First day of exploration

I arrived in the Capitol city of Astana at around 4:30 in the morning after traveling the equivalent  of a full 40 hour work week.  My exhaustion kicked in the next day when I slept off and on  for the day between meeting people, adventuring with them, and crashing! Haha.  I enjoyed walking around the city and seeing all the new architecture, and how clean and spread out things are.  The city relatively new, and not yet complete, but is slated to be done by 2015. Construction is everywhere, and they are making it really modern.  The grocery stores are awesome too!  Open bins of fresh fruit and veggies, fresh baked goods, hot out of the oven, and of course boat loads of alcohol!!  I actually tried to buy lemonade but wasn't sure if it was non- alcoholic because I couldn't read the label!! Haha! There are also gorgeous statues and memorials around the city.

Anyway, so far, for such a short bit of exploring, everything, and everyone is amazing!!

Keep you posted on the Kazaka!!!blog...

And so it begins.  My flight over to Istanbul was my first international experience.  I was just about the only American on the flight, and I got to try some new food!  Dinner was a Turkish meat dish with rice, and a GREAT chocolate cake.  Breakfast was a little more interesting.  There was some black spread on bread with cheese, and scrambled eggs with things in it( I recognized a pepper, and spiced tomato).  I bravely devoured both (ok I TRIED both- haha).  Imagine, this is only airline food-lmao!!

I am flying over the Carpathian Mountains, and OMG they are amazing!!!!!  Huge, green, spots of villages all around- it is breath-taking.  The clouds sit on the tips like whipped cream on the top of a magnificent drink(a cinnamon dolce latte of course-haha).

On the flight from Istanbul to Kazakhstan, I met an older woman in traditional muslim garb.  Neither one of us spoke the others language, and yet we smiled and used hand gestures, getting the basic things across over the next few ours.  As the flight went on, my companion, wrote feverishly, page after page of letters.  When we went to part, she squeezed my hand speaking endearingly in her native tongue, and kissed me on both cheeks wee hugged, and she then gave me one of her letters.  I am attempting to translate the letter, and look forward to reading her words.