Catching Up

I am getting settled back into life in Kazakhstan.  This week has mostly been spent catching up with people and trying to get the office computers operational again.  Most of our computers apparently decided to try to die a slow death while I was gone.  We also have to take our copier in for service tomorrow.  I spent half a day trying to troubleshoot the problem, but was unsuccessful.  The bad thing is this is the only copier with a finisher in town, so the person fixing it is learning everything for the first time.  We are hoping to get it fixed before we have to prepare for delegations.  I figured I'd give you a list of some of the highlights of some of the last few weeks.  It's really good to be back home in Kazakhstan, although my body is still trying to get on the right schedule.

• Spending time with family and friends in the States
• My cousin Jeff came to MT to visit and he, Steve (my brother-in-law) and I got to go skiing.  I was glad I hadn't forgotten everything in the 10 years since my last trip down a mountain.  I was also super thankful I didn't break anything before the flight.  It was probably one of my most enjoyable times skiing because the slopes were empty.  The windchill was between -5 and -11 at one point.  
• Eating besparmak with my Kazakh family when I returned 
• Seeing everyone here in Kazakhstan again
• Babysitting my niece
• Celebrating a friends birthday
• Helping Comfort with some projects at her business
• Decorating my apartment with pictures I took and Comfort printed for me as a Christmas gift
• Watching football with my family
• New Years with Comfort, Steve, and Nivi
• Making sushi with my family
• Finding actual rice cakes (not wheat cakes) in the store today
• Finding out the road to Almaty is now open, which means nice roads and a quick trip
• Learning IKEA has come to Almaty
• Delivering a camera to a boarding school for children with disabilities here in Taraz 

Now that I am settled, I will get back to posting more regularly and will make sure I share some funny stories.