Out of the way

I made it. I have a nice shiny Kazakh visa in the back page of my passport (why there? I don't know, I am just glad to have made it).

The first sponsor's presentation is done, and there is a pause for lunch (YAY!) before the real sessions begin today. Seven tracks full - a pretty good effort really.

The venue is good - KIMEP school of management in Almaty, and there is food, tea, coffee, wifi, all the necessities onsite without too much in the way of extras. There's also a lot of people from Kyrgyzstan (since it is a relatively quick bus ride that makes sense). I am being reminded that I have to work on my russian - I meant to do it on the plane but yesterday I managed to sleep on the Almaty-Istanbul and Istanbul-Almaty legs, which was good because that's all the sleep I had since I left home.

The people at the airport were really nice today. Stanislav (the guy who chased me onto the plane yesterday), the airport manager, all shakng my hand and welcoming me to Kazakhstan. It's a pity I am here for less than 48 hours now (although I will still be happy to be home when I get there), but somehow I have to make the most of it and to sleep.

It looks like there are a bunch of interesting sessions (and I have proposed two for today already plus Ilya's that I hope will have enough slides for me to follow ), so I should be pretty busy. Which means I will sleep well tonight. Just as well - there is a closing party tomorrow night and I go from there to the airport...