Leaving

Today is my last day on this side of the country. Tomorrow morning I'm flying over to Uralsk, then taking a cab the other 2 hours. So, now I'm trying to gather everything together, send last minute emails saying that I still don't know my address or phone number, and trying to send photos.

Next, I'm going to the bazaar. I'll pick up some of my favorite wheat candies, a present for my host family, and hopefully a long skirt. Women dress very well here, and most have really cool long skirts.

Dinara, my host sister, has been a bit teary, and when I was on a run this morning, she went to the bazaar and bought me a cake. Really sweet. Ryan, Tim, and I area left in Koktube II. Last night, we helped Jon and Amanda pack and talked about funny names. Kazakh names are hippie names. They translate to things like "moon-flower" and "moon-thing" and "flower-face." The closest word to "Jon," "Djhan" means "soul." "Ryan" means something like "good wind." My counterpart's name is "Kymbat" - "expesive." Not a hippie name.

Okay. I'm a bit nervous about all of this, and I'm going to shut down this operation and shop a bit. I love you all! - Susan