Day 60

The ice slide. A little rough at the top.
And at the bottom if you get it wrong
on the way down

A long day, but enjoyable. Started off with a stair run. Five repetitions (of 11 flights) by the end of which my lungs felt turned inside out. It is perhaps not so surprising as to how quickly fitness can seep away from a body when you stop. What is astonishing is how fit we think we are, until we come to actually try and do the feat we think is within our grasp. Reality bites.

It was snowing, which was a little surprising, thought we had seen the back of it. But by the end of first service, that had melted. The sun is definitely more warming now, even though the temperature remains below freezing. Headed back from the morning meeting so that Rebekah and Matthias could continue their excellent progress at roller blading.

Got a taxi out to our second meet today, but this time it took nearly an hour to arrive. We had ordered 2 taxis as there was a group of us, but whilst one taxi arrived and hung around (allowing the driver to get a catnap), it turns out the other taxi driver was stopped and interrogated by the police on the way to us. Anyway, trekked to a new part of the city for a wonderful get together and then dashed back to make a 7 o’clock meeting so we could go to a hybrid Kazakh, Ukzbek, Turkish restaurant with Louise, Kevin and Sean (all NU and Riverside colleagues). They were a big hit with our children; glad our lot can be civilised and interactive with other adults. A medium walk back and the temperature had dropped a lot. Not great when wearing jeans. The plus side is that Astana does look great covered in snow and with glittering lights everywhere. Still not brave enough to try the ice slide. Overall, not a bad city to live in (tomorrow perhaps a different story).

Astana by night

Always wondered how much an impact we could have on the locals, but a wise woman today reminded me that it's not just the locals, but other ex-pats that need interaction and support.

Ray