Compilation from Robertson Adams on Vimeo.
New video from March 2007 in Kostanai (9 min. 30 sec.)
Showing posts with label kostanai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kostanai. Show all posts
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Friday, April 6, 2007
Food, glorious food
We are within a couple days of returning home so I thought it would be nice to adore the food we've enjoyed for the last 5 weeks. It's amazing how little fast food a city needs. People here are slim, healthy and live to be old old old, even though they smoke and drink heavily.
Fahn Shan (the Chinese Place) - as close to downtown as you can get in Kostanai, the Chinese place has an English menu and the gent who served us on two occasions spoke basic English too. The best menu items are spicy pork and sweet-and-sour chicken. Atmosphere is authentic, and it's clearly popular with the locals.
Nautilus - Cool décor and good food, if you can figure out the menu. It's challenging to read because it's not just Cyrillic - it's italic, which makes it difficult. Myaso (grilled meat) is the word to know when ordering - it comes out as satay-style beef cubes on sticks, rather than shashlik, but it's tasty and fresh. Avoid the salads at all costs - we got food poisoning from one of those "prawns" or the soggy lettuce it came with.
Dolce Vita - The pizza cafe popular with kids of all ages seems to be managed by Miss Lena and her boyfriend Dennis. Their pizza is excellent and we've eaten Pizza Romana almost every other day while here - that's a LOT of pizza. Their tomato soup is hearty; ravioli stuffed with mushrooms was terrific; chicken with ham on rigatoni was salty and garlicky, which was good for us but might be strong for some. Location: 72 Al Farabi near the university.
Traktir (The Russian Pub) - is another hit with us. We love their chicken dishes and mashed potatoes. Service is attentive and the other customers make for interesting people-watching. Salads are safe to eat and worth trying, as long as you like mayonnaise.
"Assol" - The restaurant named for a character in a romantic children's fairy tale, has a handwritten menu and is open for lunch only. It's the cheapest, best food we had in Kostanai at 500 tenge for two. Goulash was tangy and hearty. Plov (pilaf) had plenty of lamb in it, and was hearty and filling. Be prepared to read handwritten Russian with no English spoken here. We think it's a company lunch room so the atmosphere is kind of institutional but clean.
Kostanai Tourist Hotel Restaurant - Has an English menu, good service and a decent selection of wines. Our food was excellent and we had a nice view of the park - not many other restaurants actually view the Central Park from a window. Inexpensive with very good service.
Bavarian Cafe - Is a little bit West on Al Farabi street, and has terrific interior design, very attentive service and great food, with an English menu. But prices are high enough that we've only been once, though we plan to go again tonight. Beef covered with ground nuts and spices was very good. Nice wine list.
Mango Cafe - At the West end of Al Farabi near the train station, Mango Cafe has good food and a nice cafe atmosphere. Excellent people watching, so don't be in a hurry. Our favorite dishes are the lamb again - "Kazbek" lamb is grilled with pomegranate seeds, and other dishes are similarly creative and filling. Not expensive.
The Korean Restaurant - Other than the condiments and the owner's family, there was not much authentically Korean about this restaurant, but our lamb and chicken dishes were good. Actually the grilled lamb was excellent. The pork chop was weirdly covered in cheese and mayonnaise, but underneath it was a good cut of meat. The decor is new and bright and clean, and service very attentive.
Goldfish Cafe - it's close to the Aidana Plaza Hotel, and has an English menu, but no staff understands English. Their plov (pilaf) is good, and their chicken was good too. They offer breakfast - with pancakes - but we didn't have a chance to try it.
Knights Castle - One of a handful of actual Restaurants we went to - with higher prices but there's a floor show (dancers). They have an English menu and many items were appealing, but they got our order wrong and the lamb dish was mostly fat, not lean. The decor inside is unbelievable, it feels like a Disney attraction. The dancers were interesting but not amazing.
Baron Munchausen - We expected a more Germanic cuisine, but it was generally Russian pub food at this interesting theme restaurant. The English menu is an interesting read - each menu item is named with a little lie or joke of some kind. Salads were tasty and creative. Our entrees were really delicious and attractively presented.
444 - In the remote countryside East of town, this ranchero had a live band and dance show. The shashlik (kebabs) were the main attraction, and were delicous. I would suggest ordering a few extra skewers because the portions weren't much. The salads were fresh and tasty and the service very attentive. The show was fun and well choreographed, considering where we were.
