Yesterday was the first day since November that the temperatures rose above freezing. I decide to go for a walk to mark the occasion. I headed out of town towards the steppe.
For those of you who have been to Billings, Montana, it actually reminds me of when you are up on the rimrocks heading to Molt or Lewistown. The sky here is just as large as in Montana.
This is a war memorial near the edge of town.
I like this monument a lot. It doesn't get any more soviet looking than this.
Not much to report on projects at the park. I'm making progress with the website but it is going at the pace of a snail, due to the fact that I'm waiting for other people to contribute information and they have other priorities. I have received quite a bit of help from my buddy Tim and his colleagues at Rocky Mountain National Park. I think it will take me a while to make it into readable Russian, but the info is great. My Peace Corps program manager is visiting this week. Because of that and the shortened work week (today is a holiday), I will probably only work one full day this week. So I don't expect to take large strides at the website this week. Actually, this month is pretty solid. Another large holiday, Nauruz, is coming later this month. And my PC In-service training in Almaty is at the end of the month. So I'm hoping to get the website done before Nauruz and IST, so that I don't have to wait until April.
This past week I helped my park director, Almas, and the biology/tourism guy, Shamil, apply for an exchange program this coming May. It would be a good experience for them and is focused on Kazakhstan's trash problems. We should find out at the end of the month if they get in or not.
That's the update for this week.
