A close-up. 

The weather has been what I would call crisp. Sophia is way underdressed by Kazakh standards, but I had to debundle her for a picture or two. 

They have lots of nice fountains in their parks here. 

Lots of flowers and roses in this park. 

Locked-in

Joe spent last night at a middle school lock-in. He apparently slept on his desk with a room full of 13-year-olds. It sounds like it went pretty well, a little capture-the-flag, dodgeball, a movie or two. It's interesting that you can do different things in this environment. I'm not sure that you could have a lock-in in the U.S. I know you can't play dodgeball. When I think of all our life-threatening dodgeball games back in the old, tiny St. Pat's gym, I wouldn't have it any other way. I guess Joe's kids used softer balls and there was more room to escape the onslaught of balls.

Other than that, we had a day of walking. I attempted to go to the post office, only to find that it had closed an hour earlier than the sign said it would. We walked for a couple of hours to find a cafe to eat at. They are not as plentiful as in Egypt. In Egypt there are two of everything on every block. Here, you actually have to look for things. We did find a cafe and had a nice dinner. On the way back we stopped at our favorite huge park and got a couple of pictures near the fountain and flowers. Maybe today we'll do a little school work. Maybe.

Three apples a day...

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but what about three a day? Joe and I are eating apples left and right. Sophia's nanny goes to her "dacha" or country home every weekend and returns with bags bulging with fresh apples, straight off what we presume are her trees. She brought us fresh pressed apple juice and fresh honey this week too. Yum. Joe and I dutifully eat almost three apples a day just to use them up. Luckily, it's just about the only fruit Joe likes.

We've been internet deprived since we didn't know we had an internet bill and had to wait awhile to get it sorted out. It's been a pretty busy week. We had our international brunch at school, which was truly international. Families brought food from all over the world. The Korean food was very popular since we have a large population of Koreans at our school. We had a good turn out and it was really interesting to meet the parents of our students with their varied backgrounds.

Before I forget, we have just purchased tickets home for Christmas, so we're really excited because it's not that far away. What a luxury to get to come home twice a year. It's really only a few months away.

Joe coerced me into getting on the cable car this weekend. I actually went voluntarily since I wanted to get it over with. Honestly, it wasn't that bad, and it was worth it since they had a nicely developed area at the top. We strolled around, went to a super expensive local art store and had a nice dinner at a grill with a view of the mountains. Sophia let us enjoy most of our meal. Well, until she decided to go the bathroom all over herself, but even that didn't ruin the day.

School is going really very well. Our students are so good. We had an assembly today. The people presenting didn't have a microphone, so you could barely hear them. Even though they couldn't hear and most probably couldn't understand, the students were quiet and respectful. I even saw older high school students correcting the little elementary kids and telling them to be quiet. It was kind of weird! In a good way.

The biggest challenge is that the students may come to us with little or no English. I have a new student whose parents are from Kazakhstan and Argentina, but he's lived in Russia and Italy. Maybe he's part Italian. I don't know, but we are really toughing it out together. Yesterday, I had to get out my little electronic translator (thank you for the gift!) and translate a word for him. I called him James accidentally for a whole day because of a miscommunication. I did a whole lot of re-labeling the next day. There are so many students who arrive speaking no English. Thankfully, we have a great intensive English program which helps them during reading and language arts.

Joe is one happy man here. Let's just say there is meat-a-plenty. He's been eating sausage to his heart's content. I, on-the-other-hand, am hard spent to find a decent vegetarian dish. Sigh... If only I could find tofu. (I know what you are thinking, just eat meat. That's what Joe says too!) We're going to ask some Korean students tomorrow if they know where to find it. I will prevail!

Other than that, things are good. Sophia is doing really well. She has completely discovered her hands. We find her just playing with them sometimes. She's chewing and gnawing away at them, and she's really into her toys now too. She's just huge now. What will she look like at Christmas time?

Our little bundle of love, all bundled up and ready for the cool Almaty air. 

Sophia's nanny brings us piles and piles of apples. The latest ones were so big and pretty, we had to take a picture. 

I'm surprised by the amount of flowers still blooming despite the weather becoming colder. 

A view from the top. 

Joe and well, Sophia's stroller at the top of the cable car ride. 

Thank God! The guide book was wrong. Joe got me on the cable car. It was modern and the ride wasn't too bad. 

Our school is the gray building in the corner. Here's the view of the mountains from our soccer field. 

The mountain view from our school. 

Our international brunch at school. Really great food to try from all over the world!  

Serenade in the Park

It appears I've lucked out for today. Joe wanted to spend the day going up to a look-out/radio tower near our apartment. According to the guidebook, you take a "rickety" cable car up to the top. Umm... no thanks. I lucked out because we couldn't find the entrance, but I know he'll find it soon. So today, instead of risking my life, we went for a nice stroll in a park instead.

Panfilov Park had good atmosphere. Just a square of greenery in the middle of the city. We took a nice stroll there, came across a traditional Kazakh wedding couple, and enjoyed the scenery. I may have mentioned how people decorate their cars and then drive all over the city taking wedding photos. It seems like there are so many weddings on the weekends. We must see 5-10 each weekend. We had a good time today, and the weather has returned to being nice after a cold spell last week. The only down side was a husband and wife accordian and singing duo. The wife really sounded like a dying animal. I guess she wanted to feel like part of the team despite her terrible, high-pitched, screechy voice. We had to walk the edges of the park in order to escape it.

Yesterday, we went to the bazaar. It was very crowded, but not nearly as chaotic as Khan el Khalili in Egypt. We picked up a set of dishes there. It's a covered market and there are rows and rows of basically stalls selling the same things. We walked for a good ten minutes through the clothes section alone. Maybe if we need a lot of stuff we'll go there again, but it's so hard with a baby. I feed her right before we go somewhere and it gives us two "borrowed" hours as I like to call them. She did pretty well yesterday. We've been able to turn her around in the baby carrier, so she can check out everything around us.

So, it's been a good weekend. I'm not sure if we're ready for the work week ahead, but sometimes it's more important to just take time out for us.

And before I forget, to answer a question asked of us, Kazakhstan is in Asia.

It's weird to be in a place where people openly show affection. We had to snap a picture of the couple strolling ahead of us. The trees here remind me of Iowa. 

The eternal flame and the very grandiose memorial. 

One of many couples who go around and get their picture taken at different sites. We thought it was cool that they were in traditional dress, so we were brave enough to ask for their picture. 

There's a big war memorial at the east end of the park. It's named after the Almaty infantry unit who died fighting off Nazi tanks in a village on the outskirts of Moscow. 

We must have been deprived of green for awhile. We feel the need to take pictures of trees and flowers. 

In Panfilov Park. The parks here have big central areas and lots of benches for hanging out. 

Zenkov Cathedral in Panfilov Park. This is one of the last tsarist buildings left in Almaty. During Soviet times it was a museum and concert hall. It became a church again in 1995. 

What a nice combination- flowers, Tom and Jerry, and polk-a-dots.  

Check out the canopy over the bed in Sophia's room. 

Lifting her head higher these days. 

We have to bundle her up like this to go out for walks, even though it's really not that cold yet. The people here are "baby police" and worry if your baby is not completely bundled up. (She also always sleeps with her hands up like that.) 

Joe was trying to get a picture of her smiling. Just half a camera full.