A Day in the Mountains

On Sunday, we had a whole staff outing to the mountains.  I'd estimate that about 150 people or so were in attendance: every one from administrators to bus drivers to security. We left school at around 9:30 in the morning and arrived back about 8:30 at night.  I enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the city and see the landscape of southern Kazakhstan.

It was a day of travel, food, games, dancing, more food, more dancing, and football.  The party continued on the buses for the 1.5 hour trip home.

Here are some of the sites and people:

We traveled in 4 buses.  We decided ours was a rolling fez.

It was especially fun when we had to get out and walk -- or even push -- going up the mountain.

We traveled for miles through the mountains along the border of Kyrgyzstan

All along the border is a fence -- with barbed wire fences on either side of it.

This most likely is a border patrol outpost on the Kyrgyzstan side.

The vast Kazakh steppes

Me and my colleagues -- both local and international at the campground in the mountains

Breakfast when we arrived at the campground.  The ubiquitous round bread, salads, meats and cheeses, soup, sweets.  The bottle contains horse milk.  No, you really don't want to try it.  The locals drink it like crazy.  If you look toward the end of the table, you will see Coke bottles reused to hold horse milk.

As soon as we got there, they set to preparing dinner.  We had this lamb served over seasoned rice.  Very good.

The locals love to dance.  They can't get enough.  They even travel with a sound system! 

This guy started hitting the vodka around 11:00.  I took this picture around 6.  He was dangerous by then.

Possibly the most beautiful woman I have ever met: Nurgul.  Her dancing was a major event.  (Check out vodka man in the back!)

She is a Global Perspectives teacher with a lot of potential.

I'll leave off with that picture because the look on Nurgul's face expresses the vibe of the whole day: pure joy!