Hi mom, We made it back alive! The train ride wasn't that bad, and it's not as hot here as I thought it would be. The apartment is a mess (Kazbek stayed there on a site development visit and left a window open, so the whole apartment is covered with dust. Plus we brought back way too many things with us At the train station in Almaty, we were walking (or trying to) with our luggage to the front entrance way. We had bought this 'Chinese' bag (heavy duty, plain patterned woven plastic bag that is indestructible) and stuffed it to the gills. There are some train guys who stand in the entrance way and harass people. So of course, we are the only two people this one guy stops out of a huge stream of people pouring into the station. He demands to see our tickets, then tries to lift our bag to see how much it weighs. He almost gets a hernia and says through his gasps of pain, "You need to go get a stamp for this." That means going to another part of the station, waiting in a huge free-for-all line, dealing with bureaucrats, paying money, etc - all of which is horrible to do in a foreign language as well as in a former Soviet satellite. So we start freaking out: "It's only our things! Why?! We've never had to do this before! I don't understand!" I think it was Joan's well timed ³I'm about to burst into to tears and you really don't want to deal with a crying foreign woman in the train station² routine that turned the tide in our favor. The guy finally looked disgusted and waved us through. We scurried as well as we could and got on the train lickity split! It is nice to be back in KO. It is much nicer than I rememember, but I am probably only comparing it to Kapchagai which explains everything. Jami and Angela are settling in well. Did you contact their parents and give them all the addresses and info? I am not going to go on with more stuff as I don't know what my schedule is, who is teaching RC classes, whether or not Ahmad's not paying his share of the internet phone bill will cause us to lose internet access, etc. When I know more and am a little more settled in, Iıll get back to you asap! Take care for now! love, Rich