9/16/2010
Johnsons in Kazakhstan! Most of you have read Sarah's blog about my family's trip to Kazakhstan. If not, I'll direct you there to read all about our trip:
http://sarahjb.posterous.com/ I've decided not to rehash it here, since she did such a great job of describing everything.
We had a busy two weeks as we traveled from Almaty to Shymkent to Astana to Petropavlovsk. It was great to see my family and words cannot express what it meant to see them after all this time. I'm lucky they traveled here to see me, and I know the 24 hour train trip, squat toilets, and stiff beds were not their idea of a relaxing vacation. They were good sports and they left with a greater understanding of my life here and met some great people on the way. So enjoy some photo highlights of our trip and I'll post an update soon. In the meantime, if you happen to run into my parents I hear they have a 200+ photo album of their journey. They may even ask you to look at it, so beware! Make your excuses early, unless you have a few hours to spare...
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| Mom in wearing some traditional dress in Almaty. |
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| Turkestan Mausoleum |
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| The "sardine can", otherwise known as our train to Astana. |
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| Baiterek Monument in Astana. It has become a national symbol for Kazakhstan. You can take an elevator up it and look out over Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan). |
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| Some modern buildings in Astana. The city has been greatly built up since being named the new capital in 1997. |
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| My apartment building in Petropavlovsk |
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| My counterpart and some of our students on the first day of school. |
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| Some of the kids at our orphanage, waiting for the 1st day of school festivities to start. |
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| Two of our students, Indira and Olya doing a dance for our opening bell ceremony at school. |
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| Us at the art museum in Petropavlovsk |
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| My host mom and sister in Petro. Ready for the 1st day of school. |
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| Me and some of our 1st and 2nd graders. They are so cute! |
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| Dad at the bazaar in Petro. |
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| Dad dressed up like Ablai Khan. |
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| Sarah wearing a traditional Turkmen hat. |
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| Our last photo together for a while...It was a fun visit! |
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| Walking in the rain in Enbek to visit my first host family. |
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| My host mom and my mom making noodles from scratch. |
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| Feast that greeted us in Enbek, prepared by my host family from training. |
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| The main bazaar in Shymkent. If you can't find it here, you don't need it! |
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| Sarah's getting a call on her cell phone cookie. These were her favorite. |
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| Sarah, Stacey , my host mom, her son and his new wife, Guzyela, me, Dad |
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| Toasting to new friends in Enbek. It was neat that my real family got the chance to meet my host family from training. We had a great time visiting them, and my family got to experience village life! Can you say outhouse? |
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| World War II monument in Almaty |
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| View of Almaty from Kok Tobe Cable Car |
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| Family we met at the cable car. They were very excited to meet and be photographed with Americans. |
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| Train to Shymkent. Tight quarters, but a nice ride! |
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| Selling melons in Shymkent |
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| Dried fruit and nuts at the bazaar in Shymkent | \ |
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| Turkestan Mausoleum |
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| Flea market in Shymkent. There you could buy old soviet coins, car parts, busts of Lenin, pots and pans, anything you could imagine! |
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