Vacation venues vigoratingly vivacious

I spent a day and a half in Almaty before my flight and I must say, I could live in Almaty for a while with such cool people as there are there. And it wouldn’t be too difficult to find a job there either, though it might be something not so desirable like teaching English.

Airports are generally an ok place to be for a couple hours – more than that, and I get real fidgety. It’s why I booked my return flight with a 6.5 hour layover in Frankfurt – so I can sneak into the city and see Andrew, a former site-mate in Pavlodar who finished his service last year. But when I can’t get out, I find comfort in the strange fact that time is distorted and twisted into unknown numbers within the glass walls. You can drink a beer at 7:48am, as I am doing right now, and it’s ok because no one knows from where you flew. Maybe to your body, it’s still night time. For me, it’s actually 11:48 (Kazakhstan time), which doesn’t totally justify my beverage selection, I suppose, but hey, I’m on vacation (thanks Cima family for teaching me that excuse/phrase). Just a shame a half liter costs € 4,80. But, it’s tasty and I haven’t had a real German Hefeweizen in like 9 months, so I’ll drop the $7 and change.

I arrived in Key West after a very long day of traveling. I generally like traveling, but that was ridiculous. 30 hours on a train to Almaty, one 7 hour flight to Frankfurt via a stop in Astana, a 9 hour flight to Miami, a 50 minute ride to Key West, and a 5 minute taxi ride to the hotel. Plus all the layovers, delays and such. Then I found out that my family’s flights got cancelled and I was without much money or a phone and I just felt exhausted. My body hurt, my feet were swollen to a size I’d never seen on me before and I had a break down, honestly. Culture shock started to hit me when I was sitting in the Miami Airport and it was a negative feeling. I kept asking myself why people were doing the things they were, why were they dressing like that (usually what I might consider not presentable – especially those going to key west in their shorts, wife-beater t-shirts, and flip flops or worn-out boat shoes), why were they making small talk with people they didn’t know, etc.? Surreal.

But slowly I started warming up. It took a while, especially jumping heartily into American culture via Key West, with drunken and scantily-clad people, fried food galore, and lots of laziness. By the time I processed everything, I was left feeling tired and melancholy, wishing to return to Kazakhstan. Thankfully I was able to call Olga once every day or so and be able to talk to someone that understood my mentality.

Next part will be quicker. In short, hung out with the family a lot, drank lots of wine and beer, ate tons of good food, went on a sunset cruise the night before the wedding, attended the wedding of my cousin to his fiancée on the beach followed by a reception at the Hard Rock Café. Mother’s day was celebrated with the family at a restaurant where I gave mom a hand-crafted necklace made by a local Kazakhstani artist. Monday was a really neat kayak eco-tour with mom, dad, and Scott. More good food and drinks and gift-shopping and finally three more flights home to Richmond. Saw Ashley and Jon, who met me at the airport, went canoeing with dad the next day, went down to VA beach and Suffolk and hung out with Jon, his girlfriend and Ashley and Brian and Brian’s family. Sunday church presentation about my life here and how being a servant isn’t always easy, met lots of friends for drinks, meals, etc. Got to see Ryan twice (even if he did take me to a friggin steakhouse for lunch… grrr, haha)! All of this did remind me of how great life in America can be and often is. So, I suppose thanks!

There were a couple people I didn’t get to see that I wanted to, a couple I wasn’t expecting to see, but was glad I did, and others who kind of forgot about me when I came to Kazakhstan who I heard through the grapevine wanted to see me. To those people (and there are quite a few of them), I say this: send me an email once in a while – I’m not asking for you to send me expensive packages or even a letter/card that costs less than a dollar to send. But if you can’t take the time to attempt friendship, please don’t expect me to do the same. I’m not mad at anyone and being here in Kazakhstan, I’m glad that I only have a couple really close friends. Friendship here is not taken lightly and I’m glad to learn that lesson better than I thought I knew.

Vacation was good, but with the long traveling and short and stressful time, I’m glad to be back in Kazakhstan. It’s just 5 months now before I get to come home!

Scott and I hanging out on the sunset cruise boat.


Me and my grandparents.


Some of the family.


Mom and Dad.


The cousins (those of us who could make it) being silly ;-)


The beach where the wedding took place.


Jessie and Kristen looking lovely together.


Groom's family plus spouses.


The cousins at the cafe (Hard Rock Cafe)


Aunt Carol and me!


Uh, too cute! (grandparents)


Scott and I hanging out on the beach.


Mom and dad in kayaks.


We saw a dolphin on our way out of the harbor - guide said it was very unusual.


Guide showing us a conch snail.


That's where I wanna live!


Dad examining a starfish.


Scott holding a sea urchin.


At grandma's, toasting with a delicious dinner.


Tim, Nathan, and me - three good buddies from Scouts who started together when we were this big *holds hand several feet below my head* at my favorite place, Capitol Ale House