The week from hell in kazak-land

Well we have finally gotten around to posting here. I will give you a quick synopsis so get ready. We flew out of JFK on time and arrived in Amsterdam after an 8 hr flight which we slept through most of, thank God> Dan and Kathleen, the couple traveling with us who also want a girl, met us at the gate, they had flown from Hartford. We had an 8 hr lay over in Amsterdam and went into town together and had a wonderful day. We saw the pot shops everywhere and the red light district was something to behold. Women in all the windows in barely anything. The closer to the main canal we got the nicer looking the women were. Some of the side streets had some pretty scary women in their windows. We got back on a plane later that night and flew 7 hours to Almaty Kz, getting in at 6 AM local time. We met Bolat, yes Bolat, not Borat, at the airport and he took us to the hotel where we stayed for about 9 hrs for $200, but it was worth it because we got to sleep about 6 hrs and got a hot shower. At 6 pm we boarded another plane for a 2 hr flight to Karaganda. Nice flight but you could see the countryside the whole way up, or should I say lack of countryside. It is all dirt, dirt dirt. There were beautiful mountains in Almaty but on the way north to Karaganda it is all desert and dirt. It is so dry here and when the wind blows which is about all the time it gets so dusty. Nothing is green and there is no grass or vegetation anywhere and everything is in Russian. Nobody speaks english which we expected but this language doesn't even come close to anything you can figure out. I find myself speaking Spanish to them which is ridiculous. That first night here we met the other couple from Albany, Megan and Jeff, both lawyers and very nice. The got here 2 days before us and had picked a little girl and i mean little. She was a preemie and is now 10 months old but is the size of a 6 month old. She is very weak and teeny but beautiful. The next AM we left for the baby house all together. It is called Shapagot which means faith or grace. It is located about a 5 min drive away in the middle of a large complex of what we would consider low income apartments. These complexes are everywhere here and is what most people live in. They are not well maintained on the outside and there is garbage everywhere. There are no sidewalks or parks. Just dust and poverty. As soon as we got here we and Dan and Kathleen were told there were only 5 children for us to choose from and only 1 girl.We both wanted a girl so we all felt as if we were hit with a hammer. I think we were all in shock. They immediately brought out 4 boys, 2 Asian and 1 Kazak boy and then 1 Caucasian blond haired blue eyed little boy named Daniel. They handed him right to Kathleen. I told her that here was her blond, blue eyed kid but it was a boy instead of a girl. We looked at the boys and then they brought out the only girl. She was Asian and had an eye problem in that her eyes were crossed and they may correct with just an eye patch or they might need surgery, they couldn't say. Either way we spent the day with her and the boys and didn't feel much for any of them. Of course we were still in shock so nothing would have worked just then. We went back to the hotel that night and felt like crap. Dan and Kathleen ended up taking the little blond boy which is a good match for them. We went back the next day and spent more time with each kid but really knew it wasn't right. Our agency advised us to keep going and pretend to try to bond with each of the kids until we could talk to Rosa, the head of the baby house who of course was on vacation until Mon. So we continued to go every day and pretend and watch these other 2 couples, now our friends, interact with their babies. This was pure torture. We both just wanted to give up and go home. We kept being told there are no other kids for us. But we held in until Rosa came back on mon. Monday AM we all go into Rosas office, us and Natalia, our translator. They first showed us a little 6 month old kazak baby girl who would become available sometime the end of May or early June and if we wanted her we could back then to get her but they couldn't guarantee that she would still there as her mother still had time to come back for her and that could happen. Then they showed us a 17 month old Caucasian girl. She was in her caregivers arms and wouldn't even look at us. She was there for maybe 3 minutes and they took her out. We were not allowed to spend any time with them because they are not actually available yet. we went back into the playroom and 2 minutes later they came in and told us if we want the older girl we could have her now. We said we would like to spend some time with her so we came back that afternoon for the next session- we go to the baby house from 10-12 and 4-6 every day. That afternoon was OK but she was very shy and wanted nothing to do with us, which is good. I asked why she had not been adopted yet and they said her mother brought her in at 9 months old because she couldn't take care of her anymore and they have to spend 6 months in the orphanage before they are available. she had only become available 2 months ago but they never got her paper work together because nobody usually wants older kids but if we want her they would rush her paper work through for us. We got her medical records that night end got in touch with our MD at home(Cleveland Clinic). She was concerned about her head size and wanted a picture before she gave her final OK and of course we could not send a picture until the AM here, so we would not end up hearing from her until 5PM the next day our time. The next AM we go back and they tell us we have to decide right now if we want this girl or they are sending her to another orphanage for a family who wants a girl her age. Of course we think this is a load of crap. I said to them it was funny that a girl you didn't even know existed 2 days ago for adoption is now all of a sudden in such demand. Regardless they were forcing us and they wouldn't let us wait until our MDs decision came in. So I did what any American woman faced with a difficult decision would do.....I called my father, at 2 AM your time. He lives for this shit, right? He gave us great advice, which ended up being the same advice our agency gave us later on, you tell them yes and then you spend time with the girl and see what you think. If you change your mind then you change your mind and get out of town fast before they have a chance to run you out. We were willing to leave with no baby at this point so we had nothing to lose. We had only spent 2 hrs with this girl so to make that kind of a decision was tough. so we said yes. We have now been with her every day since Tues and she is getting very comfortable with us. She now no longer cries when we take her to the playroom and she will put her arms up for wither of us to pick her up and will come running into our arms when we put them out. She is fair skinned, reddish , blond curly hair. she is 50the percentile for weight and head size and 25th for height. You should see what they feed them here. No veggies or protein, all carbs and sugar so they are very doughy. They get no activity or exercise either. So we are taking it one day at a time right now and seeing what happens. I think we need to get over our bad feelings from that first week and this is slowly happening. It is Sat here and we are posting from an internet cafe which only charges $2 fro an hour which is cheaper than the hotel but we cannot download any pics from here. The hotel computer room charges $8 an hour but they are closed until Mon because of a holiday so we will hopefully have decided by then and amybe post pics. We haven't told Sophia anything as of yet. WE will post again on Monday.