Wednesday, October 04, 2006


There are many, many joys to adopting a child but it would not be realistic to deny that there are some stresses that go along with the process. The sadness of lost time with family and friends, financial pressures to complete the process without going bankrupt, the difficulty in not speaking the native language, and many more.

It is also difficult to be away from familiar foods for such an extended period of time. Especially, for someone like me who is extremely fond of peanut butter. I’ve read all of the “make sure you pack” lists on the adoption boards and I am fully aware of the countless statements to the effect that “peanut butter is just not found outside of the U.S.”

So I did pack a 28 oz. jar that traveled halfway around the world with us and which I have meticulously paced myself in consuming. Not meticulously enough, I’m afraid. It’s almost gone.

Imagine my surprise when Robin and I went to the Tsum today to buy some groceries and I noticed a single jar of what appeared to be peanut butter. Against all the cautions that it just isn’t available, this is akin to stubbing your toe on the Holy Grail.

I picked it up and examined it, but like all the foods here I haven’t a clue what the Cyrillic words say. All I know is that it looks like peanut butter and there’s a picture on the label of some goofy bear holding a big peanut in its lap. Able to read numbers, I can deduce that it’s 100% of something and 0% of something else. My mind wishfully inserted “peanuts” for the first element and “rat poison” for the second.

Of course I had to buy it. Turns out it cost 440 tenge which is about $3.50 in U.S. currency. When we got back to the apartment, I removed the seal from the jar and with great expectations (Robin refused to mimic a drum roll) tasted a sample.

Yes, it IS peanut butter. Not in the class of Jif or Skippy but I’m not complaining. And now all those people who authoritatively state that “peanut butter is impossible to find” will have to retract that little piece of wisdom. I guess you just have to be lucky.

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