Again today, I brought up the visitation fee. I just know that I’m going to have to back pay for the days past the 14 day bonding period. I’ve asked and asked Janette to tell me but she keeps putting me off. She did offer me a discount today….$40 a day instead of $50. I’m going to offer her $120 for four days and see if she will take it. Let’s hope so.
Our visit today was good. Nothing special to report. Sat in Mama’s lap and drank our juice and ate our snacks. We walked around the orphanage again, kicked the ball around, went to the potty, and played with the other toys in our bag. A little boring but I’m trying to institute more of Mommy and me time. So, there will be more walks around the orphanage instead of emptying blocks on the gazebo floor and not playing with them. I haven’t found “the” toy yet that Alina likes to play with. They all seem equally boring but the books and photo albums get more attention these days than the other things. Hopefully, the toys in the care package that we are getting will suffice until we get home. I’m sure Ata and Aje will bring some toys with them as well.
We saw the Spanish couple arrive today. Shirin and I were sitting in the gazebo watching Alina play and we say a couple walk in with, whom we assumed, was their interpreter. We both watched them walk into the orphanage, looked at each other, and said, “The Spanish Couple” at the same time. We had a good laugh about the fact that we both were thinking the same thing at the same time. They did come to the gazebo a little later with their little one but we just said Hi and that was it. I’ve heard they are staying in my hotel so I’ll try to catch up with them this weekend.
Alina had already gone back to her group when another woman came into the gazebo. She was visiting her little girl. She had to place her child in Umit for a short time due to some financial hardship. How nice is it that the country of Kazakhstan will take care of your child for you for a little while if you can’t. They will not be offered up for adoption and you can visit them everyday at the appointed visitation times. It may not be much but at least the children aren’t starving and have a roof over their heads. In other words, it’s better than nothing. This woman had noticed that her little girl was dirty and she asked the one of the caretakers to give her child a proper bath. While the caretaker was doing that, she sat in the gazebo with Shirin and me. She started asking me all kinds of questions and Shirin would translate. Shirin was getting really annoyed with her but I wasn’t minding it at all. She seemed genuinely earnest in her interest of where I was from and my adoption of Alina. I found out later that Kazakhs do not like to talk with strangers. They think if someone starts talking to you don’t know and they start asking you questions that they must be crazy. They are very private people. You can see this by the way they live with the fences and gates around their houses. They seem not to trust anyone. Anyway, we talked for a good 15 to 20 minutes. The woman was getting a little annoyed that they had not brought her daughter back from the bath. She excused herself and went on the hunt for her child. Just then, our ride pulled up and we were whisked out of the gates of Umit onto the busy street in front of the orphanage.
Shirin was dropped off near her home and I was dropped off at the hotel. Another day to mark off the calendar toward the end of our adoption journey. Have a great weekend everybody!!!
Cheers,
Kim and Alina
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