Wedding Day in Kaz

There were mass weddings in Kokshetau today. After our visit with Ryan - the gang - our travel partners Mike and Tracy Stannards, Sveta, and our drivers Aleksander and Mr. President enjoy lunch togther. Today we could not find a place available that didn't have a Wedding Party. Even as we write now in our hotel we are listening to the band downstairs play something we can't recognize. Cheers to them all. The Stannards driver is a great guy. His name is Sultaan. Unfortunately the President of Kazakstan's first name is also Sultaan and there is some bazaar rule you can't use the same name as the President so we call him Mr. President. We met up with the police again today. We have a new driver, Aleksander, as Sergei has gone back to his regular job. He seems to be more of a speed demon than Sergei and was nabbed by the cops today. Maybe it's Murphy's Law.
The Stannards son, who is also named -- Ryan, is a really sweet 15 month old boy. They are from separate groups due to their age but really seem to like each other. We all set up to play in the music room in the babyhouse and just have a great time. These kids have so many layers of clothes on its difficult to tell where baby actually begins. Today our Ryan had on three shirts topped by a sweatshirt, two pairs of pants, two sets of floppy looking socks and always a hat. So we snuck off the hat for a quick peek at the hairline. No visits on Sunday - we are off to the Green Market and Bazaar tomorrow. Stay tuned for a report on the local scenery, paka paka.