Joe Ragan

I walked to the local “mall” this evening just to people watch. It’s interesting to see that as each year passes, the people here adopt more of our “western” holidays. Of course they also continue to recognize their own holidays (many held over from Communism or Orthodoxy), so it is one BIG holiday [...]

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Blizzards and other things related
Since arriving, I have been told by numerous people that the worst weather months in Karaganda are February and March. It seems that as the weather begins to warm (I use this term figuratively) into the single and low teens, the wind picks up as does the snow and they [...]

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ADJUSTMENTS
I guess the biggest adjustment thus far has been not speaking English. To date, I haven’t met anyone in Karaganda that is a native English speaker. So, since I left Mick and David in Astana on Monday evening, I haven’t spoken but a couple of words in English (most of them to myself).
I’m [...]

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Well, the move to Karaganda, Kazakhstan is complete, for now. Most of my personal belongings are still in Kiev. This is a temporary assignment until I sense whether or not the Lord wants me to move permanently to Kazakhstan.
The apartment where I live is in a great location…right in the center of the [...]

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The apartment where I live has cable TV and CNN is on the system, so I was able to watch the President’s message live. How great is that!
Living overseas, a person feels disconnected from life in the US so it is great to be able to witness events like this take place…live on TV [...]

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