Prologue

In April 2004 we adopted two lively babies from far, faraway Kazakhstan. It was a 7-week adventure that still defines our lives. While we were there we documented our journey with a website (https://www.pegtype.com/adoption). Fifteen years later we are beginning our journey back to Kaz. We made it to the JFK airport and so far all is well. Our layover is Moscow.

We’ll be travelling for 11 days, about a day of travel on each end, and then about 3 days in Astana, 3 days in Karaganda, and 3 days in Almaty. We wanted to visit Astana because it’s a brand-new city, the new capital of Kazakhstan. Karaganda is the city we know the best, because that’s where Kostek and Marlena are adopted from. Almaty is the old capital of Kazakhstan, and we spent a few days on each end of our original adoption trip there. On the way in it was just a place to sleep for the night until we flew to Karaganda the next day. On the way out, it was where the embassy was, and we were there for two days. We were very busy with babies and doctors and passports. This time we should be able to actually see Almaty.