Last Week in Kazakhstan
November 2, 2015
Unexpected Snow
This is our last week in Kazakhstan. Perry is busy photographing and organizing our sherds from this year’s excavations. I have been madly trying to organize and finish the last bits of my monograph on our research in Kazakhstan so I can send it off to a book editor for review. Outside there is about 3 inches of snow covering the roofs and cars in our neighborhood. It really has turned overnight from fall into winter.
We had an exciting last two weeks. On Friday Perry took a trip with our friend Erlan to inspect some road right-of-ways for archaeological sites. They drove to the Western end of Lake Balkhash. The photographs of this desert area are amazing, but best of all we like the pink truck parked by the side of the road. I posted it on Facebook and Michael Brunelle, Spanish professor at SBC, found a way to attach a Sweet Briar emblem on the wonderful truck.
This gets me to thinking about the journey that our College has taken in less than a year. From an announcement of closure on March 3, 2015 to long court battles to fight this closure, to at last a functioning College with a small but hearty group of students enrolled for classes in the fall of 2015.
Pink Truck in Kazakhstan
Today I will take out my backpack and begin packing for the next two months. We will be on the road. India, Singapore, Bali and Java in Indonesia, Malaysia, and then a return to Almaty by Christmas Day. I am looking forward to our adventures and hope you will too.