020308
Sunshine in the air…the smell of a fresh meal…a smile on your face

It’s about 10pm here in Almaty, Kazakhstan.  It’s been a long 2 days and we’ve been on a plane for most of that time and we still aren’t at our destination, Aktobe.   Our trip began Saturday, 020208, as Gen and I stepped onto a KLM Boeing 747 headed to Amsterdam.  The flight was scheduled to take off at 10pm EST, and we were to land in Amsterdam at 11am Sunday.  I think my dates are all screwed up as I don’t even know what time zone we are in anymore, so just bear with me. 

Amsterdam, home to artistic great Rembrandt, a red light district that would make Montreal blush and hash houses, is a beautiful city.  Since we had an 8 hour layover, we decided to buy two tickets for the high speed train and explore downtown Amsterdam.  Around the city we go, doing the typical tourist thing and head back to the Airport for the second leg of our trip to Almaty. 

020408
Almaty

So here we go on airplane ride #2 to Almaty, Kazakhstan.  Both of us are playing catch up with the shifting time zones, but so far so good.  Before we started our adventure, we were in contact with another family that was traveling to the same region we were in.  During our flight, they came up to us and introduced themselves.  This was great because we wouldn’t feel like we were doing this alone and we could both support each other. 

From what we were to gather, the plan was to land in Almaty and travel to Aktobe after we landed.  And as we were warned before hand, nothing ever goes to plan accordingly in this program.  We were hit with this reality when the representative met us at the airport and told us that we would not be flying out to Aktobe to see our child.  Their reason for not booking us for the flight was rather lame, as they assumed we would be coming in late and not able to make the connecting flight.  Needless to say, all of us were very disappointed with this.  Gen and I, along with the other family were told that we that we needed to be in country by Monday and after expending all that effort to get here (driving to DC to get our visas and an insane luggage packing) this was not the way we would have liked to start things off.  We were then informed that we would be flying out the next day to Aktobe. 

After collecting our things, we were whisked off to our hotel.  There we were informed by our coordinator that we would be taken around Almaty for some lunch and some site seeing.  To tell you the truth, we more interested in seeing our children then seeing the sites.  Our coordinator, Lena, was very accommodating and sympathized with our situation.  She did her best to cheer us up and assure us that we would be on that flight tomorrow to see our children. 

After the tour, which included going to the supermarket, seeing the WWII and Afghan memorials, and Russian Orthodox Church, we went back to the hotel for some dinner and some rest. 

020508
Aktobe

The next morning, we left our hotel at quarter to 5 to head over to Almaty airport.  I would have liked to show some pictures of the airport, but apparently it’s illegal to take pictures of it.  The two hour flight was uneventful until we were on approach to land.  Heavy crosswinds and snow made for a very interesting landing.  The temperature was negative twenty-two degrees and the wind was bitterly cold.  We deplaned and were herded into a very cold building to wait for our luggage.  There we met our translator, Aina and driver Cerric.  We were then instructed to collect our luggage that was dumped onto wooden pallets. 

We loaded up our things into the cars and sped off to where we were staying.  The family that traveled with us was staying at the hotel, and we requested an apartment.  Cerric first dropped off the other family and took us to the apartment.  When we got there, the apartment wasn’t what we were expecting at all.  The smell of stale food and cigarettes was nauseating and resulted in a quick exit for us.  There were no other apartments available at that time.  We agreed to check into Hotel Dastan until they can find a more suitable place.  On our way to the hotel, our coordinator, Gul’nara, called Aina.  Their conversation sounded very intense.  Aina told us that the representative from the Dept. of Education was ready to see us.  We were told that she was a very busy lady and had no time to wait for us.  We needed to pick-up the other family and meet them at the baby house immediately.  Everything was just happening so fast. 

Within minutes, together with the other family, we arrived at the orphanage where the Head doctor awaited.  We were summoned into his office, where we met Gul’nara, Gul’nara’s sister (don’t remember her name), the head of the dept. of education and the head doctor.  He asked for our passports and reviewed them diligently.  He returned them to us and then we were directed to leave.  We then headed to the baby house where we were going to meet our child.  Our nerves were numb from the excitement and I don’t think it was from the freezing weather. 

As we pulled up to the baby house, I remember seeing pictures of the place.  Not in a million years did I think we would be here.  Both of us were lead into a large play room and we were instructed to wait here.  The family we were traveling with was called first.  As we waited, a nurse was walking a child through the room toward us.  For a moment, we thought this was it, but the nurse was looking for the other family.  The child cried as he saw us and ran towards his nurse.  She led the child away and we were left to ourselves again. 

Aina, our interpreter, enters the room and calls us to follow her.  This is it, the moment we’ve been waiting for.  Aina, leads us through some doors, and down a dark hallway.  At the end of it, we enter a bright room with four very Kazakh women staring at us.  There is a look of bewilderment on their faces as they check us out…how unusual that Asians are here to adopt a child.  Both of us are asked to have a seat .  We quickly noticed that one of the ladies, who happened to be the baby house doctor, is holding a small child.  She says something in Russian and Aina tells us to come and hold the baby.  Gen is frozen in fear and couldn’t get out of her seat.  She then stiff arms me to get up and meet the baby.  At this moment, I’m absolutely terrified and hold the baby like he was a nuclear bomb about to explode. 

He had this look of terror on his face, not something I expected.  More Russian was spoken in the room, and a couple of giggles erupted as well.  I looked at the baby again and he wanted to cry, but was holding it in with all his strength.  He tucked in his upper lip and sobbed ever so lightly, but he would not let it out.  His Kazakh caretakers shushed him not to cry as he stared at them from my arms.  At this point, I’m about to pass out from the moment.  Lucky for me Gen has come out of her coma and takes the baby from me.  Naturally, she takes him in her arms and comforts him.  Again, the baby is still fighting back the tears.  Both of us look at him, and began to examine him.  The doctor says something and Aina translates “He is a very healthy boy with dark skin and big eyes, like yours” As quickly as the moment came, the baby was taken away.  The doctor asked if we would like this child, and both of us gave a resounding YES!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 4:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.