Our new phone number
Our current phone number from the states is:

011-7-3272-610-193

Thanks to everyone who has called so far. It's been wonderful to hear familiar voices.

Paka, paka

She's a good eatter!!
Back at the Nhtephet club...

That girl can power down food like a linebacker. I swear I can't make the formula and warm the baby food fast enough. She's always hungry. She eats something like 6 meals a day at all hours of the day and night. Nanci has suggested that whenever she screams, I should just feed her and it seems to work. Here I thought the major expenses of raising a child would be education, enrichment activities and daycare, and it turns out to be groceries. Who would have guessed? All joking aside, I think she is either ramping up for a big growth spurt or playing catch up due to being slightly underfed at the orphanage. Nanci thinks that she is a little thin for her height. She is wearing size 6-9 months, and she is swimming in all the 12-18 month clothes I brought for her.

The future Ms. Jiana is doing very well on all fronts. She cracks up at seeing herself in the mirror. It's so incredibly cute. She is also battling me at every meal for control of the spoon. And that girl is strong. When she can't get the spoon, she tries to stick her fingers in the food or grab at any food droppings on the table so that she can wipe her sticky fingers on me. Meal time is great fun. But, with all due respect to her, the jury is back and it turns out that I am the one to blame for messy meal times and not the other way around. My Kazakh babysitter has been found to possess the special talent of feeding the baby without creating a complete disaster of everyone's clothes. I don't know how she does it.

This morning, after Nanci's luggage finally arrived (another mishap on her travels to Kaz), Anastasia and our driver took us all to have the baby's passport pictures taken. Afterward, we went to British Airways and made a tentative plane reservation home for January 23 (assuming all goes well at court on Monday and my 15 day waiting period is waved). I have mixed feeling about leaving so soon as I really, really miss everyone and Team Orange at home, but I am so enjoying being here that I will also be sad to leave. It's just ironic that I would have the world fastest Kaz adoption... as it is pretty common for parents to be here for up to 45 days.

Although, I have to say that my back is totally killing me from lifting her so much (and dragging around heavy rugs... more on that later) and from feeding her without the benefit of a high chair. I thought that my experience dragging around Jupiter would help build me up for this (he's also about 15 pounds), but I'm clearly still not quite up for the task. I am in such bad need of that massage and mineral baths, that I've been meaning to get to for the past week and a half. We will hopefully make it to the Arasan baths this weekend.

What else? Yesterday, I hired the babysitter again and Nanci and I went out to the Fine Arts Museum. The building was really a dump, but they had a nice collection of very interesting work. As one might guess, there was a lot of Kazakh ethnic art, which I have never before seen the like of. They also have a couple of rug dealers and an awesome gift shop. I ended up with two rugs, which now I am sort of stressing about how I am going to get them home. I also bought a couple pieces of 100 year old Kazakh ethnic jewelry, which I plan to frame.

Also, Nanci and I took her out on the town last night for her very first girls night out. Let's just say it wasn't a late night and leave it at that.

A note to my parents: Don't harass me about my spelling. I'll get this spell and grammar checked later.

Also Mom: I have to admit that you were right... I absolutely need your help as soon as I get home. So don't wait a few days as I suggested, just plan to come ASAP. I will definitely need to catch up on some sleep.

Paka for now,

Love Genice
Who is counting down 4 more days til it's official.

Move to new apartment and Nanci arrived safely
While I finally got to a computer and logged my blog entry just to have the server go down at the exact moment I go to save it and I lose everything so here I go attemping to recreate it.

We moved into a new apartment yesterday, which incidentally is not next door to the Ramstore as I was told, but is in a safe neighborhood not too far from the old apartment. This apartment is much, much nicer than the other place and is very nicely appointed with beautifully furnishings and an exquisite Chrystal chandelier. I was a bit embarrassed after spending 10 minutes complaining Anastasia about the location once I saw how nice it is. Most importantly, the living room has two very comfortable arm chairs, which are perfect for feeding baby, a couch for changing her and a strategically placed microwave oven so that I can sit baby on the counter while maneuvering the microwave and kitchen sink. Life couldn't be better?

