Day 12 - Saturday

Saturday is exercise day at the baby house, at least for our Nina. Yesterday was a little slow with few smiles so we picked up the activity today. Nina is in a much better mood and responds well. She is very happy with lots of smiles. The foot game is always a big hit.

Nina rolls over from her back to her stomach without too much trouble. Today we work on rolling from her stomach to her back.



She makes it 3 or 4 times with a little help. She tries so hard today and does great before wearing herself out. After a strong hour and 15 minutes, it is time for some rest.



We have the opportunity to see a brand new baby enter the orphanage today. She is so tiny and all wrapped up. We cannot get a snapshot of the new baby, but manage to get a snapshot of Saturday's nursing crew. They are all very kind to us.

We also see Nina's baby room with 10 cribs and a changing table in the middle. Nina is in crib #4. We will try to sneak a picture in future visit. We don’t get to see Nina tomorrow, but will return on Monday for our final week of bonding.

Monte and I venture out to Mama Mia’s. We give the sign a 1 out of 4 stars. We almost miss it. But we give the food 4 out of 4! It is great.


Check out the drink sizes. Kazakhstan needs to adopt the advanced concepts of supersizing and refills.

Across the street is the local gambling establishment.


What happens in Almaty Grand, stays in Almaty Grand.

Since we won’t see Nina tomorrow, we will take a break and see you again on Monday. For those hungry for more information on Kazakhstan (and who isn't?), here is some additional info and a few pictures of the World War II memorial at Panfilov Park and the cathedral we have been visiting.

The World War II sculpture is in memory of 28 soldiers from Almaty who died in battle against Nazi tanks near Moscow in 1941. Kazakhstan was a republic of the Soviet Union during World War II. Approximately 150,000 Kazakhs died in the war, part of the 25 million casualties suffered by the Soviet Union. In comparison, the United States had approximately 400,000 casualties, or ~ 2% of the Soviet casualties.

The cathedral is the Ascension Cathedral, or Zenkov Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church is similar to the Roman Catholic Church as far as the worship service that we saw. They are in agreement on the important stuff (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). However, the Orthodox Church split from the Catholic Church one thousand years ago. The Orthodox (e.g. Russian and Greek) do not accept the supremacy of the Pope as the only successor of Peter. This is the issue for the split.

The cathedral was completed in 1907. It is made of wood, constructed without nails, survived the devastating 1910 earthquake, and is the second tallest wooden building in the world.
In the anti-religious communist era, the cathedral was almost torn down. However, it was preserved as a museum, and opened again as a place of worship after the fall of the Soviet Union.