Notes from the first few days.

We made it to our apartment in Almaty. It's about 1:15 am local time and we're watching some old movie with Nick Nolte on TCM, about the only channel we found in English. The apartment is a cozy one bedroom and reminds of our last visit. Being here makes you realize how simplified and uncluttered life can be. We're snacking on Power bars and green tea that LeAnne brought.
All together it was about a twenty six hour trip. Charlotte to Washington-Dulles, to Frankfurt, and on to Almaty. Seventeen hours of flying and nine on layovers, so as not to miss any connections. While passing our 5 1/2 hours in Frankfurt, we sat near two young Russian men, who had purchased a large bottle of Jack Daniels in the duty free. They were drinking it straight and chasing it with sips of coke, singing all the while. Eventually, they laid down on the seats to sleep. We heard a noise of glass breaking as one kicked over the bottle of Jack onto the floor. Luckily, the noise didn't disturb the sleeping cherubs, and other travelers got some rather humerous pictures.
We met our travel partners, Ben and Angela, from Clemson, in Frankfurt just before boarding the flight. We got a little chance to visit with them on the plane, and waiting for lugguge. They are in a different apartment and had a different driver, but we are both being picked up at 9 am to go to the sisters office ( three related sisters who work in Kaz with our adoption agency) to sign papers and other official stuff. Then we're off on a three hour flight to Astana, Kazakhstans captital, where we will be picked up for our four hour drive to Kokshetau (Rhys' hometown, and our old stomping grounds from two years ago). We're not sure when we'll get to see the baby, or when we'll have a chance to post this. Hopefully, we'll have contact with the outside world in the next day or two.

It's about 10:30 pm and we're in our temporary apartment in Kokshetau. We finally got here about 8 o'clock. The drive seemed to take a long time. It was a long day in general. We spent about two hours with the sisters signing documents and going over the schedule for both trips, and then it was straight to the airport to catch the flight. We met our drivers in Astana. Misha, our interpreter Inna's husband, and his friend picked us in his VW van.
When we got here, Inna met us at a grocery store to get a few supplies. It was great to see her in person again after two years. We picked up some bread, cereal, yogurt, milk, water, tea, chocolate, cherry juice, and a can of Kracks (Pringles knockoffs, Paprika flavored). I got the Nestle "For Men" candy bar. Chocolate and hazelnut, apparently one of the more masculine nuts in this part of the world.
Our travel partners are staying in one of the two cottages with a couple adopting twins from Tchunincks, a town about an hour away. The other cottage is currently being occupied by two families, so being the veterans, we are stating in a temporary apartement for five days, until one of the families leaves on Sunday. It's our friends, the Appleyards, place where they first stayed when adopting Colin and Nichole. Not as cozy as the place in Almaty. The bed is a board with about an inch and an half of foam stapled to the top.
Tonight we watched one of the movies we brought and got settled in. Little quirks about living here are starting to come back, like don't flush t.p. in the toilet, that's what the trash can next to it is for. Also, there is only one outlet in the kitchen, so you have to unplug the refrigerator to use the electric teapot. This is a good safety measure because using using both at once will blow a fuse.
Tomorrow we meet with the Ministry of Education gentleman in the morning to get permission to begin our visits. Tomorrow afternoon we get to meet our baby. We'll try to get to the cottage or an internet cafe to post these notes and hopefully some pictures.