This might be the last sunrise photo in Astana since, when I start out in the morning, the sky is dark and by the time the sun rises, I am amongst the buildings
This was a week of waiting.......... for progress on the Wheelchair Project. I finally got a list from our partners with the names of the people who will receive a wheelchair and the names of those who will be trained as Clinicians and Technicians. The clinicians are the ones who will learn how to evaluate the patient, take their measurements, and then choose the style of chair which will be the best for the patient The clinician writes all of this information down on a form and from this information, the Technician builds a custom chair for that person. There are three different styles of chairs and maybe 5 sizes within each style, but there can be many minor adjustments which make the chair unique for the individual. I had to translate the list for the recipients - specifically I had to translate their disability into English (I just used Google Translate). Honestly it was the first time in this whole wheelchair process that I felt good about it - I mean, I was writing down information for a 35 year old whose disability is described - Polytrauma, trauma to the lumbar vertebra, the amputation of both lower limbs (thigh and below the knee). I can now actually visualize how people will be helped as a result of us patiently dealing with WAQYP since January. Now we are just waiting for one last big piece of information - the location of the training site. As soon as we have this bit of information we can make hotel reservations for the specialists who will be coming from the US and also make reservations at a "casual, moderately priced" restarant where the head honchos of the two NGO's will be our guests. We only have three weeks before we leave, so I hope this last bit of planning goes quickly and smoothly.
We had a kitchen crisis this week. As Dad was taking a loaf of bread out of its glass casserole baking bowl, the bowl took a suicide leap to the floor and smashed into smitherines! Poor bowl - it didn't even last the length of our mission. Knowing that we couldn't pass the apartment along to our replacements (no-we don't have them yet), we knew we had to find a 2L replacement.
First Day of Bowl Quest: We went to the Zeta store where we'd purchased bowls previously. But, as we have learned about Kazakhstan, just because a store had a 2L casseronle bowl one time, does not mean you will find a bowl there again. Nope not at that store. To quell our dissappointment, we ate lunch at our favorite 5 Minute Mart Cafeteria - $4.50 for both of us
And a tasty donut for desert.
Second day of Bowl Quest - we headed to a sister store called "Z Home". - Nope, only little half liter bowls
Then to another Zeta store -
Past this big bull
"The monument presents a queen of Saks – Tomiris, who is standing on a giant bull. Hulk bull is on a huge pedestal. Tomiris is standing with outstretched arms, and guarded by two leopards with swords.
Tomiris was a great queen of Saks. In 530-529 BC the king of the Medes – Cyrus conquered many countries and received the title “Lord of Asia”. Then he went camping to the Great Steppe, when widow Tomiris was a Saks’ king. Tomiris’ husband was Prince of tigrahaud –Rustam, who was killed by Cyrus in battle. Cyrus sent an ambassador to the queen with proposal in order to marry her and to join two nations into one state. The queen of Saks refused." ............. I would have too.
Over the Oblique Bridge
to this Zeta store which we soon learned only had furniture - no kitchen stuff. But the sales person told us that we could go to the other Zeta stores ....ummm, no we've already been to those.
So to make us feel better, we went out to lunch at what we call the Pink Cafe (pink exterior walls) which is about a ten minute walk behind our apartment buildng.
Menu on the exterior wall
This is what I wanted - maybe a cabbage roll
This is what we got - manti and a samsa - maybe $4.50 for both of us.
posh interior + yummy food = good lunch
Third day of Bowl Quest - upon the advice of a friend we went to the Eurasia market where, at an exterior extrance, we found LUMINARC. Oh, my heart!!!!! It was like a Target of kitchen ware, and we found it our last month n the country.
And to celebrate our purchase, we bought 30 eggs at the outdoor market
The funny thing (or maybe the sad thing) is that we tried making bread in a smaller round glass casserole bowl, and the bread turns out BETTER. But the 2L bowl will be essential anyway to our gourmet cooking.
Just so you know, we did not just spend the whole week waiting for emails or looking for a bread bowl. We did a lot of organizing - preparing for our departure. Dad is compiling a list of huanitarian project ideas for our replacements. I went through lots of folders of papers we've compiled over the last 18 months and threw most of it out. We made a comprehensive set of instructions on exactly how to prepare documents for a humanitarian project. We (no just Dad) cleaned the kitchen. Dad cleaned the bathroom. I went through my pile of recipes and organized them. All this was good and time consuming stuff.
Some miscellaneous photos
a hardware store where we found screws needed to replace the casters on the white board stands at the church
Some legendary ear wax.
I still don't understand this sign. Don't litter bottles. Don't do something with cell phones. Don't throw away a computer disk. Help me out here.
Another Astana Triahlon in the wee hours of the morning
Big water heating pipes for underground installation
We found a geocache at an eternal flame monument
The casche is right under the edge of the top piece of tile on the wall - right by the end of the iron fence.
And the log
Saturday was the Branch's monthly activity night. We used to always have Game Night. Last month we had Dance Night. This time it was Karaoke Night. I was was surprised....I thought that the singing would be good - I mean you have the music and the words.........but it was pretty bad. Everybody had fun though. Maybe the singing is only good in movies.
We had the missionaries over for Sunday dinner. And Carter Holm, And Бахыт.
The best thing about this week is that Jessica, and Bev, and Natalie are arriving tomorrow for a two week visit!
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