My First Real Glimpse of Kazakhstan

So tonight, while at a friend's, I got my first glimpse of Kazakhstan: I watched the first 20 minutes of Borat. The movie itself was rather disgusting but the first few minutes filmed in Kazakhstan made me very excited! I think its finally sinking in that in less than 48 hours I will be departing. The only challenge left is making sure that the three garbage bags filled with clothes will somehow make it into my suitcase or that I can somehow carry them with me on the bus to the airport! I've got quite a supply -- big thanks to anyone who donated stuff!

Also, in our final conference call the other day, I discovered that our trip leaders -- Ethan and Naomi -- created their own blog: jdcrockskazakhstan.blogspot.com. I will be linking my blog to theirs and because of the lack of access to internet where we will be staying - I will unfortunately not be bringing along my laptop. BUT, Naomi will have hers and students from our trip will be updating their blog daily and I will attempt to post on mine as often as I can. So make sure you check it out!

For those of you who don't know, the trip will take 3 days (yes, we leave on a Tuesday and arrive on a Thursday)! We will be making a stop in Kiev, Ukraine and exploring the city for a few hours before boarding back up and flying into Almaty. Any suggestions to pass the time on the planes are welcome! More to come on our itinerary tomorrow--GOODNIGHT!

Starting the Countdown!

Many thanks to Tufts Hillel and the Joint Distribution Committee for making this trip possible and many more thanks to all of your donations to support the Kazakh Jews!

Only 12 days left until I am flying across the globe to a place that I never thought I would see in a million dreams...unbelievable.  

Hopefully I will be able to post daily while there but we have no idea what the internet access situation will be like. Check back every once in a while and hopefully it will be updated!