Day 53

The headaches of purchasing certain items in Kazakhstan is not just felt by me, but by many others. A friend we met this afternoon has experienced this over a longer period. It appears that Kazakhstan would receive a few containers of items every so often, so they have a surplus of a particular item, but when it is gone it is gone. LG, I noticed, on the taxi ride across the city to Highvill have head quarters in Astana. I wonder if they are a preferred supplier to Kazakstan. We were at Kereun shopping centre and found 8 different types of DVD player (6 of which were LG). Alas, none were multi region. Counter this with over 130 TVs including several 3D models costing over £5,000 each. So was thinking of trying to find a cable that would connect the one laptop with working DVD player to the TV, but Amazon Marketplace don’t deliver to Kazakhstan. So I have to find another seller. Real pain for an item that would cost £3 with free P&P in the UK. To get it shipped over here the P&P costs are quite high, so we may be better off trying to assemble a box of goodies to ship over here with a new DVD player and a few other items to ensure Customs realize that they are personal items. We still have some shipping allowance and can get NU to cover the costs until June.

I think we have calmed Rebekah down about her friends not being here. Hopefully we can survive another week. We are one of the few new families that will be living on campus, which makes it difficult. Ali is doing a sterling job of trying to connect up with other families that are homeschooling. Would very much like a few families we know from the UK to head over here and do the same.  

Time is marching on and soon we’ll be heading back to Blighty (hopefully) for the Summer. It has warmed up a lot today. Actually saw snow melting in the sun; not the most exciting pastime, but we are eagerly awaiting Spring. Although the forecast is still between minus 5 and minus 10 this week during the day, so can expect the roads and pavements to turn into skating rinks, which Kyria found out to her disgust today.

Ray