Astana Aquarium

On Sundays there are no visitations to the baby house, so we had a relaxing morning at the apartment and then did a little site seeing. We visited the Astana Aquarium, which is unique becasue it is known for being the aquarium that is located the farthest away from any ocean.

The main entrance was more like a mini mall - it had a few restaurants, video games, different scenes from around the world, and of course souvenir shops…

Once inside the aquarium it was very similar to other aquarium in the states, but one thing that is different is that you need to pay to take picture or video record. Regardless of the cost it is a very nice aquarium and we even saw a famous fish actress inside, but I can’t remember her name???

We tried and tried to find Nemo, but no luck. We did see many other amazing creatures of the sea, here are just a couple…

... Bruce ...

... little dude (Crush's son) ...

... and we met Val, one of our interpreter’s English students, who wanted to practice her English with us. She gave us a tour, was a true delight, and spoke very good English.

After the aquarium Val took us to her Aunt’s Korean Restaurant and we enjoyed a great meal in their VIP room…

Later Jen and I took a nice walk and took in some of the night scenery…

All in all a nice day, but we would have rather spent the time with Asher. As each day goes by and he opens up more, it is becoming harder and harder to think that we will need to leave him here for three weeks. We are planning on leaving our pictures in his cubby and after court everyone will start calling him by his new name. We hope the time we have spent with him and the pictures we leave behind will be enough for him to come running to us when we return.

Thanks again for all your prayers, support, and love you have shared with us along this adventure.

Jay and Jen