The trip is winding down

My time is coming to an end here in Kazakhstan.  31 days down and 1 to go.  We went to the US Embassy today, had our exit interview and received Samuel's passport, new birth certificate, adoption documents, immigration papers...we are ready to fly home. Soon as we pass through immigration in Atlanta on Weds, he will be a US citizen!   It has been an amazing trip.  Just the development  I've seen in this little boy over the past week is enough to amaze you. Imagine going off in a van with me, a vitural stranger, one day and a mere 8-9 days later be connected as mother and son.   Samuel was thought of as 'weak' in the baby house...he did get lost of colds and coughs and was underweight and not very active.  In fact, I had to plead to the judge after the adoption that Samuel was sick and need medical attention back home.  Well...if the judge could see him now, she would see that he has blossomed and is quite healthy.  He has gained a couple of pounds in the last few weeks, perfected his crawling, pulled himself up on every imaginable apparatus, giggled his heart out, splashed in a bath, shown his first true signs of love for me, shown his first true signs of anger at me (I get that they are connected), and grows a bit feistier and loving everyday.   Tomorrow, we take a quick tour to the nearby mountains to see the splendor of the area, then head out on a 3:20AM flight (yes, A.M.), early Weds morning.  It only take 25 hours to fly home...isn't that special????   Thank you all for being on this journey with me.  I have really felt all the love and support through your comments and emails.  I am so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life, and Samuel is so lucky too.   Lots and lots of Love, Sharon & Samuel

Playing our way through the days

We are passing the days by playing the time away.  All is well here.  Over the past few days we have stuck pretty close to the hotel.  We alternate playing with eating and sleeping.  Samuel is sleeping GREAT!  That's my boy!  We play a few times a day with all the 4 families here together, jamming into one hotel room, nicknamed Hurrican Alley.  The maid staff deserve medals after we depart...squashed cheese, cookies, spilled milk and apple juice, not to mention the occasional accidents of pee and spit up.   Today we went to the Embassy approved doctor in order to complete a medical evaluation of the babies and medical forms to turn over to the Embassy before they will process the visa.  The Doc says Samuel seems pretty darn healthy and he has gained over 2 pounds in the past few weeks.  He is up to a whopping 16 pounds now.  Still pretty small for an 11 mos. old, but excellent progress with my love and attention. :-)   It appears that all our paperwork/passports/visa will be completed by Monday afternoon, one day early.  Unfortunately, there is only one flight out the next day and it is overbooked so we are staying until Wednesday morning and will arrive home sometime next Wednesday afternoon.  You can't imagine how good it feels to know that I'll be home with Samuel in a few days.   Today, we tried the swimming pool!  Samuel liked the water, but was a bit timid about the whole thing.  In shallower water he did kick his feet and splash around.   Tomorrow we are heading to the Natural History Museum and a bit of shopping.  The days are passing quickly, but I CAN'T wait to get home.   See you soon, S&S

