We met TJ yesterday (sorry for the delay, I was having posting problems)!

Today we flew to Uralsk on a 6 a.m. flight. Uralsk is very different than Almaty. Almaty, the former capital, is getting quite cosmopolitan (lots of young fashionable people, high-end stores are moving in, American-style restaurants). It is also surrounded by beautiful mountains, they are a contending city for the 2014 winter Olympics. Flying into Uralsk, you see nothing but flat, lush green for miles and the city itself is still quite rustic.

We were greeted at the airport by our translator Olga and several drivers as we are traveling with two other couples. They took us to the hotel and as we drove we noticed what seemed to be a very loose check point, and our driver informed us that we were crossing over the border between Asia and Europe. Pretty cool. It’s not often that you get to drive across a continental border!

We are staying at a hotel here in Uralsk. We were supposed to stay in an apartment, but they are all full. The nice thing is that the hotel is air conditioned, and has a laundry service and continental breakfast included. It doesn’t have as much space as an apartment and it doesn’t have a kitchen (just a refrigerator), so we need to be a bit inventive so we don’t have to eat all our meals out.

After checking into the hotel we went to a market to get some extra toys for the kids and some supplies for the room. We then went to the Ministry of Education (picture attached) where we introduced ourselves, showed the representatives our albums, and answered the questions they had about why we are adopting. After this meeting we were granted permission to go to the baby house.

When we got to the baby house we went into the chief doctor’s office where we sat (as well as one of the other families) as they brought in three 2-year old boys to look at. TJ was the first one. The poor boy was very groggy (they just woke him up from a nap) and a bit intimidated (there were 7 adults staring at him). We were told by our translator that we could play with him. We offered him a soft square toy that had a rattle in it that we picked up at the market. He just held onto it and froze. I then got out the little car Kristine gave me for my shower and raced it across the floor (glad I had a practice session at the shower J). TJ seemed to like the machina (Russian for car) and picked it up and clutched onto it as well. We asked if he could keep the toys but they said that he couldn’t. They took him away and brought in two other boys. Sorry we don’t have any pictures of that first meeting as we weren’t allowed to take any, hopefully tomorrow.

After the meeting, we were told that our visiting hours would be from 9-10 a.m. and 5-6 p.m. everyday and that we could take him outside on the playground or use one of the rooms inside.

More to come today!

Love,
Jon & Lisa