Memoirs

This blog entry isn't for anyone but me (and Hannie).  It's just a list of some things I want to remember about the best time of my life, the trip that led to me becoming Hannah's mom. Except I have already written most of the stuff about Hannah, so these are just some memories I don't want to forget about the city, the people, and the experiences.
1.  The crazy 60 hour trip there, cars, planes, and trains.  If it weren't for Season 1 of Glee on my itouch, I might not have made it.
2.  English Club and the yummy tea and pastries every Friday night -- getting to talk to the man who ran the Kazakh baseball league
3. Our apartment with the TV where we watched Olympic biathalon for hours on end.
4.  Best line:  "Have you been to our Mega?!"
5. Joe breaking our toilet
6. Going to the Superbowl party
7. Going out dancing at Cinema for Sipra's birthday
8. Riding the bus to the 11th microregion to Sipra's host families home, and having a delicious lunch.
9.  Swimming outside at the Spartak
10. The visa hassle and learning about corruptness (is that the right word?) and being grateful to Marina for all her help.
11.  Walking through Central Park and getting ice cream
12. Eating at the donor stand with Sip and Brit
13. Joe's apartment for yummy quiche and Bailey's
14. Eating Plov with Joe and Britt at the Uzbek restaurant on Valentine's Day, eating Lagman at Caravan
15. Meeting the other families at Mozzarella's to compare cute kids and commiserate about court dates
16.  The Mega -- shopping at Ramstore, checking out the Central Asian Claire's, watching people ice skate
17.  Address cafe -- ordering the same thing 3 times and getting 3 different meals -- once my food came wrapped in a egg!
18. Hearing Barry Manilow at Madlyns the night before court --- and knowing that was a good sign
19.  Going to the bazaar and souvenier shopping
20. Going to El Dorado for Sip's birthday and eating great pizza
21. Discussing Lifetraps
22.  playing Euchre with Joe and Tyler
23.  Talking about adoption and the vagina monologues at Women's Club, Miras College
24. All the good restaurants and food especially Caravan, Barbeque, Mozzarellas, Address, Madlyns, and LaDushkey (I know I am butchering the name and spelling of that)
25. Drinking Russian vodka with poetry on the bottle and celebrating our last night.
26. The cell phone mafia
27. Instead of getting 5 tenge for change, getting a bandaid or a stick of gum
28. Hanging out with the 7th and 8th graders, and them asking us about Twilight
29. Going to the Ghengis Khan play
30. Cooking frozen pizza and chicken nuggets that turned out to be fish.

Random Hannah/baby house memories
1. How HOT it was in the changing room
2. Taking Hannah outside and watching her see snow for the first time
3. Trying to distract Hannah from pulling the sign off the wall (we were unsuccessful, she got it).
4. Taking her to the doctor to get her cast off in the car without a carseat
5. Hannah rolling over, sticking out her tongue, and babbling.
6. How much she loved her books, beach ball, sunglasses, and toys she could shake.
7. Taking off ALL the layers of clothes so we could dress her up
8. Dressing up like a BH worker to feed her a bottle
9. The BH celebrating Women's Day
10. Her falling asleep in my arms