Apartments, journeys, babies...

The horn above our bathroom. What the hell...?

Where the magic happens...

The beautiful curtains in our living room.

Jen's new favorite thing in the world, fried bread and chocolate spread. All health food, all the time!

Our Kitchen

Hi all,

So yesterday was a landmark day for us; we became terribly lost in Kokshetau! Well, that's an exaggeration, really, as we always knew how to get home, we just didn't know where we were GOING! Poor Dave and Jeanie were so kind to make us dinner for 6:30pm, and we were so kind as to show up (finally) at 8:15. Sigh. We definitely lost about 5 pounds a piece last night, lemme tell ya. A few mile walk turned into a full blown jungle trek, negotiating huge mud puddles that form on the "sidewalks" of Kokshetau. I decided that it was safer (and certainly more convenient) to just walk in the street like everyone else. Ok, not safer, just more convenient. You should see the women here in their high heels negotiating the mud! I would fit right in if I would just get myself some 3" stillettos. As it turns out, we were making a big spiral in towards the cottage (where Dave and Jeanie are staying) and we gave up one block too soon and spiraled out again like idiots. Finally I saw a landmark I knew and convinced a very grumpy and defeated Brian to follow me for just another 15 minutes. Thank GOD we found it or else the night would have been ruined.

We are staying in a nice flat on the other side of town (pictured). While it certainly feels more traditional than the cottage, I think we're going to ask to move to the cottage when Dave and Jeanie (and their four kids!) leave in a couple of weeks. We don't have gas this morning, and so coffee has been interesting. In the cottage there is a housekeeper, a babysitter (if you want one), a laundry person (if you want one... are you getting that this is all the same person? The famous Luba?), and snacks in the fridge every day. It's also a big place with a fantastic bathroom. We're going to ask... but we'll see!

Visits with Evan are going great, better every day. He still cries when we take him from his caregiver, but that lessens every day, and yesterday he cried when we left! He also fell asleep on mom, which made me really happy. We got busted for letting him sleep, as it throws off their schedule, but it was worth it!

Anyways, gonna post a bunch of pictures now and see about breakfast. Please write us emails about your life at home! It's great to hear news from you, even if it seems mundane to you it is fascinating to us!

Love,
Jen and Brian