"way too much for one email"

Hello Dear Family,

Here it is 13 days into the trip and this is the first opportunity to give you more than just a “we made it” email. What an adventure!!! Philip is WONDERFUL, but you already knew that. Stephen has been fun to travel with and Ann Marie is such a trooper, but you already knew that.

We got out of Murray right on schedule after being able to say good-bye to Sarah. Our leaving our car with Brian Maness in Memphis was flawless (thanks to Frank as well).

Our flight out of the states was uneventful but still an adventure with a very crowded plane due to the previous day’s being cancelled. How lucky are we? How blessed are we that OUR flight was good. My seatmate had missed their flight which meant they missed their cruise. We were fed and entertained with movies and we were able to sleep a little.

Touring Amsterdam on a whirlwind allowed us to say, “We’ve been to Amsterdam.” We had a meal there and toured the canal. We even got to walk through the “Red light district.” I kept telling Ann Marie and Stephen, “Well, we’re not in Murray any more!” I was most impressed with the many different languages. The canal tour was in four languages- Dutch, German, English and French. I walked up to a cashier and asked for stamps and she said, “Here we begin conversations with ‘Hello.’” So I back tracked and said, “Hello, how are you?” Then I asked for stamps.

Mechanical difficulty delayed our flight to Kazakhstan by four hours which probably served us well. For starters, it gave us time to nap in the first aid station at the airport before getting on another overnight flight. Secondly, it got us into Almaty at 9:00 am which is much more convenient for our driver and it meant we only had 2 hours to wait before getting into our room.

I was overwhelmed by not knowing the language. I couldn’t even say “thank you,” or “what’s your name,” or “I’d like a drink of water.” Hell, I couldn’t even say “water”! Ann Marie described feeling like a “fish out of water” but I just felt lost. We were NOT in Murray any longer.

Surviving the first 24 hours in Kazakhstan without Philip was made easier by sleeping four hours in the afternoon and 9 hours that night. Finally at 8 am on Friday, July 2nd we got to see him and hug his neck!!! He was dirty and smelly (from his 20 hour train ride) and looked GREAT!!! We were really with him! It was great to see him, but I tell you, it was a Godsend to have someone who could speak the language. And speak the language he does. He is a remarkable man, but we already knew that!

Upon greeting us he introduced his travel companion, Sarah Cunningham (a PCV from Colorado). He said, “We wanted to tell you in person. This is Sarah, we’ve been dating for 6 months and we are engaged!” Our jaws hit the floor. As you know, Michael is married to a Sarah, and Stephen is engaged to one. I nearly had a heart attack. We did open our arms and hugged her, still in shock. Ann Marie could see in his smile and glimmer that they were kidding and they got a good laugh at our expense. I was reassured that this is going to be an adventure.

Almaty was a whirlwind. 1.2 million people call Almaty home. The taxi rides were quite an adventure. It seems as though traffic lanes are merely suggestions and every car can is a potential cab. The five of us hailed two cabs with all our luggage and blistered our way through the streets to our apartment. New York taxi drivers have NOTHING on Almaty drivers. I would bet on the Almaty drivers in an open course race, no question about it.

In Almaty we saw the State Museum, the War Memorial, the Presidential Palace (the locals call it the White House), and the Musical Instrument Museum. That was just in the first 5 hours. It was hot and we were tired, but we were on an adventure. The State Museum proved to me how much I DON’T know about Central Asia. The War Memorial had about 15 or more wedding parties all taking pictures and making toasts. The White House was just a glimmer passed on the bus. The best part of the Musical Instrument Museum was the guard’s hat. (See Philip’s facebook picture to get a view.)

All that was Saturday, July 5th. It really is hard to believe that we had left Murray at noon on Wednesday, July 2nd and already we were half-way around the world, touring this large, Russian- and Kazakh-speaking city. What an adventure! But it goes on.