What there's not - No McDonald's or Burger King, or Wendy's or any Western franchises at all, for that matter. No Starbucks or 7-Eleven. And we haven't missed them at all.
Fahn Shan (the Chinese Place) - as close to downtown as you can get in Kostanai, the Chinese place has an English menu and the gent who served us on two occasions spoke basic English too. The best menu items are spicy pork and sweet-and-sour chicken. Atmosphere is authentic, and it's clearly popular with the locals.
Nautilus - Cool décor and good food, if you can figure out the menu. It's challenging to read because it's not just Cyrillic - it's italic, which makes it difficult. Myaso (grilled meat) is the word to know when ordering - it comes out as satay-style beef cubes on sticks, rather than shashlik, but it's tasty and fresh. Avoid the salads at all costs - we got food poisoning from one of those "prawns" or the soggy lettuce it came with.
Dolce Vita - The pizza cafe popular with kids of all ages seems to be managed by Miss Lena and her boyfriend Dennis. Their pizza is excellent and we've eaten Pizza Romana almost every other day while here - that's a LOT of pizza. Their tomato soup is hearty; ravioli stuffed with mushrooms was terrific; chicken with ham on rigatoni was salty and garlicky, which was good for us but might be strong for some. Location: 72 Al Farabi near the university.
Traktir (The Russian Pub) - is another hit with us. We love their chicken dishes and mashed potatoes. Service is attentive and the other customers make for interesting people-watching. Salads are safe to eat and worth trying, as long as you like mayonnaise.
"Assol" - The restaurant named for a character in a romantic children's fairy tale, has a handwritten menu and is open for lunch only. It's the cheapest, best food we had in Kostanai at 500 tenge for two. Goulash was tangy and hearty. Plov (pilaf) had plenty of lamb in it, and was hearty and filling. Be prepared to read handwritten Russian with no English spoken here. We think it's a company lunch room so the atmosphere is kind of institutional but clean.
Kostanai Tourist Hotel Restaurant - Has an English menu, good service and a decent selection of wines. Our food was excellent and we had a nice view of the park - not many other restaurants actually view the Central Park from a window. Inexpensive with very good service.
Bavarian Cafe - Is a little bit West on Al Farabi street, and has terrific interior design, very attentive service and great food, with an English menu. But prices are high enough that we've only been once, though we plan to go again tonight. Beef covered with ground nuts and spices was very good. Nice wine list.
Mango Cafe - At the West end of Al Farabi near the train station, Mango Cafe has good food and a nice cafe atmosphere. Excellent people watching, so don't be in a hurry. Our favorite dishes are the lamb again - "Kazbek" lamb is grilled with pomegranate seeds, and other dishes are similarly creative and filling. Not expensive.
The Korean Restaurant - Other than the condiments and the owner's family, there was not much authentically Korean about this restaurant, but our lamb and chicken dishes were good. Actually the grilled lamb was excellent. The pork chop was weirdly covered in cheese and mayonnaise, but underneath it was a good cut of meat. The decor is new and bright and clean, and service very attentive.
Goldfish Cafe - it's close to the Aidana Plaza Hotel, and has an English menu, but no staff understands English. Their plov (pilaf) is good, and their chicken was good too. They offer breakfast - with pancakes - but we didn't have a chance to try it.
Knights Castle - One of a handful of actual Restaurants we went to - with higher prices but there's a floor show (dancers). They have an English menu and many items were appealing, but they got our order wrong and the lamb dish was mostly fat, not lean. The decor inside is unbelievable, it feels like a Disney attraction. The dancers were interesting but not amazing.
Baron Munchausen - We expected a more Germanic cuisine, but it was generally Russian pub food at this interesting theme restaurant. The English menu is an interesting read - each menu item is named with a little lie or joke of some kind. Salads were tasty and creative. Our entrees were really delicious and attractively presented.
444 - In the remote countryside East of town, this ranchero had a live band and dance show. The shashlik (kebabs) were the main attraction, and were delicous. I would suggest ordering a few extra skewers because the portions weren't much. The salads were fresh and tasty and the service very attentive. The show was fun and well choreographed, considering where we were.
