So which do you want first, the good news or the bad?

Well we finally found out our destination city today—Ust Kamenogorsk (Oskemen is the Kazak name). We are very happy with this selection because we know of another family from our agency that had a fabulous adoption experience there just recently. We’ve also heard it is very beautiful. The bad news is that all flights out to Ust tomorrow are booked and we have tickets for Thursday morning. They are going to try and see if there are any cancellations during the day tomorrow so we’ve gotta be on standby with our luggage. The main attorney insists we will not be delayed longer than we had planned to stay—we will see what happens. This is why international adoption is nicknamed "therapy for control freaks".

Today our driver Jharkan, a Kazak, arrived at around 10:30 am with a translator—a 20 year old university student, Artur, eager to try out his English lessons. The communication was not perfect but better than none and he was sincere about wanting to help us. Jharkan is willing to take us anywhere we want or need to go—he really is a great guy. He seems very protective of us and extremely polite. He opens doors for us, carries our bags (even when we try to insist on helping ourselves) and he took my purse at the market today to allow me to look without worrying about pickpockets.

Our first stop was to buy a computer mouse so Steve can do some work while we’re away. We had to stop at two different computer stores because apparently we wanted an “outdated” wired mouse and most places now only carry wireless. After that it was on to the Green Market to find Steve an authentic beaver fur hat (I know, we’ll get pictures uploaded soon).

For lunch we asked to be taken out to a place with authentic Kazakh food. They took us out for pizza yesterday and were ready to take us to an Irish pub but we really wanted to experience the culture. Jharkan took us to a place called “Alasha” that is at the foothills of the mountain range and serves traditional Kazakh and Uzbek cuisine. Everything was very authentic including the building architecture, the décor, the wait staff attire and menu. We had freshly baked traditional breads, a tomato/cucumber/goat cheese/olive salad, flat breads filled with cheese and spinach with sour cream—and those were just the appetizers. Steve had a lamb and veal dish and Jharkan recommended a beef dish for me. It was all fantastic and a great experience.

After lunch, we were taken to the mountains just outside the city—they are beautiful and snow capped. We saw the giant ice skating facility nestled in the valley. Artur said they are very proud of this new facility and hope it will help Almaty’s bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympic games. Both Jharkan and Artur are native to Almaty and are very proud of their city of 2 million. I think it is a wonderful city with a rich culture and heritage. The peoples integrate well—Kazakhs and Russians as well as Muslims and Russian Orthodox—something that the rest of the world could learn from.