Special Moments...

I have been back in Kazakhstan for several months now and things are starting to get busy. I have settled back in to my responsibilities and am feeling "at home" in Taraz. It has been great to reconnect with friends here and have recently made some new friends which has been great for my Kazakh and a chance to share my life with others.

Recently I had a chance to go out to one of the orphanages 2-hours away for a visit. On my way I stopped to pickup a woman who needed a ride. Now in America most people would never think about picking someone up on the road but here it is a relatively common occurrence. The Kazakh woman was 60 years old, had two daughters and an estranged son. She was coming from a funeral and needed to get to a village about 30 min. down the road. In those moments together I learned about her family and her hopes for her children. I learned that her husband died a few years ago and that she has taken in a young woman who doesn't have any relatives to help her. And of course I was encouraged by her surprise of an American speaking Kazakh and her heart that seemed kind and compassionate. My life was blessed by the few minutes we spent together.

Upon arriving at the orphanage I was greeted by Yulia who ran up to the car with outstretched arms. She also showed me where she put my name in chalk at the entranceway so I would see it when I drove in. She and I have been corresponding for the last year and it is good to see her hopeful for a better life. Her's is a life that has been transforming over the years. When delegations first started coming to Kazakhstan she was one of those kids who stood off at a distance, never smiled and was often moody. Through consistency, encouragement and love she has been learning to trust others and is trying to make some positive changes. She certainly smiles more often! What a blessing to see a difference in a life...oh to "care for the orphans and the widows in their distress..." ~ it is my life which is transformed through such special moments.

Back Safely in Kazakhstan

When I set my return date for January 7, I wasn't anticipating any difficulties...at least wasn't expecting to reschedule my flight or be re-routed to Kyrgyzstan.  Many of you already know that my letter of invitation took longer than anticipated so we were really down to the wire on my passport and visa.  After numerous attempts to reach the embassy and even having the local postmaster looking out for the package, I didn't get it back in time.  As a result, my trip was delayed by four days.  I was pretty excited though when it did arrive and I could rest easy with my crates packed.  

As one can often expect, trips to Kazakhstan are usually not uneventful to say the least.  I was very pleased when the check-in person for AA informed me that she could check my baggage all the way to KZ since they were partners of British Air.  This also saved me about $170!  

All flights were pretty normal and on my final flight I had the entire seat to myself and took full advantage of the opportunity to sleep.  Fortuately I did sleep because once we were over Almaty, the fog made it impossible to land causing us to be re-routed to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.  What I didn't know is that when this happens, they usually issue you a "transit" visa for Kyrgyzstan and bus you to the border.  When it looked like this would be our only option, I thought that for me, it might be best to leave the group and take a taxi to Taraz since I was only about 4 hours away.  However, I couldn't get my cell phone to work (would not even turn on or charge) and I wasn't going to travel anywhere by myself without a working cell phone.  So I stayed with the group and when I got to passport control, they were not going to let me pass because my passport was coming apart and they wanted to say that it wasn't valid.  Fortunately, being with the group I was able to get the attendant's attention who helped me out and they gave me my stamp and let me pass.  

After a 45 minute drive we made it to the border where all 19 of us passed through and then got through the Kazakh border without much difficulty.  At that point, I borrowed someone's phone, called our office manager and discussed my options.  Now having someone aware of my situation it was fine to grab a taxi from there to Taraz which actually put me in at noon rather than midnight!  Once I got back to the apartment, I plugged in my phone...worked fine.  Interesting how we make our decisions...and often when looking back we realize that it was a miracle.