Nanci, my pediatrician friend from my San Francisco Ski Club days, arrived this morning after a 30-something hour ordeal, which took her from San Francisco to Portland to Frankfurt to London with a stop in Katerinasburg, Russia and then finally to Almaty, which was fogged in and they almost couldn't land. She is currently crashed out with the baby as I write this. I was so delighted to stumble upon this interet assess... I was aimlessly walking the streets and saw a building with a Cyrillic word that looked a little like inter et... walked in and somehow made myself understood and was then escorted to a little room with 5 computers. So here I am happily typing away (telling the same darn story for the second time, and probably getting charged for the full time usage. What can you do.)

After a brief meeting, Nanci agrees with my assessment that the baby seems to be right on target developmentally in terms of fine motor, gross motor and language skills. She is babbling up a storm and crawling all over the place and getting into mischief. Her only problem is that she is getting over a chest cold and has been a bit cranky. Which I am praying is only due to the chest cold and has nothing to do with her disposition. Most of the time, when she is well fed, diapered and rested, she is pretty cheery.

This morning baby and I were playing on the floor, she was crawling and I was at temping to do some Yoga. Baby crawled over to me and planted what I think she meant to be kisses. They were pretty slobbery, but among the best kisses I've ever received. What a great reward for traveling so far.

I've learned a lot of lessons about baby after my first 6 days with her, For instance, 1) be sure to cover the entire neck area prior to feedings to avoid collateral damage, 2) do not surrender full control of the spoon if food is on it, 3) sneak vitamins and medications into baby's bottle for ease of consumption, 4) under no circumstances should you ever feed baby any form of broccoli. It has definitely been a learning curve for me, but I am also having a lot of fun.

Once everyone left the apartment, I dressed baby up in a snowsuit and took her for a walk around the block to check out our new hood. We wondered into some very nice boutiques, where I found the swede boots of my dreams for a mere US $1,000. Guess I'll pass. I also stumbled upon a nice cafe, where the hostess showed us to a downstairs room with a Turkish motiff with lovely chaise lounges where the baby slept and I could enjoy a Club Sandwich and Coke. The menu was almost entirely in Cyrillic and that was about all I could decifer. Of course, no one there spoke any English.

I bought a wonderful oil painting yesterday by a well-known Kaz artist. It's quite large and now I will challenged with how to get it back home.

All and all, I am having a great time here. I'm a bit tired, but basically OK. I'm thrilled to have Nanci here for moral support and help with baby, and I am really hoping to be able to get out more now.

Paka,

Genice
who is thrilled to have a comfortable arm chair and to find inter et access.

Breaking out and being locked up
Privet,

Here is my delayed post for January 5... I got a bit of respite today as I hired a babysitter for 3 hours. She is a friend of Anastasia my translator and has 3 children of her own. My travel partners Rahila and Abdul are home watching the football playoff on CSPAN, so I felt pretty comfortable leaving her.

So here's my reflections from the day after I brought to baby home.

..........

I was informed yesterday morning (Tuesday) that there was a good chance that I would gain temporary custody that day. I was taken a bit off guard as I was previously informed that I would just be meeting the orphanage director, but would gain custody the following day, which would have given me enough time to buy baby food, diapers, and bottles. So after a year of fanatically planning The Baby's first 5 years of life we me, I was still caught unprepared in the most fundamental necessities.

Prior to gaining temporary custody, I would have a final visit with the baby and a chance to feed her for the purpose of taking photos for my court appearance. So the orphanage worker brings in the baby along with her breakfast, which consisted of some form of cream of wheat type porrage served in a ceramic cereal bowl with a metal soup spoon, and milk served in a ceramic coffee mug. So I take a really deep breath and try as hard as I can not to roll my eyes in dismay. I start gently feeding her with the metal soup spoon and she is taking it, but getting a bit cranky between bites. The orphanage worker then comes over, takes the bowl off the table, and puts it under The Baby's chin and motions that I should just start shoveling it in. I do as directed and she finishes the porrage. Then I gently put the ceramic coffee mug to her tiny lips and try to slowly pour it in her little mouth. As you can imagine, the finally well fed child is a complete mess by the time we finish.

