The Sitting Baby and the City

We go to the Baby Home every day at 10 AM and 2 PM for two hours at a time. We interact with the little fellow during those periods. This includes feeding him, changing diapers, and generally keeping him amused. He is quite a character. Normally calm and peaceful, he suddenly turns into a wild man when it's time to get changed. Feeding can be entertaining too.

We were impressed with him this morning when we arrived at the Baby Home. He was sitting in his crib. That's the first time he's been able to sit up under his own power. And then he raised his arms to us when we approached. Altogether an uplifting day. (Sorry for the pun.)

After we left the Baby Home for the afternoon, we braved the wilds of a big central park in Karaganda that also has rides and food that's bad for you, even Baskin-Robbins ice cream. We also ran into a Russian-speaking Spiderman there.

Then we went into the big TsUM store downtown that's a rejigged version of the old Russian department store. It has many different little boutiques that are operated by individuals, rather than a big company or the state. The interesting thing about those boutiques is that you can't actually browse through the merchandise. You have to ask a clerk for what you want. They then take out what they think suits you (or what they think you can afford) and you can look through it then.

There are two tiers of prices: imported and domestic. Prices for imported goods are at least as expensive as they are in Ottawa. We saw computers that would sell for under $1000 at home going for $1600. Domestic goods are priced much cheaper.

We also continued to be brave and took a taxi home. You tell the driver what your destination is, then he names a price. Then you can agree, say no, or haggle. Most taxi rides go for between 300 and 400 tenge, about $2.25 to $3.00, even those that take up to half an hour. Quite inexpensive, given that gasoline is about the same price as in Canada.

We hope to post some pictures soon, as soon as we can get some high-speed Internet access.