POV: Samuel

Hello everyone!!  Samuel here. Things are going pretty darn good here with my new Mom.  She has a few things yet to learn about taking care of a nice baby like me, but she is coming along jusssssst fine.  She is feeding me some yummy food, changing my poopy diapers, playing with me with my new toys and putting me down for some good sleep.  I've been sleeping like a baby these past few nights since everything is going so well. :-)   I'm getting used to my new name.  I like it, especially when it comes with a smile.  I'm still a little confused since she also calls me; Sammy, Sam, Samu, Sam-alicious, Buddy, Pumpkin, Muffin, (sometimes Pumpkin-Muffin!), Mister, Buttercup, Boy-Boy...and many other versions.  Mostly, I'm just getting used to her voice. I guess she can call me whatever she wants, as long as she doesn't call me late for dinner!   Speaking of dinner, she thinks she is pretty good at shoveling the food in but not quite as quick catching it when it comes right back out.  What does she expect?  Trying to sneak some  'goodforyou' foods into my cereal.  Barf-y! My, my.   I've been practicing my babbling and gurgling.  My mom doesn't understand my language real well yet.  A few days I go, I was being perfectly clear ..."mmmma,mmmma,mmmma".  She got all excited and goofy thinking I was calling Mama.  I thought I was making it perfectly clear that I was asking for food...as in 'mmmmmmmm,mmmm, mmmm' finger licking good. Oh well, she'll learn!   My new favorite activity is bath time.  Boy-oh-boy, I like the water.  She says that I'm a world class splasher and  I'm not too humble so I'll agree on that point.  I hope that I can explore and improve my skills as I get older.   I've been working on my crawling skills also by exploring the hotel room.  I'm not real fast yet, so this room is perfect for me.  I don't quite sit on my own yet, but my standing with support is getting super-dooper.   My new clothes are quite amusing. I'm used to wearing all sorts of funny clothes at the Baby House. They dressed me sometimes in pink with flowers and always mix and match prints.  But now something new is going on ... yesterday, I was wearing a puppy t-shirt, giraffe socks and I have lions on my shoes.  I feel like a billboard for the Zoo!  But I can't say much for my mom's wardrobe. She wears the same shoes everyday!  Doesn't she have more than one pair of shoes???? Sheesh.   My mom has been telling me about my new life and new friends and family back home in Sun Deego... or Sandy Eggo, or is it Sundy Lego????  Can't quite tell, but sounds good.  She has talked a lot about a certain 'rooooooooobbbbbbbeeeee'.  Whatever 'rooooooobbbbbbeeeee' is it makes me giggle when she says it and hands me a little stuffed golden dog toy.  She also shows me a picture of a golden furry creature with it's tongue hanging out.  Wonder if that is this thing called 'rooooobbbbbbeeeeee'??  Bet that tongue is good for slopping up spilled Cheerios!!   She has told me all about my new room and my family, especially, Seby and Michi.  She has also talked a lot about all my family and cousins and all the 'special' new aunties I'll have.  Sounds like there are lots of them to come on over and babysit me :-)))))  Also, she really smiled when she said there were lots of girlfriends waiting for me like: Katie, Jeffy, Michi and Lizzie.  Also, Lilly and Sam, Seana and Megan.  How about Lauren, Jessica and Melissa???  And Eva, Karli and Kasey.  Zoey, Michaela, Lyndsey sound really fun too.  Of course, I'm eager to play with the boys too...Jackson, Chris and Mike and my 'hood boyz, Daan and Zack.  It'll be real neat to meet my super-special friends, like Sarah, Aliya, Jamie, Grace and Emily.  I know there are more, but my growing brain can only remember so many.   Time to go and teach Mom some of my new tricks.  It's a big job, but somebody has got to do it!   Toodles, Samuel

It's official! (and I'm exhausted)

At 12:45pm, Thursday, June 16th, I became a Mother and I now have a son, Samuel Alisher Payne.   The court process was fine, but a little nerve-racking when you are standing in front of a judge when you don't speak  the same language.  We are well briefed ahead of time and our translator translate for us, but still I was a nervous wreck.   On Friday, we went back in front of the judge to request the waiver of the next 15 day "waiting period".  Fortunately, we knew this was a reasonably foregone conclusion, but the prosecutor did say "no" to all of us, but the judge overruled. Yeah!   Saturday afternoon, we picked up the babies and started the rest of our lives together. We had brought their caregivers a going away outfit for them in the morning and two empty bottles.  When we arrived at 5pm, Samuel was all dressed in his Old Navy finest with 2 bottle ready to roll with his formula.  We made our goodbyes to the caregivers and took one last look around.  It seems so hard to believe that these little babies will never remember their stay here.   Things were going along JUST fine until we got to the airport and found out that our flight was 3 hours delayed.  Plus, we arrived an hour and half early.  The terminal is sparse and there is no A/C or open window, so it was a rough few hours.  Fortunately, our coordinator, translator and another couple that are a few days behind us in their schedule were there to relieve us of the tired babies and help us with our luggage.  It was quite a feat to pull two gigantic rolling suitcase, a carryon and a baby in a Snuggli. Samuel did quite well, but was a sweaty mess in the Snuggli, plus has been running a fever, so we gave him some Tylenol and walked him to and fro.   It was packed flight with no leg room and no place to put our carryon's, so wrestling to get the bottle and chew toy were quite a challenge.  Samuel did pretty darn good, only fussing a bit and had no problem with the descent with the bottle in his mouth.   We finally checked into the Hyatt around 2am. This Hyatt is a little piece of heaven after roughing it for the past 3 weeks.  Samuel finally fell sleep on the drive to the hotel, but awoke around 2:30am, crying and scared.  It was the most heartbreaking moment of the trip. He looked around, eyes wide, pushing me away, as if crying, 'where am I and who are YOU!".  A big bottle later, he was happy as a clam and played in his crib until 4am before sleeping a few hours.   Needless to say, no one slept well.  Although he has had 3 nice naps today and was fast asleep by 7:30pm tonight, I don't expect him to make it through the night.  This has to be tough on him and I'm ready to make him feel better.   You'll be proud to know that I've changed about 5-6 diapers, but am still really slow with that and dressing him.  The caregivers at the Baby House were speed experts.  He is drinking tons of formula, and nibbling a few bites of my food.  It seems that his fever broke today, but he is still coughing a lot so the doctor at the Baby House gave me some medicine for him.   We got strollers today!  Our BIG outing was a 15 minute walk to the supermarket, lunch and return.  Samuel slept part of it and had his first lunch out a restaurant, squashed Cheerios and few bits of my fish and potatoes.  All the babies seem a bit food crazy and grab for everything and anything off our plates, so it is quite interesting to watch our group eat together,  The aftermath of the table and floor are best left to the professional clean up crew.   I'm a little stressed and a little tired, but really doing quite well.  We are learning how to communicate with each other and I'm learning how to take care of him to meet all his needs.  He really seems pretty easy going and is able to put himself to sleep after a bottle and a few minute of fussing.  He had his first bath tonight (forgot to bring the camera into the bathroom for photo-op) and he LOVED splashing  the water and chasing his water toys around.   It's 8:30 and I am ready for bed.  Wish us a good night sleep.  Catch up in a few days.   xoS   (Photos are of leaving the Baby House, his first night sleep with me and out outing in the stroller (can't say he loved being in thestroller))

