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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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