Another Day in Kokshetau

Hi all, the days are beginning to blend into each other. We have to stop and figure out what the date and day of the week are. Today we had another nice visit with Megan, she didn't seem to be as hungry today, her bottle arrived shortly after we did and she took her sweet time eating it today. That was definitely a switch. She was all smiles as we walked into her room, she definitely remembers who we are from day to day now. After that she became her usual self where we have to work at every smile, sometimes I think she is just testing us to see how ridiculous she can make us act to get her to smile. She's probably laughing inside the entire time.

Anyway, the 2 hours went by very quickly again, all Amy and I can talk about is how much nicer it will be to get her out of here so we can be with her 24x7. Below are a couple of pictures from today.

After our visit we went to lunch at the Orange Cafe again, we skipped the vodka and just had a piva (that's beer in Russian). The cafe is just up the street from our apartment so Amy and I went for a little stroll around the neighborhood and then came home. Below are a couple of pictures of our apartment building.

Here are a few interesting facts from the area:

• The heat in most buildings is centrally controlled by the city, there are big water pipes running above ground in most areas, I don't know how they don't freeze. This hot water is piped into the buildings to the radiators. It has been relatively warm here so we have the windows open because it is too hot. We may see what happens when it gets cold next weekend, the temperatures are supposed to get more seasonal, below zero.
• Virtually no one has clothes dryers here, most people hang their laundry to dry. We have a washing machine in our apartment but no dryer. That said, I'm presently wearing some very scratchy underwear.
• Everyone wears hats here, mostly those big fur hats you see in Russian movies. Yesterday was a little cold, not too bad, but after lunch we went shopping with our interpreter Inna and she ran into her uncle. She told us her uncle asked her why she had not told us we should be wearing hats? I had my hat in my pocket so I pulled it out and put it on.
• Ray and Denise, you guys may be able to relate to this, but we are at such a northern latitude, the sun rises tomorrow at 9:34 am. It's really wierd that it is still pitch black outside at 9:00am. I checked the latitude before we left to come over hear and I think it is about the same as Moose Factory, Ontario.

Anyway, that's enough for now.


Megan really likes looking out the window, she hasn't been outside since she was 2 months old, it seems like she hasn't looked out a window much either, she just stares at the world.


Come on Mom, you've got to try a lot harder than that to get a smile from me!


Happy to see us when we first come into her room.


The outside of our apartment building. The red rectangle outlines our kitchen and living room windows, there is actually a little balcony there.


The outside of our apartment building. The red rectangle outlines our bedroom window.