The many faces of Lukas Anton

7 May 2009

Nan nakatan! = ?????? (your guess is as good as ours)

The word/phrase for the day was the chant from our little boy today. We saw a very silly side to him today. He was in a great mood and we didn’t have any pouty sessions…we’re wondering if they gave him some sort of silly juice and if so can we have a bottle to go. We were wondering if Lukas Anton was going to have a buzz cut today. His class came out before we left yesterday and they had all had a haircut, the same one, whether boy or girl. All buzzed off except for short bangs in front. We’re short on what today say about our visit other than it was a great day…I think the pictures today pretty much say it all.

















We go again tomorrow at 3pm, still no word on Guardianship Council.

Paka,
Lynda and Wayne

Last official day of bonding

6 May 2009

zaftra = tomorrow



Last night Zema contacted us from Almaty to let us know that we would be going for our visit in the afternoon. Now what do we do with ourselves all morning. We started by sleeping in a little and then did some more laundry. With that all out of the way by 9am we contemplated on what to do until lunch. We were told the next two days were supposed to be nice weather; however, we awoke to overcast skies and no sun. They had the street blocked off out front again due to more rehearsal for the upcoming Victory Day celebration.

We decided to take a walk around town and then pick up some chocolates for Lukas. Right after we left for our walk it began to sprinkle. We headed towards the square to see what they were up to. When we arrived the various military branches were all lined up at the back while a large contingent of couples practiced some form of waltz. It has me really interested in the performance for Saturday. We headed down to the garden walk in the back and checked out what appears to be a memorial garden of some sort. I took pictures of the narratives and will see if I can translate them when I get home.

On the way back we got a closer look at the new apartment buildings going up. From what I can tell of the building process they should be very sound and sound proof. It looks like they start with cinderblock and steel, then apply a brick veneer and follow that with stucco or plaster of some sort. That should make for pretty thick, solid walls. The complex is pretty fancy looking compared to most of the exteriors you see on the buildings.

I’ve noticed while driving back and forth to Umit that it doesn’t seem to matter how expensive your home is, they all tend to have the same drab exterior. A few of the newer single family homes going up are a little more elaborate with ornate walls around them but you will find what look like expensive homes right next door to middle or lower income houses. Most of the homes and buildings are concrete but there are a few brick homes. There appears to be quite a bit of construction going on in Taraz. Some renovations of buildings are taking place as well. I’m curious to see how fast the construction takes place. I’m a little unsure about some of the masonry work I’ve seen; the mortar job isn’t the greatest, but I’m not sure if it is new work or old buildings being renovated. I hope it is the latter.

Over the last few weeks that we have been here we have really seen the city come to life. The plants have grown and started blossoming, festive lights have gone up around town, the outdoor cafes have opened and slowly but surely the fountains around town have come to life.

Well, 2:30 finally rolled around and we waited, and waited, and waited for Kuralt and Janette to show up. Finally at 3pm they came pulling up. Janette took the Docter family in a separate car so we could all go together. It was a race to the baby house. We had them up until the last turn and their driver cut us off at the pass.

We headed to the music room and some of the staff was putting together a huge flower. Since the sun decided to come out we planned on going outside anyway. We waited in the hall for them to bring Lukas Anton down stairs. We stopped him before he could run in and step all over their work. He was quite happy to see his “machina” and bubbles again. He pulled them all out of the bag and headed off with his hands full. We just followed behind to see where he would go. We walked around the building with everything in hand and terrorized the cats and the dog.

We had our usual grumpy, pouty episodes when we didn’t get our way. The photo of the day was one Wayne captured after Lukas Anton threw a big rock in the stream and splashed papa. It’s pretty priceless. During snack time some big boys (upper elementary school age) and Lukas Anton decided he had to show them his toys and treasures. The oldest of the boys appeased him. He had a small, soft ball with him and played soccer and catch with Lukas Anton. He was quite pleased with himself. We got to spend a full 2 hours with him on our last official visit.