What there's not - No McDonald's or Burger King, or Wendy's or any Western franchises at all, for that matter. No Starbucks or 7-Eleven. And we haven't missed them at all.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Pascha--Russian Orthodox Easter
One of the main dividing lines here in ethnically diverse Kostanai is religion. Most people aren't religious, but family celebrations often follow religious traditions, and that includes the Russian Orthodox Church.
Today we went into our favorite bakery to find huge trays of beautiful cakes. And wondered aloud what they were for, and the lady in line said "Paska", and I realized this was like Pascal lamb, which is close to the Russian word for Easter-- Pascha.
A little internet research:
Easter is a holiday that moves on the calendar, unlike Christmas, which is always January 7 in Russia (or December 25 in the West), and the exact day of Easter needs to be calculated in a special way. This year is the same as the Western date, April 8th.
CALCULATING THE ORTHODOX PASCHA
The Church has developed a whole system of methods to find out the exact Sunday when they should celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These dates are calculated years in advance and they depend on the phases of the Moon, and since we (both Russia and the West) are not living according to the Lunar calendar, the consequence is that Easter is celebrated on a different day each year.
ORIGINS OF PASCHA
Of course Easter/Pascha is celebrated at roughly the same time as Passover. The word "pasqua" is actually of Jewish origin, meaning passing with Christ to the other life, or deliverance from death. (Whether this was a spiritual rebirth or physical rebirth is for another time.) Five thousand years ago, Judaic tribes celebrated this spring day as a feast of calving of cattle. Later, Easter was connected with the beginning of the harvest, and later still, with the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. Christians have given a different significance to this day, celebrating it in connection with the resurrection of Christ.
Of course Lent is 40 days.(Which is just enough time to read this blog entry.) Orthodox services consecrate willow branches. The willow branches represent the palm branches with which the way of Christ was covered on the way to the capital of Judea. Everyone tries to get some willow branches to put them by icons until the next "Willow Sunday." We saw many people walking around Kostanai with Willows, but thought is was just related to spring, not to Palm Sunday.
The Russian Easter church service starts the night before. Directly after this ceremony and for several days thereafter, a ritual takes place, usually between friends (though complete strangers may also participate). One person goes to another and says "Khristos voskres!" (Christ is risen!) The other must answer, "Voistinu voskres!" (He is risen indeed!) and then they kiss three times and give Easter eggs to each other. Directly after church that night, the Lenten fast is broken. Now meals with eggs, butter, and meat are allowed by the Church.
RUSSIAN EASTER EGGS
There are two types of Russian Easter eggs: krashenki, dyed red by boiling eggs with onion skins, and pysanky, the famous Faberge style enamel eggs. The bejeweled and bedazzling enameled eggs created by court jeweler and artist Karl Faberge were first commissioned in 1884 by Czar Alexander III as a special Easter present for his wife.
Usually the Easter eggs in Russia are red. Red is the colour of blood on the cross that Christ shed for the atonement of the sins of the world. In Russian, "Krasniya" is Red and also means beautiful. "Red Square" is more correctly translated "Beautiful Square".
The choice of this colour for Easter eggs is very old. Legend has it that when Mary Magdalene came to the emperor, Tiberius, she brought him as a gift a red egg with the salutation "Christ has arisen!" To dye eggs red, it is possible to use fuchsine, onion peels, and bright scraps of silk. In different regions, Paskha eggs have their own distinct decorations.
EGG DECORATING TECHNIQUES--
If you aren't a Martha Stewart fan, move on. For colouring eggs, it is best to use onion peels, which are gathered in advance. Depending on the colour of the peels, the colour of the eggs can vary from bright red to dark brown. To make the colour more saturated, more peels are used and the eggs are boiled for about 30 minutes. To protect the eggs from cracking during boiling, salt is added to the water. Cold eggs (from a refrigerator) must be allowed to warm at room temperature for half an hour before being placed into the boiling water.
Speckled eggs can be created by first wetting the eggs and placing them in dry rice. The eggs are then wrapped in gauze and fastened closed by a thread to allow the rice to stick. Finally, the eggs are boiled in a dying solution in the usual manner. Painted eggs can be made shiny by first being wiped dry and then greased with sunflower oil.
