Our Driver Dima arrived early for a 10:00 am meeting with The Sisters. They are three sisters whom are the WPA Agency representitives in Kazakhstan. There is a Lawyer, an Accountant, and a Physician. Nothing happens in Kazakhstan with your adoption process that they do not know of and approve. We were taken to a finely appointed office somewhere in the city and proceeded to sign final legal paperwork, itemize and pay for processing fees, and expenses while in Almaty, and asked to formulate any questions we might have on any aspect of what was about to happen to us. Meanwhile, we were given a timeline of our adoption process for the next six weeks. (Always subject to change of course)
As we had seen in other families' web sites, we asked if we might mark the occasion with a photo. No they said, they have a policy of only taking pictures at the end of the adoption process. "Very happy time then!"
Driver Dima took us the to The Ramstore, a large Department Store, actually kind of a Mall in a box, with a small skating rink. Changed money, bought some I-Cards (Phone & Internet), and had lunch at Italian pizza/Sushi ? place. My first attempt at Russian failed miserably as our waiter believed me to be French.
Back to the apartment, we had a couple of hours to kill before leg four; 1920 Departure, a two hour flight to Karaganda.
We were happy just to look out the window at the different world outside and rest for a bit. We found the Winter Olympics on the TV, and the big suitcase went down the stairs much easier than up the night before.
Dima once again loaded us in the Land Cruiser for the ride to the Airport, helped us navigate through the crowd of people waiting to porter our luggage for us and through another security screening made redundant by the one before boarding the aircraft.
My anticipation of the flight to Karaganda did not disappoint, except that it was in total darkness. This machine was indeed an AN-24, a workhorse from the old Soviet Union that has probobly logged enough miles (Km) to go to Alpha Centuri and back. Except for the rickety airstair it was fairly well preserved however, and along with a fairly high noise level they also served a full meal with hot tea and dessert! (Alaska Airlines could take customer service lessons from this airline!) Pictures of this relic will have to wait until our return as my one attempt upon exiting the aircraft failed due to my cameras' ability to pick it up in the dark. (Cecelia thinks it was the same plane used by Reeve Aleutian Airlines for their inaugural flight!)
We landed 2120, and again were met by agency representitives who now will be working with us through the rest of our stay here. Natasha is our Adoption Coordinator and Driver and Nastia is our Interpreter. They took us to our apartment, (another three stories for big suitcase) gave us the key, gave us the standard warning " Lock door, open for no one". said "Good night, we will be back at 0945 am."
A perfectly clear night, I saw Orion, Big Bear, Polaris, and a Big Moon on the other side of the world.
