What a Week!

This week has been a bit rough. It peaked today when my hard drive crashed for the second time in six months. I have been on the phone with customer service trying to get something done about it, but it looks like I will be without my computer for at least a month. As a result, I figured it was about time for some random funny stories from Kazakhstan.

We have been having regular power outages throughout the city. Originally everyone said it was to conserve electricity for New Year Celebrations. After going by the governor's office I understood why. Their decorations were strings of light bulbs (yes real size light bulbs) attached between all the lamp posts outside their office. There are probably at least 500 of them. Maybe the power outages will stop when all the decorations are taken down.

Yesterday the gas inspectors came to our office and cited us for some things we needed to change to comply to the law and gave us three days to do it - although it changed to two hours on some of the items today. Here are some of the ones I found kind of amusing. One was that we can no longer have a a flexible gas hose leading to our stove - it must be a solid metal pipe. Hope we don't ever have to move the stove. Second was that you are not allowed to have gas pipes running within any walls - they must all be visible. This explains why you can see pipes running above ground throughout the city. Third (and I think my favorite) all gas pipes must be painted yellow.

Many of the side roads are covered with a layer of packed snow which has become ice. A favorite pastime for kids is to run behind a slow moving car, grab the bumper, and squat. They then see which child can hold on the longest as they slide down the street on their feet. I guess you have been in Kazakhstan a while when instead of worrying about their safety, you find yourself glancing in your side mirrors to see if anyone is still holding on. Beth and I had some hanging on for at least 3/4's a block the other day.

Highlight of the week - getting a package from mom and dad with copies of my mom's new books (they're really cute and will come in handy as I move and try to organize my things, a Redskins game (one that they one), and a movie that one of my friends was in. YEAH for packages from home.

Well, I feel a little better after looking at some humour around me. I'll have to remember to put things like this on the blog more often. Have a great day!