This past week I was in Almaty for our In-Service Conference. The trip down was pretty grueling. The weather was pretty bad and the forecast wasn't much better, so Gambrill and I decided to get out of town 1 day early before the road closed. Everybody had the same idea and the bus was packed to the gills. It reminded me of my bus rides in Romania, with no seats and people standing.
Initially, there were no seats and we were looking at standing for the entire trip. From somewhere they found a seat for Gambrill and then handed out stools for some of the rest of us. I gave up mine to a woman and then was called to the front of the bus by a woman. She asked where my stool was and I said I gave it up to a woman...so she went back and took it away and brought it back to me. Ha. I got to sit on a stool in the isle up near the driver. It was pretty cramped. With all the people and my size, it wasn't a very comfy ride. There is one rest stop along the way. I had to get off with my stool and stretch my legs. When I got on, I noticed that Gambrill's seat had been taken away by an old woman and she was now without a seat. So I gave up my stool and stood the remainder of the trip.
She was pretty miserable on the stool. A guy standing behind her, me standing in front of her, and crammed between two others in the isle. Standing wasn't any better. It was topped off when I got poked by an old man who told me to move because he couldn't see the TV. I asked him where he suggested I go, but it was useless.
Because of the weather (high winds and snow), the bus ride that usually takes 3.5 hours (when day time) took 5 hours. We got to Karaganda and attempted to purchase tickets to Almaty, but every ticket on every train to Almaty that day was taken, so we purchased tickets and had to get a hotel room to crash for the night. We finally got to Almaty- 2 days after we left Karkaraly.
The training was the normal PC training- not much to write home about. But it was nice to see a few people and I splurged on a pizza, salad, and hamburger (with yellow mustard!!). The trip back was uneventful- made it back yesterday evening. Karkaraly had a serious thaw while we were gone and the paved roads are clear and much of the ground is clear. Its pretty muddy now though outside. I purchased some plastic water boots to get me to work and home without ruining my shoes.
So back and site and it looks like spring may be here for good now. :)
