I've truly lived here now!

So today was the day….after we left the babyhouse today we headed to the mall where Irina was meeting us and I got my hair cut!  It feels so much better now and looks much better too, well in my humble opinion anyway.  We walked in and there were no other clients there, so the guy walked over and I told Irina what I wanted and she told him, he nodded his head and in we went.  I went to sit down to get my hair washed and he said something and out of habit I said "pardon?" and I hear "colour?", I laughed, shook my head and said "no it needs it but I will wait for that until I get home!". Oh what a wash…..it included a scalp and temple massage, I thought I could sit there for an hour, oh man it felt so good.   Then Ciera showed up to give me a bite of her cookie…reality check.   Back we went into the main part of the salon, a cape and a sort of turtle neck thing wrapped around my neck and he started cutting, I was holding my breath.  After I saw my hair hitting the floor I said to Irina "um, he gets that I want it long in front still right?" as there seemed to be some long pieces hitting the floor, she told him and he said "yes", then I asked "you speak English?" "a little bit".  He finished up and I like it, now I feel presentable again, it was out of it's style and a bit shaggy I guess from the water a bit, and 7 weeks since my last cut.

 

We then shopped for vodka and cognac (thank Sara!) which I will pick up tomorrow or Wednesday as it was too heavy to carry with us as we were then walking up to the play place with the trampoline to meet up with our friends.  This time we had one hot dog pizza, one hamburger pizza, the chicken dish without the mushrooms, fries and the kids had apple juice and the adults had beer!  All very yummy!!!  It was a bit odd, Ciera and I arrived before our friends, the lights were out but the sign said open and the door was unlocked.  I decided we'd wait by the sidewalk.  When they arrived we walked up and walked in, a girl popped up off of a couch and I motioned with my arm "are you open?" and she went over and turned on the lights, I guess they keep them off when no one is there to keep costs down.  She remembered us from last time and remembered which chicken dish we had!!  The kids had a blast and 2 hours of playtime and the adults had 2 hours of downtime!!   Another little girl came about 30 minutes before we left and the 3 of them were having a lot of fun together, considering the language barrier this was great.  I think the dad spoke some English, as he asked the kids what their names were as I heard Ciera reciting all 4 of her names to him, too funny!!!  Then he smiled and said "goodbye" as we left.   Have I mentioned how friendly most of the people I have encountered here are?!

 

I've yet to have a Kazak beer, as they don't seem to serve them in the restaurants I have been in, I just want to try one!!!  Ah, maybe tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

Mr. Baby felt much better today and even looks happier, lots of smiles out of her today.  Her Dr. was in this afternoon and said how her chest sounded better today and how she has been sick for so long and this time I asked "can I take her home with me on Friday?!", she replied "no you need to stay, don't you like it here?" "yes, we do but we need to get home for a bit first", then she said again how she hopes she is home before they start on their Christmas holidays here, yeah me too!!!

 

Poor Ciera took a bit of a dive today, she was playing at the babyhouse sliding over the shoulder of a dad and somehow she slipped, went face first into the carpet and bonked her nose pretty hard.  She had tears for a good bit (she is also fighting a cold and is tired too), more so than I think was called for but what do I know, and there was a little bit of a bloody nose (for about 30 seconds) and she has a red scrape mark on her nose, I think it's rug burn.  As I washed her face tonight she was saying "oww don't wash my nose, it hurts, it  hurts" , hard to tell if it really does hurt that much or if she is playing it up due to her well overtired condition at that point.

 

Ciera and I are both excited to go to court on Wednesday, Ciera keeps asking "are we going to the judge the day after tomorrow?".  I've been told court is running around 30 minutes.  I think we are going for 10:00AM our time, so think about us as you Eastern Standard time people are heading to bed at 11:00 Tuesday night!!!  You are 11 hours behind us now.

 

Ok, time for me to go read my speech again and again and try to have what I need to say memorized, I'm sure I will mess up a bit…hmm maybe I should write some notes on my hand or something, just some key markers so I know what I should be talking about!!!

 

Pictures today:

• Ciera holding her sister upright
• My attempt at getting a pic of 2 kids jumping on a trampoline, not effective but kinda of a cool shot I think!  They look a bit ghostly eh?
• Mr. Baby pulling herself up on a dad, unlike some of the kids in this room she seems to have no fear of men, remember most of these kids have never seen a man before as all the people who work in the babyhouse are women.