Still no good news to report

Well, where to begin. The flight from Almaty to Aktobe was fine (just three hours) and mostly uneventful. There was a drunk guy across the aisle from us who was causing a bit of a disturbance, but that was about it. (Who is already drunk at 7am? Or maybe that should read "Who is still drunk at 7am"? Or even better, maybe it should read "Who besides SeanT and the rest of the Milwaukee crew is still drunk at 7am?) Anyway, we got a little sleep on the flight and ate a little of the "breakfast" they served (were those sausages with the eggs? or was that just an undercooked hotdog?). So we landed in Aktobe and were met by the 2 Natashas and a taxi driver. (What? No Talgot? Apparently he has moved on to greener pastures. So who gets the two Reds ballcaps and T-shirt that was to be his gift?) We told them that we did not need to wait for our luggage because that was going to be delayed an extra day (we hope) and we'll come back for it then.

At this point we were told that court had been moved UP one day and that it would be tomorrow. WHAT??!!!! We had no clothes in our carry on bags, so were we going to have to wear these stinky rags to court? I think not, even though our coordinator Natasha thought that would be ok (of course, she's not planning on being there for court, so maybe that's why she didn't mind. Sorry about the sarcasm, but I don't have Jenny sitting next to me to censor my frustration. More on that in a minute). We obviously told her that we needed to go shopping for some nicer duds to wear while asking the judge to approve of us as parents!

They took us to our apartment (the same apartment as the first trip! YAY! Finally, some good news) and left us there for a short rest. After an hour or so they picked us back up for a quick stop at the Notary's office to sign some papers. They told us on the drive that we would NOT be seeing Max today (I think that's disappointment #29 on this trip....I'm not sure, I've lost count). Then we proceeded to the Mosque Mall to look for some clothes. On the first trip, I had accidentally forgotten to pack my blue sport coat that I wore to meet the orphanage director. Luckily, they had left it in the apartment for me, so I've got that going for me, which is nice. I had put my dress shoes/socks in the carry on because of the added weight in the suitcases, so all I needed was a pair of nice slacks and a dress shirt (only 13,000 tenge). Jenny, on the other hand, needed a new dress, a pair of shoes, and some makeup (I think she's a natural beauty, but she said it was NECESSARY!). After trying on a few (five?) dresses, she finally settled on one, then some shoes (only 3 or 4 pairs needed to be tried on here), and at last the make up. Her bill came to a little over 20,000 tenge. The Lufthansa guy said that we would be reimbursed 100% on toiletry items and 50% on clothing (but I will believe that only when I am holding the check in my hand. We'll see).

We stopped by the market for a few items and then came home to the apartment. After a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner, we tried to contact Lufthansa to find out if our bags were put on tonight's flight from Frankfurt to Almaty. But I got no answer from the TWO different numbers the guy gave me last night. I also tried to call United's toll-free number and I now have Lufthansa's Baggage Call Center number, so I will be heading back to the apartment to try that. Yeah, I wrote "heading back" because I am not in the apartment. I am sitting at the Kemer Cafe with Britney Spears on the radio, drinking a liter of Karagandinskoye Beer by myself so that I can get on the internet (Surprise, the internet in the apartment is not working yet!). Since we gave the Lufthansa guy our email address, we were hoping there would be something in the ol' inbox from them to say that our bags are en route. Sadly, nothing there....so keep your fingers crossed that our suitcases will be waiting for us at the airport after court TOMORROW (perhaps I should head back and get some sleep...it's already after 9pm here and I've gotten very little sleep in the last 72 hours).

Well, in 12 or 13 hours from NOW, we should know whether Jenny and I are approved for the adoption. Hopefully, we'll finally have some good news to post tomorrow!

Sorry for the length of the post, but I needed a good venting!