settling in here in Uralsk

Well, it's a dreary Sunday afternoon here in Uralsk! As we were coming back from our morning visit, it was something like 26 degrees, but still no snow. It rained last night, so the ground is covered in ice which makes walking an adventure. In spite of the cold, inside everywhere it is very hot due to the pipes that heat the city with steam. Basically, there is no way to regulate the heat individually since the whole city is on the same system of steam pipes. It is very odd to be dressed for Siberia for the trip to the babyhouse, then in a T-shirt once inside.

Our visits have continued to go very well. Yesterday we were totally suprised when Jackson crawled up to me, grabbed my shirt, pulled, and stood right up! He did this a few more times just so we could be sure it was no accident. Then, this morning, he crawled right up to a row of little chairs that line the wall, pulled himself up, and started walking up and down the row of chairs! He always kept at least one hand on the chairs, but he spent a good 20 min. going up and down the chairs- we were shocked to say the least to see him doing this at 9 months! Madden continues to laugh and smile more, but we're still working on sitting up on her own and crawling.

We did get the water working in our apartment, which is good, but the water is a sort of orange/brown color, which is not so good. When the water is just running, you can't tell the color, but unfortunately there is no shower here- just a tub and a handheld sprayer. I can't say it's fun kneeling in orange water trying to spray off my hair without squirting water all over (no shower curtain), but it gets the job done. We'll try to post some pictures of the apartment tomorrow, when we will be able to access high speed internet.

We've been doing OK with finding food here. You never really know what you will be getting when you order, but so far we've done OK. We also met a Peace Corp volunteer who has been here for almost two years, and she gave us some translated menus. We went out with our travel partners last night to the Golden Cat, which was really an experience! It's basically one room, with a bar at one end and tables. The whole thing is wood paneled, and there are strands of colored lights that flash with music. It is very surprising that most places play music loudly. Most we've heard has been in English, or American songs translated into Russian. Most of it is like what you would hear in a dance club, and I am not lying when I say last night at the Golden Cat was actually heard them play "Who Let the Dogs Out?" in Russian. It is very strange. The other interesting thing about the restaurant was that there were shot glasses included in the place settings, and they brought an ashtray out with the menus. There is a lot of smoking everywhere, and the place was thick with smoke. We also had an appetizer of "horseflesh sausage", which is exactly what it sounds like. It was served cold, and tasted like roastbeef.

The other thing that I'm not used to seeing are the many, many stray cats and dogs around the town. It is very sad. There is one sweet little black cat that keeps trying to get into our apartments, and honestly if it weren't for Kevin I would probably let her. It's horrible to imagine how cold and miserable those animals must be.

So, we're hanging in here in Uralsk, though I have a horrible cough/sore throat and some disgusting itchy rash all over. I resorted to getting some sort of creme at a pharmacy here, but I don't know what it was, and it isn't really helping. I guess the good news is it doesn't seem to be contagious, but it is driving me nuts! Oh well, at least we have a flushing toilet now.

I've got to start putting on my layers of gear so that we can leave for our evening visit!