Message from Alisher

Hi!  My name is Alisher, and I understand that I am going to be adopted today.  I don't know what 'adopted' means, but it seems like it might be a good thing. I would like to tell you a little about my life up until now, since I have a feeling my world is going to change very soon.

I was born on July 30, 2004 in the Maternity Hospital, where I lived for for 6 weeks.  I moved to the Baby House of Ust-Kamenogorsk on a warm day in September.  Boy, it is a nice place!  There are lots of nice ladies to take care of me.  I must be special, because all the ladies have to take turn changing my clothes, feed me and hold me.  They said that I was a little weak and sad when I came to stay, but they gave me some extra attention and I got stronger and happier every day.

I live a two room suite.  One room is for sleeping.  It is dark and warm...perfect for my 3 naps a day and my good night time sleep.  About 12 other babies are there with me too.  Sometimes they cry when they go to bed, but I'm pretty quiet in my crib.  I've learned to rock back and forth on my hands and knees to settle myself down.  The second room is sunny and bright, with lots of window and funny cartoon characters painted on the wall.  We get to play in two big playpens in the middle of the room.  The real tiny babies play in their own seperate little cribs.  In this room, they feed me and change my clothes and the doctor comes to check me out.

There are about 150 children in my building.  Sometimes, there is a lot of noise.  It is good to hear all the children playing and having fun, but sometimes they are sad and lonely.  The kids here are young...babies up to 5 years old.  When they get to be 5 years old, they move down the street to another Baby House and start going to school.

The last 2 weeks something different has been happening in my life.  It has been exciting!  I was put in the arms of a nice lady 2 weeks ago.  Boy, was she smiling at me.  I've never seen anyone smile so big.  I wasn't sure what to make of her...she smelled different and looked different.  She took me upstairs to the big kids playroom.  I had never been there before.  She got out some neat, new toys and she made me giggle.  Maybe she is OK.

She has come to visit me everyday, twice a day.  When she comes in my room and I see her, I smile and kick my feet.  I'm happy to see her.  For the few days I was sick and didn't feel good, she still came to visit me and play with me.  She took me outside for a few walk and showed me the birds and the trees.  I hope I learn more about outside.  She walks me throught the cool hallways of the Baby House, showing me all the pretty murals of birds and butterflies on the walls.  She has a bunch of nifty toys in that bag she brings every day.  I wonder what else is in there?  She even wipes my face when I drool and spit up. Oopps! Two times, I bonked my head on the floor and started to cry and she picked me up and held me.  That made me feel better and I stopped crying.  She makes my laugh and giggle every day with her funny smiles, toys and raspberries on my belly and neck.

I don't how what being 'adopted' means, but if it means more love and fun like I've been getting for the past few weeks, count me in!

