Double Feast Day

I can say that we are definitely the most well fed Americans to have ever visited Taraz. Today we had not one, but two stomach-expanding feasts.

We got to the baby house this morning knowing that they had planned a Nauryz celebration program and lunch. We thought they were going to have the kids come in and sing traditional songs, do traditional dances and then we would have some tea and cookies. Boy were we wrong! The party was supposed to start at 10:00 but one of the special invited guests was running late so we had our visit with Alex and returned at 1:00. When we got to the party room there were at least 80 people there. Many of the baby house workers were wearing traditional Kazakh clothing and one of the doctors was playing the dombra (Kazakh two-stringed instrument) and singing. This went on for some time and then they played out many of the Kazakh traditions that we had learned about at our Interlingua classes--what they do when a baby is born, when he turns 1, etc. Then we all got up to go out while the room was set up for the feast.

And what a feast it was! The table was piled with food and drink--salads, fruits, vegetables, cognac, vodka, etc. We tried a little bit of everything and did many toasts. We forgot that this is only the beginning. Soon the 'first main course' came out, a delicious soup named after the holiday. Then the 'second main course' came out, a dish called beshbarmak (translated it means 5 fingers because you traditionally eat it with your fingers), which is lots of meat on top of tasty wide noodles. Since we were honored guests, sitting at the head table with the orphanage director and other distinguished guests, we got the first serving and it was so much food and quite delicious. And I'm going to have to admit it--we ate horse. And it was delicious. No lie. I'll end it there, you can debate amongst yourselves. All I'm going to say is you don't know what you're missing.

To say we were stuffed would be an understatement. It was about 4:00 by this time and we went up to Alex's room so we could have a shortened afternoon visit. We met another set of his nannies and they were very nice, saying how much Alex looks like Jim. It was heartwarming to see them interact with him and to see him get so excited when he recognized us. He has 2 new bunkmates who arrived recently and they are very cute babies.

We left at 5:00 and went back to the hotel to rest up before going to Slava's house for dinner. Again, a huge meal with shashlik, and lots of tasty salads. Vera and Medet were invited, too, and Marlin (Slava's wife's brother) and Natasha were there, as well as Marlin's mother. We learned that the woman who we thought was Marlin's wife from the birthday party a few weeks ago was actually a friend named Ira (pronounced EE-ra). She's the one who got us in so much trouble with the toasting and drinking. A little mix-up but at least we now know who's who and it is true--Marlin's wife, Natasha, does not drink.

We had lots of fun eating, toasting, telling stories, sharing photos of our trip and videos of Sam, and playing guitar. We taught them "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and had them clapping at the appropriate times. Marlin played and sang a beautiful song as did Karina. As the evening was winding down Elvina, Slava's wife, said they had gifts for us. They brought out the coolest stuff--traditional Kazakh outfits for both Jim and I plus some accessories and a Kazakh hat for Sam and some toys for Alex. We were really excited and totally blown away by their generosity. We started getting a little choked up when they were helping us into our new clothes and Jim gave a toast thanking them for everything and especially for being our family on the other side of the world. We are so blessed to have met them and shared so many good times in the short time we've been here. We are planning on going to the big town Nauryz festival that is on the square on Tuesday and we will, of course, be wearing our new outfits.

We have just about a week left in Kazakhstan and only 4 days left in Taraz and we are getting sad at the prospect of leaving this wonderful town and these wonderful people. And, of course, we will be missing Alex during the month we are in the US before I return to pick him up.