(Maureen's Post)

I wanted to start off by explaining the first two pics in today's post. The first picture shows dried plants that are hanging over the inside of our front door. Rada (the Mechem's interpreter) told us that it is part of the Muslim Kazakh tradition upon moving into a new home to light special herbs and go through all the rooms to cleanse them. Another bunch of these same herbs are then hung over the inside of the front door. The second pic shows a traditional Kazakh bread that is sold at the Viola store. It's basically fried dough and tastes like an unsweetened donut. We warm them up in the microwave, and they're quite good with raspberry jam.

Anyway, today was yet another freezing cold day in Kokshetau - big surprise, huh? The monotony of the day was at least broken up by an invitation by the Mechems to go bowling this afternoon. We figured it would be good to get out of the apartment for at least a few hours. Of course, the kids did not come with us, and Rada had made arrangements for Luba (housekeeper for the cottage) to babysit James and Owen at the Mechem's apartment. James has always made a fuss whenever we put him in his snowsuit, but his fussing today took the cake. Poor thing really can't stand it. He cried all the way to the Mechem's apartment (a block away). So much for keeping a low profile with the baby, right? Anyway, about ten minutes after we arrived at their place he finally calmed down some. We had already heard that Luba has the magic touch with babies, but we got to see it for ourselves. This was confirmed when she arrived at the apartment and started speaking to the babies in Russian. James was definitely a happier camper then, and when we left both he and Owen were happily playing.

We took a fifteen minute walk in the snow to the bowling alley. Even with longjohns on it was extremely cold, so much so that our nosehairs were frozen! We checked in our coats (you check your coats in most places here, especially the restaurants) and then went to get our bowling shoes. I don't think anyone really got their right size, as the bowling alley was full (only has six lanes) and the shoe sizes we needed were all taken, so everyone (except Rada, I think) ended up wearing bowling shoes one size smaller than usual. No problem - if we bowled bad games we could just blame it on the shoes! We bowled three games and had a very good time. Even Rada had fun, and she has never bowled before. She did well for a beginner. I bowled a decent game for the first game (141), and I haven't bowled a game in over a year. I attribute it to my "Kazakh luck." Nobody bought it, though, and they kept calling me a shark. We also snacked on a huge order of french fries which are the best ones we've had here yet. French fries are pretty easy to find here. There are three things that there is definitely no shortage of here: potatoes, onions, and especially mayonnaise.

After we were finished bowling we walked back to the Mechem's apartment to pick up James. Luba said that the boys did very well; both James and Owen ate and even took 30-minute naps. We then went back to our place and spent the rest of the evening just chilling out watching more "Raymond," "House," and finished off the fifth season of "Seinfeld" which is the last of that series we had brought. Sorry it isn't more exciting, folks, but we're just counting down the days at this point!

We decided a couple of days ago to cut out the carrots in James' snack and just give him his rice cereal plain. We'll just reintroduce it when we get home. As you can imagine, we had a pretty messy diaper that led us to that decision. By the way, we've noticed that the amount of leg kicking and attempts to roll over during diaper change are directly proportional to how messy the diaper is. James also hates it when we try to wipe his face clean. He's not too fond of me trying to clean out his nose (i.e. pick his nose), either. Never thought I'd see the day when I would be doing that!

That's it for today! Paka and love to all!