Monday, July 20, 2009

(Please note that the pink Sweet t-shirt that Alina wore yesterday was given to her by Auntie Tamela as well as the pink striped one with the rhinestone heart she wore today. Thanks Auntie Tamela for the hand-me-downs!!)
Tomorrow marks the two week anniversary of Alina meeting her Mama. It seems like only yesterday. Time is flying by and, for now, that’s a good thing. When we get back to Memphis, it can slow down as much as it wants. Tomorrow also ends my free transportation to Umit. I’m just hoping Janette will take pity on me and not charge me the $50 a day after tomorrow. If that happens, I’ll not be able to see Alina every day. We’ll have to work something out. I hope Janette will work with me. I paid her an extra $2,200 in regional fees. I hope she will take that into consideration as the fee for the visitation fee from now on. She said she would consider it. I’ll let you know on Wednesday.
I FINALLY got to meet Lynda and Wayne Robey and Kara Docter and her mother Marsha today. Kara’s husband, Quentin, did not make this leg of the trip. I went outside to sit on the bench in front of the hotel a little early this morning because it was really stuffy in my room. I was out there maybe a total of two minutes and Lynda comes walking toward me. I look at her and she looks at me and she says, “Kim?” and I say “Kara?”. Stupid me called Lynda, Kara. I knew Kara and her mother were here already. They arrived yesterday. I wasn’t about to bother them because I knew they were exhausted. I knew Lynda and Wayne were due here today so I didn’t expect to see them so early. Anyway, Lynda said, “No, I’m Lynda”. We both laughed and gave each other a hug. It was great to finally meet the person I had only been communicating with via email for the last two months. Kara and her mother came out soon after Lynda and Wayne. Lynda introduced me to Kara and her mother. We were all like a bunch of hens cackling around the barn yard. It was great fun! Shirin walks up and I introduce her. Stupid me assumes that she has met these people before. Nope. So, Lynda starts introducing everyone to Shirin. We are all waiting on Janette to arrive. We all talk about when we got here, who’s doing what where and when, etc., etc. We are all so glad just to be able to be here with our children. Janette arrives and tells Lynda and Kara that they can pick their children up this afternoon. I can tell they are a little disappointed that they don’t get to go this morning but they don’t put up a fuss and they proceed to go back into hotel. All wished me a good visit before doing so. God, it’s great to hear American voices again I have to admit!
Shirin, Janette, and I hop into the minivan and head toward Umit. We arrive and I go in search of my girl. She and her group are playing around the sand pit. She sees me and comes a runnin’! They’ve put her back in her tie dyed bear T-shirt and jean shorts today and that stupid blue hat that is too small for her. I must get my sewing machine up and running so I can make this child a proper hat that actually fits her! Her shoes that Mama bought are on her feet and they seem to be working just fine. I scoop her up to lots of deep laughs and even receive a kiss on the cheek. We head toward our gazebo to play.
It seems none of the toys I bring interest Alina anymore. She does love her books but is not playing with them like she used to. Forget about the stacking toys! The photo albums are picked up once or twice but soon forgotten. I asked her about the pictures of my Mom and Dad and she correctly responded grandma and grandpa in Kazak. What a smart girl I have! She wanted to get out of the gazebo and go running around today. I guess Mama isn’t interesting enough anymore. We go to another shelter next to the two year old group. Well, the two year olds were more exciting than anything Mama could dream up to do. I suggested to Shirin that we go back to our gazebo so there wouldn’t be so much distraction. We loaded up and proceeded back to our play area. We were not even slightly interested in playing with anything there so we headed out for a walk around the orphanage. Alina would run, I would chase her and she thought that was just hilarious. We stopped at her groups shelter and she wanted to play with the toys in the cabinet again. I thought, “Why do you want to play with those toys when Mama has brought you new ones? I don’t get it kiddo!” I told her “joq (no)” and I chased her out of the shelter and back onto the paved walkway. We spy the water spicket again but it’s not on this time. I come over and turn it on just a little bit. Alina’s tiny little hands are instantly under the stream of water. She’s rubbing them together, putting the water to her lips, and then proceeds to bend down and drink from the facet. I put my hand in front of it and said no…no and patted her on the mouth very gently. She laughed so hard she almost fell over! I did it again and got the same reaction. It was so cute! I turned the facet off and motioned for us to keep walking. We did and continued around to the back of the building. Her group had moved to another shelter toward the back of the orphanage and Alina wanted to go play with them. I grabbed her up and swung her around in the direction we had just been walking. She protested a bit but I told her no that we are going this way. Again a little protest but she decided to go with Mama. The water spicket is located again on our way back and we go through the same routine as before. When we are through with that, we head back to the gazebo and begin to be bored some more. We kick the ball, we run from Mama, we yell at Mama when she doesn’t do what Alina wants her to do or doesn’t move fast enough…..hmmmm….do I see a pattern here? Is Mama’s buttons being pushed by this adorable little five year old child? How could this be? That’s what I think has been happening for the last two days. Yesterday, which I forgot to mention in my post, she balled her fist up and hit me in the face. Not hard, but I think she did it just to see what I would do. I sternly told her no and I think she got it. Today was a little harder. She did pull away from me a few times when I tried to steer her away from going somewhere I didn’t want her to go and she yelled at me when I would give her a treat. Are the glory days over already? If she were home with me, that little bottom of hers would have gotten a smack today but I can’t do that here. I’m afraid it would be a mark against me. So, I’m trying to use tone of voice and gestures to communicate that Mama doesn’t like it when Alina acts this way. It’s not working but there really is nothing else I can do about it right now.
