Joe Ragan

I arrived back home in Kiev last Tuesday afternoon. It felt good to be “home” even if only for a few days before hitting the road again on Sunday night.
I am very careful to use the word “home” to describe the place I live in Kiev. I’m afraid it might upset some family [...]

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The main reason I made the trip to Texas this month was to be here to celebrate my mom’s 80th birthday. (I know that it is hard to believe considering how young I look and feel…) We had a come and go party on Saturdsay with cake and punch and then the family [...]

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I arrived at DFW Airport on Monday afternoon (11th) and could tell I was in Texas! There was a warm breeze blowing. It wasn’t too hot and at night it would cool down.
Well, I noticed it got warmer on Thursday and Friday and then yesterday (Sat) it got down right HOT!!! 102 [...]

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Well, I made it to the great state of Texas and it’s not too hot here, yet. Of course, I realize that it is only mid-April.
I sat next to an Infantry guy stationed in Germany on the long flight. He was hoping a a beautiful single woman and he was stuck with me. [...]

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Well, today is April 7th in Kiev. It is a little after 8 a.m. and when I opened my curtains this morning I got a little shock.

The weather here has been warm and all the snow has been melted for a couple of days. It clouded up yesterday and rained off and on [...]

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There is only one major highway in Kazakhstan that runs from Almaty (the former capital) to Astana (the new capital) and it runs through Karaganda. The Kim’s and I drove the 1,000 kilometers to Almaty for a retreat. The landscape is non-descript except to say it was the same for over 800 of [...]

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Well, they weren’t exactly Dunkin Donuts like in the US, however, they were VERY tasty! It seems that a Korean businessman couldn’t get a Dunkin Donuts franchise license for Kazakhstan and so he opened a Domino Donuts store with the same logo, etc.

The donuts were a great treat, however expensive. The donuts are [...]

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