Day 24- June 10th Happy Astana Day! |
Wow! What a day. Incase you didn't catch
it yet, today was Astana Day, a special holiday celebrating Kazakhstan's
capitol city. The whole time we've been here, we've watched the preparations
being completed and now it has finally come. This morning, we headed
out with Dinara, Jen and Jesse to walk around and see some of the celebrations.
We watched a dance/singing performance put on by some talented teens
and a program celebrating Astana with poems, speeches, singers and dancers
in Kazakh dress. We also viewed some Kazakh artwork and sampled some
Kazakh food from the street vendors. Later in the day (after the baby
house) we had Jen, Jesse and Jen's parents over for dinner and to watch
all the people through our apartment window. It was a fun time, but
most of the celebrations are just getting started right now (10:50 p.m.).
The day at the baby house was a little less exciting. When we arrived, we found out that Katie had been to the Doctor's again this morning to get her ears cleaned out. She had more cotton taped into her ears today. She was a little slower than normal but we still had fun bonding together. Sarah really enjoyed a segment of about 10 min. where Katie kept kissing her on the lips; she would grab Sarah's face and pull herself in. It was really cute! She also loved Sarah's hair (see page two for pictures). The sad part of the day came when Dinara approached us 15 min. early and told us that the medical director wanted Katie back in her room right then. It was sad giving her up early, but we really want her to get better and we are happy that the baby house staff are also concerned about her health. |
Lightning storm as seen from our house last night |
It was very impressive and lasted for a couple of hours |
It was beautiful and really lit up the night sky |
A traditional Kazakh song and dance was performed by some young girls in beautiful costumes |
Girls performed dances from all over the world |
In another square, they had wrestling matches |
The referee was dressed in traditional Kazakh dress |
All over the city there were vendors selling many trinkets and toys along with food, drinks and ice cream |
When we got to the baby house, we were kind of tired |
But Katie was feeling better today even with cotton in her ears |