EGG GAMES
Popular even with non-religious Russians, most Russians enjoy a family ritual that includes an Egg Tournament. The family sits at the table and everyone chooses an egg, then one of the family members (for example, a child) holds his egg firmly in his hands and lets another family member (for example, the mother) hit the egg in his hands with her egg. One of the eggs breaks, and the one with the unbroken egg wins and has the opportunity to hit the eggs of other family members. Eventually, one egg will remain unbroken and it may be saved for other tournaments since it is now Easter time and one may eat as much as he wants. The last person to win can eat an egg, can choose another egg and repeat the tournament with somebody, or somebody may lend him his egg if he does not want it. It is especially popular in families with young children.
- Konstantin Vassiliev, Svetlana Rodinskaia, and Alexander Iona of the Saint Petersburg Student Community for Sustainable Development
Today we went into our favorite bakery to find huge trays of beautiful cakes. And wondered aloud what they were for, and the lady in line said "Paska", and I realized this was like Pascal lamb, which is close to the Russian word for Easter-- Pascha.
A little internet research:
Easter is a holiday that moves on the calendar, unlike Christmas, which is always January 7 in Russia (or December 25 in the West), and the exact day of Easter needs to be calculated in a special way. This year is the same as the Western date, April 8th.
CALCULATING THE ORTHODOX PASCHA
The Church has developed a whole system of methods to find out the exact Sunday when they should celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These dates are calculated years in advance and they depend on the phases of the Moon, and since we (both Russia and the West) are not living according to the Lunar calendar, the consequence is that Easter is celebrated on a different day each year.
ORIGINS OF PASCHA
Of course Easter/Pascha is celebrated at roughly the same time as Passover. The word "pasqua" is actually of Jewish origin, meaning passing with Christ to the other life, or deliverance from death. (Whether this was a spiritual rebirth or physical rebirth is for another time.) Five thousand years ago, Judaic tribes celebrated this spring day as a feast of calving of cattle. Later, Easter was connected with the beginning of the harvest, and later still, with the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. Christians have given a different significance to this day, celebrating it in connection with the resurrection of Christ.
Of course Lent is 40 days.(Which is just enough time to read this blog entry.) Orthodox services consecrate willow branches. The willow branches represent the palm branches with which the way of Christ was covered on the way to the capital of Judea. Everyone tries to get some willow branches to put them by icons until the next "Willow Sunday." We saw many people walking around Kostanai with Willows, but thought is was just related to spring, not to Palm Sunday.
The Russian Easter church service starts the night before. Directly after this ceremony and for several days thereafter, a ritual takes place, usually between friends (though complete strangers may also participate). One person goes to another and says "Khristos voskres!" (Christ is risen!) The other must answer, "Voistinu voskres!" (He is risen indeed!) and then they kiss three times and give Easter eggs to each other. Directly after church that night, the Lenten fast is broken. Now meals with eggs, butter, and meat are allowed by the Church.
RUSSIAN EASTER EGGS
There are two types of Russian Easter eggs: krashenki, dyed red by boiling eggs with onion skins, and pysanky, the famous Faberge style enamel eggs. The bejeweled and bedazzling enameled eggs created by court jeweler and artist Karl Faberge were first commissioned in 1884 by Czar Alexander III as a special Easter present for his wife.
Usually the Easter eggs in Russia are red. Red is the colour of blood on the cross that Christ shed for the atonement of the sins of the world. In Russian, "Krasniya" is Red and also means beautiful. "Red Square" is more correctly translated "Beautiful Square".
The choice of this colour for Easter eggs is very old. Legend has it that when Mary Magdalene came to the emperor, Tiberius, she brought him as a gift a red egg with the salutation "Christ has arisen!" To dye eggs red, it is possible to use fuchsine, onion peels, and bright scraps of silk. In different regions, Paskha eggs have their own distinct decorations.
EGG DECORATING TECHNIQUES--
If you aren't a Martha Stewart fan, move on. For colouring eggs, it is best to use onion peels, which are gathered in advance. Depending on the colour of the peels, the colour of the eggs can vary from bright red to dark brown. To make the colour more saturated, more peels are used and the eggs are boiled for about 30 minutes. To protect the eggs from cracking during boiling, salt is added to the water. Cold eggs (from a refrigerator) must be allowed to warm at room temperature for half an hour before being placed into the boiling water.
