Ben about questions

Hello all,
This is to try and answer some of the questions people have been asking.
- Erlan is pronounced like hair with a y, YAIR, and then lan like lawn. So YAIR-lawn. Please practice, I had to do a lot of talking to convince Karla to keep his name. She thought everyone would pronounce it wrong and he would be teased. I told her none of this would happen and that he would be proud of his name. If you agree with Karla, I will ban you from this blog. Just practice with your husbands, YAIR-lawn. See, it’s easy.
- No news yet on a court date.
- We have not found pull-ups yet. We are hoping we wont need them, he’s doing great so far. Did find diapers they are $15 for 30.
- No we don’t know what to expect with Erlan’s transitions. He has blown us away in the last 17 days and we probably have about 25 days more left and then about a week with him here in our apartment before we get on an airplane to come home. We are wondering if we should take a day in Frankfurt or just push through and get it over with. Hoping to hear from and talk to some veterans on this dilemma.
- Yes the caregivers have been talking to Erlan and he has been talking to them a lot this last week. He tells the other kids he has a mommy and a daddy.
- No, I haven’t bought a can of dip in a good many years. I also don’t drink soda and rarely drink alcohol. My lifestyle has changed a little in the last 15 years. Still good lookin’, still like to laugh, but now a lot more boring. Some would say Karla has been a good influence. Some being Karla.
- We are doing one trip. I can honestly say I wouldn’t leave him for anything. Some couples have to do two trips (they leave after court during the appeal period), but Karla and I were lucky enough to do one trip, because of Karla’s great co-workers and a lot of great family members picking up the slack for us. THANK YOU ALL!!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
- When we get home, everyone can act as they normally do. He is like any other two year old. He’s leery of strange people. Well maybe some of you should act different. He likes me now, so he’ll surely accept you all for who you are some day.
- Yes, the interpreters go with us to the markets, twice so far. They are always asking if we need anything. They have also taken us to several restaurants, to an art gallery, to a museum, and to flea markets.
- Our driver knows very little English, though I think he understands a lot. He is very nice. I bring him a sum sa every morning. He says ‘benny love sum sa’.
- Yes, they have public transportation here. Buses and even electric buses that run off of overhead lines. In Almaty, they are completing a subway system. We are trying to bribe Bayana into taking us on the train for a 6 hour round trip to see the countryside some Sunday.
- No, we can not take Erlan outside until after the appeal period. Yes, he has been outside during the summer. We look out the windows a lot. He will now sit on my shoulders.
- Yes, we have a cell phone to call the 10 people we know here who speak English. Wonder if I ought get Morrat’s, the sum sa guy, and the crazy meat ladies’ numbers
- We have a little Canon elph powershot sd1000 camera. It fits into my pocket and it takes pretty good video with sound. I have been taking about 200 pics and about 2 minutes of video a day and then downloading them to the computer. So when we get home, you all can see every one of them.
If I left any out, sorry, remind me and I’ ll try again.