Café Delia

All is well. Prepare yourself to once again follow the bouncing ball with the most current version of our timeline from this point on:

Nika’s passport may be issued today (Thursday) by the Regional authorities in Kostanai but is more likely to be issued before the close of business on Friday. This is the latest it can be issued and the timing still work for us to take our originally scheduled flight one week from Friday, the 9th of November. Once the passport is issued it goes on Monday to be registered with the local Kostanai Region immigration Police. From there it will be put on the train for an overnight to Astana where our local coordinator will receive it at 8am and have the day to take it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their registration stamp. That evening it will be put once again on another overnight train, this time en route to Almaty, where the Almaty coordinator will get it from the conductor. Later that day (Wednesday, if all goes well) the coordinator will take us for our interview with the American Embassy. I forgot to mention that on Monday we will prep additional paperwork for the Embassy and on Tuesday we will have our appointment for Nika’s mandatory medical review with the Embassy-affiliated clinic. Assuming it all goes as I have described we are on our plane on Friday. Let’s not even discuss the obvious extra days before we leave if on this Friday the Passport is not complete.

What can I say, I am tongue tied-once again because this whole process is so difficult in many ways. We have absolutely no control or ability to help this process along and it will not go any faster then it is already going regardless of what we do. Believe me, we have made many attempts to gain more insight into the process and we need to be patient and remind ourselves that we have a beautiful daughter because of this process.

I am sitting in a groovy Internet Café (Café Delia) sipping my latte and happily having two hours to myself. I dropped Nika with Tom so they could have some quality afternoon bonding. I just needed a moment to relax and write. I realized Nika and I have been together now 24/7/23(days) – and when I say 24 I don’t really exaggerate because she wakes every night with screams of terror so we put her in our bed and in the morning I awake to her playing with my nose or finger in the ear or just some basic rambunctious kicks to say its time to get up. We get to see the sun rise over the mountains as I cook our morning porridge.

Nika follows me everywhere – that would include the bathroom while I shower and do my business, I often feel like I am about to trip over her because she is under my feet beside me. We have some really sweet rituals developing that she really enjoys and likes repeated over and over again – it’s that 2-year-old thing.

I have basically given up the nap, it was incredibly painful for the two of us and for now we will forfeit it with hopes that we can incorporate it into our Brooklyn life. I was waiting yesterday for someone to arrive at 1pm as scheduled and at 2:30 I heard he would be a little late and then he arrived at 3pm instead (this too I am learning is a Kazakh thing-lack of promptness is to be tolerated and that is just how it is. So I thought maybe I would try the nap because we have just a handful of toys at this point that we are getting somewhat bored of and I sat Nika on the couch and tried to cradle her like I would for sleep and she started to sing my Tumbala (sleep) song and with her hand she started making nice to me so I would shut my eyes………the same thing I was about to do to her. It was a priceless moment and she too knew how funny she was. Ha – so neither of us slept, but it was a good try.

She really is cute, and smart and mischievous and stubborn and loving and eager to please.

I had a moment today when we were in the mall, yes I’m doing malls, I tried museums but Nika is just too wild, she wants to run around, scream and touch everything. I have a hard time getting her to hold my hand and just walk. Instead she will put her hands behind her back and start to walk backwards without looking or considering what is behind her. Then she will wave to me and say bye bye or paca paca and away she goes. So the mall thing seems safer then the streets, but I do both. Today we went into a park and played in a really fun, dirty playground and I realized she was in awe of conversations going on with other moms and their children because she was hearing and understanding the language. It makes me sad that I cannot communicate in the same way. I know she will soon understand all that I am saying but for now it is reassuring for her to hear Russian. The other night we went out with one of Tom’s colleges from work and she had a nursery rhyme that Veronika loved. I had her write it down for me so I can start saying it to her.

Here you can all learn it –

Goosi, Goosie – Gah, Gah, Gah!
Est Khotite? – Dah, Dah, Dah
Khl’eba s maslom? – Net, Net, Net!
A chevo? – Kanfet, kanfet!

Do not ask me to translate – I just know she loved it and I will try to repeat it as often as I remember.

We have been social every evening which helps the time go by and always nice to relax and converse with new friends and acquaintances. Last night we had our 2 adoptive family friends at our apartment. We had a nice evening celebrating their own successful court appearances earlier that day. Tonight we are meeting Aidos Sagat, the leader of the Kazakhstan Rock band, URKER. That’s right folks, leave it to Tom to find a connection to the only #1 Kazakh band we know (we saw them at Lincoln Center last year). Aidos was kind enough to give us a Kazakh wall hanging when he and Tom first met that is very beautiful and thoughtful. I will write more when I can get some “me” time again and tell you of our visit.


Cross your fingers, say a prayer, throw salt over your shoulder, put out the positive good energy and vibes for Veronika Rose Guida’s passport to be issued on time by tomorrow, Friday.

Enough said.