Bonding Day 10!

We went to the orphanage from 9-10:45 this morning. The girls had not ate breakfast and they asked us to return them to their room at 9:30 for breakfast. We went to play, and then returned them at 9:30, only to be told by the caregiver to take them back to play... that they'd put some breakfast back for them. :( We took them back with us. After about 10 minutes the caregiver (who had them sing for us a few days ago.. :)) came to the PE room and had 2 bananas in her hand. She handed them to me and said that since it was a holiday it was ok. (Yesterday was a Financial holiday. Today is a HUGE Muslim holiday. Most stores are closed and people are all off work. We drove past the Mosque on our way to the babyhouse and Symbat said this is the one day of the year that most everyone goes there. There were cars EVERYWHERE... no parking for blocks. She said it's like "Easter" for us Americans.... humm...) The caregiver says that since it's a holiday all the Dr's and director are gone.. and we can feed the girls one banana each. Symbat, Phil and I all three are in shock... and think this is a BAD idea.... but, she walked in and handed me 2 bananas... to which the girls started BEGGING for them. They were so hungry... it was obvious! Symbat explained to her that we are not supposed to feed them at all, but she reassured us it was fine.. URG.... what to do.. Symbat said to go ahead and let them have them... it was so so so sad... They ate them SO fast and were SO hungry. Poor babies. At least I know they love bananas... we'll have some here at the apartment when we get them... :)
We had bought these two little cell phones a few days ago, and Papa decided to take them today. The girls were VERY excited and LOVED them! You can see by their faces below... that they thought they were SO important! :)

Faith had received a call from Mama and Papa was trying to show her that he'd answer for her! You can tell by her cheek that she's grinning! :) Can you look at this without smiling? I sure can't!

Faith and I were looking at pictures and calling our sisters (Bay and Brook). As you can see Grace had already received a VERY important call. She was VERY involved in this conversation!

We decided to try to call Bay and Brook on our phones. They are pushing buttons and saying, "Hi Bay, Hi Brook!" Bay and Brook.... we can't wait to meet you! (and Mama and Daddy miss you SO SO SO very much... and love you BUNCHES too!)

Those phones were WAY more important than smiling at the camera... we tried... that's all we can do! lol! (Don't ask me what Phil's doing! hee hee hee!)

AWE!!! I told you we'd catch Grace kissing... Here she is! :)

Faith and Grace were both SO tired this morning. They both had dark circles under their eyes and it was obvious they were exhausted. The caregivers told Symbat that they didn't go to sleep last night... they were to busy playing! Faith enjoyed laying around and getting back rubs from Mama and Papa!

I'm not sure who was going to fall asleep first... Faith or Papa!

I had to include this picture, because about 5 seconds after Symbat took this.. that balloon popped LOUD! Grace didn't miss a beat and said, "Papa, YOU broke it!" (in Russian)...

Bubble fun!

Overall it was a good day despite the girls being so tired. One of Symbat's English teachers is in the hospital this week, so she begged me to teach her classes this week. The first 2 were this afternoon. She calls them classes, but they are really just tutoring or teaching one student at a time English. The first student was a darling 12 year old girl. Her English was quite good and she was a LOT of fun! The hour flew by! The 2nd student was an 18 year old girl who is studying Computer Programing here at the local University. I have to admit it was a little strange. Symbat owns a small Language Center here called, Language 4 You. She had a friend bring me her office keys because she was caught in a meeting. I unlocked the office and talked with the first girl for 45 minutes, before she made it. Symbat joked and said I was now the Director and in charge! LOL... yeah right! Anyway, it was fun... and it's lots of fun to talk with locals about Kazakhstan and America. The 12 year old girl and her family live in the apartment building right beside us... She was THRILLED to find out that we were 'staying' so close! LOL!

It did make the afternoon fly by... and that's good. Phil stayed here at the apartment and is pretty bored. He worked on all the Kazak toys we've bought that are already broken... but, wasn't able to fix any... it's really frustrating how quickly the toys break here.. such poor quality!

I guess I'll sign off for now!

Have a wonderful Tuesday and thanks for continuing to read about our adventures! I will post some pics from around town soon... as well as my new Kazak friends!