- Called a woman from a local organization to offer free hearing screenings in Shymkent
- Sorted through the Savva Delegation pictures
- Took a boy to Shymkent to look into getting braces. He was born with a cleft palate and has recently undergone surgery, but needs braces for his teeth.
- Used all my strength to physically restrain a child in order to perform a hearing test. We came to find out that he had ear infections and major ear wax ... which was causing him not to appreciate us sticking things in his ears. I got to help restrain him while his ears were cleaned out as well.
- Spoke with our Stateside director
- Cleaned up my apartment to prepare for my Kazakh lesson and English club
- My Kazakh teacher didn't show up, so I went to the office
- Set up three new computers for our office
- Had someone drop in at the office to introduce me to someone who wanted to come to English club
- Bought meds for the boy with the ear infections
- Baked a cake for English club
- Had English club
- Made a video for the service celebrating Liz's life
- Spent the morning playing with a group of children with disabilities. We painted with water (those cool books that have the paint already in the book), applied tattoo stickers, and watched dinosaur sponges grow from capsules.
- Explained the meds to the caregiver of the little boy with the ear infections
- Tried to buy my return train ticket at an electronic kiosk ... waited for 10 minutes for a grandmother who didn't know which train she wanted to take ... realized they don't accept foreign passports at the electronic kiosk ... didn't want to wait in line to speak to a person
- Met my Kazakh family at the train station right before lunch in order to see off my Kazakh mom and sister. They were going to Astana for my sister to apply to college.
- Tried to go check prices for a wheelchair, but ended up at a building maintenance company instead.
- Purchased my train ticket at a small travel agency without a line
- Signed a bunch of random documents since Marina was on vacation this week
- Updated our company blog so that it would continue posting while I am on vacation
- Updated my personal blog
- Posted pictures from the Savva Orphanage camp on our Facebook page
- Updated our website and planned future updates
- Talked to our receptionist about working on blogs so that people get to know our staff
- Asked our English speaking staff to work on translating our website into Russian and Kazakh during any down time they have
- Chatted on Facebook with some of our past delegates
- Got caught up on all my emails
- Set up debriefing during the first part of my vacation
- Spoke with Sharyll Martin in our Muncie office about the fall delegation
- Sorted and organized the supplies left over after the Savva delegation
- Gave some grass cutting advice
- Went with some of the staff to check out a possible picnic site for our all staff picnic
- Bought picnic supplies (saw cranberry juice for the first time in Kaz)
- Cleaned up my office, which looked like a disaster area after a busy month.
- Found the organization that sells wheelchairs and got an estimate for a specialized dance wheelchair.
- Brainstormed with our staff about some ideas for next year
- Listened to part of an online conference
- Brainstormed about turning English club into a Volunteer Club for the fall
- Had tea with our accountant and discussed the cultural expectations and customs surrounding a death in the family
- Found a translator to help me in Almaty so that I can hang out with some of the Russian speaking orphans that graduated and now live in Almaty
- Tracked down contact info for the orphans I hope to visit
As you can see, I had a pretty productive week. Time for vacation!
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