First Day of School

It's back to school for all of us now, although none of us feel quite ready to get back into our busy schedule. We're happy to see all the familiar faces of friends again, but the prep (for us) and the homework (for the kids) is not so invigorating. Kate is in a split class of 23 kids this year (grades 1 and 2) since the school was unable to find a grade 2 teacher. We're still praying that a teacher will come at some point in the year to relieve some of the pressure. Kate already has a new friend in her class that she met at baseball games.

Will's teacher (grade 4) is new to the school but has been in the country for about ten years. He is very excited to be back playing with his friends in the schoolyard and always wants to stay "a little bit longer" after school to maximize playing time. Hopefully Karla and I pick up some of our kids' enthusiasm.

Baseball Champions!

Will's baseball team ended the season on a high note, winning two games in a row in the best-of-three championship series. Although we hadn't won a game against the first-place team all summer, their superstar player was out of the country allowing us to snatch the victory away. (Actually, we won both games by a large margin so those missing players obviously had made a lot of difference!)

The boys showed a lot of improvement over the two months (no doubt due to exceptional coaching) and had a lot of fun too. Although I was very thankful for the rest when the season finally ended, I was glad that we had made the commitment as a family. Just the connections we made with other families made it worth it.

Waterslides!!

To celebrate our first year of surviving Kazakhstan, we went to a waterpark for the day with two other families. It was a little expensive but this may be the only time that we go since we're back to school on Thursday. The weather was nice and warm, although we were interrupted in the afternoon by some rain. But it turned out to be a great day -- I think the chance of rain kept some people away so that it wasn't too busy.

The 'aquapark' was really quite impressive: there was a small slide for toddlers, four medium slides for young kids, four big slides for bigger kids and adults, plus two slides that use inflatable inner-tubes. One of these inner-tube slides was black and completely enclosed so that it was almost completely dark inside. I think this was everyone's favourite. Even Thomas liked it!

Road Trip

This weekend we took a road trip with some friends out to a village called Shelek. On Friday, on the way out, we drove into one of the nearby mountain valleys and took a small hike up to a waterfall. The path followed alongside the stream so the kids were able to play in the water all the way up and down -- which makes for a long hike! The waterfall was quite nice -- I stuck my head in it to 'freshen up', while my buddy stripped down to his undies and got entirely 'fresh'.

After getting back to the cars, we drove to a place along the road where, for a small fee, we are able to eat our lunch in a traditional yurt (well, almost traditional -- the inner frame was metal, not wood). The kids didn't sit still for long, though, and were soon running outside along the stream again. Across the stream a horse was laying on its side, hardly moving except for a kick of its legs every few minutes. Now I don't know a lot about horses, but I know that they don't usually lie on their sides for any length of time. So we were a little saddened at watching this horse in its last hour. But twenty minutes later, we looked again and the dying horse was gone. But a few yards away stood a fully-alive camel! I guess it wasn't a horse! And I guess camels don't mind laying down on their sides! After lunch, we made our way on to Shelek where we were able to have supper and sleep at the house of our friends' friends.

On Saturday morning, we drove further away from the city to a hot springs that our friends had heard about. The first stretch of highway we drove on was quite bumpy with a lot of large potholes, but the next stretch made the first one seem great. There was some rough gravel but where the gravel had got too rough, cars had made alternative routes around the gravel in the dirt. These alternates were not as rough but had huge ruts that (in my opinion) were even more hazardous. Not a great road for the old Volkswagen! I bottomed out a few times! And not great for attracting more tourists!

When we finally arrived, the hot springs were not quite what I had imagined. There was a free pool and a pay pool. The free pool was basically a small pond, almost black with mud (although some visitors seemed to like the stinky mud because they were covering themselves with it). The bottom of the pond was mud and rocks (some sharp), but the water was really warm and the kids liked catching the little minnows. So we soon decided to try out the pay pool. This was an actual man-made pool -- actual two pools: the first one was smaller and shallower but hotter, the second one bigger and deeper and a little cooler. But they were both too hot to stay in for long, especially on a day that was already 30 degrees. Maybe we'll go back in the wintertime...oh well.

On Sunday, we headed back to the city but first stopped off at an ostrich farm. I think the owners are hoping to sell the meat and eggs to some upscale clients: the meat was $70 a kilo and the eggs $50 each. Plus they sell the feathers and the leather. But it was interesting to see these big birds up close. The kids were able to feed them, although their beaks made us all a little nervous. Then we all packed up again and headed into the city. By the time we got through the city and the traffic and found our way home, everyone was exhausted...and I was ready to get off the roads. But we all had a great time! A weekend to remember forever!