(Dave) Thursday afternoon, 2/14, we took a sightseeing trip to the Petropavlovsk Botanical Gardens. Being winter, our tour was restricted to the greenhouses. The grounds outside appeared to be much larger, but covered with snow, most of the flowers and other plants they probably have in the summer were long gone and out of sight under a foot or so of snow! We'd gone about halfway through the first greenhouse when one of the ladies working there said to me in a strong accent, "Espanya"? (Spain) I said, "USA". She got very excited yelling, Amerikanskiy! Amerikanskiy! She told our interpreter she had never seen an American before. She was very excited to meet us. She informed us they had the American national symbol there! We were pointed to a really large Palmetto Palm tree and told it was the symbol of Amerika. Another lady explained that once in the past some Peace Corps workers had visited and all gathered under the palm and sung the National Anthem!! She asked if we wanted to sing too and I just started singing, "Sweet Home, Alabama". We didn't have the heart to tell them the palm tree wasn't the national symbol. Well, who knows? It could be, I really don't know! She asked us if it was any different in Petropavlovsk from America. Suzanne told her the food here was better! Anyway, we all had a good time. Some pictures are attached.
This morning (Friday, 2/15), I want to the baby home to visit Yulia. She has gotten really congested and was running a fever, so I didn't get to visit with her too much 'cause the doctor wanted to examine her. She was congested when we first got here two (or is it three now) weeks ago, then got better, now has it again. It seems to be going around the baby home. There is a new American couple here now from Utah, Linda and Phil and their daughter is Katya (Katherine), who is 6 months old. They are staying at the Lina and visit the baby home at the same time we do. Katya is in the same group with Yulia.
COURT DATE: We found out our court date will be on Monday, February 25th. We also found out that we will need to return via Almaty and the next available flight out of Petropavlovsk to Almaty will be on that Wednesday, the 27th. Once in Almaty, we will have to go by the American Embassy to sign some papers. The reason being that we could have Yulia escorted to the U.S. where we would meet them in Washington or somewhere else. Either way, the American Embassy requires at least one of us to be there in person. Then, we could all fly back on Thursday, 2/28, direct from Almaty. I suppose we'd arrive back in Birmingham sometime around the evening of the 28th. Of course, none of this is written in stone and could all change at any time!! If we can get back any sooner we'll try. We sure do miss home!!
