Craig and Debbie Rayner

The Almaty locals have been complaining that spring has been cold. As we start June (MAyCblM pronounced mou-sume) we are enjoying very affordable cherries and strawberries. The locals will tell you that the fruit comes from Uzbekistan, but the reality is that the majority of this wonderful fruit comes from China. The cold weather of April - May has not stopped the seasonal fruit from arriving in abundance, and the footpaths are lined with fruit sellers, as well as the regular vegetable, cigarette and drink vendors.

The beginning of June is also an ending for us. It is the end of the northern hemisphere school year. Some of us have quite a few years between where we are now and the time we were leaving school. The seniors, as the final year are called, are stepping into one of the biggest changes of their lives. You may remember this time in your own life, or you may not yet have reached it. Debbie and I have had very little interaction with the students directly, but the emotions of the teachers as they release their students into life outside of Tien Shan is easy to pick up on. We have been enjoying the sense of ceremony in the rituals of awards day and goodbye dinners and parties, all necessary steps in the release with blessing that these students require. Good memories to be made and retained for a lifetime.

Living in a place where you have to mime often and search for well everything can be a tiring thing. Last month I started my quest to get another pair of jeans, and some longish shorts for the summer. I started looking around the local bazaar about a month ago and found I am not trendy, not a huge surprise. So last month I went hunting at the school’s annual spring sale, where lots of people bring out things to sell. One of the teacher’s who is leaving is about my size, so I found bunch of blouses/ shirts and a pair of shorts. I did a little happy dance! But no trousers. Well the weather then turned cold again, and I needed long pants. So after three weeks of popping into various shops, and not finding my style, I finally wore out my jeans and black trousers and was not mending them up again! Lily’s of the field may be clothed better than Solomon but I was feeling like it was time to start to be worried! In my faded shorts from last summer we stopped into a friend’s leaving sale I was thrilled to find I could fit into all the lady’s trousers, and bought up three pairs and some shorts! A quick trip to the bazaar and a seamstress, a bit of miming and I had trousers that fit and look nice. Rejoicing in the trousers and knowing that nothing is too small to take to Papa. What was I so worried about?

Mark and Sue Kayser:
Returning home after 14 years in Kazakhstan

When you are told the visitors (coming to visit projects with the CCA folks) don’t speak any Russian or any other Central Asian language but are coming to your house by taxi from Bishkek, well it is something to lift up. The day they where crossing the border, my phone rang, it was one of the y–family. He was at the border and had found our friends. I had no idea he was driving someone to the border, but he has great English and was chatting with this Australian man, and realised who he was, so called to say not to worry he would bring them to our place. So after travelling around hearing all these stories of provision they had there own story to share!

What are we doing this summer? Craig is doing a change over of computer systems in the library, as well as timetables, markbooks, and more being evaluated and set up. I am overseeing textbook orders and stationery orders for the next school year as well as helping with transcripts and report cards. We are planning on spending more time on our Kazakh studies, daily is the goal. And we will be doing a visa run in July as we only where given 6 month visas at the end of January – to where and for how long is still up in the air. We are also hoping to spend more time with the Y family and building deeper relationships. We are possibly going to Astana at the end of the month ( a 28 hour train ride) to meet up with the team from the 6 month course that is just finishing for a time lifting up a conference.

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.