And We're Off!

Today marked the start of New Years parties for us.  New Years is the biggest holiday of the year, especially for children.  It is celebrated in a similar manner to Christmas in the States.  Santa Clause comes and gives gifts to children and they put up a tree.  They have New Year's parties at schools as well as at the orphanages.  As a result, it is a pretty busy time for us.  I am also returning to the States in about 3 weeks (for about 4 months), so I have a lot to do to prepare to leave. I figured you might enjoy seeing a time-line of our activities for the next week or so. 

This morning we started our orphanage New years parties with our youngest children's groups at Sarmoldaeva orphanage.  Below are some pictures of our party. 

 

This afternoon we celebrated November and December birthdays at Ulan orphanage.  One of the staff at Ulan does such a great job preparing a beautiful birthday meal for the children.  She teaches the older girls how to prepare food and set the table properly and while they are eating, she uses the time to instruct the children as to how they should behave at a party.  It is fun to see how she uses every opportunity as a teaching experience.   

On Monday morning we will have a staff Christmas/New Years party.  We will play games and share a meal together. 

On Monday afternoon we will leave for Savva orphanage (2 1/2 hour drive) for their New Year's masquerade party.  We will spend the night and return on Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning the staff at the office will help us deliver gifts to the children at Ulan.  These are the gifts that they chose when we took them to a local store. 

On Wednesday night I will celebrate New Years with my Kazakh family.  I am looking forward to getting to spend some time with them. 

I will likely get to rest on Thursday and Friday (unless something else comes up). 

On Saturday we will return to Savva orphanage for our monthly birthday party visit.  We will spend the night and return on Sunday evening. 

On Wednesday morning we will have a New Years party for the children at Saramoldaeva that are in our older children's groups. 

On Wednesday evening we will celebrate New Years and birthdays with the kids at Rakhym. 

I was telling someone my schedule recently and he said "so you get paid to have fun."  It should be a fun, although busy, couple weeks.  Soon, I will write a blog detailing where I will be during my time in the States.  I hope to see many of you.