July 2nd, Ministry meeting

July 2 - Wed 9:00 am (not posted until 11:30 as internet flaky this morning). Hi everyone! We had an overwhelming but good day yesterday. Our meeting at Ministry of Education went well and really quick. She asked us 'why Kazakhstan?', and 'are we prepared for the extra work involved with raising an abandoned child, to help him/her learn to attach and trust?', and 'do we have support at home from our families, are they happy about the adoption and will they help us if needed?'. Seeing the number of comments, emails, and calls, and the love and support we feel from our family and friends, it was very easy to answer yes to that one! Then she asked if we plan to adopt again and if so, will we come back to Kaz and bring our child back for a visit. Then she wished us good luck and that was it! Svetlana had prepared us for many more questions, so it sounds like they ask different questions all the time.

Then we went for lunch with Bernard and Carole from Montreal (who arrived on the same flight as us but also had the Visa delay, so are just starting the process now), and Gretchen from Ottawa - we introduced B&C to Mad Murphy's as they hadn't been there yet. Then at 4:00 we went to Babyhouse # 3, which is close to our apartment (approx 20 min walk). As we've said, we won't be posting any information about the child/ children we meet, until things are more confirmed. We don't mean to tease you, we just feel this is the way it has to be for now. We promise to put details as soon as we're able/ comfortable doing so.

The building and grounds at BH3 were quite nice - a large play area outside and the inside was clean and very formal. Of course it's not what we'd consider a normal home for a child (kindof stark and intimidating), but it's clear that they do what they can to make it nice. We weren't there very long and only saw 2 rooms - we did hear children singing in another room, which was fun to hear. We're going back today and hopefully will see more of the place.

After we got back to the apartment we were very hot and tired, so we had a quiet evening - tried some Kazakh wine called Tamada (not bad but too sweet for us) and vegged out.

Hope you had/ are having a good Canada day - we toasted home at lunchtime! We're learning more about the political and cultural life here from the people we're working with, and suffice to say we feel enormously lucky to live where we do. It's very easy to take our freedoms for granted, but a quick stop in another country is enough to remind us how good we have it.

Take care,
Nicole and Paul