Chat again soon after I figure this all out,

Alisher

Message from Sharon:  Adoption court hearing is in one hour, 11am, Thursday, June 16. We should get a decision around noon. This afternoon we'll have a little party at the Baby House with the familes, celebrating the adoption and one our baby's First Birthday.  Tomorrow we go back to court to ask for the next 2 week waiting period to be waived.  If all goes as planned, we'll fly back to Almaty on Saturday.  I'll try to post on Saturday.  If you don't hear from me until Sunday, know that everything went as planned, I'm a Mom and I'll be back in contact after I get back to Almaty.  :-)  I've gonna be a MOM in a few hours.  Wow!

Passing the time

We are going great.  Each visit is something I really look forward to and feel sadder and sadder to leave everyday, knowing I won't see him for hours and hours. Samuel is doing great, although the Doctor is a bit worried that he is still weak from his cold last week and wants me to keep him mellow for a few more days in order to strengthen him up for the trip to Almaty.  He is a love muffin, regardless!

Our group of families (now 6 families) are really enjoying being together.  It is the saving grace to being this far from home.  One of the families goes to court today to adopt Sean, the little boy in the 3rd photo with Samuel.  He is a cute as can be and is going into a very lovely, warm family.  We are all excited for them today, but tonight they will fly home without the baby for 2 weeks, then return to finish the paper work and bring little Sean home in early July.  Much longer process for them then us.

Time is blurring a bit here.  Not too much to remind us of home other than a Pepsi, Fanta or Coke.  We did discover Baskin Robbins a few days back and I've accidentially stopped in 4 times so far :-)  Their pineapple sherbert is a little slice of tropical heaven.  I've been finishing a book every few days and watching lots of the DVD's I brought.  We heard someone speak English at breakfast the other day...that was a treat and we all found ourselves eavsdropping just to hear a Yank speak!

Gotta go catch the van!

xoS

Baking in Ust-Kamenogorsk

I finally have figured out the computers here well enough to realize that I need to be the first one at the Library to use the Internet and hog up the fastest machine...that speed things up considerably.  Bad part is that the van leaves for the orphanage in a few minutes, so this will be quick.

We had our first visit outside yesterday.  We walked around the baby house a few times and sat in the shade.  Samuel seemed to be taking it all in, but was silent for nearly the full hour, as he watched the trees, birds and other children play.  I don't think he has gone outside much..if ever. I think the 6 days of visits in isolation got him used to my lap, so he hasn't been crawling as much as the first few days. Lap time is good for the bonding, but not so good for the physical development.  I imagine that we'll rectify that soon as we are really together full time.

Did I tell you that he drools like a fountain and spits up a lot.  It has been kind of funny, since most of the time it is on me!  The group watches out for me and throws me kleenex and towels, but you can be sure that we are all laughing too.  Let's just say that recycled kefir and porridge is not real pleasant :-)  One of the moms here is a Pediatric nurse and thinks that he has reflux (just like us older folks do) and probably needs Zantac for awhile, but we'll have to wait until we get home for that.  Babies usually grow out of refluxing by 1-2 yrs old. In the meantime, I have packs and packs for Kleenex and I'll keep rinsing my shirts out everynight.

2 weeks down, but still more than 2 weeks to go.  Time passes reasonably fast, but knowing that I won't be home for another 2 1/2-3 weeks seems like forever.  Our only saving grace is that once back in Almaty (hopefully next Saturday), the 4 families are all staying at the Hyatt Regency.  It is a lovely, modern, comfortable hotel, with a/c, fruit for breakfast (vs. all the eggs, cheese and grease here) and a lovely SWIMMING POOL.  We are all fantasizing about that on a daily basis.

 The weather here is HOT! Our group of 4 families bought and donated 2 fans for the playroom since they don't seem to believe in opening windows.

Gotta run...love to all.  Too hard to respopnd to everyone's post...but THANK YOU!!!

xoS

Different Day, different diaper

Some people fondly refer to this time as "Groundhog's Day"...if you haven't seen the movie, you wake everyday and it is exactly the same as the last.  Truly, we are all having fun and adjusting to the rountine.Our group gets along great and we've had no real problems together.

Samuel is out of isolation!  Hopefully, for the last time.  It was MUCH more fun to play with him in the playroom with all the other families and children.  There are two other families now (from a dif. agency) so that makes 6 families altogether.  There is a nice bond between us.