Afterward, I have a really nice talk with the orphanage's head doctor. I ask about a hundred questions, and then tell her about how much I want the baby and how I have prepared to take care of her and how all my family and friends have been supportive and how all my cousin is married to a women who born in Moscow and how my mom plays's the Dombra in the Los Angeles St. Petersburg Russian Folk Orchestra, and how I plan to send her to college and hopefully grad school and all that. She gave The Baby a rave report and was seemed very happy that I wanted to be her mom. We were both teary eyed in the end and gave each other a warm hug. It turns out that she is the one who gave The Baby the name Moldyr, which means Chrystal Clear Water in Russian or Kazakh. She choose the name to celebrate her beautiful eyes.

So finally, I break the baby out of the orphanage and drive back in Aigul's beautiful Mercedes.... Got to take her out in style, you know. Delilah and Alisha, my translator are with us. We drive back to Almaty to the well stocked, but overpriced western style Silk Way Market. If everything wasn't written in Cyrillic, you would think you were in the States. I even found one of my favorite staples... Vanilla flavored Organic Soy Milk. When I asked what type of formula she is taking, Alisha tells me "it's cows milk", which I refuse to believe so I insist that we buy some Milk-based Iron-Fortied formula. I choose the Nestle' brand, which incidentally is the same company that was responsible for the death of thousands of babies in Subsaharan Africa in the mid 80s. It was a big Oops see on Nestles part, when they failed to inform their illiterate market that they should use the formula with purified water.

We get back to the apartment, unload the groceries and everyone but Delilah and me take off. For the first few minutes, I feel sort of dumbfounded when it hits me that I am incharge of feeding and diapering this little baby, something I have virtually no experience doing. I am not really sure of what to do first.

I start by ripping of 4 layers of clothing, that I was obliged to dress her in in order to escape the orphanage. She is as happy as a little clam to be free to move and I take off her little socks so she can get what is probably her first ever glimpse of her little toes.

By this point, she is cooing and smiling--- a totally different child then the one I met in the orphanage. I think she is beginning to like me a bit and I am falling completely head over heels in love with her.

All is pretty well, except that she has a bit of a cold, is teething, has diarea (from the change in formula) and is probably a bit disoriented from all the changes. The next day, I inquire again about the brand of formula she is used to, and again I am told that she is drinking cows milk. I am instructed to feed her that as well. After one round of arguing the point, I decide to give in and let Anastasia buy the cow's milk, which I plan to use with my cereal.

Ever since taking custody of the baby I've been pretty much on house arrest as the command of my adoption facilitator, Aigul. I get about an hour or two off, and I've made my way to the internet club, and usually find it closed or that the server it down.

The last few days have really been trial by fire as baby has been a bit cranky. The only way, I am able to console her cries is by marching around the room. Apparently, sitting down and rocking her isn't good enough. By 6am, I was so desparate to be horizontal.

While TV coverage is somewhat limited... Tsunami news, American Football, a music channel, there are occassional special features in English. I saw a preview for an exclusive interview with Amber Frey. I can hardly wait.

The first few days were a challenge to figure out the least distructive way to feed her. I'm doing laundry every day due to the fallout. It was a battle at first to get her to eat. The last couple of days, she has decided that she can do a better job than me and is battling me for the spoon. She was frustrated that the hole on the bottle was too small, but now she has adjusted. In desperation, we tried to cup method. (I am afraid she will do all too well if handed a beer bong in college."

