Here come some photos from the last several days.

We will begin with our Astana apartment. We took these just before we walked out the door for the last time. You can be sure that it never looked so go during the time we were living there.







For reasons that remain mysterious, there appear to be many a bed throughout Kazakhstan comprised solely of a box spring, and lacking even a semblance of a mattress. Maybe it's a function of a misguided lay-a-way program, or maybe simply regional differences in sleep habits, but it takes some getting used to for those of us who consider the mattress a fairly integral part of the whole sleep system.











Before leaving Astana for good, I had to stop by the Ice City one last time. Though unfortunately we did not get to see it completed this year, I enjoyed watching the process immensely.





Unfortunately it is difficult to get a sense of the massive size of this wall of wild horses running. Take my word for it, it is impressive.



































And lastly tonight, Marshall, Jennifer, and Aila Robinson, our new friends from Rhode Island.