With all due respect

So, I realize that I promised a more substantial update tonight...however, it's been a long day. And unfortunately not a very productive one. I did however get a lesson plan based on the book I'm to use for this class. So that's nice.

However, most of the day was spent chasing down the illusive "blue stamp" of approval, which is the life force which Kazakh bureaucracy runs on. Seriously. I just finished dinner about 10 minutes ago because we had to work late to try to actually accomplish something besides waiting for a vice rector to show up and sign a piece of paper which said I worked there. And in the end, we had to leave because he was too busy to see us...and then his secretary (can't remember her precise name, but it means "Star" in Kazakh, and she's a really cute girl...who doesn't understand any English sadly...) called to tell us that they decided American doctors aren't trustworthy and I need to have another test to prove I don't have AIDS. I just hope I don't have to prove I don't have leprosy either.

I'm not sure when I start actually teaching then, because we are still organizing students into the class--which will probably be in the evening...but that's beyond my power. We'll see how this goes then. I'd write more, but I'm tired and I want to get to bed before 11 PM so I won't have a problem getting through the day tomorrow.

P.S. Dad if you send Victor a copy of the book signed, please make sure to talked about how much a genius Napoleon was. He refused to listen to me and my arguments, no matter how convincing they were!

Pps, been having some serious problems with posting this. BLogger is giving me trouble. I can type this and the tablet'll save it, but the screen moves up so I cannot hit "post" or "save" and blogger is too much for the internet on my laptop to handle. Da--we might have to go back to the old ways again