Before we left Janette had Aima on the phone to give us the low down. We could continue to visit Lukas Anton and it would be $25/visit for our driver. We will still be without a translator. She mentioned the next 3 days, we aren’t sure if that is Thur, Fri, and Sat or Sunday since the big celebration is on Saturday. We will visit in the afternoon again tomorrow. They still don’t know when our guardianship council will be. Aima said Janette would let us no tomorrow. That is getting to be a recurring theme. We’re just going with the flow and will continue to visit our boy until they send us home or tell us we can’t.

That’s all for today, paka,
Lynda and Wayne

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

5 May 2009

chort zna-yet shto = God only knows

We were greeted this morning by cloudy skies but the sun was trying to shine through. Kuralt showed up by himself this morning to pick us up. We then headed down the road in the direction of the Bazaar. Of course we can’t ask where we are going because Kuralt doesn’t speak English. He then turned down a side road and stopped along the street across from a government looking building. We figured we were waiting for Janette. It ends up it was the building the MOE is in and Janette eventually came outside and handed Wayne the phone so Aima could explain that we were to go to the music room and someone would bring Anton to us. So, off we went to Umit by ourselves with the key to the music room. Since we have been going there for so long now we know the drill and our way around. About a half a block away we got into a small traffic jam. A car was stopped in the road and Kuralt didn’t want to go off the road to go around them. So, he stops the car, grabs what we believe is a badge of some sort and goes up to ask the driver to move out of the way. The guy obviously refused, Kuralt showed him what we believe to be a badge and when the other guy got out of the car still refusing to move, he came back to the car all mad and grabbed his cell phone. We have know idea who he was speaking too but he was not a happy camper. I’m thinking to myself, “we could walk from here” and Wayne’s thinking, “am I going to get stuck in a fight?” Before things got worse the guy they were waiting for came out and got in their car and we all drove off. Wayne said he saw Kuralt write their license plate number down.

Once we made the last ½ block drive to Umit we got out of the car, went in the building and let ourselves into the music room to wait for Lukas Anton. Eventually his class came walking by with each one of them smiling, giggling and showing me the two cookies they had in their hands. The doctor dropped Lukas Anton off with us. He came in happy with his cookies and spied the bag of trucks. He immediately went over and started to look in the bag and pull the truck and the police car out of the bag while still eating. He was overjoyed with papa’s selection and played with them for a while. He didn’t even look for his snacks right away today he was so excited.




Janette showed up with the Docter family and proceeded to pull out papers for us to sign. During the paper signing we discovered they had also given our son a middle name when he came to Umit. It was something like Maxinovich, I’m not sure of the exact spelling. She was using the piano for a desk and Anton decided he wanted to play the piano. He did his usual pout routine when told no. By the time everyone had signed all their papers he began his crocodile tears. Janette tried talking to him and he wasn’t giving in, eventually she pulled out two pieces of chocolate candy and he stopped pretty quickly. We discovered he probably had on about 5 layers of clothes and we had already taken 2 off. We took off another layer and he seemed to be content to just sit with papa.

Next thing we knew the music teacher was coming in the room. She asked if Aima was there and when we said know we figured what she was telling us was it was ok to stay in the room. We then got to watch them rehearsing with 4 kids from the 4 yr old class for what we guess is an up coming show. It was quite entertaining, especially when the little girl did a little dance number. Anton sat quietly and watched. I did manage to measure him with a tape measure this morning. So for those of you who were asking, here are the measurements:

Neck to waist is around 12-13 inches
Waist to ankle is around 16-17 inches
Waist is around 18 inches (this is a guess with all his clothes)
Foot is around 5-5 ¼ inches

We finally decided to bundle him back up and head outside since the sun was shining. We left the coat and hat off except for when the nannies came around and then we would put his hat on real quick. About half his class came over with one of the grounds keepers and of course they had to come see Lukas Anton and his family. A while later they all came walking by again on their little walk around the building with the nannies. Next thing we know here comes Sasha and one of the other little boys all alone. Gone was the shy little Sasha I know. He was quite rambunctious today. Lukas Anton walked over with both cars in his arms and a toy gun he found left outside. After a little exchange between the children Wayne started to guide the other two back to the front of the building to find their class. About halfway down the walkway around the corner came the nanny giving the two boys heck. Sasha took off in a run.

