Glimpses of baby house life

Today was the first time we heard Emma say “mama.” It was great to hear those two syllables! She also said “Yay!” at the end of a game of patty-cake. She is now pointing to what she wants, and starting to fuss a bit if she doesn’t get it. We see her becoming more relaxed and confident with us, and we are all thoroughly enjoying one another.

We had a special treat today - we got a glimpse inside the rooms where Emma lives. Until today, the only room we had seen was the small visitation room. At the end of our visit, a young woman motioned us inside a playroom with a large playpen in the center. We were unable to get the young woman’s name, but she was very kind. When I took out my camera she said khara-sho, which we have learned means “that’s fine.” We were able to get a few pictures of the playroom. Then I put my head on my hands indicating that I wanted to see where Emma sleeps. We were taken inside a room with wall-to-wall cribs and allowed to see which one is Emma’s. We were not allowed to see any of the other children Emma lives with, but it was wonderful to see what we did today.

After our visit, we went on a quest for beshbarmok, which we are told is authentic Kazakh cuisine. We were dropped off at a restaurant reputed to have the best in Kazakh cooking, but it turned out to be closed. We ate at the hotel Alma-Ata’s restaurant instead, which was fine, but no beshbarmok. We did order something on the menu called “Allthings National” which was a variety of cut meats. I didn’t sample all of them, but Jim did, and insists one of them was horse meat. Not sure how he could know that, but that’s his story and he’s sticking to it. The restaurant was across from the beautiful Opera House, which we photographed and put on today’s blog.

After lunch we went to the Central Museum (of Kazakh History). We were surprised at how much we enjoyed this, even with the vast majority of exhibits described only in Russian and Kazakh. Jim got a picture of the costume of a “prince warrior,” which we’ve posted, before we saw a sign with a camera and an X through it. Kazakhstan was once conquered by Mongol warriors, who are said to be ancestors of many Kazakhs, and we think the prince’s costume is representative of that time. That was the only photo we were able to get of the museum. There was an amazing gold exhibit, with intricately engraved horses, rams, and warriors on the artifacts. There were also several gift shops, and we purchased a few treasures before heading home for the evening.