Samuel is playing and playing and really enjoys grasping my fingers to pull himself up. I've got to get his muscles moving. He also is curling up in arms regularly and that is divine.  He had his first tears with me today after he bumped his head, but I was able to quickly soothe him. (Also felt divine)  I know I'm beginning to sound like a Mom, but I really do that that he is special, very loving and easy going.  It all feels reeeeaaaaaallllly good! Of course, I haven't changed a dirty diaper yet, but I don't think that'll discourage me.

A few details:

Court date for the adoption to become final is June 16th, 9am. It should just be a formality.  We should be flying back to Almaty with the babies on June 18th. We pick the babies up on way to the airport and dress them for the first time in the clothes we brought from them.  I might be out of Almaty by June 29th...that is the hope.  Frankly, delays now seem to be inevitable, so I'm assuming we'll have a delay.  The whole process is taking a bit longer than we were told, but it isn't as big of a deal to me now.

We go to the orphanage twice a day...around 10-noon and 2pm-4pm.  Our little group eats breakfast together at the hotel ('do you want eggs or eggs for breakfast') and then we alternate eating out as a group lunch one day, dinner the next.  The restaurants are OK, but fresh greens are hard to come by.  Everything is swimming in mayo and it is advised not to eat fresh greens that aren't peeled or washed with purified water.  The grocery here is awesome (practially like Whole Foods at home) and you can get nearly anything you want that is packaged or canned...fresh is a bit scarier.  They even have Nutella and Starbust candy, so I'm good to go! :-) A few days ago we discovered a Baskin Robbins and I've accidentially stopped in a few times for a scoop.  Their pineapple sorbet is to-die-for! And for those that know me too well, they even have a few lovely shoe stores :-)

The weather is getting quite warm...high 80's now.  Not too humid and no bugs (so far).  There are tons of butterflies in the afternoon sky and the cotton off the cottonwood trees floats in the breeze.

The people seemed to be of reasonable means and dress nicely.  The apartment buildings look a little run down, but maybe that is just from the outside.  There is almost no trash in the streets and I've barely seen anyone smoking, either indoors or out.

Thanks to all that have written.  I've read them all and REALLY appreciate the comments and support.  This is an exciting adventure...I do feel so lucky!

Chat in a few days!

xoS

Update of Day 5-7 - going strong!

Sorry, no posts over the weekend. Sunday the Internet was closed and Saturday we moved hotels.  Can't remember if I let everyone know but we had a really tough time getting a hotel room for the whole stay.  The hotel we were at last week was sold out for a few days and they only had 2 rooms available. ( Sold out to the Russian rock band). We decided as a group that we would bunk in together...Me, Barb (the other single woman) and one of the wives of a couple in one room, the family and the husband of the couple in the other room.  It was cozy, but we all handled it great, sharing snacks, supplies, computer equipment, etc.  We moved to a hotel more central to town.  While no quite as nice of a hotel, it is walking distance to everything and we each have our own rooms. We've all enjoyed seeing more of the city, picking new restaurants, the parks and just wondering.  Nice to stretch my legs.   Samuel is WONDERFUL!  It really is a peaceful feeling.  WE've had quite a few hotel problems, delays, questions unanswered, but I am so relaxed now that I've met Samuel and spent some time with him.  It looks like we will be in Kaz until June 29th or so...many steps to still accomplish and many potential delays, but I'm going with the flow.   Saturday, we were free at last from isolation.  It was great to having the floor of the playroom to spread our wings.  Unfortunately, Sunday and today (Monday) we were back in isolation and will probably be for a few more days.  Yesterday was the only day he seemed a little sick...just groggy (I think from some cough medicine) and he was content and peaceful in my arms nearly the whole visit.  He even fell asleep for a few minutes and it was a wonderful feeling to know that he felt safe enough to curl up in my arms and sleep.  Today, he was much more chipper, but a bit snotty and coughing a bit, so we were back to our 2 by 2 play area.  It is no coincidence that I'm the one to have all the isolation play time...perfect practice for the airplane and me flying home solo.  I was told that he weighs 6.6 kilos (about 14.5 lbs), but that is a good pound gain in the last few weeks.  I think he is growing with all this love and attention.   He really isn't fussy at all...just a tiny bit towards the end of our visits, headinginto nap time.  He loves to hold on to my thumbs and pull himself up to standing on my lap.  He also seems to discovered the mirror and he is constantly cracking himself up by looking at himself in the mirror.   Yesterday afternoon, we toured the city vs. going to the orphanage.  We finally got the lay of the land and realized that we are no more than a 15 minute walk to everything in the main part of the city.   I've got a few photos posted in the journal...picture 1 is me trying to take a picture of us in our little isolation play area.  Pic 3 seems to be a miracle meeting of Ruby and Samuel.  Just let it be known that I have an Adobe Photoshop expert in my midst.   Lots of love and feel free to email me back...it takes a really long time to sign on to AOL mail (about 15 mins), but it is worth it to receive the emails.   S&S