Our son then decided he wanted to walk around to the front of the building. He got upset when we said he couldn’t ride in the big machina but walked on willingly when mama pulled out his favorite cookie. The Spanish couple came out and we introduced them to Lukas Anton. He got all excited when their ride showed up. They ended up going back inside so he decided he was going to walk over and show the driver his machinas. The driver chatted with him briefly and we headed back to join papa for a bit. Then the little stubborn boy came out and he insisted he was going to go out the gate with his new toys in hand. He and mama had a Mexican standoff but mama won this battle. As we headed back up front one of his nannies called out for him that it was time to come in for lunch. We collected his hat and discovered we had dropped his coat along the way so Wayne went to retrieve it. Papa said goodbye and when mama went to take him in he began his croc tears quite loudly. Nothing like embarrassing mama when she has to take you back inside herself. I took him up to his classroom and knocked on the door but no one answered. I can’t believe they didn’t hear him crying. We went down to the music room and he quieted down when we walked by the kitchen. Kara said they had been there looking for him so we headed back upstairs. As soon as we got to the stairs he started crying again. This time they were at the door waiting for him. He stopped once I sat him down. I said my good byes and they took him off to eat his lunch.





Our ride arrived once I got back outside and Janette and I had a discussion using Aima as a translator via phone. Aima speaks good social English but I don’t think her comprehension is anywhere close to Zema’s and over the phone does not work to well. I was trying to get Aima to explain what I was giving her mother and to tell her mother that we wanted to continue to see Lukas Anton after our bonding ends tomorrow until we leave to come home. She seemed fixated on telling me that it will cost us extra for the driver. Then she informed me that because of the Victory Day Celebration on Saturday that we may or may not have our Guardianship Council on Monday. If not on Monday it might be Tuesday. Janette will let us know tomorrow. Needless to say we are not exactly happy about that. It appears Kaz custom is to decide at the last minute whether or not to take an extended holiday whenever there is a national celebration. So at the moment we may have to move our flight home back a day. We are hoping they don’t end up moving us back a whole week. We will keep you posted on that one.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo we decided to find the Tequila Bar we had been told about by another family. So off the Robeys and the Docters went in search of a good cold Peeva to help swallow the news of the day a little better. We found it without any problems and all enjoyed what we chose from the menu with a little help from our waiter. He even resorted to animal noises to tell us what kind of meat was in the different dishes. It was all guess work from there. Wayne ended up with what was presented like beef fajitas minus the tortillas, mine looked like a skillet flattened small chicken, Kara had a pork chop and Quentin’s was a beef stew under a bread crust similar to Medvet. While we waited for our entrees the waiter brought over 4 shots of tequila on the house. We decided to order dessert and we knew the one item was ice cream but we were not sure about the second. When he brought it out it looked like crab cakes sitting on pineapple slices with fruit around the edge of the plate. After trying it our best guess is it is their version of fried ice cream. If it was, they are way off!



The mystery dessert
Well, that pretty much sums up the day. Until tomorrow…

Paka,
Lynda and Wayne

Boy, are we glad to see you!

4 May 2009

Nee plach, f-syo kharaso = don’t cry, it’s ok

It’s another chilly and cloudy day in Taraz. We met with our coordinator and her husband driver at our regular time to go see Lukas Anton, however, no translator today. Zema is in Almaty for a few days and Aima has gone back to school. We did get a call from Aima and she said if we need her to ask anything to just get her on the phone.

Lukas Anton was neither thrilled nor upset to see us today. He did let us give him a hug and kiss and then he went straight for the food. We captured his attention with some bubbles we bought at the festival over the weekend. He liked to chase them around but had some trouble when it came for his turn to blow some bubbles.

We noticed he had a bit of a cough today and was a little sneezy. He soon was back for the food. We like to try to spread it out throughout the visit. So papa said no. Down to the floor he went. Now all you parents out there have to give papa a break, because he messed up. Papa went to pick him up by his legs, and kind of hold him upside down. Some kids seem to like that, but Lukas Anton sort of went ballistic and started to cry. Papa picked him up and said he was sorry about 400 times and he eventually stopped crying and let Papa hold him for a while.

A nice jelly cookie from mama seemed to perk his spirits up and I think he forgave papa because he gave me a bite. Once he was back and playing for a while the psychologist came in for a surprise visit!! We managed to across the fact that we had no translator today using our phrase book but had to call Aima on the phone to finish the conversation. The lord was on papa’s side today because when she was speaking to Lukas Anton, I called him over and he sat on papa’s lap next to the psychologist.

