Doing up the town, sort of

Another perfect day in fall Almaty, high 60’s, clear, dry, and calm. We all had a good walk up hill, which is south and seems wrong. Walked to the city admin building, fountains, rose gardens, lots of trees and a view of the mountains. We found a great grocery, very complete and they were making crepes, fried meat pies, broiled chickens and ducks out on the street. We noticed the aroma first. We’ll go back there today.
Sultan is great being all out and around. They say the orphanage kids are unused to all the sensory stuff out there in the world, and we're trying not to overload him, but he is a real trooper, and enjoys being out and riding or pushing the stroller, etc. Really nice for his traveler parents who can't imagine being in a foreign city and not doing some exploring.
While Susan put Sultan down for a nap, more crying, I went off to explore the Green Bazaar. On the way I stopped at the US Embassy, very fortified. The Green Bazaar is green and I was able to get a new pair of reading glasses in one of the hundreds of little mini shops around the outside. Inside is the main food market built around a square. One corner is nuts, dried fruit, and spices. There are Korean women selling cooked food who are eager for you to taste everything. There is smoked fish and a big butcher section with every cut and organ in display. I would have thought it would smell a little off, but no whiff of anything. The fresh fruit and veg was really good too. Lots of herbs and salad fixings. It was great fun and I kept thinking how much my dad would have loved it.
I bought some smoked salmon sushi, some dark brown fried balls that I thought were meat but we think were breadcrumbs and mushrooms, and some yummy roasted eggplant with peppers and cabbage. We had all that for dinner.
After I got back we had a visit from Nadia and Aida about our visit today with the doctor. We also got the phone numbers of Tamas and Marie, and Alaina and Andrew. Marie and baby Ben have a cold or the flu, poor things, and Alaina said they had had to move and Calvin was having a hard time getting used to the new regime. We are grateful for our apt. and our health.
Sultan got us up at 6 am and I’m giving him breakfast and blogging while Susan catches a few more zzz’s. He didn’t fall asleep till 10 and we were up till 11:30 playing scrabble, thank you Mel and Sandy.
We are so glad that Whitney will be there when we get home. And sorry to miss Anne, Jay, Emma and Cara who we know are dying to meet their new cousin. We keep thinking about all of Sultan’s new friends and how much fun they’ll have. We can’t wait for everyone to meet him and hope he settles in quickly.
Love to all,
K & S
PS. For a few brief hours, we had a speedy internet connection. Now, alas, it is gone and we are back to the old, slow style, which is great, but makes posting pics really hard. We'll try to get to that this week before we go.
Also, there is a tentative trip to the mountains with all of us,courtesy of Aida and Nadya, either tomorrow or Wednesday, so that would be GREAT!