Craig and Debbie Rayner

We arrived in Montreal about two weeks before Christmas. My mom came in first and we shared the house for a few days then my sister joined us. Had good conversations lots of mother – daughter/son and sibling time. Dave ( brother) came by to hang out and each of the kids (Dave has 3 children) had the traditional cookie making with my mother which I also enjoyed. Both the making and the eating!

My sister is moving back to Mont- real and so we also got some bond- ing time taking off wall paper and taking up carpets and tiles. Actu- ally, Craig and Gary did most of the hard labour. It is the house my grandmother lived in, so fun to see it being renovated and kept in the family. Re- minded me of the times with MMM in HK and the joy of seeing old things made new!

Being with my family for Christmas was a huge gift, the first time in 9 years. We loved spending it with the cousins aka the card sharks. So special and something they and we will all remember as we won't make it back again for at least a few years.

We arrived in Montreal, from the United States the day of a huge snow storm, and had to brave the weather to get our visa's in. It was amazing to have sent them off, and they returned to us exactly a week latter. These are one month visas. Once school starts up again, they will be submitting for a year work visa. There have been some challenges having them issued, please lift this up! The alternative is a 6 month visa and then renewing.

We have landed in Kazakhstan and have already met most of the members of our team, as well as many other Y people. Joined in a 3 day knee work and hands held high event that the Korean Y team is running with a school from South Korea (language in Kazakh, Russian, Korean and English.) Said goodbye to other long term team members, briefed (briefly) on what the MD has been saying to the team about growing by a factor of 10 and starting 2 other Y teams and the work involved in bringing Loren Cunningham (Y Family International founder) to Almaty in September as part of the 50th celebrations of the Y family. (How do you land a private jet at Almaty airport?) And viewed the fireworks from our flat, the whole of Almaty setting off fireworks all at once. 4 days in Ka- zakhstan, not bad.

We are also to link in with a European school that is in Kazakhstan doing the practical for their school starting the 7th Jan. Deb needs to do the practical stage of the course we did in Colorado Springs, so Deb's search for activities to meet her practical phase just got overwhelmed with choice and opportunity. We also have our first guest coming to stay with us on the 8th, in the person of Alice Keen.

We also had the opportunity to look through the flat we will be moving into on the 5th (tomorrow as we write this newsletter.) It is in the south of the city, and looks out over the Tien Shan Mountains. It is a lovely furnished flat, owned by a couple who are currently working for the MD in the middle east. The MD certainly has a lot of wheels within wheels, and it is won- derful to see him spreading the finances over many dif- ferent people. We also purchased a great deal of the fittings, etc, from the previous tenants, the same long team people we were saying good bye to on Saturday night. As a couple, this is the first place we have had to place things as we like them, to move the chair a little to the right and the table a little to the left. Great joy in the gifts we have received from the MD. Debbie is overwhelmed by the fact that she owns a freezer, and a dryer, and a ...., all stuff that will not fit in a backpack.

Contact Details

Phone:
Australian Phone: +61 (0)2 6100 3637 This phone number connects with my Skype account and has a messaging service.

Our E-Mail Addresses: and

Current (Kazakhstan) Postal Address:
10a Basenova St
Almaty 050060
Republic of Kazakhstan

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Contact details were last updated on the 18^th December, 2009.