March 19
Today was mostly with Vasya. Julia's group went to dance class earlier in the day and things ran a little longer than expected.
Our translator had to go out of town to a wedding, so we were on our own at the children's house. I have a nifty Russian-English translator on my laptop that will do real time translation as I type. I put a set of Russian keyboard letter stickers on my keys and installed the Russian alphabet option that comes bundled in Windows, so now I've got a system that will translate back and forth between Russian and English. Pretty cool. I took the laptop in so we could communicate. It works pretty well--it doesn't exactly churn out Shakespeare, but it gets the idea across. I don't think Vasya had ever seen a laptop computer before, and he was very enthusiastic. We spent the first few minutes writing about the court process. The bottom line there is that they want to know *when* they can move in with us--they're ready! I explained that it would be up to the judge and we hoped it would be immediately after court. he wrote that he hoped so too.....then paused and wrote "does this computer have games?". He's going to fit right in to this family. We played pinball for a while--I ran the right flipper, he put the ball in play and ran the left flipper.
We posted a picture of one of the bedrooms at the “detsky dom”. The other day, Paige’s friend Lena showed her how they arrange their pillows. They grab one corner and spin the pillow up into a triangle shape that makes it look like a Hershey’s kiss. The pillows are really thick and square here. I can’t use my pillow in the apartment, because the bed is six feet long and I am six feet tall. If I try to accommodate that huge fluffy marshmallow pillow under my head, my feet hang out over the foot board and I’m pretty uncomfortable
Russ
It was another beautiful day in Taraz. We walked to the AGFA photo store before lunch to pick up our photos. This shop is close to a university and we're always fortunate to find another customer (a college student) who speaks English to help us. Kazakhstan is starting a real push for their population to learn English but it's mainly the younger people who are learning it.
When we got home from the orphanage, we walked to the Damdez and had pizza (again). I have to admit it's really good pizza, their crust is excellent!
Our coordinator stopped by the flat this evening and said he'd arranged for Vasya and Julia to go with us tomorrow afternoon to visit the ancient tourist sites. Our driver is trying to locate a minivan so we can all ride more comfortably. We've had 7 people (5 adults and Brooke and Paige) in Sergei's Mazda, but I wouldn't want to do that for any extended period of time! With Bibi (our translator) there will be 8 of us so that's kindof pushing it for seating in the Mazda. We should have some really good photos of Taraz tomorrow!
Wendy
Our translator had to go out of town to a wedding, so we were on our own at the children's house. I have a nifty Russian-English translator on my laptop that will do real time translation as I type. I put a set of Russian keyboard letter stickers on my keys and installed the Russian alphabet option that comes bundled in Windows, so now I've got a system that will translate back and forth between Russian and English. Pretty cool. I took the laptop in so we could communicate. It works pretty well--it doesn't exactly churn out Shakespeare, but it gets the idea across. I don't think Vasya had ever seen a laptop computer before, and he was very enthusiastic. We spent the first few minutes writing about the court process. The bottom line there is that they want to know *when* they can move in with us--they're ready! I explained that it would be up to the judge and we hoped it would be immediately after court. he wrote that he hoped so too.....then paused and wrote "does this computer have games?". He's going to fit right in to this family. We played pinball for a while--I ran the right flipper, he put the ball in play and ran the left flipper.
We posted a picture of one of the bedrooms at the “detsky dom”. The other day, Paige’s friend Lena showed her how they arrange their pillows. They grab one corner and spin the pillow up into a triangle shape that makes it look like a Hershey’s kiss. The pillows are really thick and square here. I can’t use my pillow in the apartment, because the bed is six feet long and I am six feet tall. If I try to accommodate that huge fluffy marshmallow pillow under my head, my feet hang out over the foot board and I’m pretty uncomfortable
Russ
It was another beautiful day in Taraz. We walked to the AGFA photo store before lunch to pick up our photos. This shop is close to a university and we're always fortunate to find another customer (a college student) who speaks English to help us. Kazakhstan is starting a real push for their population to learn English but it's mainly the younger people who are learning it.
When we got home from the orphanage, we walked to the Damdez and had pizza (again). I have to admit it's really good pizza, their crust is excellent!
Our coordinator stopped by the flat this evening and said he'd arranged for Vasya and Julia to go with us tomorrow afternoon to visit the ancient tourist sites. Our driver is trying to locate a minivan so we can all ride more comfortably. We've had 7 people (5 adults and Brooke and Paige) in Sergei's Mazda, but I wouldn't want to do that for any extended period of time! With Bibi (our translator) there will be 8 of us so that's kindof pushing it for seating in the Mazda. We should have some really good photos of Taraz tomorrow!
Wendy
posted by The Petersons at 7:14 PM
2 Comments:
Hi there
Hope you have a great time seeing the sites, they are really good & interesting because they are so old. Hopefully you also get to go to that park with the ferris wheel. It gives great birdeye views of Taraz.
We love reading your posts & are so pleased its going so well:) Keep it up. Ashley from Joburg
Russ & Wendy
If you get a chance to get on that Ferris Wheel take a picture.
I am glad you are getting time with the kids.
Enjoy the sites
Love you all
Papa Jack
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