On Sunday, KJ and I joined Yana and her boyfriend Sergey to go a hockey game here in town. Surprisingly hockey is not terribly popular here in Kaz, though as it was the Astana Snow Leopards against the Russian Bears, the was a decent turnout.

In a noteworthy break from the norm - based on the relative expense of everything else - the tickets were less than two dollars a piece. Seating was general admission and we found ourselves in the first rows near center ice.

I may be incorrect, but while the game was entertaining, the level of play seemed below what I would have expected and I feel that a division 1 hockey program such as BU(go Terriers!) could have at least held their own if not won. As it was, Astana held on to win 2-1.

Yana is the 19 year old niece of our translator Elena's landlord. Got that? She is a student here in Astana studying English and German, and when she heard that Elena was working with an American family asked if she could meet us to practice her English. She was a delight.

Her English is very good, and she is very energetic, engaging, and determined. We hope to do more things with she and Sergey iin the coming weeks.





Russia takes a last minute time out and decides to pull the goalie as they had done successfully earlier in the period during a power play situation when, skating 6 on 4 they were able to get their only goal of the game. This time around they were unable to make anything happen and the game ended 2-1.



The ref signals the end of the game, and the Snow Leopards take the ice to celebrate.





Yesterday was a perfect day for a nice sled ride up the frozen river. With the adjacent bridge under construction since we arrived, the freezing over of the river has made it easier to access the new part of the city on the other side of the river.

KJ and I walked across for the first time today and journeyed over to the Mega Mall to get a USB printer cable so that we could print photos of ourselves with Aitugan to bring to court on Monday. We are told that both the Judge and the Prosecutor will each hold on to several photos to keep with the court proceedings.

Court was meant to have happened at 10 am today, though when we arrived, we were told that the Judge had been called to a meeting with the Supreme Court, and that our hearing was now scheduled for 5pm. We would very much like to believe that this will be true, though as is often the case, nothing is certain until it is in the past.

If we do in fact have court today, our timeline is still in peril because of the week long holiday that Kazakhstan will begin just days after we are scheduled to take Aitugan out of the Baby House.

If all goes to plan, we will have court today and the judge's decree will be ready on 12 December. With the decree in hand, we proceed to the Baby House to once and for all take custody of our daughter and then we have what is typically a 3-5 day process of obtaining her passport and exit visa from the Kaz Government here in Astana.

In our case we will have until Friday 14 dec to attempt to get everything taken care of here in Astana or else wait here until government employees return to work. We are told that that day will be sunday 23 Dec, though in my mind it seems unlikely that after taking more than a week off, things will resume on a Sunday.

Once in possession of her documents, we must then fly to Almaty to fulfill the US embassy side of things which are mainly medical testing and assessment. The US embassy will be closed from noon of the 24th until the morning of the 26th, and though we are told that everything can happen in 2 days, again it feels close to the wire with that.

Our flight plan at this point is to fly out of Almaty early in the morning of friday 28 dec. We have looked into flying a few days later, but with the holidays, the only things available were single seats in the middle of 4-seat rows, not exactly ideal situations for such a long journey with a baby.

For now we will hold on to the hope that it will all work out for the 28th, and failing that will come home somewhere in January when we are once again able to book seats together. Keep your fingers crossed. Take Care.