Dateline Taldy…Tuesday update.
Well, everything is finished. We finished the holes on Sunday afternoon, and yesterday (Monday), the concrete truck showed up on time (which actually surprised us!). However, when I say concrete truck, what I mean is a dump truck filled with concrete, which proceeded to dump it on a tarp on the ground, and we had to "wheelbarrow" it to where it was needed. However, I must say that it really did come in handy, and it would have taken a lot of concrete mixed by hand to fill the holes for the two swingsets.
While all of this was going on, Gulnara and the Babyhouse Director went shopping to purchase items for the baby house with the money donated by several of the families here. They wanted to purchase some medical equipment, but were told that there was none in Kaz to be purchased. So, they ended up purchasing 10 cribs, 10 baby cribs, two double stollers, a Little Tykes play house (indoor) and slide, and two tricycles. So today (Tuesday) we spent finishing the playground (hanging the swings and putting the sand out) and put together all of the cribs, etc. We have the official ceremony with all of the local officials this afternoon at 5 pm, but we had an "unofficial" luncheon with the director and doctors of the babyhouse where they expressed their gratitude for all that was given. What was really neat was when the director pulled out all of the letters and pictures that had been sent in by the families that were there (us, Ameling, Reed, Douglas, and Schmidt), and said how grateful they were that we still cared enough to send back information about our children, and that it really meant a lot to everyone at the babyhouse. She was also thrilled that several of us brought their children (Reeds and Ameling) or brought siblings back to Taldy Korgan.
We also had a grand tour of the babyhouse by the doctors and director, and it was really interesting to see parts of the babyhouse that we have never seen before (kitchen, laundry, swimming pool and sauna, etc.). We also visited the groups where our adopted kids came from, but it was naptime for Melanie’s group, so we could only peek in, but didn’t get a chance to play.
At 5 pm, we returned to the babyhouse for a ceremonial dinner with some local officials and BH staff. There was a lot of toasting, etc., but it was really nice. The staff made homemade monty for the meal, and it was really delicious. After the speechifying was completed, we went out to the playground and got a chance to play with the kids.
Plans are to head back to Almaty tomorrow (Wednesday), and then we fly out on Friday morning for home.
See everyone soon!
Love..David & Quentin
Quentin Says: Last Night at dinner, we ate a restaurant called Shagala (Seagull.) It took literally 2 ½ hours to get our food. Although I had a really good chicken steak, I had already filled up on chicken noodle soup, filled with dill... The Baby House director couldn’t pronounce my name so she started calling me Klim (Pronounced KLEEM) which just so happens to be a brand of powdered milk… I still think it’s cool.
No comments:
Post a Comment