Happy Woman’s Day!
Today is a national holiday in Kazakhstan. It is Woman’s Day. From what I can understand, Woman’s Day dates back to the first years of the Soviet Union when Bolsheviks admitted that “a woman is a human being too” (nice guy). On this day men give gifts and flowers to all women and girls. It would be equivalent to our Mother’s Day, but for all women. It is a pretty big deal here: the men buy cakes and flowers for the special women in their lives for them to be celebrated. It is also big enough holiday that the babyhouse is closed for the day for us to visit.
So I celebrated the holiday by shopping and walking around the city. The men tell you happy holiday on the street; you can feel that it is a holiday, it is really nice. I walked to the Isham River today. It is frozen solid so that you can walk across it. The river separates the city into the north which is the old city and the south, the new city. It is still pretty cold here, so walking for any distance gets difficult. However, the apartment can get really claustrophobic. It is certainly better than the (-)26 F we had recently. What I so want to do is to get into a car and drive somewhere! Today, I have been here 3 weeks; and I still have 31/2 to go.
You do hear pieces of American culture wherever you go. On the radio they play Justin Timberlake, Celine Dion and some rap. If I hear “smack that” one more time… It is on a lot of ringtones. I do have two English TV stations now~ well, three counting Fox News. I find it hard to believe that the only news worthy story coming out of the US is Anna Nicole Smith. How embarrassing!! I do get Star channel with the first season of Heroes. I still can’t get into that one~ Danny says it is better than Lost. No way! But then there is Fashion House. Now that is quality acting!
I will get to see Juliana tomorrow. We are sharing the playroom with a new couple adopting a big baby boy from NYC. They are great people and it will be nice to have someone to hang around with. Also, Trish is arriving in less than 2 weeks! YEAH! I miss seeing Juliana on the days we can’t visit. It is strange to think of yourself as her mom and you can’t even see her. It is like you are caught in limbo. I sometimes get to put her in crib at the end of the visit. That is like a special privilege. I know the day will come that I will never have to see her for 2 hours and leave her for the next 24. My heart goes out to the children who will not even have the 2 hours of undivided attention. My wish is that every child in that home will find a family of their own. They are such amazing and beautiful kids with great spirits.
I hope everyone is well at home. I heard there is snow today, it will hopefully be gone soon. Thank you for following along~ I love the comments!
To all the amazing and wonderful women I know in my life…. I wish you a Happy Woman’s Day!
Today is a national holiday in Kazakhstan. It is Woman’s Day. From what I can understand, Woman’s Day dates back to the first years of the Soviet Union when Bolsheviks admitted that “a woman is a human being too” (nice guy). On this day men give gifts and flowers to all women and girls. It would be equivalent to our Mother’s Day, but for all women. It is a pretty big deal here: the men buy cakes and flowers for the special women in their lives for them to be celebrated. It is also big enough holiday that the babyhouse is closed for the day for us to visit.
So I celebrated the holiday by shopping and walking around the city. The men tell you happy holiday on the street; you can feel that it is a holiday, it is really nice. I walked to the Isham River today. It is frozen solid so that you can walk across it. The river separates the city into the north which is the old city and the south, the new city. It is still pretty cold here, so walking for any distance gets difficult. However, the apartment can get really claustrophobic. It is certainly better than the (-)26 F we had recently. What I so want to do is to get into a car and drive somewhere! Today, I have been here 3 weeks; and I still have 31/2 to go.
You do hear pieces of American culture wherever you go. On the radio they play Justin Timberlake, Celine Dion and some rap. If I hear “smack that” one more time… It is on a lot of ringtones. I do have two English TV stations now~ well, three counting Fox News. I find it hard to believe that the only news worthy story coming out of the US is Anna Nicole Smith. How embarrassing!! I do get Star channel with the first season of Heroes. I still can’t get into that one~ Danny says it is better than Lost. No way! But then there is Fashion House. Now that is quality acting!
I will get to see Juliana tomorrow. We are sharing the playroom with a new couple adopting a big baby boy from NYC. They are great people and it will be nice to have someone to hang around with. Also, Trish is arriving in less than 2 weeks! YEAH! I miss seeing Juliana on the days we can’t visit. It is strange to think of yourself as her mom and you can’t even see her. It is like you are caught in limbo. I sometimes get to put her in crib at the end of the visit. That is like a special privilege. I know the day will come that I will never have to see her for 2 hours and leave her for the next 24. My heart goes out to the children who will not even have the 2 hours of undivided attention. My wish is that every child in that home will find a family of their own. They are such amazing and beautiful kids with great spirits.
I hope everyone is well at home. I heard there is snow today, it will hopefully be gone soon. Thank you for following along~ I love the comments!
To all the amazing and wonderful women I know in my life…. I wish you a Happy Woman’s Day!
2 comments:
Elise,
I love your blog. I check it frequently and look foreward to reading about how things are going there. When I think about the unbearable weather here I just think about you and Juliana. We are having a little cold streak, but not as cold as there ( tonite it is suppose to be 6 degrees and I am whinning). I can't believe that you have been there three weeks already it seems like you just left(I am sure it seems like an eternity to you).
I have been following your adventure with delight. Juliana is so very precious. She is a beautiful baby and we are all anxiously awaiting your return with our new family member....
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