Snow Leopard is coming home

Holy buckets, just how much money can one person spend at Target in a week?

OK, that's out of my system. But how much gear can one tiny little baby actually need?

Since we had less-than-success at staying out of bad water on the first trip, a sterilizer for her bottles and all has gone into the luggage for the second trip.

Obviously one can buy formula, Pampers, diaper cream, teething gel and wipes in Kazakhstan. One has already done all of this and proven they are the same as you would get here. The NAN formula is the same as the older formulation, Nestles Good Start Essentials, and in fact you can buy NAN in stores with a Latin American market.

But ohhhh noooo. I'm not sure we'll have time for a store run before we meet up with the baby in Almaty, so GOTTA HAVE IT ALL WITH ME JUST IN CASE (so says my inner anxious mama).

As if we won't be going to a store ever. With Grandma and Tsum? The giant state store is easy, full of individual interesting booths and mayhem. And its indoors so the weather isn't a factor.

Everything is a 7-11 with everything you could ever want in it. Stalls, booths, kiosks are everywhere.

Anyway, the luggage is now packed so that if we were to rendezvous, say, on the face of the moon, I would have everything I need to arm myself for baby care. She will have her familiar formula and she will have rice cereal and that is enough disturbance in her diet for the time being.

Poor thing is going through many disturbances. Strange surroundings, noises, sights, smells, people, clothing, food, schedule, bedding - bless her little heart. Imagine if you were taken hostage (after all, Nugget doesn't get to vote) and plopped someplace alien with some probably-benevolent handlers. Or just recall how Mitch and I as fully functioning (You stay quiet) adults failed to successfully deal with the changes in food and water, shelter and clothing and weather. So I am trying to limit the disturbances and keep things as familiar and simple for her as we can. She has to handle enough change as it is.

The airplane arrangements are in process but here's a guess. Mom and I leave ABQ on Monday October 16; we spend 20-some hours touring airports in North America, Europe and arrive in Asia at Almaty right before midnight late on Tuesday October 17.

We plop out two A-Tickets in the Currency of the World - US $20 bills - and get taken to our hotel. We play Almaty hotel roulette. Do you remember waaaaaaaay back when in Disneyland when you bought categories of tickets to correspond with the thrill/popularity of a ride? Nowadays you just pay to get in and that's it. But back then, like a regular carnival, you used tickets for the individual rides. There was the A-ticket, the basic ticket, used for things like the tots' mad hatter tea party ride. The categories went all the way to E ticket, which gave us the great phrase "like an E-ticket ride at Disneyland".

Now you just get the tepid horror of an e-ticket ride on Southwest. Never mind.

Anyway, in World Travel Parlance, the interpreter and the driver each get an A-ticket to take us to the hotel. Conveniently, every airport-hotel transfer ever is an A-ticket, no matter the length or time. Don't ask what the locals pay because you are not a local. Just whip out the USD $20/ A-ticket and be done.

A nineteen hour train ride will start my daughter's journey to America. I don't kno what time the train arrives in Almaty, but my packing list above is based on "ASAP" in the morning. Have a nice new bottle of formula and dry diapers ready to go. Oh, laugh at me: as if the nanny wouldn't have that done when she presents me with my precious daughter! Again, like I said, if we were dropped out of thin air on the fac of the moon - that is my current packing regime.

We visit the US Embassy and do something. At some point, Marie Aigerim gets a medical inspection and now an HIV test. So the blood-drawing will bother me. She's been through medical exams before and blood tests: I haven't as her parent! I think I'd better just follow her lead and be a trooper.

Guess I should do that in general.

Wednesday, thursday and friday are supposed to be enough to get our business transacted. The US visa is supposed to be issued Friday afternoon. We are supposed to be outathere much later than evening.

And "home" on Saturday October 21. I put quotes around home because, for Aigerim, there will be absolutely nothing familiar and comforting about it yet. How strange. Poor dear. Even newborns have heard the household sounds when they were in utero, know the dogs bark; and the household members, in turn, had some idea something was happening.

Ah yes snow leopards. Friend Pat "spotted" the Ty snow leopard (hee hee). And Aunt Crystal provided us with the perfect outfit for the baby Snow Leopard!