It would have been nice to have the translator there but we did our best and she was just checking to see how it was going. I think she asked Lukas Anton if he liked mama & papa and he sort of shook his head yes, but the rest of the stuff she asked him, he really made no response.
But, she seemed OK when she left.

The rest of the visit went fine. Around 11:30 the music teacher came in and we got the basic gist that we needed to clear out. Lukas Anton saw us cleaning up and helped pack up the back and went to put his shoes on. I think he may have thought we were going outside but one of his nannies came and whisked him away at 11:30 for either lunch or his music lesson.

We went to lunch and then to the store and Papa brought Lukas Anton two toys; nothing like a good case of guilt.

Mama decided to buy herself a souvenir and everything was going well until it came time to pay. The door said they took credit cards, however, it did not specify Kazak credit cards. They wouldn’t accept my American based credit card. So off Wayne went to find the ATM at Tsum to get the Tenge. He eventually made his way back but could not get the full amount so off I went to get the rest. At least we were able to get rid of our large bills on my purchase and now have a lot of smaller Tenge bills. We should be good for a while now.

Well, I know what you really want is to see more pictures, so here you go….

Anton and bubbles






Anton after meltdown


Back to playing


For those of you who have asked we will borrow Kara's measuring tape tomorrow and post the measurements on the blog.

Paka,
Lynda and Wayne

Here comes the sun!!!

29 April 2009

Ya ne panimayu = I don’t understand

Today we awoke to bright sunshine, hooray! We met Kuralt, Janette and Aima at our usual time and headed to Umit for our daily visit with Lukas Anton. We are trying to use both names now so that he will hopefully get use to being called Lukas. On the drive over we inquired has to how many more days Janette thought we might be so we knew how many more days we needed to pay for our room. Wouldn’t want to end up homeless before we return home. Aima informed us that the head of the region is supposed to be visiting and the govt buildings would be closed. Janette was meeting with the MOE today and would be able to tell us more tomorrow.

Lukas Anton came in and did the daily dump of the toy bag, looked through some books, did some puzzles and then headed to the piano. Since it was so nice out today we headed outside. Once we got to our place out front it was time for the first part of our morning snack, banana. Then it was back to playing. Both Lukas Anton’s group and the 4 year old group were outside as well.

We learned today that Sasha has an adoptive family and is actually further along than Lukas Anton. Aima asked if Wayne would take some pictures of Sasha for her with his camera because she forgot hers and needed to get his passport picture. Lukas Anton didn’t seem to sure about what was going on and started his little pouting routine of walking off with a disgruntled look on his face. We just walked up and down the driveway in front of the play area. Mama finally tempted him back in with the other half of his snack.

He played with Papa for a while with the pinecones and then we gave him a special treat we brought with us, a cookie. He really liked that. He eventually fell asleep in Papa’s arms as Wayne rocked him back and forth. We actually got to spend a little extra time with him today.





Aima gave Wayne an update on our earlier question while Lukas Anton and I were walking around. According to Janette it appears that Lukas Anton’s papers weren’t “in centralization” (whatever that means) until April 20th so the official start of our bonding period has been moved from April 17th until April 20th. This means our bonding ends on May 3rd instead of April 30th. As far as we understand the process we would not go to Guardianship Council until May 4th at the earliest anyway. It just gives us 3 more days to spend with Lukas Anton which we had hoped to continue after the end of the official bonding period anyway. So we don’t know if we will be coming home early or staying with our original date at the time.

Since it was nice out we decided to venture down the other direction from the hotel and checkout the “Mall” (otherwise known as Tsum). We stopped at the restaurant Medvet (Russian for bear) to eat lunch. Again, no English menu, but we did ok. Kara thought with the use of her Russian phrase book that she had ordered a vegetarian meal. We began to wonder when the waitress pointed to her leg. Wayne ordered what appeared to be the dish Quentin ordered at yesterday’s outing and Quentin and I ordered what in translation was a meat dumpling. This is what our meals looked like…



My meal was a very buttery (Paula Dean would be proud) broth with little meat dumplings, mushrooms and chunks of lamb with a big dome of bread on top. Wayne pretty much got what he thought but said the sauce was better. He EVEN ate the mushrooms.

