Laghman (yum)

If the title of today's post seems rather cryptic, that's ok, we'll explain. Today for lunch we discovered another traditional food of Kazakhstan and Western China - Laghman. Laghman are thick, handmade noodles similar to udon noodles. They are served in a spicy sauce with onions, peppers, and beef. Andrei, our driver, took us to a cafe for lunch where we had laghman, bread, and tea. It was delicious - and inexpensive. The three of us ate for 1100 Tenge. At 131 Tenge per dollar, that was under $10! Most of the traditional foods we have tried have been good, although we have not tasted the horsemeat sausage yet. But today we tried a traditional Kazakh drink made from sprouted wheat and milk (maybe fermented, I couldn't tell) and I have to admit that is was not our favorite!

Today was visit number 9 at the Baby House. Bryce was definitely a little bit cranky today, but his nose was running nonstop. I think I (Barb) very generously gave Bryce a special gift from America - a cold! Hopefully he will not be sick for very long. I have no idea if they give kids any sort of cold medicine at the Baby House, althought I sort of doubt it. Today we decided to try to feed Bryce some Cheerios. They definitely seemed to be a hit - he was trying to eat them through the bag once he discovered what they were. We're not quite sure what he eats for his meals. We think it's probably some sort of cereal.

At some point during our time here, we are scheduled to have a meeting with the orphanage director and an interpreter in which we can ask about things like his schedule, likes/dislikes, what he eats, etc. But until then, we will just have to guess. No one at the Baby House speaks English. Most speak Russian, and some may only speak Kazakh. We are picking up a little bit of Russian which has been very useful - Barb is thrilled with the similarities between the Cyrillic alphabet and the Greek alphabet and has been able to sound out most words. This is a helpful skill when we are presented with Russian menus in the cafes! We have not tried to learn Kazakh. We think Bryce understands what's being said to him in Russian. When the caregivers talk to him, he pays attention quite intently. Of course, at his age he should quickly learn English. He is doing a lot of babbling, so maybe it won't be too long until we hear some real words in whatever language!

Other than the Cheerios, our visit was pretty routine. We played with the toys that we brought with us, took pictures, and practiced standing (Bryce, not us) since Bryce had on shoes instead of slippers today.

Outside of our visit and the laghman lunch, today we visited the Family Park. The park was newer than Gorky Park that we visited yesterday. There was a display of old Soviet military vehicles (a helicopter, armored personnel carriers, a jet, and a tank), a small zoo, amusement park rides, and an aqua park. There were also lots of trees and flowers. It looked like it would be a fun place to visit in the summer. We also visited a clothes market - shoes, clothes, houseware, all sold at stalls outside - and a sporting goods store (kind of like a small scale Bass Pro Shops). Sporting goods seem very expensive here. We saw a Coleman cooler for $400 - that might be $50 in the US.

It's about dinner time.....since we ate in last night, tonight we will probably go out. And since we had traditional food for lunch, we will probably have modern food for dinner. I think we will head out to a restaurant called the Patio. A local chain, but they have wireless internet (bonus!).