Claire turns nine months today (and we spend it with lots of fish)

We went to the aquarium after lunch, so as promised, there are lots of fish photos today (in fact, that’s all there are today…sorry). Admission there was interesting. There was a price for Kazakhstan citizens and a price for foreigners. The foreigner price was twice as much, which was only a whopping $11, but Asel managed to get us the citizen rate. It’s a decent aquarium, if you don’t mind vertigo. The tunnels that you walk through (while the fish swim all around you) are made of glass that isn’t exactly smooth, and it can make you a bit dizzy. We went through the aquarium in about a half hour and then went to the gift shop, which was without a doubt the most interesting gift shop I’ve ever seen. In an aquarium gift shop in America, you might find, oh, I don’t know…ocean-life related things. In this aquarium gift shop, you could buy toilet seat covers and Christmas decorations. It was very random. They had a few fish and turtle stuffed animals, but the majority of merchandise seemed to be stuff you’d get on clearance at WalMart.

After the aquarium excursion, we came back to our inferno and played cards for most of the afternoon. Have I mentioned how hot the apartments are here? The government, or the “heat god,” decides when to turn the heat on and off for the whole city. The apartments don’t have thermostats, and you regulate the temperature by opening and closing your windows. When we arrived, the temperature in our apartment was probably comparable to what you might feel if you were standing on the sun. I bought a candy bar (not just any candy bar…a Ritter Sport!), and it melted just sitting on our kitchen table. Now that’s hot! We asked Asel how people deal with the temperature, and she said, “If it gets too hot, we just go outside.” I will never take my thermostat for granted again.

A lot of you have e-mailed me and asked what day we’ll get Claire. There is a 15-day waiting period after court, so we’ll get custody of her on April 14, which is a week from Thursday! Then we’ll spend our last week here out-processing in Almaty and will be home the following Saturday, April 23. It’s hard to believe I haven’t even been here a month yet. There are days when it seems like I’ve been here for a year.