All in all, it's been a fun and interesting challenge. I'm really loving it and loving her more and more everyday and feeling more and more like a mom. Oh one last thing, yesterday I noticed that she discovered her hand. She was checking it out front and back and then checking my hand out and biting my fingers. She only has four teeth, but they are strong and bite hard.

Paka Paka,
Genice
who is a bit tired, but very happy.

Guest Blog from Delilah
Mood:  lucky
Topic: From Delilah
Hello all,

This is Genice's friend Delilah. I returned yesterday to my Peace Corps assignment in Kiev, Ukraine after spending a week with Genice in Almaty. I'm glad to see that Genice managed to post an update yesterday!

I feel so lucky that I had the opportunity to be with Genice and share a little bit of her adoption experience. I know Genice from the Jewish community in the Bay Area, and it just seemed natural to pop over to Almaty (a six hour flight) when Genice invited me. I loved Almaty, and I know I would not have visited otherwise.

So... the baby! The baby is so cute, and also seems to have a bright mind and interesting personality. I am sure Genice will encourage the development of all of Jiana's positive traits. Everyone is anticipating the transformation of Genice into Mama Genice. And, I did see some of that, and so far she is doing great. But, what I did not anticipate is the transformation of the baby from orphan to daughter. Her mood really shifted. She laughed and smiled and seems to be taking to the role very well. I wouldn't think that such a major personality transformation would be obvious in an 8 month old, but believe me, that is what we saw. I think Genice's transformation will be more gradual.

I did not see the baby in the orphanage (regulations kept me in the waiting room). But, I had heard Genice's descriptions of her, and was there in the car ride on the way from the orphanage back to Almaty on Tuesday. After a brief stop at a supermarket where Jiana and I waited in the car (Genice will write more extensively about that I am sure), we arrived with baby and supplies at the apartment. Genice took off the four layers of orphanage-required clothing. Jiana probably had her little toes bared for the first time in her life. (See Genice's earlier post on sensory development). This baby laughed! She may have laughed with her caretakers before, but Genice had not seen her laugh.

At this point, Jiana is still crying a lot, I gather that is normal for babies. She is also sleeping a lot. I had the great fortune of having her fall asleep in my arms during my last morning in Almaty. (When Genice went out to the nearby internet club, only to find that the server was down). Seeing Genice feed the baby is... well, honestly it is funny. But it seems traumatic for Jiana. But, she has to eat. (I have a feeling Genice will elaborate on this topic as well).

Anyway, I will sign off for now. Please do call Genice this weekend if you can, I know she will appreciate contact from the outside world. See phone number and info in earlier post. For my part, I will try to get some of my digital pictures posted to this site before the end of next week.

Happy new year!

Delilah

Desperate for internet access
Privet,

I've been desperately trying to get to an internet cafe for days. I'm having major communication withdrawls. It's have been extremely difficult to find internet club and once I locate one, it's always a challenge to find it open and if it's open to get there when the server is up.

I have to be brief now as I have to run back to the apartment to sign some documents. So here's a quick update... I gained temporary custody of The Baby on Tuesday. When I couldn't make it to an internet club, I hand wrote a several page entry about the whole adventure, which I will relay later.

But, she's great. I am totally with her. It's a challenge to get in sinc with all this feeding and sleeping and changing schedule. She goes through around 5 sets of clothes a day. Mostly because she is such a sloppy eatter, or because I'm a sloppy feeder or both. She is sleeping well and eatting well, but has been a bit cranky as she has had a cold and is teething.

I've been on house arrest in the apartment since I brought her home as the adoption person here doesn't want me to bring her outside. Since she has been sick and we are adjusting to each other, I've been home all day for the past three days, with the exception of about 1 1/2 hours a day for good behavior. During that time I try to locate an open internet club, but I usually fail.

I am planning on changing apartments on around January 10 or 11, as that is when the Amani's are getting their babies and since all the kids have been sick, we thought it would be better to quaranteen them. I understand the new apartment is near the Ram Store and Central Art Museum.

