спасибо, друзья (Thank you, friends)

That's my sister and her daughter modeling their winter coats. It will be cold in Kazakhstan.

Thank you thank you, my dears, for all your sweet comments on my last - and obviously distressed - post. Especially Faith who said: "Why Kazakhstan, it seems random and soooo far away." Which is exactly what I said when Emily first suggested it. In answer to that, Kazakhstan IS random. My sister and her husband will be teaching in an international school in Astana, and the company they work for runs schools all over the world - they could just as easily be going to East Timor.

Also, it was pointed out to me that my estimate of 196 hours of travel time to Kazakhstan assumed driving eastward from California. Which is silly. Of course, one should drive west from California to Kazakhstan, and if you consider putting your car on a ferry across the Bering Straight, it might actually be physically possible, though not recommended.