1:00 a.m
Mee and I arrived in Almaty in pretty good shape. However, I can’t say the same for our luggage. We are missing one piece of luggage that was checked in, the one with all of our clothes in it (Chloe’s bag arrived safe and sound). After watching someone else’s bright yellow case circle around the conveyor about ten times, it was clear that ours was not going to magically appear. The Lufthansa rep spoke very good English and was very helpful. They set us up with a little overnight bag (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and a t-shirt to sleep in. Also, my super smart wife had suggested that I put some socks, drawers, and a t-shirt into our carry-on bag for just such an emergency. I’d be lost (and stinky) without her.
Our flight to Kokshetau left at about 9:30 a.m. that morning. Mee and I are becoming old pros when it comes to enduring the Yak 40s. We saw another couple waiting for the same flight and I pointed out to Mee that they looked like Americans (light colored pants, wrong shoes, basically dressed much more for function than fashion), and they where most likely here for the exact same reason. During the flight we found out that they are indeed in Kazakhstan to adopt a little girl but alas they are from Ottawa, Canada. Let that be a lesson to all snooty Americans (and Canadians) – we look the same! The Ottawa couple was heading all the way to Petropavlovsk on the Yak, good luck to them.
We landed safe and sound and were greeted by a familiar face. It was Marina, our interpreter from our first trip. There had been some uncertainty around who our interpreter would be for this trip. Marina was not only very good at her job, she had become a real friend to us. I have a hard time expressing how reassuring it was to see her.
And… since we didn’t really know whose number to give to Lufthansa if/when they located our missing piece of luggage, we had given them Marina’s cell number (one of the two Kaz phone numbers we had on us). Sort of grasping at straws since we didn’t really know if she would be working with us. By the time we arrived in Kokshetau, she had already received a call from the airline about our bag and it would be waiting for us in Almaty on Friday when we returned. Great news – I would only need to make these clothes last a few more days.
First stop: our apartment. It was a complete dump. I should have pulled out the camera just to show you how bad it was. Imagine a really, really bad apartment, now imagine it being worse. Thankfully, Mee protested right away and made it clear that we would not stay here and that we wanted to stay at the Kokshetau Hotel.
Turns out that not only was the hotel very nice, it ended up being cheaper. Methinks someone was trying to get one over on us with the apartment – who knows? Anyway, as an added bonus for staying at the hotel, we got to see Ali and Maribel (our cottage mates from our first trip) and Jaden and Leila, their new son and daughter. They were leaving pretty much as we were arriving, but it was great to see them just the same. Everything looked like fantastic and beautiful chaos as it should.
Second stop: head to baby house for a visit with the nibbler, or at least that was what we thought. Turns out that someone greased some wheels (or just a little common sense) and we got (that’s “got” as in “she’s all yours, all the time”) little Chloe today. Yikes! How can you prepare for something for more than twelve months, have it consume all you do for the last two months and still feel completely unprepared for the reality of it? I don’t know, but that is exactly how I feel.
While Kokshetau is still grey, Almaty is all ablossom. It’s warm and sunny, the trees are budding, the tulips are up and it is just plain beautiful. What’s really cool about Almaty is that there are huge a$$ mountains here. Sometimes I look at the skyline and think, “My, those are interesting looking clouds,” only to realize that they’re the jutting snowy tops of these gi-norm-ous mountains. Our driver said that they are about 5,000 meters at the peak. If the weather holds, we plan to take a trip up there on Monday. We’re getting Chloe fitted for crampons now.
We walked to the Tsum store today. Yes, they have one here too. It is a little more like a mall in the states, and yet still very different. Anyone reading this who is planning a similar trip should save you souvenir shopping for the Almaty Tsum. The third floor has more souvenir shops than all of Kokshetau, maybe all of the rest of Kazakhstan? Prices seem about the same, but you have much, much more selection. Oh, and you can identify the souvenir shops by the obligatory wolf skin rugs that are prominently displayed with growly, fangy heads attached. Beautiful and creepy at the same time.