Delilah left yesterday to head back to the Ukraine to her Peace Corp assignment. She was a tremendous help and a lot of fun. Nanci arrives on the 10th. So I'm on my own for the weekend.

Gotta run now. Just wanted to let you know that we are doing great, and I am happier than I've ever been, and not too tired.

Beside 24/7 Tsunami coverage, I think I may also get some occassional US TV specials, such as Oprah, a rerun of the reality TV hit, "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance." and an exclusive interview with Amber Fry. I can hardly wait.

Paka for now.

Love Genice
who is kicking herself for not bringing a laptop.

By the way, please note that there may be a delay on my responding to emails.

Keeping The Baby from crying and more thoughts on Almaty
Privet,

Now that I am well rested and have caught up from jet lag, I am loving it here more and more every day. Well it finally just occurred to me that virtually no one here speaks English and that very few signs are comprehendable. I've been sort of coasting up until now as I have had the benefit of two translators and Delilah's Russian is very good
after extensive Peace Corp language training and a year and a half in the Ukraine. It should be a bit more challenging once she leaves on December 6. Although, I am not too worried as I have a good lay of the land, and an easy to use phrase book. As long as I avoid complicated transactions, I should be OK.

I've been wanting to get as much sightseeing in as possible these last days before I have The Baby full time. But, it's been a real challenge as most things have been closed due to the holidays. As I mentioned before, New Years here is the equivalent of our U.S. Christmas and January 7 is the Russian Orthodox Christmas. It appears that most people just take the week off.

Besides just walking around town, we've been able to hang out at some of the main shopping malls. I am currently back at the Ramstore. Compared with many of the places I've traveled to, Almaty is a very pleasant place to shop as the the sales people aren't very aggressive. To the contrary, they would actually rather you wouldn't buy anything so that they don't have to do any extra work... a great post Soviet holdover. Compared with Nepal, Thailand and Mexico where you are constantly accosted, it's a shear pleasure to window shop.

This morning I was once again able to go back to visit with The Baby. She is soooo very cute and I can't believe how tiny she is. Her fingers are so little and it's very cute the way she grabs my nose. Bonding has been interesting. I am really enjoying being with her, but it's basically a challenge to figure out how to keep her from crying.... She seems to be able to turn on and off those dinosaur tears on a whim. She seems to like the toys that make noises, and she is OK with my singing (or at least she is being polite.) I just should have packed a few song sheets so I can remember the words. Fortunately her English is limited so I think I passed one over on her.

While I think she is the most precious little thing in the world, I have to admit that after three days she is not yet totally in love with me. I console myself in knowing that this is actually good news as it means that she is securely attached to her caretakers and is not so indiscriminate as to new attachments. Reactive Attachment Disorder is a huge concern with post-institutionalized children, and I have little worry of that with her. So it's good, one less thing to loss sleep about. She is also very good with the walker and I am sure that I will have my hands full keeping up with her.

According to the women at the baby house, she tend to be very social and likes playing with the other babies. Although, at this point, I am a bit suspicious about there being any other babies in this orphanage as I haven't seen any. The halls are empty when we walk in and there are only a few caretakers walking around. They motion us into a playroom and then bring her in. While the rooms are quite comfortably heated, they always have her very well bundled. Today, I counted 4 layers on top, two on the bottom, a fleece hat and two layers of socks on her little feet. From all I've heard from other parents, this is pretty typical of Kaz baby houses. I don't have to worry about her keeping warm, but I am a bit concerned about promoting sensory integration. I've read it's very good for babies to spend some time each day naked.

I believe I will be meeting with the orphanage director tomorrow and will be able to ask as many questions as I want about The Baby's schedule, preferences, background, medical history, etc. And then I should gain temporary custody on Wednesday. I believe my court date will be on the 12th and I may actually be able to leave the country around the end of the month.

Today, I finally was able to speak with Bezelel, the Chabad Rabbi in town and if I can arrange transportation, I may take the baby to Shabbat services on Friday night. We'll see.

