Hi.
Sorry - I got sucked off into some office travel and then Easter family stuff.
You wondered why I was drawn to Kazakhstan. I am not sure anyone really knows because sometimes I look at other countries and realize there are a lot of things to like about many of them.
So here are my thoughts - not really in order of importance:
- First some pictures of Kazakhstan look like some of the rugged mountains of Montana and so some of the outdoors feels a bit like home (I love to hike and spend lots of time outdoors and so I typically try to explore areas outside of cities even in the states).
- Also this is not a really racially diverse area but the largest populations of non-caucasians are asian. So I thought a child might find more people who looked like him/her.
- I liked a lot of the things I read about the baby houses and how kids are cared for - music, massages, low caregiver ratios, clean and colorful, etc. Between these things and the required bonding period, it seems like Kaz cares for their kids.
- The country seems to have potential. Of the old USSR countries, while certainly not squeaky clean, it is relatively peaceful and has been putting a lot of its oil money into infrastructure improvements. It is a country that I think I would not mind traveling back to over the years as my child wants to explore his/her heritage. The fact that it has the sites of the Russian space program seemed kind of cool (I also love outer space stuff) and is maybe something that other kids would think was cool for show and tell, etc.
So those are some of my thoughts. I hope it helps - give me a shout with any questions.