Sunday afternoon in Petro

Sven, Yannik and I ventured out by ourselves today since our interpretor was at her brother's wedding. We were excited to discover our surroundings. Petro def. has the feeling of a soviet era town in comparison with Astana. We ventured down a lovely pedestrian avenue (hmm...the Sparks street of Petro!) and discovered a fair with tons of rides. Some of them looked iffy, but Yannik and I tried our luck with one of them. It looked tame until we got on it! I loved it though... and obviously so did Yannik. It was a gorgeous day for a walk so we stayed out all afternoon. It gave us a feel for the city. Here are some impressions:

1. People here are really into fashion. I felt under dressed (or perhaps over dressed since skirts are worn a little too short for me...but Sven seemed to enjoy that part of the walk!). Seriously, the girls are beautiful. I noticed lots of men with "men purses" and teased Sven about it. Young men tend to carry their partner's purses as well...perhaps I can convince Sven..mine weighs a ton!

2. The population is largely Russian decent. Russian or Kazak, they were all attractive and friendly. They seemed to chuckle alot at Yannik! He got alot of big smiles from the girls.

3. Lots of babushkas and babys... lovely to see. The babies wear kerchiefs and hats here. They look so sweet.... I can't wait for tomorrow!!!

4.Lots of smokers here.

5. Poor Sven... I found the word for sale...it's litteraly "sale". I went into a lovely boutique and tried on a dress...the fashion houses are gorgeous. I think I'll have fun going shopping ;0))) but promise to behave. I also found jewellry shops....Sven thinks I have a good nose when it comes to bling and dresses ;0)

6. The streets here are all being worked on. They have lovely mosaics tiles but you have to watch where you walk because of the work in progress. Lots of sand as well.

Well..I'll let Sven post some pictures and begin supper. Tomorrow is the big day. Irina, our interpreter, called to welcome us and will drop by to take us to meet the gov. officials before heading to the baby house. Needless to say, we're pretty excited and a tad nervous. Our hearts are skipping a beat. This morning, we slept in till 11:00 because of the jet lag...tomorrow I bet we're up pretty early!! Yannik just told me that he wanted to go to bed. I thought it was off since it's only 4:40 here. He was just so sweet. He explained that he wanted to go to sleep since he wanted tomorrow to arrive quickly in order to meet his little sibling. He is so excited. We wondered how he would react once here... and all I can say is that he will be the best "big brother" ever!!

Love to all.. and thanks for all the messages. We really appreciate hearing from you. Like Yannik said, we can't wait for tomorrow morning also.