Well that's about it for now. We are off to the combo Italian/Japanese restaurant for dinner.

Paka paka,

Genice
who is enjoying her final taste of freedom

my phone number in Kazakhstan
Privet,

It you should want to reach me, my phone number at the apartment is 011-732-72-670-042. I tend to be home in the morning (before 9am Kaz time or 7pm PST) and evenings (after 9pm Kaz time or 7am PST). We are 14 hours ahead of Pacific time. If you call me, I can call you back on a prepaid phone card.

Paka,
Genice

More on The Baby and life in Almaty
Privet (hello),

I haven't been able to post as much as I would like to as everything in Almaty has been shut down for the past two days. I also wasn't able to go to the orphanage over the New Years holiday... I am not sure exactly why I couldn't go. I believe it's because our agency staff is off work and orphanage staff is downsized due to the New Years holiday. Although, I was allowed to sign in for the days I missed in order to count them towards my bonding period. I think that there is a good chance that I will gain temporary custody tomorrow, which is absolutely the scariest thing I can imagine. Since we are working with a regional orphanage (as opposed to an Almaty city run orphanage) the rules seem to be a lot more flexible. For instance, my travel partners, the Amani's are adopting two children from the city orphanage. They arrived two weeks before me and have already had their court appearance and have been granted their adoption. They must still wait another two weeks to received custody. So I am basically getting custody a full month before they do. Now the $100,000,000 question is: what does one do all day with a very small child in the middle of winter? Also, it's ironic that with all the efforts I made to child proof and prepare my house for The Baby, I will spend my first 3-4 weeks caring for her without the benefit of a crib, changing table, playpen, highchair, and all the other assorted accoutrement's. I'm also not sure how I'm going to get to post to my blog with baby on lap. This should be interesting (read: I'm petrified.)

As for the rest of my adventure... I am just loving Almaty. The city is much more modern and sophisticated then I ever imagined. It is also extremely fashionable. The stores here by far surpass those in San Francisco and rival what you would find in Beverly Hills, Manhattan, Paris or Milan. The people in Almaty dress very nicely... lots of fur coats and fur hats. I love looking at people on street and have surreptitiously taken lots of candid pictures.

On the other hand, I could definitely leave the food. While there are a few nice western style restaurants, by in large the Russian food is very, very greasy and the diet is composed mostly of bread, meat and potatoes. The other day Delilah and I were in a cafe and by default I ordered meatballs and potatoes. In hopes of consuming some greens, I ordered the vegetable soup, which turned out to be meat and potato soup.

Kazakhstan is definitely one of the coolest places I've ever traveled to. It falls right up there with Nepal, Thailand and Egypt, except Kazakhstan is by far less touristy. As a result, it retains quiet a bit of charm, has a very authentic feel and is very relaxed. Almaty is a very nice and very well kept city. At first take, this does not appear to be a poor country. I've seen just a handful of people begging on the street and only one apparently hung over person (on New Year day), certainly much, much less than you would come across in San Francisco. From a safety perspective, I feel very comfortable walking around here. I would say I feel just as safe (no more, no less) than I would in a decent neighborhood in San Francisco, and certainly much more safe than I would at night in downtown Oakland. One more thing, on the way back from the orphanage, we stopped at an open air market for some fresh bread. It was a country style market with vendors selling fresh vegetables, meat, baked goods, and other products. It was so completely exciting as I feel that I was traveling back in time to one of my ancestral villages in Belarus. Visiting there was truly one of the great moments of my life.

New Years in Kaz is very festive. It is celebrated very similar to our Christmas. There is Santa on the street and people spend the holiday at home with family. Delilah, Rahilla, Abdul and I had planned to go out to dinner, but all the restaurants were closed and we ended up buying food at the market and cooking dinner in our apartment. After dinner, we hung out and watched TV (we have cable TV and get CNN, BBC, Fox and Skynews Europe.) So we've been able to follow the heartbreaking news of the Tsunami relief, in addition to championship poker, MTV, and American football. Yesterday (New Years Day), Delilah and I spent the day roaming around the city and were able to visit the Mosque and Zenkov Cathedral, where I said my New Year prayers. Everything in town was closed (except a few jewelry stores); I presume they were open to cater to the needs of newly engaged couples.

