Talgar River

My little sister Martina is definitely warming up to me. We work on numbers - she does multiplication and I repeat the numbers in Kazakh and teach them to her in English. Kickin it with her is really fun and much easier/less frustrating at times than the older family members. I really feel like she is starting to let me be like her older brother. In that sense she is letting me embarrass her in front of her friends, blow my burps in her face, and tell on her to my host Mama. Interacting with the town kids in general here is so great. They all know we are here, so they always coming running up to us to either stare, or, for the bold ones, say hello. Our trainers keep reminding us of “living in a fishbowl” and “celebrity status” – which is especially true at the elementary schools we train at, and the kids are so fun. Anyway, so Martina…she wanted to go to the zoo today. The whole fam got on the bus to go, but when we got there found out it was closed (or something, I didn’t understand). Instead we walked down the road to river crossing. It was at the base of the mountains and was so beautiful. The water was freezing cold, but the riverbed was really rocky so we could make our way across. We ended up staying here for a few hours and I am proud to say that I christened and set sail the first U.S.S. Fox in Kazakhstan. (I made a boat out of branches, and river grass) Everyone got really into it and it was definitely one of those cross-cultural moments.