Nov 14 – Back in Almaty
Well, we are back in the former capital, Almaty. The plane ride was just under 3 hours and Zarina did very well. We'll have some of those pictures just as soon as I can get my hands on them.
This time the city feels totally different. The last time we were here many weeks ago, we arrived at 1030pm and left at 7am so we saw very little traffic and the city was relatively quiet. This time we arrived at 640pm and the city was busy with rush hour traffic and lit up like Xmas. Many of the building have colorful signs, and parts of the city are snarled with evening traffic. Now this city seems like any major US city.
Our driver, Vitali, quickly transported us across town to our apartment – this time we are staying in one of a cluster of tall apartment buildings. Traffic is much more imposing than in Uralsk and I wouldn’t dare cross at anything other than a crosswalk although many people here still just step out into traffic. Based upon my first post about traffic, I’d put it at a 7 or 8 – on par with New York or maybe a smidgen higher, but still much less than Italy. You have to be aggressive otherwise the other drivers will not let you in to turn or change lanes. Vitali drives very well and always makes his way through safely. He’s a big and strong guy and handles our suitcases with ease.
Here's the view of the complex's courtyard/quad from our 8th floor apartment.
Our apartment is luxurious by Uralsk standards and also compared to the one we first stayed at several weeks ago. In the adoption news group, this has been called the “Ikea” apartment and with good reason – we
have hard wood laminate flooring, a modern kitchen including a dishwasher (no more dishpan hands for me!) and a much better laundry (we still have to hang clothes to dry).<=Here's most of the kitchen!
Zarina after the completion of one of her fly-bys. The only reason this is not blurred is due to the use of my high-speed shutter setting (I am not kidding...much). =>>
There are two bathrooms and we have a large bed with a very comfortable mattress. The wood floor
accommodates a walker that Zarina is able to propel at Mach-like speeds (watch out for your toes)!!!Oh, and we have cable including CNN, FoxNews (woohoo!!!) and several English stations including a movie channel, ESPN, and MTV.
Since this is a cluster of apartments, there are is a common quad with an small adjoining playground for Alex and also a small grocery – I am able to make due with my poor Russian although if I ask for something I have to be careful – if I say “four potatoes” in Russian, I usually get 4 kilograms of potatoes.
Here's' the bathroom complete with Boot Washer! (just kidding, but does anyone have a manual for using a bidet?)
Tomorrow we will visit the Sisters office and get our paperwork completed for Zarina’s visa and American passport.
posted by Lawrence @ 9:53 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Ooh! I've been in that apartment! I didn't know it got CNN!! :)
Enjoy the next few days.
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