I've been watching alot of the Tsunami coverage and feel very personally touched by the crisis as I have fond memories of the time I spent in 1998 on Phi Phi island and Krabi in Thailand. I found the area to be spectacular, the food unbelievable and the people very kind and friendly. I remember the simple shacks the island locals lived in. It's is hard to believe it is such a wasteland now. My prayers go out to all those of the region.

Right now I am writing you from the Ramstore, an upscale mall in town. We had intended to go to the Central Museum, but it was closed today so we popped in here. Since this may be the last day of my life as I know it, I was hoping to get in as much sightseeing as possible. Later in the today, we are planning to hit the Arasan Bath House for a dip in the hot pools, steam bath and a much needed massage.

At this point, Delilah is waiting for me to finish up so we can move on with our day. Thanks for all the emails of support. I hope that I will be able to post regularly. Although, I'm not sure what will be once I have The Baby.

For now,

Paka, Paka,

Genice
who is loving her time in Kaz

Snovom Godom (Happy New Year) from Almaty, Kazakhstan
Mood:  celebratory
Just a quick note to wish you all a very happy and healthy new year and to let you know I arrived safely, albeit very exhausted in Kazakhstan. I had a great send off from London and an easy flight. There were only 32 people on the leg from London to Ekaterinsburg, Russia, and then only 20 from Russia to Almaty. It was such a thrill to look out the window of the airplane and she all these Russians in big furry hats fixing the plane. I've always been so intrigued by Russia and it was amazing to finally set down on Russian soil, if only on the tarmac.

I was met at the Almaty airport by my adoption facilitator Aigul and translator Anastasia and brought to the apartment I am sharing with Abdul and Rahilla Amani, an American couple adopting a baby boy and girl. My friend Delilah flew in two hours later and met us at the apartment. We then went to the bank, change $8,000 in travelers checks and I paid the remainder of the adoption. Later we drove to the small town of Ecik to visit the baby house and meet my new daughter. It was so exciting to finally be traveling to Ecik, but I was so tired I had a hard time keeping my eyes open.

So far I love what I've seen of Kazakhstan. Surrounded by snow capped mountains, Almaty is quiet beautiful, very cosmopolitan and very fashionable. There are many upscale stores to the likes of Yves St. Lauren and Brioni. I don't know how anyone can afford to shop there as the average weekly salary in Kaz is just $300. It is also very other worldly, but I'll write more about that later.

Ecik on the other hand is quite a different world. It feels as if I've traveled back in time. The people here are very beautiful, very exotic looking, very much a mix of Russian and Asian features...

, so I know at this point your saying... enough about all this, we want to the hear about the baby. I'll write more about Kaz later. I have about 8 minutes to write as they are closing the cafe for New Years eve.

So, here goes.... I met the baby. She's beautiful. Very active and curious. She seems to be developing on track... racing across the floor in a baby walker... she babbled a bit... ba ba ba ba. Sort of has a low tolerance for boredom. Does that remind you of anyone? Likes to be held. Likes toys that make noise. Not as into stuffed cats and bunny rabbits. Doesn't like to be put down.

On the orphanage: It's very clean. The caretakers seem to be very loving and have great concern over the of the children. I haven't got to see too much of the facility, just the hallways and a few waiting rooms. Before, meeting The Baby, a woman came in an me as to why I wanted to adopt, how I was going to support and care for this child and why I was still single. As to the last question: I told her that I wasn't dead yet and hadn't given up hope.

.. So now I'm 7 minutes beyond closing and I need to sign off. I'll write more after the holiday when I can get a full stint in the cafe.

Paka, Paka,

Genice