Arrival

After a long trip, I was finally able to lay down horizontally for some sleep this morning after arriving at the place I am staying in Almaty.  Tomorrow morning I will be going to the airport top pick up the youth delegation and traveling to Taraz by bus.  It should be a fun and entertaining trip (although possibly hot).  I did have someone warn the bus drivers that American's like air conditioning, so maybe it will be cool on the bus instead of 110 degrees. 

My flights were fairly uneventful.  The only problem was a two hour delay on the airplane in Newark due to wind and rain.  Since I already had a 12 hour layover, the two hour delay did not effect any of my other travel.  In amsterdam I left the aiport and went on a canal tour.  It was an interesting way to see the city, although I am not sure it is a good idea to sit on a slow-moving boat when jet-lagging.  At least I stayed awake.  It was nice to get out of the airport though.  Thankfully the young child on the plane to Almaty didn't scream after take-off.  I was worried that it was going to be a long flight, but it ended up going pretty quickly as I slept during most of the trip. 

Tomorrow will be our drive to Taraz.  I will get to spend some time with my Kazakh family in the evening.  Then we will head to Vanofka orphanage for three days.  I will try to update you as much as possible!  I am looking forward to seeing Kazakhstan through the eyes of this group of youth.