10/2/04

Hello There!
Mom arrived last night and we are not sure which we were happier to see, her or the roll of toilet paper she brought. We were running low on Charmin-to-go and the paper here is like grey crepe paper without the stretch. Wehave been reserving the charmin for special moments.

The kids were still rustling from their late night bottle so we got them up to see her. Karleigh took right to her. She is the snuggliest late at night and she was nuzzling her and playing hide the face in her chest. It was a nice welcome and we were all very happy to be together. McCale was his happy, easy goin self, he gave her smiles and showed her how he could flip from front to back and over again while showing off his toys.

It was nice to see a familiar face, she brought us some movies, popcorn and a couple other items that we had asked for. She has already been a big help and is adjusting to the jet lag better than I expected. She has morphed into a grandma before our very eyes. Making faces at the kids and rubbing their backs using a voice that still calms me from my childhood.

We had a nice leisurely day, I think she wants to tell you about it, so I will leave the details for her to share.

I just wanted to thank you all for your well wishes that keep coming in - We love getting mail and it makes our day to hear from you.

I also thought about Pierce today - mom said he was doing a great job walking the dogs and I realized I had not thanked him for all his help.

I'll turn it over to her now. More from Jeff and I tomorrow.
Love and Kisses, Colene, Jeff, Karleigh and McCale.

The following message is coming from Gramma Aug:

The flight was smooth and comfortable; especially the second leg where I was asked if I spoke English, then was bumped up to first class. Needless to say, this spoiled me for any further flying. We had leather easy chairs with foot rests, shrimp as an appetizer and beef filet for dinner. I enjoyed two glasses of Riesling and my cheeks got red. We had some kind of strawberry rhubarb cobbler for desert. There was a lot of bread and cheese offered. In both flights, hot towels were furnished before and after you ate to wash the grime off of our fingers and faces.

Everything went smooth in all of the airports, especially in Frankfurt, the posting of gate signs were very clear, even though I was in a foreign country I found my way easily. When I got to Almaty, they had a dog sniffing the baggage. When I saw someone ahead of me put their luggage on the floor, I did the same. The dog came over to my luggage and didn’t want to leave. He wasn’t acting as if there was a bomb or anything, he just kept sniffing. After the handler pulled him away, someone on another line asked if I had a sausage in there or something. It was probably the scent from Molly and Jack, but my answer to them was simply, “No, only sugar free candy.” And I smiled.

While in the airport I noticed the police men and their uniforms. The hats were oversized compared to the service hats we are accustomed to seeing on our police. Use a capital O on oversized, these hats could hold an entire dinner on top of them.

Our drive to the apartment by our careful driver Emil was uneventful, we passed many well lit stores. We then went to tree lined streets and apartment buildings, Jeff pushed in the code to let us inside. There were no lights to lead us up the three sets of stairs, but we managed fine. Upon arriving in the apartment, Colene was waiting and the kids were awake. I got to play with my brand new grandchildren and pull out some of the goodies that I had brought that were on Colene’s several lists.

The city of Almaty is much larger than I thought it would be. Today we went for a long walk, Jeff did a great job getting us across the street safely, traffic was coming from every direction. The horns were honking and hands were waving, just like in NYC.

We walked to the main square or new square and watched a dress rehearsal for a celebration, we have no idea what kind of celebration. It was really neat to see the original costumes and the dancers. There were a few thousand people in all kinds of costumes, waiting their turn to dance or perform.

We had lunch in an outside café, we had chicken and common fare of Kazakhstan. We enjoyed dumplings with beef, cabbage and onion inside served w/ a zesty Russian dressing. We each had a beer from the local brewery, the whole lunch for three cost 6.00 US dollars.

We went to the Ramstore on our excursion, when we walked in there was a large ice skating rink, the store itself was like a mini Walmart, with the number one specialty of sheep’s head displayed in a clear package at the meat counter. We passed on that. There were many items for sale in the store that we would like to buy to bring home, there were many types of chocolate, dried fruit, etc. We purchased some dried fruit, not knowing what it was we were buying, we pointed and used our hands to show how much and of what we wanted. There were three colors of fruit, orange, green and yellow. They all tasted the same, something close to papaya w/ a light sugar coating. This is different from the sugar entrenched type you find at home.

All in all, everything is great and I’m really enjoying the trip.
Marilyn – aka Gramma!!