Sledding, Camel Sightings and Cake Baking!

In Kazakhstan, a sled is not entirely necessary for sledding…I know it may sound weird, but when you don’t have a sled try cardboard! It works just as well, in fact, I was surprised! What an innovative way to re-use the cardboard that was going to end up in the garbage bin that the local camels would call dinner. I went sledding with a few weeks ago…there was a small child there hanging out, Sasha; he assisted in pushing my “sled” down the hill. The one down side was that it had warmed up a bit here at site, I think there was more mud and slush than snow and ice, but I still had a good time.

At site, there are what I would call “stray” camels, only I have learned that they aren’t exactly stray…I don’t know who they belong to, but apparently someone? They generally eat out of the garbage bin and it’s not always food, sometimes it’s cardboard! I find myself intrigued by these enormous creatures! I have only seen camels in zoos before, I like to stop and watch this animal eat out of the garbage, but that draws attention to me and the “silly American.” J A few weeks ago, I wanted to give this “wild” animal actual food, only I didn’t know I was going to have a camel sighting and all I had on me were trusty gummy bears from the bazaar and one roll of Smarties left…I didn’t want to give this beast my American candy, but was curious about whether or not he liked him. Nervous that he may spit at any moment, I quickly found a piece of cardboard, placed candy on the edge of it and offered it to the camel. That animal did not seem to enjoy my Smarties! That’s where I draw the line…who doesn’t like Smarties?! WHAT?! I offered this creature gummy bears…he seemed to like these more, in fact, he started walking toward me, I assume to get more! The camels are one of the most exciting things at site and I generally get very excited if I spot one!

All my Christmas packages FINALLY got here last week…I got 4 packages in a week! It was an excellent week! In one package I had LOTS of delicious goodies including: cake mixes and kool aid! Last weekend, I made a cake mix with my site mate…we didn’t have frosting though and we realized that powered sugar is A LOT of tenge and we will most likely never buy enough powered sugar to make frosting…it was still delicious! He had Fluff (marshmallow stuff) from the US…we used that instead…it seemed to work out well!