October 1

Sorry for the terrible delay in posts. My (Vanessa's) computer is drying out from a water spill (damn!!!!!). I had a 2 page post ready for this day, with tons of photos. I was just too depressed to write it all again. So I will do abbreviated posts for the final days, and hopefully when my computer dries out, it will work again, and we'll replace them with more thorough accounts.

Saturday Judy was not feeling well, so she stayed home and slept while we went to the Zoo with Alex from Silk Road Painting. He is a contract driver/translator who works with different agencies, and also arranges apartments, cell phones, etc... whatever he can do to help. He is a very cool, laid-back guy, and interestingly for him, he randomly won the greencard lottery a few months ago, so will be moving to the US within the year. We had some great political and philosophical conversation with him - he has a very interesting view of the world. It's not necessarily the typical post-soviet, or Kazakh, or Central Asian view, but it is definitely influenced by spending the first 25-or-so years of his life in the Soviet experience, and the past 14 trying to figure out what to make of the world.

The zoo was awesome. I had lots of good description in my other post... but you'll just have to get some idea from the pictures. Had to suspend all concern of ethical treatment of animals, etc., in order to enjoy. But once that was out of the way, it was the most fun and intimate zoo experience of my life. We fed the animals corn puffs.... the bears sat up, held the bars, and tilted their heads to catch the treats. It was sad, beautiful and awesome.

Liam loves Gorillas, so the monkeys/apes/etc. were especially fun for him. The chimp did a great show, pacing around his enclosure and making tons of noise, and opening and closing the door between his 2 rooms. I think it was his impatient feeding-time ritual, because it ended with his lunch being served. All the kids were gathered around by the end, laughing and pointing and enjoying.

Outside the Zoo there is a mini amusement park with some rides, and a very rusty, creaky old ferris wheel, which we took for a great view of the city and area.

Later, after Liam went to sleep, Brian and Josie and I went across the street for dinner. We hoped to go to a bar/restaurant on the corner, but they didn't have an English menu, so we ate at Saint George's Mexican restaurant instead. The language/menu thing is a big impediment. In any European country, we'd at least be able to stumble through the menu, and we're happy to guess at a dish, and enjoy whatever we get. But in this case, we don't even have the faintest idea which page is appetizers, and which is main courses (or drinks for that matter). It's nearly impossible to eat at a restaurant which doesn't have some sort of English or picture menu. So that sucks. Anyway, back to Saint George's.... We have rarely eaten inside, so that was fun. The food is far from Mexican, but it was very yummy, and it was nice to be out at night. Ready for more touring tomorrow!