28 hours of wind and counting

Having trouble again- sorry for the 3 posts. :(

The weather this week has been playing tricks on everyone in Karkaraly.  Monday and Tuesday were warm- the only days since Nov that have hovered around freezing.  The snow and ice began to melt and it became sloshy in hours.  Then yesterday at lunch the wind began.  Over 24 hours later the wind hasn't stopped for more than a few minutes.  The town is situated so that the wind rushes down through the mountains and pounds the town.  The internet said 20mph winds.  I'm not a good gauge of wind speed, but I know its pretty miserable outside and 20 doesn't seem like its high enough.  You have to lean or walk heavily into the wind to hold your course and the snow hitting your face feels like your walking into a sandblaster.  We are certainly getting gusts up to at least 40mph, if I had to guess.  It's nearly white-out conditions outside now, as I write this.

The temperature isn't that cold out- only 23.  But the wind chill is well below zero and the slush from earlier this week has turned to thick slabs of ice.  Getting tossed around by wind while walking on ice is tricky.  I found myself skating down an icy hill today and managed to keep my feet under me, but it was a close call.  It's hard to tell in the picture above, but the wind was really whipping. The boy walking backwards (2nd from right) is my host brother Emir, coming home from school.

On a different note, things at the park are progressing.  I'm making progress on the tourism map and website renovations.  I think next week we'll be done with them and will hand it over to the real professionals to make the changes.  And soon we will begin planning the summer's big project- the nature museum renovations.  Finding the money for this is the hardest thing.  Simply to get new taxidermied animals would cost close to $14,000.  So we need to sit down and prioritize what we want to do.  But we are also shooting for the stars and will begin to solicit corporate sponsors soon.  I don't know if it will work or not, but we'll give it a shot. 

The park guys today also mentioned that they have been making a quarterly bulletin for some time now. I tossed out the idea of making a smaller version to make a e-newsletter to be sent to all the other parks in KZ.  They liked the idea and since they are already making it...think it has a shot to be successful.  But we won't tackle this until next month I believe. 

That is it for now- I'm bundled in a blanket, trying to stay warm (my windows don't keep the heat in...or cold out).  I hope its warmer where you are.