Kara’s was minced vegetables we think a leg of lamb. She said it was very good.

Both families picked up some Kazak items for our kids. We bought a fabric wall hanging that has a little representation of native Kazak things (yurt, dombra, mountains, horse, camel, etc), a stuffed warrior on horse back and a traditional Kaz coat. He’ll have to grow into the coat, they didn’t have a great deal in little boy sizes.

On the way back to the hotel we were stopped on the side walk by 3 female coeds that were curious if we were Americkaners. They said they had seen us a couple of times but were afraid to talk to us. Obviously they finally got their nerve up. At least one of them had participated in the same work/exchange program that Aima is doing this summer. The young lady had spent her 4 months in Silver Spring and Bethesda, Md of all places.

We noticed on our way in that they appeared to be practicing for the upcoming Victory Day Festivities with all the flags today. Kara, Wayne and I headed down to check it out and see if we could get some photos before heading back to our rooms.

I guess that’s all for today….paka,
Lynda and Wayne

Rain, rain go away…

28 April 2009

Peeva = beer


It’s starting to feel like the movie “Ground hog day” where we keep repeating the same day over and over and over. Janette’s daughter was with us again today.

Wayne decided to hide behind the pile of bears today for Anton’s entrance. He came in looking around and I pointed out papa. Anton walked over to the front of the bears and attacked papa.



We started with our regular piano recital. That must have worked up a hunger because we then went on a hunt for tamOOK (food). We looked through the white bag, then papa’s camera bag since that’s where it was the last two days. No luck so we decided to play for a while. Mama finally gave in and pulled some banana from her coat pocket. That sufficed for a short while. So he decided to go looking for his cookies. “She pulled the bananas out of here the cookies should be here somewhere too!” Fortunately he didn’t realize I had more than one pocket in my coat.





We made three trips to the restroom today. I think he just likes going in there and flushing the toilet and washing his hands because he didn’t really produce much.

He likes looking at the pictures on the camera. He discovered one of his group today and was pointing to the different children.

The dogs better look out when he comes home because he decided the Scooby-Doo stuffed animal was a horse to ride. I can see him trying to ride one of them.



Janette’s daughter asked us how many days of bonding we had left. We told her 2 and she said we would probably have guardianship council next week. So, we might be home a week earlier than originally scheduled if our travel agent, Eldo, can get our flights moved up. She also said Janette wanted to know if we were keeping his name or changing it. She needed to know. We told her we hadn’t decided for sure on a first name and could we have a little time. She said it could wait until tomorrow. We discussed it a little bit and decided to go ahead and give her the name now.

So, I know you have all been anxious to know what his name will be….we decided on Lukas Anton Robey. We wanted to keep his Kazak name as part of his full name. Lukas is Greek and the meaning is patron saint of doctors/artists; lighthearted. It fits him. Debbie you can tell mom-mom Shirley she can put Lukas on that stocking she made.



It has been really rainy today. Wayne said it was pouring down rain around 4am. We tried a new place to eat today. I believe the menu was in Kazak because we couldn’t really locate the words in our phrase books. We did pretty good choosing considering we were at the mercy of the waitress. After lunch the rain finally stopped and the sun is attempting to come out.

Last night someone had a party in the hotel restaurant. We think it was a wedding reception. Wayne and I were in our room (did we mention that it is one floor above the restaurant) and we heard what sounded like a band playing. It sounded like it was coming from the hotel so I wandered down to the lobby to discover the restaurant doors closed and loud music coming from that direction. We found out this morning from Kara and Quentin that as they were getting ready to leave the restaurant last night for dinner a DJ came in to set up and there were two women that they said appeared to be the mother of the groom and bride giving directions to the staff to make sure everything was set up properly. That is why we are assuming it was a wedding reception. The music played of and on until about 11pm. A little difficult to get to sleep with loud music playing directly below you. We were just glad they stopped by 11pm.

Our local grocer is closed for lunch so we will head back out in a while to buy some water and re-stock on some food items.

Hope all is well with everyone back home.

Paka,
Lynda and Wayne