FICA

Forgot to write this in the last post...as we were leaving after our second visit we noticed a bunch of the baby house workers, including the director and doctor, walking from one of the outbuildings back into the baby house carrying plastic grocery sacks. The sacks seemed fairly heavy and Jim noticed that they were first weighing things on a scale on the sidewalk before carrying them inside. I thought maybe it was a load of potatoes or something and they were weighing out portions for the kitchen, although why they wouldn't just do that in the kitchen I couldn't figure out. Then this guy got out a big hatchet knife and started hacking away and we realized it was some kind of raw meat. By this time Vera arrived and we asked her what was up. She said that she heard they had bought a whole cow at the bazaar (you can buy an entire butchered cow or sheep) and were dividing it up. It is more economical that way and I guess the babyhouse pays for the cow so the workers don't have to pay for the meat at the time of purchase--the wages on their next paycheck will be garnished (no pun intended) to pay for their share.

Kind of like FICA.

Overkill

We had a good visit with Alex today. When Vera brought him in she said that he has a cough and runny nose (which he has had for the past few days) so we couldn't take him outside or get him too hot because then he would sweat and that would give him a chill as they walked through the halls. She said that if the cough and sniffles didn't clear up the doctor said they would have to give him a shot, which shocked us. Vera told us that going to the doctor here was a pretty regular occurence and it seems that they use the doctor almost like we would use a pharmacy--just go in for some routine thing. After the visit we went to Interlingua for some more classes on Kazakh history and culture and I mentioned it to Adilya, our teacher. She said that they would probably give him antibiotics. I couldn't believe it. I told her that in the US a cough and sniffles would barely even be remarked upon, much less cause to go to the doctor and get a shot. Anyway, we are going with the Kazakh flow on this one. He didn't sound any better during the second visit so maybe a good round of penicillin will clear it up...ya think?

We feel like we are officially locals. When we were grabbing lunch at a cafe before the Interlingua classes Karina (one of Slava's daughters/our Korean friend) showed up at the cafe with two of her university classmates. What fun to run into familiar faces out and about! We had a great chicken pizza that also had some corn and peas on top. It was yummy but I had to quote what Sam would have said if he had been with us--"Eeeeeeeeeeew! That's yuck!"

Vera says she knows that the missing judge for Guardianship Court is on her way back to Taraz so we should have court tomorrow. Then we can schedule final court. Pray that final court will be on the 23rd, partly so we can have plenty of time to get back to Almaty to fly home (possibly a few days early) and partly since the "Spanish train" (by far the nicest and newest train in KZ) will be running that night. We can return to Almaty in style!