Sundays are "one visit" days with Samantha. This particular Sunday, we travelled 15 kilometers outside of Karaganda to see Samantha's birthplace, Timmertau. It is a small industrial town that historically has been very poor and heavily dependent on the coal and steel industries. After years of relative prosperity, the city fell on hard times 10-15 years ago and eventually drugs became a problem and the HIV infection soared. In the last few years a new owner bought the old steel mill, improving business and providing residents a better quality of life (at least economically speaking). We visited downtown, comprised of just a couple main streets, then stopped by the maternity hospital to see where Samantha was born. In Kaz, there are separate hospitals specifically for delivering babies. Samantha's mom had no prenatal care, so delivering Sam was probably her one and only trip to the hospital; ironically, Sam was born quite healthy. For those of you who have had a baby, she had an APGAR score of 9 out of 9! On the way out of town, we saw the steel mill and pollution. The Billy Joel song, Allentown, came to mind. After visiting this drab town, we think Samantha will be OK living in Chicago.
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