Adventures in KAZ!

August 25

Not much new is happening here in Kazakhstan. Caleb was sweet and subdued today. He discovered a water bottle that we had and it was half full and he spent about thirty minutes knocking it over, watching it roll across the table and head to the floor, Ethan would catch it, put it back on the table and the cycle repeated. Anything to pass the time in the little room. We have now been visiting for 19 days. We can only do so much to entertain a seven month old and ourselves in the space we have. So, if it is a water bottle, then so be it. We had a nice walk outside. Caleb fell asleep in my arms. I can tell he is gaining weight because my back is starting to hurt from carrying him so much. He is on formula and rice cereal now and overall doing well. He LOVES formula. Every time we feed him formula we have to stop him several times while he is taking the bottle because otherwise he would drain it in two minutes. His two little bottom teeth are making there way in, he seems to be handling it okay most days. He just chews on about anything. We had an eventful evening out with our friends last night at the Boulevard (picture included). I had a great salad with romaine lettuce, raisins, granny smith apples and balsamic vinaigrette. For my main course I had fish with vegetables that was baked in foil. Ethan had beef, tomatoes, potatoes covered in cheese. We danced and had a big time. Today after our visit with Caleb we went on a riding tour of the city given by our driver Oleg. We started the visit by going to a mound of rocks with two stone deer on top; it is called “Horny Husband Hill”. It is apparently a big deal here and I do not know the story behind it, nor do I really want to learn. We took a picture that I will include, there was a wedding party posing on top as you will see. We then drove around; saw the bus station, the suburbs and the lake. There was one little interesting piece of local culture that we learned as we were driving up to the top of this scenic overlook on a gravel road. Along the way there were young boys, like eight years old or so who had ropes across the road. We asked Inna and Oleg what they were doing and they said that as wedding parties drive on this road to go up to the overlook to get their pictures taken, the boys will block the road with the ropes and not let them go by until the wedding parties give them money. I guess you could say it is kind of like a lemonade stand in the states, they are just a little more ingenious as they turn a gravel road into a toll road every weekend. So, that is all for today. Just a quiet Saturday here, we are staying in tonight.