A sad little funeral for three

These are my dead shoes. There are only two pictured here as the third pair is still in ICU. Those of you that know me will understand. I love shoes, shamelessly love shoes. I am embarrassed by the number that I have here at the office, at my apartment, and in America still. I can’t help it. And Kazakhstan has almost reduced me to tears over…shoes, yes, shoes.

I walk here, a lot! Walking is hard on shoes, especially on rocky, wet surfaces over long distances like I face here. Thankfully flats are finally popular here (I can here my chiropractor rejoicing! You’d be proud of me Dr.Lilkins!) and so I finally bought some shoes to replace the US versions I’d completely worn out. I saved and scrimped and went to the big city of Almaty where I bought three pairs for approximately $60. Not outrageous right, but enough to last me for the summer right? Yea, no. I bought three pairs of shoes that lasted…drumroll please...one week. One week. Yes, Buy a pair of shoes for $20 in the states and they’ll last you at least a year (allowing you to buy another fashionable shoe next year!). Buy a shoe for $20 here and they’ll last you a week. Not even a full seven days!

Solution: Beg friends from home to send you shoes!

Waterworks, playing with FIRE, and patriotism

So because of the delegation, some things are much delayed…like this post about fourth of July. The office was closed since we are an American company and we threw a huge party to invite our local friends. Following a meal of burgers, fries, and chocolate chip cookies, we had a full fledged water fight! I tried to remain a cool observer with my camera, but got a bucket of water nonetheless. I exacted my revenge and was left alone from further torment.

To help dry off we had a little fire which led into fire jumping, the guys version and the girls version (see video links). Followed by smores and fireworks. *sigh* It was a good day!

Youth Impact Delegation

Well our second summer delegation has come and gone with great success. And I was so sad to see them go, just as we were really getting to know each other and become good friends. You can read about all the things they did at the park here, here, on a picnic here, here, on a scavenger hunt here and with Youth Impact kids here and here.

The things that impressed me were their ability to make strong connections with the youth in just a few days, their flexibility, and the way that they blessed me personally with their friendship and gifts. It was also my family that hosted some of the delegation and I loved having time together with my family! Here are some of my favorite shots from their time here with some kids who are special to me...thanks guys for letting me use your photos!

This is my host family together in a shot. It's my Mom, Aitan, her son Sultan (next to me) and a cousin whose Mom just died last month. Our delegation guests took us out for an amazing dinner that night! Thank you Sara, Elizabeth, and Jeff!

Youth Delegation

Americans arrive today (July 8th). We're going to have a few days with the Youth Impact girls working on decision making, culminated by a picnic in the mountains. We'll then take time to show the delegation the orphanage work we do and take a "quick trip" down to Shymkent for a tour of the English Centre! It'll be a busy time so you may not here from me, but as the norm, I'll be sure to have dozens of pictures to share!

Apples are from Kazakhstan…so are tulips (sort of!)

And just to be clear, I stole that from a book! (In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared) No plagiarism here. Actually this book is going on my top recommendations (see to the right). I’ve not gotten even two chapters in but am already captured…perhaps I should finish it before I recommend it, but I think it’s more interesting to put it out there and then disclaim like crazy later if it turns out to be dodgy. Just don’t let the kids read it first, just in case!

Seriously though, the fact is that quite a bit of the scientific community believes that Kazakhstan is the birthplace of the apple. They began in the mountains and were exported. The sad thing is that now it’s fashionable to eat imported apples, allowing the apples growing naturally to fall by the wayside…in some places! I’m on the hunt for these wild apple groves in the mountains come September.

Tulips also grow wild here and a great majority of the varieties that grow world wide. They are also believed to have grown originally in Kazakhstan before exportation. Hmmm….the things you never knew!

The ugliest camel I’ve ever seen!

So we stopped on the way to Savva when we saw a mama camel and her baby. The baby was so sweet and fuzzy and cute…and then I got a close up of the mama! AGH! This is a face only a baby could love!

Beggars can’t be choosers…or can they?

One of the issues that came up at the teaching conference was the issue of begging. Some of the children come from situations so bad that they were reduced to begging on the street before coming to Savva. Unfortunately, begging appears to be a habit they are finding hard to break and the caretakers just don’t know what to do. The older children have some freedom to leave the property and some try to make the most profit they can, doing odd jobs or, in some cases, begging. I would never have imagined this problem and nor did I know how to respond to the caretakers’ questions. So I’m off to do some research on ways this issue has been dealt with in other countries. If you have any ideas, do let me know!