The Train truth….

Delayed post- Tuesday/Wednesday, March 13th/14th

Another flight, another time change, another hemisphere, another shift in culture and sensibilities to try to integrate. We are now exactly opposite Colorado in time-zones, and have literally traveled half-way around the world to find our child. We arrived yesterday in Astana from Frankfurt. No problem getting on the flight, no security lines, no hassles (we had MAJOR hassles with security in London, after deciding to leave the airport to get some food. Almost missed that flight because Jaden’s little 12”x12” backpack put us over the 1 bag per person limit…). The flight was surprisingly full of Europeans and Americans. We arrived in Astana, and after several confusing attempts, finally got the paperwork right to be allowed through immigration. All our bags arrived, we met Victoria, the person who works with our agency in Astana, and the driver Alex, they brought a big enough car for all of our stuff, and we were off to the hotel.

As we drove to the city, we passed through a series of neon arches over the roads. There were numerous buildings all lit up, with a variety of architectural styles. After a reappraisal this morning I think it could best be described as Vegas eclectic meets the High Steppe. As we approached town, there were these huge, very modern towers, with a funky domed roof and anntenae type things protruding from the top. I said to Jaden “hey, look out the window at those crazy buildings!” Turned out to be our hotel complex. I can highly recommend the Radisson SAS Astana, for any of you planning trips.

The people here so far have been very, very nice. They don’t smile much, but are friendly. I glanced through a book before I left about German customs (and am extrapolating it here to apply to all ex-Soviet countries as well), and came across a description of this behaviour to the effect of “Germans don’t walk around smiling, but save such demonstrativeness for their private lives. They consider it a sign of weak-mindedness in others.” I am trying to eminate a more intellegent air, but it is tough- it seems so rude NOT to smile at people, especially those I can’t communicate with in language, but they do seem non-plussed by the effort.
Jaden was up until 3am, and we have resorted to Benedryl a few times on this trip to get him to sleep, last night finally being one of them. He has not been to bed before 11:30 yet this trip. We all slept until almost 1pm, which was not the best move in hindsight. By the time we got out of the room, it was 2:30, and we had not eaten since the burgers we had at 1:30am the night before. So we went back down to the hotel bar for more burgers. At about $15 a pop, they were delicious both times… in the process of packing up though, we realized we no longer have our camera. Not good. So Bruce decided he wanted to get another camera. We asked Victoria if we had time to stop on the way to the train. “OK” she says, we can stop for 10 minutes. Bruce and Victoria disappear into the shop, and Jaden and I wait in the van. For a half an hour. ***Newsflash!! Turns out the camera is NOT lost, just buried in the bottom of Bruce’s backpack… Jaden is now the proud owner of a cheap digital camera, lucky boy. Given that he took 185 pictures in one day in Berlin, I am sure it will get good use!!

When they come back, we have a huge rush for the train, dragging 6 large heavy bags, plus the 4 smaller ones through the train station. As we get to the platforms, a troupe of guys in blue uniforms come up and ask if they can help with our bags. Mostly they ‘ask’ by the laying of hands on the bags. Bruce fends them off and asks Victoria who says yes, it is a good idea, they have a cart. OK. So they load up the bags, and Victoria says “Come with me”. We all start off, and then the blue guys yell for Bruce to come with them. No time to discuss. They go one direction, we another.

Jaden is such a trooper. No complaining this trip (well, there was the foot stamping in Berlin, but I think he can be forgiven), he just ran up the LONG flights of steps with us (because of course none of the UP escalators are working!), and across the platform, all at full tilt. As we reach the train, with minutes to spare (are you sensing a theme here?), I see Bruce coming way down in the distance, with a flying blue wedge of Kazakh’s ahead of him at a full run, all preceded by a cart with our bags on it. A fearsome sight. Jaden and I get on with Victoria, find our compartment, and take off our backpacks. About 2 minutes later, our bags are hurtling in the door. We hastily stow everything, and wait for Bruce. He doesn’t come right away, and I was getting a bit nervous. Turns out he was getting shaken down by the flying blue wedge. $40 later, we were all on the train. A bit overpriced perhaps, but we would NEVER have gotten all that stuff up those stock-still escalators in time… and now we have a camera again.

