Recalling Kazakhstan

Keyboard chatting with my friend this morning reminded me of visit to Kazakhstan where I visited in 2002.
Thoughts to send to her
Why did we go? We were asked to go and work with a group of trainers in Atyrau. It is a centre for those involved in the oil industry in Kazakhstan.  The group we worked with were YKK Kazakhstan who were and I see still are involved in safety training for the industry.
I'd have known more about the moon than Kazakhstan, and at that time the oil and gas industries  were only developing, and certainly not at all well known here.  Appears from today's googling that it is booming now.

at the Celtic Dragon

So there we were on a plane from Budapest to Atyrau with members of the oil industry probably a bigger culture shock for us than being in a little known country.
Background that we had found about Kazakhstan was scant and not very useful but working with local people with an Australian manager made it work.

 Loved the markets 
and the people seemed to love to be photographed

On looking back through the photos the range of experiences in that brief time (2 weeks) were an amazing opportunity.
On our first night we had dinner at the Celtic Dragon which was celebrating Halloween!  I think on the second night it was Thai food. These very much for the oil industry.  We asked could we try local food. We did and it was good.

All seems too big to recollect especially as my butterfly brain and the powers of the internet send me off on journeys. Today I found out  that apples are from Kazakhstan which is also the name of a travel book  in which  the writer Christopher Robbins tells what he was told about why we knew so little before the fall of the soviet union.
So there you go not yet anything about teaching but recollecting thoughts and updating, and using blog again after a gap.. have enjoyed and will continue for me at least