eleven hour time difference

Yup. It's just past midnight in Grand Rapids however it's just past eleven in the morning in Almaty. The past few nights Michael and I both have had a lot of trouble sleeping. For me it's waking up every hour starting at midnight. Needless to say, we've both been tired lately and since our luggage was lost in our travels we're both quite grubby. I was talking to a teacher at Mike's school though and she said that it's common for Kazakh people to wear the same clothing every day. Cool.

So I am pretty much going to paste an email that I sent to my mom because I don't feel like writing the same thing twice! Sorry, I promise to be more thoughtful in the future. Blogging really isn't my thing....

Things are good! A lot of adjustments, which can be kind of tiring but it is SO nice to be here with Mike- I don't feel so lonely. Michael and I only live about 5 minutes apart by walking so we've seen each other every day so far. He lives in a house that looks like it could be found in a city back home except that its surrounded by a huge gate, every house is. I live in a house that literally looks like a cake. A turquoise one. And it's huge inside... I think my room is a bit larger than my one at home. The house is quite new too. The mountains are just outside my window, they are BEAUTIFUL and I can usually see them quite well in the morning and the evening. In the afternoon, the smog sets in and you can't see a dang thing which is strange because they are HUGE and so close!

M, the woman I am living and working with is wonderful. She is from Germany and she is just great to be around. Anyways, she and I won't get down to work until this next week because she had a seminar all of this week. I'll tell you more about her work soon. So Mr. F, the dad that Mike is living with said that the school would probably need some help here and there so the past three days I have been able to see where Mike will be working and to meet the people there. I helped out with a few different classrooms and even got to teach a 5th grade math lesson haha. It was great!

I have yet to get a phone, but I might be getting one today. They only cost around $20 I think.

What else... oh yes, at the end of the day, my hair usually smells like a bonfire because of the diesel fumes from the cars. Wonderful. And since our luggage hasn't arrived yet (hopefully today!) I can't really feel clean. Yes, I've worn the same clothes for 5 days in a row. I think I just generally stink, there is not just one area of central stinkage. It just all stinks.

Here is a picture of one of three views from my bedroom!

thats all for now... my battery is dying!