Becoming Parents . . . !

Our flight to Kazakhstan went well . . . smooth, safe, and on time. When we arrived in Almaty, our facilitator, Gulnara, and our driver, Emil, were waiting for us just like we were told they would be. We loaded up Emil’s Subaru and headed to a 24-hour market where we picked up some basics for the morning. We settled down in our five-floor walk up, two-bedroom apartment at about 2:00 am. We both sat up with a start at 5:00 am to see why the doors were rattling and the bed was shaking. We thought, heating pipes? someone’s trying to break in? truck or train went by? earthquake? Do they get earthquakes in Kazakhstan? Sure enough, when Emil picked us up in the morning he asked, “did you feel the earthquake?” It was the talk of the day and we learned the source happened in China, registering 9.0 on the richter scale. We felt it for about 30 seconds and it registered at 4.5 in Kaz.

Here’s a couple of photos of our humble abode!