We are ready to go home: packed and waiting for our ride at 1am for the 4am flight home.
I will update this with photos after we get home and have a fast connection.
Before our doctor's appointment on 17 Nov, we went to the Zoom store (mayne it's Zum?). This is an awesome department store, only it's filled with kiosk after kiosk of independent shops. On the first floor are electronics and appliances. On the second floor are clothing, perfumes, and other good stuff - we went to the third floor to see all the toys, souvenirs, cultural items, knicknacks, jewelry, china, and other cool stuff.
We found some very beautiful amber jewelry, I finally got a Russian hat (I'll post a picture in the future), and matrioshka nesting dolls, and a young girl's traditional outfit for Zarina when she is older (I will post photos later also). I have some pictures of the store in the camera and will post later -
if you come to Almaty you must come here!!! They had traditional hats, leather shields, horse whips, chess sets, backgammon (the national game I think), traditional costume, pottery, artwork, other crafts, and more.
The doctor's appointment went fine except for one thing: We arrived early at 130pm for our 2pm appointment and then found out that they had the Brown's down for 2pm and us for 2:30. Well, we knew the Brown's weren't coming until close to 2:30, but they made us wait. And wait and wait (no doctor).
We finally saw the doctor at 2:40 and he gave a quick perfunctory examination and proclaimed Zarina fit. He said that they would have the paperwork ready in 5 minutes.
10 minutes later they asked me to come to the desk and I paid the bill. They said the paperwork would be ready in 5 minutes (where did I hear that before?). The Browns were called in at 3pm for their appointment.
1 hour later, I get the paperwork and we all beat feet back to the apartment for a good homecooked meal by Mary.
After the doctor's appointment we went to Sasha's house - he's the entrepeneur who outfits most of the families with cell phones and internet accounts. He also sells Kazak gifts - check out his website at
http://www.kazakhcrafts.com/. Not only are there beautiful gifts to buy, but there is also a treasure trove of info on Kazakhstan. We got a Dream Quilt (
http://www.kazakhcrafts.com/?id=almaty_kazakhstan_kazakstan&g=8&name=dreamquilts), a silk painting and a matrioshka nesting doll - then Sasha and his wife gifted Zarina with a beautiful doll and alex with a woolen toy camel and a woolen toy Yurt (traditional Kazak home).
This was a wonderful gesture - if you want unique and beautiful artwork or just gifts for someone else, please checkout his website. If you come to Kazakhstan, Sasha can fix you up with a rental cell phone and get you hooked up to the Internet.
On the 18th, we went to the Embassy and got Zarina her visa - now we can take her home. On the way back to the apartment, we went back one last time to the Zoom store to get some more souvenirs/artwork. We just coulddn't pass up all the crafts - Alex scored a set of boy and girl figures (Alex and Zarina maybe?) in traditional garb and Mary got some more jewelry (she deserves it and more).
We are all packed and this will be our last post from Kazakhstan. Stayed tuned for our triumphant arrival back home: Zarina becomes a citizen when we clear Customs.
Paka!
And ended up in Alex's room (above).