Sunday we worshipped on our way up to Big Almaty Lake. I have never seen such majestic mountains!! Our pictures will never do them justice- but if you get a chance to see the mountains of Kyrgyzstan you’ll see what I mean. “I look to the hills from whence my help comes” rang out in my heart and mind all the way up. Such splendor! Such majesty!

This hike nearly did us all in. At one time all four of us were separated from each other with only one of us knowing the language. We had a plan- but surprises rose with every step we took. Our taxi driver said the lake was just 1 kilometer past the top of the path. We arranged for the taxi driver to wait two hours for us and we headed up. Little did we know that we could only see about one fifth of the path from the car.

After 20 minutes of hiking straight up 260 steps made of rebar (seriously I counted them), we came to what we thought was the top, but it was simply the top of one rise. Ann Marie and I stopped there and the boys moved forward. I took a little breather but then I left Ann Marie with some water and an apple sitting on a rock. Another 15 minutes of hiking allowed me to catch up with Stephen, who was carrying our lunch. We thought we were at the top but this found us at the top of just another ridge, but the path still kept going up. Philip was determined to get to the lake so he had left Stephen and had kept going. I stopped there on this second ridge, relieved Stephen of the back-pack and bid him good luck. Oh, did I tell you it was cold and rainy and none of us had a jacket or poncho or sweatshirt? Well, consider yourself told now. We were on an adventure for sure!

It had been an hour since we had left the taxi so I decided to start back down. Ann Marie had had the same idea so we met about ¼ of a mile from the taxi. After 20 minutes of looking up the mountain wanting to see our sons we recognized Philip coming down ALONE! When he got to us he said, “The good news is that you still have TWO sons!” (Just kidding- we still have three). Philip, while coming back down from the lake, had met Stephen going up to the lake and they agreed to let Stephen get up there while Philip got back to the taxi on time.

Long story short (I know, it’s too late for that), we all got back to the taxi who took us back to our apartment where we took our weary, trembling legs to bed. The adventure just about wore us OUT – and this was just the beginning.

Monday, July 7th was our day of rest at the Peace Corps compound. There was air conditioning and internet accessibility. There were several PC volunteers moving through on vacation and one on his way home after three years. I am most impressed with these volunteers. They come from all over the USA with great energy, creativity, courage and hope. I was not feeling good at all- my skin was flushed and itchy and even in the A/C I felt hot and uncomfortable. I was so frustrated that here I was with these incredible young adults and I had no energy to visit with them, get to know them, hear their stories, and learn from them. I just drank lots and lots of water trying to get ready for the next leg of our adventure.

Monday night we left Almaty by bus. We were headed to Balkhash, an industrial town on Lake Balkhash (the fourth, soon to be third, largest body of water in Central Asia). We got to eat ‘shashlik’ for dinner at the bus station. It’s like a shish-ka-bob with meat and onions. I chose to have sheep, the others had beef. Very good meal.

At 8:30 PM our bus left and was P-A-C-K-E-D. The seats were close and narrow and we were thinking, “if Michael were with us he’d be miserable.” I knew he’d be miserable because I WAS MISERABLE, but little did I know what lay ahead. It’s an adventure, right?

It was hot, close quarters, with very little ventilation (it certainly wasn’t air conditioned). We were to ride through the night and arrive about 5:30 AM. Nine hours, that’s all. Ann Marie says, “I can handle anything for up to 14 hours ‘cause that’s how long I was in labor with Michael!” But this was rough.

An hour out of Almaty, when the sun had gone down, a movie turned on the big screen up front, but of course it was in Russian and did not help me slip into sleep. Our first “rest stop” was at 11:30 when the bus just stopped at an awning. The men relieved themselves behind the awning and the women went down the ravine and took care of business. There were no lights, no enclosed structure, no water- just God’s landscape. The fresh air was a God-send, but after only 10 minutes the bus was on the road again. I’ll never complain about the roads in Western Kentucky again! I promise.

Tuesday, July 8th found us in Balkhash but that is another story for
another time.

Sure do love all of you and wish you could see Philip in his service
to the world.

Be blessed,
David