Day Four under my belt

Thank you all for all the wonderful comments on Samuel.  I finally was able to read them all.

Megs, Gary sent me a few graduation shots.  Lovely and I'm very proud of you!  I hope you slipped Matthew Perry my telephone number.

Brooke...1 more week and you are graduating yourself.  I'm also so proud of you!

Samuel is doing great, but we were still in isolation today.  At least they didn't bundle him up as much as the past few days.  We are getting quite attached to our 3 foot  play area. Today, I met with the orphanage doctor and she said that he was healthy and developmently normal, just behind a few months.  She said that he just needed to be held, some vitamins and some time outdoors....easy, pleasy.  Samuel seems to recognize me more now that I pick him up in his room and is staring at my face (and poking it) and falls easier into my arms.  We are getting our little routine down. You can see in the second picture that he has a cute little habit of clasping his hands together, as if saying "bravo, bravo".  It is probably a self-soothing gesture, but it is cute.

We've had quite a time at our hotel, the Beibars.  We call it The Marble Prison, because it is behind a guarded fence and the interior is dripping in marble.  It wants to be a nice hotel, but still trying.  We speculate that that in the Soviet era it was a government retreat or such. We've decided that their motto is "Service without Expression" :o|

We have a group of teenage Russian rock stars staying at our hotel, American Idol-/Backstreet Boys-like.  We saw a few of them last night.  They looked about 12 years old (but older, I'm sure) and were surrounded by 6-8 giggling , well dressed young ladies.  It was quite entertaining watching the girls do their 'thing' and the boys just sit back and take it all in. 

Gotta go...hugs and kisses to all!

We are doing GREAT!

I had journal entry all composed offline to cut and paste into the journal this afternoon and it came out Russian gobbly-gook when I opened it... so I'll handle that tomorrow and make it quick today...

We are doing great.  Samuel is still a little sick, so we played in isolation today.  Since they won't allow him to crawl on the floor (no carpet), we had to make do with a rickety chair, a stool and a small end table.  I think it's good prep for the airplane ride.  Otherwise, he is healthy and strong.  Did I mention he has 6 teeth??? And he loves to grab anything that makes a crinkling sound and puts everything in his mouth.  Hopefully, he'll be well enough for the group playroom tomorrow.

I'll be better prepared for the next post with more details about our trip, the city and, of course...The Muffin :-)

Thank you for all the lovely posts.  I can't seem to read all of them today (slow dial up internet here), but I'll get to them.

xoS

 

 

He is ADORABLE!!!!

Yeah!  I've met Samuel and he is all I could have hoped for...happy, healthy, adorable, smily, sweet...I am very lucky and very happy.

I have visted Samuel 3 times in the orphanage so far and should be able to go twice a day for the remainder of the 2 weeks. He had a little cold today, so my play time was in isolation, but I was proud of the fact that I was able to entertain him by myself.  He really is adorable and good natured (so far).  I'll send details about him as the days pass.

We had had a few logistic delays and obstacles to overcome.  Mom and Dad did make it to Ust-Kamenogorsk and did get to meet and play with Samuel, but they had to fly back to Almaty tonight since all the lfights were full for days and days (big conference in Ust).  Also, we four families adopting are all having to bunk down in two rooms for 3 nights due to the shortage of hotel rooms for the conference.  Such is life in a third world country.  I'll give more details on the city in later emails.

Deb A. - I would have loved to have you here, but I'm glad that you aren't flying in next week because flying isn't as simple as we thought it would be, nor do many people speak english outside of the big hotels.

Shirley - Thanks for the biscotti :-)

Internet isn't as easy as I had hoped so I'm sure I won't be able to post more than a few times a week.  I hope the photos come through.

All is very well!