sunday life

Hello,
Its Monday morning here and we have about ten more mandatory bonding days. Then we have to wait to go to court, which can take about 5 to 20 days. There, we will be interviewed by a judge to determine if we are fit to be parents. Yes, we will still visit Erlan, but wont get to take him home yet.
Some of you may ask, why 5 to 20 days til court? I DON’T KNOW and yes, believe it or not I asked. I ask lots of questions to no avail. It is just the way it is. (yes, I think that is a stupid answer also)
BUT, this is why we picked this country. We liked the bonding period. We had read and studied other adoption processes. This one seemed to be the best for the child. He gets to know us in his safe world, over a long period of time.
For example, we have six weeks to teach him to drink water and our juice. This is a big deal, its hard to tell a little guy that is tummy hurts cause he cant poop and he needs to drink what we show him.
From our limited information, we think he drinks some kind of unsweetened yogurt (milk??) and compote, which is boiled fruit and water. Today, I think, we get to start feeding Erlan his snack. So we hope to see what liquid he’s been drinking.

Life here
Everything is starting to melt. Yesterday there were puddles every where. It was like 35 degrees. Beautiful day. There is lots of outside activity here. Even on the cold days, everyone is walking. When I go outside, I can count at least hundred people walking and bumper to bumper traffic. Everyone is going somewhere.
I have been trying the local cuisine. My favorite , so far, is ‘sum sa’. You can get them from the store but the stret vendors are fresher. It is a very light pastry like phillo dough thing that they put meat, cheese, or potato in. If they took the meat out and substituted apples and icing, you would have a turnover. They cost 40 cents and I cant eat two of them. I want to try and get one made with meat and cheese and potato. We’ll call it ‘sum sa for ben’ or ‘sum sa for fat American guy who points and smiles all the time’.
We are slowly getting our bearings. Every street seems to be lined with 6 to 9 story apartment buildings. The front first story usually has a small business in it, like a mom and pop grocery, a notary, or an internet store. I cant tell you more because I cant read the signs.You enter the apartments thru the back . We are on the sixth and have windows only facing the front with a small balcony. We have an elevator but only used it the first day for our luggage. We are trying to get in shape for Erlan; lots of stairs.

Until later,ben