Greetings from Almaty

We're in Almaty, finishing up the last leg of our trip. The red eye out of Uralsk was hard on Garrett. Imagine arriving in a new city at 3 am--we had one very cranky boy on our hands. But we survived. Our room at the Hotel Kazakhstan is small and the bathroom has no lock (lots of fun for a little boy trying to peek in on mama, sitting on the toilet, but we're making do.) For those of you adopting in Kaz, you'll most likely be staying at the Hotel Kazakhstan in Almaty. If you'd like to save money, ask for an unrenovated room. You'll save close to $80 USD per night, which can come in handy (especially towards the end of your trip).

Yesterday was spent at the International Clinic where the doctor evaluated Garrett and determined he was "alive." The one vital thing they performed was the HIV test, which is necessary to leave the country. Unfortunately, things move rather slowly here. We had hoped to leave for home this Sunday, but the stars did not align. Garrett's exit visa should arrive today (Friday) from Astana and the HIV results will be available after 4pm today. Because the US Embassy needs both documents (as well as tons of other paperwork), our appointment was moved to Monday. (Bob was not happy about that. In fact, he used a few expletive words then stopped himself after realizing that people around us might actually understand English.)

What this means is that we get three free days to play "tourists." Actually, Almaty is a very cosmopolitan city and spring is in full bloom, so it's not a bad place to get "stuck." Except that everything is far more expensive here than Uralsk (which hurts at the end of this trip). But we do get to return with a very energetic little boy, which as Visa says is priceless.

This could very well be my last post from Kazakhstan. (Fingers crossed.) We hope to be back home Tuesday, April 15th. Pray that that will happen. By then, we will have been in Kazakhstan for 50 days and I'm SO sick of wearing the same two pairs of pants that I brought along. Another interesting point is we leave Almaty on Tuesday at 7:30 am and cross 11 time zones--arriving in Minneapolis the same calendar day at 3:30pm. Cool, huh?

I do promise upon my return home to post tons of photos, so please check back. It'll give me a chance to flesh out our process. Also thanks again for all your positive comments. It's been great having you along for the ride.

Paka-paka,
Karen, Bob and Garrett