Speckled eggs can be created by first wetting the eggs and placing them in dry rice. The eggs are then wrapped in gauze and fastened closed by a thread to allow the rice to stick. Finally, the eggs are boiled in a dying solution in the usual manner. Painted eggs can be made shiny by first being wiped dry and then greased with sunflower oil.
EGG GAMES
Popular even with non-religious Russians, most Russians enjoy a family ritual that includes an Egg Tournament. The family sits at the table and everyone chooses an egg, then one of the family members (for example, a child) holds his egg firmly in his hands and lets another family member (for example, the mother) hit the egg in his hands with her egg. One of the eggs breaks, and the one with the unbroken egg wins and has the opportunity to hit the eggs of other family members. Eventually, one egg will remain unbroken and it may be saved for other tournaments since it is now Easter time and one may eat as much as he wants. The last person to win can eat an egg, can choose another egg and repeat the tournament with somebody, or somebody may lend him his egg if he does not want it. It is especially popular in families with young children.
- Konstantin Vassiliev, Svetlana Rodinskaia, and Alexander Iona of the Saint Petersburg Student Community for Sustainable Development
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Where's Punxsutawney Pyotr
A groundhog could have told us that there were at least two more weeks of winter last week but somehow we were gullible and thought the weather forecast for 50 degrees would come true. Nyet, nyet nyet. This morning it was 25 as we dressed for court, and it warmed only to about 32 by lunch. So much for Hawaii Five-oh!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Universitet with Yurt
A row of about a dozen yurts were set up on the avenue in front of Kostanai State University for Nauryz.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Sunday in Kostanai
Today we went for what has become our routine visit with Morgan. Robertson fed Morgan a watery rice/broth mixture, and Morgan finished this off with her usual apple juice served in the traditional shot glass. That's her reward for being such a tidy eater (not!). Tomorrow, she'll probably go back to a more nourishing food combo which will include fresh fruit and chopped egg.
We played our regular line up of games with Morgan. We do the baby work-out routine, which is primarily focused on solo sitting; so far, she's more comfortable sitting with our assistance. She likes sitting in our laps, or bouncing on a knee. She is also able to support her weight standing for 30-40 seconds, and then bounces up and down. We end the "aerobic" part of the workout with some mat time, or tummy time as we call it. Then we play the farm animal game for some verbal/fine motor skill multi-tasking, and then it's pure cuddle/book reading time. Of course, each day Morgan gives us a puzzle: what will make me laugh today?
For lunch today, we enjoyed a meal at the Goldfish Cafe with Nan and Jim. I had a crab salad and meatballs with tomato sauce and mashed potatoes. After lunch, we walked around a bit, and shared our tip on where to get American style frozen, boneless/skinless chicken breasts. We couldn't tell the street names or the name of the shop, but could only walk them there!
Shout- out to Cristina -- the only TV we watch is Fashion TV which plays English language pop-- we leave it on all the time.
Tomorrow we learn who our Judge will be, which will directly impact the length of our stay. So that is the next piece of news we will have to report here.
We played our regular line up of games with Morgan. We do the baby work-out routine, which is primarily focused on solo sitting; so far, she's more comfortable sitting with our assistance. She likes sitting in our laps, or bouncing on a knee. She is also able to support her weight standing for 30-40 seconds, and then bounces up and down. We end the "aerobic" part of the workout with some mat time, or tummy time as we call it. Then we play the farm animal game for some verbal/fine motor skill multi-tasking, and then it's pure cuddle/book reading time. Of course, each day Morgan gives us a puzzle: what will make me laugh today?
For lunch today, we enjoyed a meal at the Goldfish Cafe with Nan and Jim. I had a crab salad and meatballs with tomato sauce and mashed potatoes. After lunch, we walked around a bit, and shared our tip on where to get American style frozen, boneless/skinless chicken breasts. We couldn't tell the street names or the name of the shop, but could only walk them there!
Shout- out to Cristina -- the only TV we watch is Fashion TV which plays English language pop-- we leave it on all the time.
Tomorrow we learn who our Judge will be, which will directly impact the length of our stay. So that is the next piece of news we will have to report here.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Day 15 in Kostanai - We made it this far...
