Greetings from Boston

I’ve been in the Boston area for the last couple of days for work. Today after our last set of departmental meetings we went into Boston to sightsee. We took the duck boat tour around the city and then had dinner at the Union Oyster House (America’s oldest restaurant). It was really great to get to see some of Boston. As many times as I’ve been here for work normally I only get to see the office and the hotel. The only other time I’ve gotten to see some of the city was when I got one of my documents apostilled back in January (my employment letter) and that was only because I didn’t know where I was going and I ended up parking far away from the Secretary of State’s office. I think it took me 25 minutes to walk from the garage where I parked to the building where I spent 5 minutes getting the document apostilled and then I walked back another 25 minutes. I will say it’s much nicer to see the city when the weather is warmer and when you are with a fun group of people.

After dinner a bunch of us walked down to the Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market area to look around and of course I ended doing some unexpected retail therapy. I bought the baby an uglydoll (see the picture below). When I showed it to one of my colleagues from the UK and told her it was an uglydoll (meaning the brand) she said “it certainly is” (meaning it was ugly). I think it’s totally cute.



I also ended up buying a book entitled “A is for Abigail” which is a children’s book about women in American history. The purchase was partly because of the title (they never had anything with my name on it when I was a kid) and partly because of what we in my family call the “Grandma Sarah gene.” My Grandmother loved to get a bargain and if something was on sale she would buy it (if it came in more than one color she’d buy more than one). I definitely inherited this gene and with a markdown of more than 50% I had to get the book. I did not notice until a different one of my coworkers pointed it out that this book was written by Lynne Chaney (sorry Mom) but at least all the proceeds are supposed to go to charity (although who knows which ones and if I’d even support them).

Home Improvements (nesting or just more retail therapy?)

I’ve lived in my house for almost seven years and things that were fine for just me are suddenly no longer good enough now that I’m adopting. I guess this is a form of nesting right?

My old extremely loud dishwasher had to go. I wouldn’t want to scare the baby or have the noise wake her up. Plus it didn’t have a sanitizing mode for baby bottles (yeah I know I’m rationalizing my purchase). The new one was installed two weeks ago today and I LOVE it. It is so quiet and has a much better rack configuration than my old one (the old one had the arm the came up in the middle so there was a big round space where you couldn’t put in any dishes). I’m hoping having a new dishwasher will make me better about emptying the dishwasher – one of my least favorite chores. Who knows it might work!

Also, I’ve been wanting to replace my carpeting for a long time but could just never get around to it. It really was not in good shape (the stairs were particularly bad). One of my sisters asked me “why do you want to replace it, the baby will just throw up on it?” That’s true but I wouldn’t want her crawling around on what was there. Yuck. I finally bit the bullet and took care of it. The new carpeting was installed on Tuesday. It’s a HUGE improvement but now I have to put back all the things I moved in order for the carpet to be installed (i.e., all the books, dvds and cds need to go back on the shelves, clothes and shoes back in the closet, etc.). I’m taking my time and weeding out more of my “pack rat junk” as I put stuff back. Plus I think this is a good opportunity to paint the baby’s room and the computer room (because I sure as heck don’t want to have to move all this stuff out and back again!).

On a completely unrelated note I wanted to say Happy Birthday to Auntie Eve! She’s not my aunt, she’s my sister but she’ll be Auntie Eve to my baby (and I know she’s looking forward to buying some cute little girl clothes for a change – she has 2 little boys).

Two Months Down, A Lot More To Go

It’s been two months since my dossier arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kaz. I’m not sure whether or not my agency will be notified when of when it moves on to the Ministry of Education. I think the next time I will hear something is when I get assigned to a region. Unfortunately I have no idea when it will get assigned.

The waiting part is SO hard. I’m more of a person who likes to know what’s going on or to have something to do (yes, I know I’m a control freak :)). The good news is I have made a ton of progress at cleaning out the junk in my house. I am a total pack rat so this has been a big step for me.

Things You Always Wanted to Know About Kazakhstan (but were afraid to ask)

When I mention that I am adopting from Kazakhstan the first reaction I get normally has something to do with Borat (which BTW wasn’t even filmed in Kazakhstan). So I thought it might be helpful to include some information about the country.

Kaz is the ninth largest country in the world. Located in central Asia it is bordered by Russia to the north, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in the south and part of Turkmenistan in the west (see the map below). It has almost 1,177 miles of coastline on the Caspian Sea.

Kaz is part of the former Soviet Union and became an independent nation on December 16, 1991. The majority of the population in Kaz are ethnic Kazakh. The other ethnic groups that make up the population include Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, German and Uyghur. Two languages are spoken in Kaz - the Kazakh language which is the "state" language and Russian which is the "official" language (i.e., it is the language that is used in business).

Kaz geography is very diverse in terms of terrain: flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, mountains, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. It has the 62nd largest population in the world but a population density of less than 15 people per square mile. Kaz has cold winters and hot summers. I can’t wait to be there in the winter – not!

The word "Kazakh" means "independent" or "wanderer". Until the middle of the 20th century the Kazakh people were nomads. They lived in yurts (which are portable, domed tents made of felt) and traveled with their livestock from summer pastures to warmer winter lands.