Almaty, Kazakhstan! “Almaty North view” by blavandmaster is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably heard of Kazakhstan but would have...
Best of Novakistan
This is a compilation of the posts I feel deserve the “Best of Novakistan” title. They cover the entire 15-year span that I’ve been writing.
Photo by Heather Mount on Unsplash With our next assignment now confirmed, we’ve entered what I like to refer to as the “Senior Slide†portion of the tour. This is the beginning of the end at...
Hi Everyone – We spent the morning hiking amongst the beautiful ruins of Hampi, an ancient civilization from the 14th century. I am trying out a more detail-oriented style writing for my book...
Last Thursday marked the end of our first ‘adults-only’ trip in four years, to none other than romantic, stunning Udaipur— the Venice of India—complete with tours of the Maharana’s City...
Day 2 in Udaipur The plan for our second day in Udaipur was a daytrip to two sites that I’d heard were worth the effort—the great Mewar Fortress of Kumbhalgarh and the splendid Jain temple...
It’s 6:30 AM and dark as night. I cinch my blanket tighter around my arms and neck, a largely futile effort considering that the searingly cold air is smacking me at 30 mph and clearly has the...
As the morning progressed, I couldn’t help but compare this safari experience to the ones we’d experienced in Africa. The first big difference was that there were far more cars around this...
I reached down to grab my first handful of gulal but stopped short as a blast of yellow hit me square in the chest, the excess disappearing between my cleavage, tickling my torso as it tumbled its...
Mention the word “Pakistan†and danger and/or violence are pretty much the only things that come up for me. I couldn’t tell you any good things about Pakistan, likely because I’ve never taken...
Hi Everyone – If you haven’t read PART 1, you should definitely start there, as it provides some great historical context for this post about our time in Amritsar...
Our time in India is winding down (less than 4 months to go, can you believe it??) and one of the few remaining places on our ‘must see’ bucket list for India was the city of Amritsar in the...
May 2nd marked Nick’s and my 13th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we planned a five-night, adults-only trip.  But where to go? A tropical getaway to the Maldives? A hidden spot in the Himalayas...
Hey Y’all – It’s June! Crazy, huh? I’m still trying to figure out what happened to May! Definitely bittersweet, although I am VERY over the 90 to 100 degree Fahrenheit temps we’ve had for...
Well, look at that. I’m back already. How’s that for keeping my word?! In Tuesday’s post I filled you in about how we spent our summer, so today I’ll tell you what brought us...
Nick was originally scheduled to start language classes on Tuesday, September 6th–the day after labor day. That would have been fine and dandy if we didn’t have the kid with us, but we...
Good day all – Several of you noticed that my recent blogs have primarily been about Nick & Nia and asked that I give an update on what’s been happening with me. I’m touched to...
Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash I was incredibly touched by how many of you read (and commented on) yesterday’s post. I did feel your love and support, so first and foremost, thank you...
My name spelled in Russian Cyrillic cursive I am back, as promised, to fill you in on my first month of Russian Language class at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). For starters, the language is...
As we all know, D.C. has an abundance of things to do, see, and eat. It’s definitely the thing I love most about the city. It’s an epicenter of culture with museums, festivals, and...
Today I want to tell you a bit about the complex process involved in getting our things from here to there. As many of you may remember, each post we’re given a certain amount of poundage that...
On Friday night Nick told Nia and I that he had a surprise outing planned for us on Saturday. All we were told was that we needed to be ready to leave at 10:30 and wear pants, a t-shirt and tennis...
First off, if you haven’t read part 1: READ IT HERE first. Now, on to Part 2! We reached Timur and introduced ourselves to the two visiting NGO workers. “Ready to go in? Timur inquired. “Well, first...
We have crossed the 60-day mark in Almaty—can you believe it? We are so entrenched in our routines that it feels like we’ve been here forever, and yet, the house still isn’t put together, nor is it...
I’m glad so many of you enjoyed the observations that I shared yesterday. The next three in the “Surprises” category are all tied to the country’s soviet past (FYI: Soviet rule lasted from 1920 to...
Hey everyone – Sorry for the radio silence. It has been a crazy- wonderful ten days of birthday fun and I chose to consciously be present for it rather than rushing to get photos and posts up. Rest...
We had a wild night here in Almaty and I can now say I’ve experienced my very first earthquake! Well, technically, I slept through it—as did Nia—but, still! :) The earthquake hit at 12:09 AM in...
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash Hello all -Today’s post is a bit different than my normal updates. It’s something that I wrote in 2022/2023 when taking part in a months-long writing program. I...
Photo by Vladislav Klapin on Unsplash This is part two in a three-part series. If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, you should definitely start there. For those of you who are caught up . . . on to...
This is part three in a three-part series. If you haven’t read Part 1 and Part 2 yet, you should definitely start there. For those of you who are caught up . . . on to part 3...
Smith Rock State Park near Bend, OR. Photo credit: Photo by Rich Martello on Unsplash Hi All – You haven’t heard from me much lately. I apologize for that, but I have a REALLY good excuse . . . I’ve...
It’s the most wonderful time of the year–except when COVID finds its way into your system. Stupid COVID . . . always at the worst possible time! I had intended to write this post much...