Almaty!

Made it.

After two long, but not too terrible, flights we are here! Got in around midnight, made it through passport control, and then had that wonderful sinking sensation of,"Uh, where is my bag?"

Luckily, the rest of our small group (just five students, all graduate) got their luggage without any trouble. When I went up to make my complaint, the Lufthansa people had already been notified that my bag was left in Frankfurt. So it should be in either late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Not really a problem, not really unexpected, but here's hoping that everything arrives intact!

I'm staying with a family in a downtown apartment. It's pretty luxurious to be able to walk to a cafe with wi-fi. Our next door neighbor is a large diskoteka. Should make for some entertaining evenings. The family hosted a student last summer, which makes my job easier. They have some expectations already of what this experience will be like; so far their ideas line up with mine. I'm getting in some good Kazakh practice with their four-year-old boy. No huge communication mishaps yet, but I'm sure they are on the way.

Classes start Monday. I'll have three hours a day of one-on-one Kazakh language class. That sounds a bit intimidating to me, but I am looking forward to some serious language improvement.

No phone yet, but I am happy to report that the accordion player with the music stand and the pleasant voice is still sitting on the same door stoop that he was two years ago. And there are still doner kebabs and hot samasa on every corner.

Now the real test: can I wander back to my new home?

Hugs,
Nora