So now, we sit on a Soviet-era train, and I would like to say we are speeding towards our destiny, or some such thing. But trundling would be more appropriate. We have just made about our 14th stop in 6 hours, but I have stopped counting. The train itself has sleeping compartments, and we purchased all 4 bunks in ours, as our luggage needs a bunk of it’s own. There are oriental carpets on the floors, which sounds much plusher than it is. The windows are really dirty, but it doesn’t much matter, as there is nothing but flat white landscape, and old industrial sites to see. At one end of the car is a small compartment for the conductor and the Military policeman assigned to this route. Next to them is a contraption that looks like a 1940’s science experiment which it turns out dispenses hot water for tea, and whatever else you can think of to make with hot water. At the other end, is the bathroom. This is where things get pretty high on the ‘yuck’ scale. My father would NOT be happy. The toilet dumps directly onto the tracks, no surprise there. After about 2 hours into the trip, the floor was wet with who knows what, and there is a soaking wet squishy towel someone put down. I am trying hard to limit my liquid intake. There actually is soap and hot water though, so that’s something! Despite my best efforts to touch NOTHING in the bathroom, I still felt better about the soap and hot water…

We received our ration of 4 mattresses, 4 blankets and 4 pillows. Then the conductor came by with our sets of sheets and towels. After a game of chess and a dinner comprised of some snacks I smuggled out of the hotel’s buffet breakfast in Frankfurt and water I boiled in the coffee maker at the hotel last night, we made up the beds and worked on sleeping. Between the baby next door, the guy snoring (Bruce isn't 'cutting trees' as Jaden puts it for a change, he’s awake too!), and the 4 guys on the other side playing cards and drinking tea, sleep is a bit elusive. I have given up the job for a bit, and instead I write to you all. Our fellow passengers are made up of a mix of classic Russian types and ethnic Kazakh people. One older woman walked by me in a beautifully embroidered jacket with a colorful scarf wrapped around her head. She was really glorious looking. As soon as we boarded the train, one of our neighbors wanted to know… something. I used my one complete Russian phrase to say “I don’t understand Russian”. Then he wanted to know if we were American or English. He seemed surprised to hear we were Americans. He was very interested in a conversation, as were several others, but the number of topics are limited. I can discuss how I don’t understand Russian…!

I went down to ask the conductor if there was a way to turn the heat down, as the average temperature on the train is about 90 degrees (no, this isn’t an exaggeration, we were all sweating), and managed to find out that it is not possible. When I went to ask the question, I had my camera in my hand, and another guy there wanted to know if it was for listening to music. I said no, it’s a camera, showing him the front, and the button. He gave me a blank look. So I turned it on for him. This generated an amazed crowd. They all wanted to see, and asked how much it cost. I took a picture of the policeman to show them how it worked. He was very proud. I wish I could print it for him. After I went back to our cabin, the fellow who had first asked about the camera came by. He wanted to know if we were American or English. When I said American, he looked at Bruce and said “He’s not Russian?” with incredulity. ‘No, not Russian, American’ we answered. I asked again if there was any way to turn down the heat. A laugh, “No”. So we shoved a big bag against the heater, and put a couple of our towels over it, and now it has cooled off to a tolerable 75 or so. I am hoping there in nothing inside that we don’t want cooked.

Total side note: Bruce’s cell phone has 5 bars out here- go figure! I guess with a whole lotta nuthin’ in the way, signals can travel strong and far…

In the morning, we are expecting to find out where we will be staying, and then visit the orphanage and meet the children at some point. It seems incredible that time is already here. This whole adventure seemed such a chimera at some points, it’s hard to believe that soon we will be 4 instead of 3. Every child I see here I think “Is this how our son might look?”, and in every grown man I see the possibility of him in the future. The ethnic Kazakhs working at the hotel were mostly in their mid-20’s, handsome young men with great smiles. This post will probably be accompanied by another, with pictures and more info, by the time we are able to figure out how to get on line here.


Update: We are staying in a 2 bedroom apartment, owned by the local coordinator, Habiba. I think our hearts fell when we saw the building this morning. At 7:30am it was still dark, and the building looked absolutely decrepit. Fortunately, it turned out to be very livable inside. We have a rotating cast of Habiba’s relatives coming and going, cooking meals for us, etc. Habiba is in the hospital in Kostanai, a 16 hour train trip away. She just had back surgery yesterday, and I am sure she is looking forward to the train ride home in a few weeks. Ugh. Today was lots of craziness, and lots of nothing. We were going to go to the orphanage at 9am, then something came up with another family who had an appointment in court today. So it got moved to 4pm. Then something else came up. Now we are scheduled to go tomorrow at 10am. We will post updates as soon as we have them!! Love to all from the flat, flat steppe of Central Asia…