In which treasures are acquired and the source of Owen's power over women is discovered.
Important new ground was broken today: We tried an American bottle. And Owen, that treasure of treasures, slurped it right up!
You'll recall from our insightful docu-drama about Kazakh nipples that there is quite a difference between what they offer here and what the kids get back home. Imagine eating your cheeseburger normally. Now imagine sucking it through a straw. Kind of frustrating, no?
Now you understand the transition these kids make.
Fortunately Owen, who has been known to chew on his Kazakh bottle, in all likelihood got more formula from the American bottle. There wasn't anything to lock his gums onto. Everyone was happy all around.
Next step: Buy formula to have on the ready for Wednesday's (hopeful-- they keep reminding us it's hopeful) return to the cottage. We visited three different stores. No one has any Nutri-lac (spelled H-Y-T-P-backwards N-tee pee shape-A-K in Russian).
We could be starting on those cheeseburgers sooner than we'd planned...
Fortunately we have some formula leftover from Jack and Ben's stay and we've been told that Dr. Natalia has a secret stash she may sell us if the stores continue to disappoint.
In the meantime, we've been preparing Owen for his life among the puppies. You can see a picture at left of him gnoshing on my finger. When I shook it and tried to pull it away (like you would with a puppy and a chew toy), he laughed uproariously and clamped down harder.
We're pretty sure he's going to fit in with the beasties just fine.
After our visit, we made another trek to the Tsum Store also called, interesting enough, the Goom Store. (When we asked Inna why it was called Goom, she told us, "Goom is easier to say than Tsum." And so it is!) With a guide, it is remarkable how much easier it is to find cool stuff. In the bookstore, we shelled out the tenge for a neat book on Kazakhstan history with beautiful photographs and writing in both English and Russian.
There may have been other small gifts purchased and a little keepsake for ourselves. You'll see pictured at left one of the leather milk jugs used by the Kazakhs in their yurts. Robin keeps calling it a wine jug. (No comments from you, Judge Isenhour!)
Speaking of wine, you may be on the edge of your seats asking yourselves, "But what about the pie? Yesterday they mentioned a pie! Was it delicious?"
Well, be in suspense no longer! Yes, it was delicious. In fact, we're restraining ourselves from having another piece before the dinner hour comes along. It tasted a lot like an American pot pie. The crust was buttery, flaky goodness and it was stuffed with chopped potatoes, beef, mushrooms and onions. If you're ever in the neighborhood, you must have one.
As for the wine, we find that this is easier to buy with a guide as well. We'd tried (despite Kelli Wehrwein's warnings) a bottle of the Kazakh wine. It tastes like a mixture of Welch's grape juice, several cups of sugar, and pancake syrup.
We were prepared to forego any future wines until the Peace Corps boys showed up with a decent bottle. (Nothing that will hurt Parisian tourism, of course, but very drinkable.) Inna helped us find another version, made here in Kazakhstan. You can see the bottle at left next to the pie.
Back to today and the promised explanation of Owen's power over women. We've discovered the source: It comes from his father-to-be.
I hadn't mentioned it before, but I'm getting quite the following at the Viola store. While we were there yesterday, we asked for a couple of pictures. Well, imagine our surprise-- all right, imagine my already huge head becoming disproportionate-- when one of the ladies pulled out her camera and told us, through Inna, that she'd been waiting to take a picture of me. You can see my picture-taking girlfriend at left. You'll notice I've even been invited back to the coveted behind-the-counter space. (Eat your heart out, Matt Strelo.)
Sadly, for her, she hadn't any film yesterday. We took our pictures and promised to come back today so she could take her pictures with me. True to my word, I went back for four quick pictures and some kind of rapid exchange in Russian and pantomime. At the end, they passed me a chocolate bar on the label of which they'd written a phone number.
Either I'm supposed to come back with copies of the pictures we took or I have a date for Saturday night. I'm not sure which.
