Day 52

Despite the fact that it is April 17 and despite the fact that we have packed away all of our winter accoutrements, we woke up to snow this morning. It snowed almost all day! This meant that Erlan and Mama were trapped in the apartment all day. Ben led our friend Agnes and her father on a brief walking tour to Panfilov Park.

That’s right, our friend Agnes lives about 1 minute away from us now! We were excited that she, Sacha, and her parents were coming to Almaty, so imagine how delighted we were when she moved into an apartment so close to us! Her parents are staying at a hotel, which for a mere 30000 tenge/night gets you a room without hot water or toilet paper. Ben, ever the efficient tour guide, took Agnes’ folks our map which has a list of hotels on it. Hopefully, they can get a new room tomorrow.

While Ben was leading his expedition around Almaty, I was left to my own devices with Erlan. We worked on words and body parts. We played ring-around-the-rosy, which he loves. He has finally figured out how to fall down on is own. When we played this at the orphanage, Ben or I always dragged him down on top of us. When I started chanting it at our apartment, Erlan immediately grabbed my hand and fell down as soon as I said, “Ashes, ashes…” We then played 10 or 15 more times.

When left to my own devices, I forget to take pictures or video. I did manage to snap a picture of his “I-did-something-naughty-but-you-won’t-notice-because-I’m-cute-smile.”

And, here's a picture of Erlan throwing a fit. I wouldn't lift him onto the couch, and he was not too happy about it.

We are deviating from the orphanage schedule. At the orphanage, Erlan got one nap in the afternoon. He really needed a morning nap. Today, he got one. We were afraid that he wouldn’t take an afternoon nap. He did. We were also somewhat fearful that he wouldn’t sleep tonight. Ben just laid down with him, and, from the sounds of it, he must be going to sleep.

Our coordinator, Marina, came by today so that we could fill out some Embassy paperwork. No news yet on Erlan’s passport. Marina did have some sad news about her pug, Martin. Martin was bitten by a tic and now has some sort of disease that is affecting his central nervous system. He probably won’t make it. I feel so horrible for her. Martin is only 2, and I know that it is just devastating to watch a pet struggle with illness and not be able to do anything about it. I am hoping that a miracle happens and Martin makes it. For those of you who don’t know me very well and couldn’t guess from the mention of pugs in different posts, I have a special affinity for pug dogs. My pug, Buster, was my first baby and passed away last May from cancer. He was 14, and it broke my heart.

No video today kids. I suppose that I could video myself now, but I don’t think that I’m the person people really want to see. Also, I’d look pretty silly playing ring-around-the-rosy by myself. :-)