Pictures!

Finally! So this post will mostly all be pictures, with some brief commentary. I'm uploading these in html, so I'm not exatly sure what's what and I don't want to flip bak and forth to check, so just figure it out for yourself. :)Also, I didn't get all of them that I wanted here, because my connection is a little slow, so there may be more coming later when I get to another internet cafe.

First, pictures from our trip to Almaty yesterday. We went to the Mosque (we had to wear head coverings – thus Audrey and I looking lovely in our scarves. Thanks again to the Langfords’ who gave me that wrap as a going away gift. I knew it would be useful!) , a Church in Panfilova park as well as the WWII Memorial there, the Peace Corps headquarters, and a huge American-style Mall where we were happy to find pizza (which apparently wasn’t great), coffee (apparently a God-send for some people) and a KFC, as well as a huge supermarket which carries peanut butter and Pringle-like chips called Kracks. Excellent. There was also an ice skating rink inside, with a big-ol’ Pirate ship above it. Cause I mean c’mon, why not?

Then some pictures of my house, the entry way, the kitchen area and the living room. I was doing some suitcase adjusting that day, so I didn't get a picture of the mess, but next time I get pictures off my camera I'll have one. There is also a separate kitchen area outside, along with the bannya and infamous squat toilet, but it was dark when I took these pictures, and has been raining ever since so I didn’t really want to go out and take pictures of those. But I will soon.

Then there are 2 shots from around town. The first is just a nice view I saw while walking home from the Magazine (store) the other day, and then there’s the golden statue, which is outside of the Akimat, which is the Townhall.

Then a couple of pictures form out Bell Cermony – the first day of school. It was supposed to be outside (the first pic) but started raining, so we moved it inside. Then there is a picture of me with my Language Trainer Katya and the 4 other guys in my language group. Good times!

There is a group of pictures is of the parade for Constitution day. Not a parade by American standards, but people did walk down a street with banners, and there was dancing and music afterwards. Good enough.

So there you have it! I’ll try to be better about taking pictures around the village, but I do feel a little silly pulling out my camera while walking down the street, so I’ve been hesitant. But I’ve still got 8 weeks to go in this village, so I’ll be sure to get some more soon.