatever medication I want. I'm going to be sending to them as much Benadryl as I can when I get back to the states. Her nurse called it the "miracle medicine" after it cleared up Lexie's bites and peeling feet when I first started using it. I just wish I had more for the rest of the kids right now.
Anyway, I had planned on putting pictures of the Caspian Sea, Open Market and other places in Aktau but it would take me days from here. So you'll just have to wait like I do until the Internet is back up at the Internet cafe. Sorry but that's the breaks in Aktau. I will try to put on a couple of pictures of Alexis though. I know you need to see her sweet face.
