Garshok

Garshok!

We felt the need to once again say this word, and then address its significance in our (and your) lives because of our adoption adventure in Kazakhstan. The following quote is from one of our readers, who will wish to remain anonymous:

“I had to e-mail you because I was laughing about your Aunt (Aunt Ci-Ci, actually Angel’s sister, but Dub & Lena’s aunt) wanting to name her cat 'Garshok.' Funniest thing - after reading your blog a few times each day and constantly seeing the word 'Garshok', I have started saying to myself, "Oh, I need to garshok." I couldn't believe it the first time I thought that! I will really get worried when I start saying it out loud! So yes, that word is definitely here to stay. No doubt about it.”

So, a word of warning for those of you who have caught yourself saying this word: stop saying “garshok”! Don’t think “garshok” when you have to “go”. Don’t think about it when your little kids have to go on the little kids’ potty. Certainly don’t SAY it out loud! Remove this word from your mental vocabulary! Forget you ever heard it, and say it no more.

And now, on to today’s post. Garshok. Very, very busy day today. Two visits, a massive trip to the Bazaar, appointment with the Notary, stops at several building supply stores to pickup ceiling tiles and molding for the Bonding Room at Umit. Garshok. And finally a long quiet walk down to Gros Market for a new i-card and some essential foodstuffs. We’ll wait until Thursday morning to do the big shopping trip to prepare us for the next few days here at Hotel Gazovic with D&L.



For those of you reading this blog in anticipation of your own visit to Taraz to adopt, garshok, please pay attention here. We were told to bring gifts for all our children’s caretakers and nanny’s. (FYI, a Nanny does the laundry, feeds, bathes, and generally cares for the kids; whereas a Caretaker is an educated teacher of sorts who gives the kids lessons, kinda like pre-school). Well, each of our kids has 9 Nannies/Caretakers. We were told that "presentation of gifts is very important." So, Angel, being the ever-conscious southern shop-a-holic that runs in her family, got many little “dits” and put them in nice little blue and gold (Kazakhstan national colors) gift bags with pretty tissue on the top. BAD IDEA. Turns out that, while we are expected to bring gifts for the Director, Social Worker, and head Doctor, we are also expected, but not allowed, to bring gifts for everyone else! Yes, catch-22! We have to bring gifts, but the doling out of these gifts must be a serious Jack Bauer-like covert OP! We’ve successfully delivered about half the gifts, rewrapped in the tissue, and we’ll take the nice gift bags home, saving our money and our manners, too. garshok.



Trip to the Bazaar was successful, but darn near killed us both. Garshok. Did we mention the heat? My clothes from this morning were soaked completely with sweat when I got back to the hotel. Took me an hour just to cool down! Yes, it’s just as hot and more humid in Atlanta, but in Atlanta we go from A/C house to A/C car to A/C store to A/C mall to A/C car back to A/C home. Not so here. But we survived.



This afternoon, we gave Dub & Lena one of the things we got at the bazaar: their very own little backpacks to put their very own STUFF in! They have to pull their own weight around this household! See, these kids don’t know what it’s like to have “my” stuff. Everything belongs to the playgroup (little communists!) so Dub & Lena have never had anything they can call their own. Garshok. Today, each got his and her own backpacks full of their own book, doodlepad, Pooh blankey, spoon, yogurt, and sippy cup. They were overwhelmed, especially once they figured out how to put the full pack on their back and walk around with heads held high!



It was a great, albeit short, visit. Then we got some serious video of the woman whom we have heretofore referred to as “Brunehilda”, the same Nanny who threatened to “chop it off” if Dub continued to garshok in his pants. Garshok. He loves her and she really cares about him. Remember your toughest teacher in high school or college? Don’t you look back with tons of respect for that person? That’s how we view this tough woman from Uzbekistan. Mubarek is her name, and we got 20 minutes of video of her instructing Dub and telling him she loved him, and him giving her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Great stuff. Can’t wait to show the videos to Dub next year and when he’s older. I’m not sure what sort of memories it will evoke. Garshok.



So, one more day, and we get to bring home the monkeys! We’ll continue the special gifting Operations on Wednesday, but other than that, it’ll be much simpler than today. Please pray for the most special bonding for us and D&L on Thursday night, when they will get their FIRST warm bath! We just learned that they get one cold bath per week. Garshok!



Until tomorrow, garshok blessings from Kevin, Angel, Lena and Dub.

PS - some of our readers have experessed their sincere delite in reading about things like, ahem, GARSHOK! For those of you who find this sort of reading mundane and otherwise common, you can go garshok!



This is the hospital in Taraz where Lena was born.


Inside the hospital lobby, if you could call it that, they have posted a list of the babies that have been born here in the last few months. Privacy? HA! Name, mother's name, weight, DOB.