Poly GIP Kazakhstan

  Today, we woke up to a majestic sight: every corner of the block was covered with fresh powdery snow, which only magnified our excitement for the day ahead. We started our adventure with a trip to a Kazakh grocery store, called a “Magazine”. There, we were astounded by the variety of snack options that the shop offered. We bought several exotic chip flavors such as lobster, kebab, and cucumber flavored Lays.   Next, we took a 40-minute bus ride to the outskirts of Almaty to visit a village. Once we arrived, we instantly noticed the improved air quality and cozy vibe of the village compared to the city. We took a quick stroll to the house and were immediately greeted by several of the dogs living there. We learned about the international school program and the intriguing backgrounds of the various teachers and planned what games we were going to play with the Kazakh children who were going to visit later. Once the children arrived, we split into three groups by age and pl...

      We kicked off our journey meeting up at LAX, ready for our 13 hour flight to our 6 and a half hour layover in Istanbul. Excitement filled the air. Once we arrived in Istanbul, we enjoyed some Turkish food and played some games to get to know each other. After getting some time to explore the airport, we boarded our flight to Almaty.      Despite not sleeping enough, it was suddenly 9:00 am, leaving a full day ahead of us in Kazakhstan. We grabbed a quick lunch and the bravest of us tried horse meat sandwiches. After lunch, we managed to catch the end of the Nowruz celebrations in the city. Justin and Jerry arm wrestled some locals and lost terribly while Max and Lauren went about holding an eagle and Celine tried archery. We got dinner at a Georgian restaurant where we enjoyed some Khinkali and Tarhun. Those of us who didn't already fall asleep at the restaurant got the much needed rest after checking into our hotel, thus concluding our first experien...