Today is our 15th day in Kostanai, and while for many travelers that might mean it's time to go back to work, we're amazed that this probably marks only the halfway point in our very enjoyable stay here. But more importantly this is the end of our required bonding and visitation period with Morgan, needed to apply for "pre-court." We might be able to apply later today, but more likely our capable coordinator and translator Zhanat will actually apply on Monday the 19th.
Morgan is learning more each day. We're teaching her how to sit up and we read 2-3 little card books to her each visit. We divide our 90-minute time with her into four periods - feeding time; physical skills (crawling or shimmying anyways) with nursery rhymes; naming animal shapes; book reading; and then we end at nap time. She most enjoys being "rocketed" up or being laid back to nearly hanging, upside-down. Before nap time we sing "Twinkle Twinkle" but it seems to have only the effect of waking her up. When she's really stoked she blows raspberries.
Last night we went out to "444" for kebabs (shashlik) and enjoyed a ride into the countryside. We took two cars and were joined by Nan and Jim Wolfe of Boston; we were all in a good mood and chatting about children and what to see in Kostanai. The restaurant is known for belly dancers, but there were several other kinds of dancing demonstrated - traditional Turkish dances, Russian and even a kind of campy American disco number. Their glittery costumes, coiffed hair and sparkly smiles could have only been improved upon with ice skates. The lamb kebab was delicious and the vodka plentiful and efficacious.
The weather here has been warming generally and yesterday it reached 28F. The hard-packed ice and snow on the sidewalks has been coming up slushy now, and is turning a mucky gray. But it's still generally a beautiful white landscape. Yesterday I saw the first buds on tree branches, so I would think that it's a week before it's hot here. After the weather climbs to 32 on Monday, it's expected to dip back down to the low 20s again by midweek. I won't plan to go to the beach!
We have been learning how to cook with mysterious ingredients. We have found a single source of boneless chicken breasts - our usual staple for meals in Miami. But Thursday I saw meat that looked like lamb and bought 500 g. of it, though during cooking it became obvious that it was not lamb. We feared we had bought horsemeat, even while we ate the tasty stuff in a stew with carrot, potato and mustard, but the next day we found out it was only beef.
Our apartment, which we thought we knew every inch of by now, produced a surprise on Thursday - we returned from lunch and the water running from the tap came out as mud, dark as coffee. After running for a minute, it cleared, but it must have been some kind of Spring pipe clearing exercise that we missed.
Working from here has been more of a challenge that I had hoped. The dialup connection just doesn't play nice with the internet service, so we get kicked offline regularly and lose work; we can't download files files that would normally be quick to send back home. Citrix, the software that is most vital to having a "home office" function normally, works at best an hour a day for Michele when the connection is strongest. Otherwise it generally cuts out. I hope that my mates back at KF are having an easy time of the web project, the annual report, board meeting, etc. - it makes me crazy that I can't be involved with such interesting challenges.
- Robertson
Morgan is learning more each day. We're teaching her how to sit up and we read 2-3 little card books to her each visit. We divide our 90-minute time with her into four periods - feeding time; physical skills (crawling or shimmying anyways) with nursery rhymes; naming animal shapes; book reading; and then we end at nap time. She most enjoys being "rocketed" up or being laid back to nearly hanging, upside-down. Before nap time we sing "Twinkle Twinkle" but it seems to have only the effect of waking her up. When she's really stoked she blows raspberries.
Last night we went out to "444" for kebabs (shashlik) and enjoyed a ride into the countryside. We took two cars and were joined by Nan and Jim Wolfe of Boston; we were all in a good mood and chatting about children and what to see in Kostanai. The restaurant is known for belly dancers, but there were several other kinds of dancing demonstrated - traditional Turkish dances, Russian and even a kind of campy American disco number. Their glittery costumes, coiffed hair and sparkly smiles could have only been improved upon with ice skates. The lamb kebab was delicious and the vodka plentiful and efficacious.
The weather here has been warming generally and yesterday it reached 28F. The hard-packed ice and snow on the sidewalks has been coming up slushy now, and is turning a mucky gray. But it's still generally a beautiful white landscape. Yesterday I saw the first buds on tree branches, so I would think that it's a week before it's hot here. After the weather climbs to 32 on Monday, it's expected to dip back down to the low 20s again by midweek. I won't plan to go to the beach!
