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So, dear readers, so much has changed since I last wrote. I have always wanted to say that, thanks for indulging me.

Things have though changed, in rather a lot of ways. Namely, I have moved to my permanent site. It is the village of Beskol, about 10hours north east of Almaty, and rather close to the contested Chinese border. It is not quite the mountain village I hoped for, due primarily to the fact it isn’t on a mountain, but there are a few that can be seen from here, so I hope I am able to get up into them often. I am also less than an hour away from Alakol, a massive lake, famous for its fishing and mineral content, so that should also prove interesting to visit. Other than that, there isn’t much to be seen in the area – it is rather flat.

My new host family seem nice and I am hoping that the next 4 months (the minimum stay I HAVE to have with a host family before the option of moving out on my own presents itself) will be fun. The father is a doctor, and mum helps out 3 times a week. They have a 16year old daughter who will also be one of my English students. She seems keen to learn, which is always great. The house is rather less glamorous than my last one, but that was to be expected, and this is a far more ‘real’ Kazakh house. The toilet is a hole in the ground in the garden, the family grows a lot of its own vegetables, and there isn’t a billiards table in the games room (did I mention I was rather spoilt with my last family?)