Working at the orphanage

For the last month I have had the opportunity of spending some time at a couple of the local orphanages.
Each Tuesday we have been taking a team in to play some games with the kids and spending time talking to them.

Going in there for the first time was a bit daunting. It was my first time in an orphanage and I really didn't know what to expect. The children were really happy to see us and all of the boys made a point of coming up and shaking my hand. This is a common greeting for males in Kazakhstan, more so than in Australia. The young girls were very affectionate to the females on our team. The children that we have been spending time with are generally from about 7-11 years old.
I was very sad to see a group of about 16 children who looked to be between 2 and 3 years old. They looked so similar to our kids (in size) but it was as if somebody had taken their joy. So far we haven't had the opportunity to run activities with the little ones but hopefully in the future we will be able to.

We're coming home

On July 17th we will leave Shymkent and head back to Australia. The overnight train will take us from Shymkent to Almaty and after spending the day at Almaty we'll board a 20 hour flight and arrive at Sydney airport around 6.30pm on July 19th.

We've decided that July is a good time for us to head back and try and settle back into life in Australia.

Getting out of the city and heading to the mountains

By far the highlight of our trip so far was Good Friday. They Aussie's in our team headed out of town and went to check out the mountains. We live in a small city and things aren't usually too busy, but it was so nice to get away and see some beautiful scenery and breathe some fresh air.
We hired a mashootka (16 seater) for $80. For our money we got our transport, petrol and driver. What a bargain.
The scenery was stunning. Beautiful green hills, snow covered mountains, a rocky stream, low cloud cover and a little bit of rain. We got to have a picnic and went for a walk into the mountains. There were sheep grazing and everybody got a chance to run around. Sammy spent most of the day running at an embankment and by the end of the day succeeded in falling down it!
On the way back I got to try some fermented horse milk. It wasn't too bad, but not something I'd want to drink every day.

Hopefully we can head back to the mountains some time soon

Celebrating Easter

In Kazakhstan Easter is not celebrated the way that it is in Australia. It's surprising to realise how much Australian society is influenced by Christianity and Christian celebrations (even if they are celebrated by most as a time for presents and chocolate). Over here there are no Easter Eggs in the shops. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are just another day. I found a shop that had an assortment of Kinder Surprise type eggs and they became our Easter Eggs this year. Jack and Sammy had lots of fun and loved eating their chocolate.

Making play dough

One of that hard things about living in Kazakhstan is that it's hard to buy things that are easy to buy in Australia. One of the things we haven't been able to buy is cream of tartar. Why do I care??? Because this is one of the important ingredients used to make play dough. There really isn't a whole lot for our kids to do here, so having play dough is quite special.
Some of our dear friends sent us a package with stuff from Aus in it. It was so nice receiving the package and we really felt cared for. Inside the package was cream of tartar so the day after receiving the package we did some cooking and made play dough. It was lots of fun and continues to provide enjoyment!

Our fish

Every kid needs a pet but living in an apartment makes it hard to own one. A few weeks ago Jack and Sammy and I were at the Bazar (market) and we saw a lady selling fish. For $25 we ended up with a small tank, 8 fish, a filter, fish food and some weed for the tank. It's nice having little fish living at our house and for the first few days Jack and Sammy couldn't get close enough!

Narus part 3

The highlight of Narus for Jack and Sammy was getting a balloon. I've never seen balloons shaped like elephants before and was happy to buy them for $1.50 each. They gave the kids something fun to do for a few hours.