We have been learning how to cook with mysterious ingredients. We have found a single source of boneless chicken breasts - our usual staple for meals in Miami. But Thursday I saw meat that looked like lamb and bought 500 g. of it, though during cooking it became obvious that it was not lamb. We feared we had bought horsemeat, even while we ate the tasty stuff in a stew with carrot, potato and mustard, but the next day we found out it was only beef.
Our apartment, which we thought we knew every inch of by now, produced a surprise on Thursday - we returned from lunch and the water running from the tap came out as mud, dark as coffee. After running for a minute, it cleared, but it must have been some kind of Spring pipe clearing exercise that we missed.
Working from here has been more of a challenge that I had hoped. The dialup connection just doesn't play nice with the internet service, so we get kicked offline regularly and lose work; we can't download files files that would normally be quick to send back home. Citrix, the software that is most vital to having a "home office" function normally, works at best an hour a day for Michele when the connection is strongest. Otherwise it generally cuts out. I hope that my mates back at KF are having an easy time of the web project, the annual report, board meeting, etc. - it makes me crazy that I can't be involved with such interesting challenges.
- Robertson
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Departure Day
We're both so happy to say that we've got our tickets, our visas, passports and ... well almost luggage ... in order for departure at 4pm today. Dad's driving us to the airport, but first we'll have a send-off from Mom, Lee, Carla, Larry as well as Laurie for especially good traveling mercies.
Weather in Kostanai is 2˚F now, and was at a high of 10˚F today. Sunday and Monday will be clear and it will warm up to about 20˚F we are told (www.wunderground.com then search for KSN). By the end of March it could be as warm as 45-50˚F and that would be balmy!
Libby Walch at MAPS in Portland, Maine, and Dina and Zhanat in Almaty and Kostanai, Kazakhstan have been terrific at making this adoption plan come together, and Countryside Travel got us an amazingly gentle itinerary direct from Miami to Frankfort and then Kostanai. Thank you all for your professionalism and support.
We're going off to have FUN now!
-- R & M.
Weather in Kostanai is 2˚F now, and was at a high of 10˚F today. Sunday and Monday will be clear and it will warm up to about 20˚F we are told (www.wunderground.com then search for KSN). By the end of March it could be as warm as 45-50˚F and that would be balmy!
Libby Walch at MAPS in Portland, Maine, and Dina and Zhanat in Almaty and Kostanai, Kazakhstan have been terrific at making this adoption plan come together, and Countryside Travel got us an amazingly gentle itinerary direct from Miami to Frankfort and then Kostanai. Thank you all for your professionalism and support.
We're going off to have FUN now!
-- R & M.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Adoption News: It's Kostanai, Kazakhstan
Hi to family and friends... I wanted to share some news we got today about our adoption plans.
We're happy to hear a report that our "dossier" has been approved in all the federal-level government ministries in Kazakhstan, and that means we're now on a waiting list for a child at the local level. We'll be traveling to Kostanai, Kazakhstan, within two weeks after getting our invitation to travel.
Q. When will we get the invitation to travel?
A. We don't know. (Awwww!) But it's probably coming in March or as late as April.
Q. What's to know about Kostanai?
A. First, you can spell it about five different ways so it's tough to look up. It's cold, even in the middle of summer it's rarely over 95 degrees. It's dry - they get about 12 inches of rain in a whole year. Think of it as the Dakotas of the former Soviet Union - their main product is wheat and iron ore.
Q. Will you get a boy or a girl? What age?
A. We don't know yet, but we will find out after we get there. The odds are strong that it'll be a girl under 1 year old, and we don't know if is Asian, European or mixed ethnicity. We don't know anything until we arrive in Kostanai and are matched to a baby.
Q. How long will you be traveling?
A. If we could leave in mid-March (that's a big IF) we would travel from Miami to Germany, and change plans to fly to Almaty, which is in south Kazakhstan. Then we fly to Kostanai. We'd meet babies and pick one, then spend at least 15 days visiting it in the "baby house." Return to Miami -- without a baby -- in early to mid April. Then wait two to four weeks, and make a second trip to Kostanai, for a trip of about 1 week, to pick up the baby and bring him or her home to Miami. After that, we have some "family medical leave" to get used to parenthood, before returning to work possibly in mid-May.