What was a real surprise today is that Alina did not drink her tea. Not one sip. This is a first in two weeks that she has not drank a bottle of tea. Actually, it wasn’t tea it was a strawberry flavored water. She wouldn’t even look at it. Maybe because it didn’t look like all the other drinks that she has been drinking. I did bring back ONE and only one of the sugar wafer cookies that I brought her yesterday. That was gobbled up most hastily. The poppy seed crackers were next. Those aren’t a big hit but if the cookies are gone, that’s all she’s got.
While we were at play today in the gazebo, I would ask Shirin how to pronounce phrases like don’t through it, stop doing it, don’t shout, look at me, are you hungry?, can I help you?, come here, etc. I also asked her how to pronounce words such as say, stop, open, close, kiss, etc. Shirin would say them in Kazak and I wrote them down phonetically. I want to start using them so when Alina and I are on our own I can communicate better with her. They are not hard to say and I rather enjoy learning a new language. These words and phrases are not in my Kazak computer program. I am going to type them up and practice them at every visitation.
We went a little past our regular two hour visitation time today. I wasn’t going to say anything about it but Janette happened to look at her watch and said I should probably take Alina back to her group. Alina, Shirin and I head toward the entrance of the orphanage and Alina starts to whimper. Alina says she wants to stay with her mother. That just crumbles me inside but I know it’s not for much longer. I noticed the other day that when I am not carrying Alina into her playroom and she walks in by herself, there’s much less trauma for her. No crying, no yelling, “maaamaa”. So, what I’m doing now is carrying her into the building until we get to the bottom of the stairs that lead to the second story where her playroom is located. I put her down and she walks up the stairs with me holding my hand. I open the door to the foyer of the playroom and I lag behind her just a step of two. She will walk to the doorway of the playroom, see her playmates, hesitate for just for a second or two, and then walks in without giving Mama a second thought. Of course, that’s hurts my heart a little but it seems she gets distracted by her playmates thus distracting her about the fact that I’m leaving. I make sure she is in the room and make my exit. It seems to be working rather well. Shirin and I head back downstairs and get into the minivan. We actually drop Shirin off at her house today because she had to retrieve some paperwork that she had translated for Janette. Then I am dropped off at the hotel. The driver almost forgot to take me to the hotel. He was going in the direction of Janette’s house and Janette motioned that he needed to make a right turn to take me to the hotel. We all laughed and I told Janette that I was just going to go home with her. Who knows if she really understood what I said. I get dropped off, head up to my stuffy room, and collapse on the bed for a few minutes.
Kara, Marsha (her mother), and I had lunch together today. We went across the street to a outdoor restaurant that I hadn’t eaten at yet. I’m not eating out much to conserve money so this was a real treat for me. Plus, I don’t want to go out to eat alone. Anyway, the food was pretty good and my Dad will be happy to know that he can get French Fries here in Taraz. I had a sausage dish that Kara suggested. It was like two small hotdogs but DID NOT taste like a hotdog. It was much better! I had fries and some kind of carrot and cabbage salad as a small side that was absolutely fabulous! I wish I knew the dressing they used on it because it was very good. My Mother is going to LOVE it!!! I had a litre of Coke and in all, it cost me a whopping $3.75! Yeah…livin’ large here in Taraz!
I was told that my Guardianship Council meeting is Friday at 4:00. Shirin will take me Wednesday to buy a folder and get pictures printed off for the meeting. Then, it’s SIX WEEKS to a court date. I knew it could be that long so I wasn’t shocked at all when Janette said it. So, I’ve decided that I’m moving back into a room with an air conditioner. I know, I know, but the heat is really getting to me and if I’m going to be here for another eight weeks, I want to be comfortable damnit! It’s borderline miserable right now. I thought I could handle it but I just can’t. Call me whimpy if you must but when you are used to air conditioning in heat like this, it’s really hard on you when you don’t have it. I’ve only got this room that I’m in for another three to four days then I would like to move. I’m only paying for my room 10 days at a time because things can turn on a dime here as far as paperwork or court dates are concerned. Janette says six weeks but it could be five. So, we do 10 days at a time and the hotel seems ok with that.
I’m so looking forward to getting together with the other families this week. Lynda and Kara get to take their children out of Umit today. I’m soooo happy for them! Come to find out, they will only be here until the end of the week. Big bummer for me! I thought I had at least two weeks with them but that’s not the case. Oh well. Anybody fancy a six week trip to Taraz, Kazakhstan? I could use the company. Free room and board but you have to pay for the plane tickets yourself, sorry. Let me know if anyone is interested (Ya’ll realize I’m pulling your leg, right?)!!!
That’s all for today! Much love from Alina and me!!!

Cheers!