Q. What will you do for fun in Kostanai?
A. There's a pizza restaurant and not much else. We'll spend a lot of time going back and forth to the baby house, which is 15 minutes outside of Kostanai (it's truly in the middle of nowhere!). We might help work on the orphanage to improve it for future families, or something like that. ( i.e., we're not going to seek work, teach or translate.)
Q. Do you have a gift registry started?
A. We do have registries for gifts started, at these shops. The baby's room is yellow and white with green, and has a bumble-bee theme to it (since we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet).
Q. What's the baby's name?
A. Wouldn't you like to know! (Wouldn't we like to just pick one already!). "Morgan" is the code name for now.
Q. That's just not enough info! I gotta have more!
A. Visit our new blog, to keep up on developments:
http://findingmorganadams.blogspot.com
Here are some other links for organizations and information that we refer to frequently:
We're happy to hear a report that our "dossier" has been approved in all the federal-level government ministries in Kazakhstan, and that means we're now on a waiting list for a child at the local level. We'll be traveling to Kostanai, Kazakhstan, within two weeks after getting our invitation to travel.
Q. When will we get the invitation to travel?
A. We don't know. (Awwww!) But it's probably coming in March or as late as April.
Q. What's to know about Kostanai?
A. First, you can spell it about five different ways so it's tough to look up. It's cold, even in the middle of summer it's rarely over 95 degrees. It's dry - they get about 12 inches of rain in a whole year. Think of it as the Dakotas of the former Soviet Union - their main product is wheat and iron ore.
Q. Will you get a boy or a girl? What age?
A. We don't know yet, but we will find out after we get there. The odds are strong that it'll be a girl under 1 year old, and we don't know if is Asian, European or mixed ethnicity. We don't know anything until we arrive in Kostanai and are matched to a baby.
Q. How long will you be traveling?
A. If we could leave in mid-March (that's a big IF) we would travel from Miami to Germany, and change plans to fly to Almaty, which is in south Kazakhstan. Then we fly to Kostanai. We'd meet babies and pick one, then spend at least 15 days visiting it in the "baby house." Return to Miami -- without a baby -- in early to mid April. Then wait two to four weeks, and make a second trip to Kostanai, for a trip of about 1 week, to pick up the baby and bring him or her home to Miami. After that, we have some "family medical leave" to get used to parenthood, before returning to work possibly in mid-May.
Q. What will you do for fun in Kostanai?
A. There's a pizza restaurant and not much else. We'll spend a lot of time going back and forth to the baby house, which is 15 minutes outside of Kostanai (it's truly in the middle of nowhere!). We might help work on the orphanage to improve it for future families, or something like that. ( i.e., we're not going to seek work, teach or translate.)
Q. Do you have a gift registry started?
A. We do have registries for gifts started, at these shops. The baby's room is yellow and white with green, and has a bumble-bee theme to it (since we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet).
Q. What's the baby's name?
A. Wouldn't you like to know! (Wouldn't we like to just pick one already!). "Morgan" is the code name for now.
Q. That's just not enough info! I gotta have more!
A. Visit our new blog, to keep up on developments:
http://findingmorganadams
Here are some other links for organizations and information that we refer to frequently:
- Wikipedia on Kostanai:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostanai - Kazakh Adoptive Families:
http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/cities/qostanay.html - Our adoption agency:
http://www.mapsadopt.org - Our social worker:
http://www.lifelink.org - Weather in Kostanai :
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/28952.html
Kostanai
This morning I received a phone call from Libby, our MAPS coordinator. She was happy to report that our dossier had been approved "through all channels", including both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, and been assigned a region-- Kostanay. This was wonderful news, and a bit of a surprise. We had been hoping to hear that we had cleared MFA.
So,we'll be busy planning for our trip, which we were told would be "sometime in the next two months". Of course, that is a little too vague to help our employers, but we'll work with it.
Meanwhile, we're going to spend more time with our Russian language tapes, working on a picture book for Morgan, and finalizing the house plans while researching Kostanai.
More later . . .
So,we'll be busy planning for our trip, which we were told would be "sometime in the next two months". Of course, that is a little too vague to help our employers, but we'll work with it.
Meanwhile, we're going to spend more time with our Russian language tapes, working on a picture book for Morgan, and finalizing the house plans while researching Kostanai.
More later . . .
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