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Sunday, October 2, 2016

Journaling in Kazakhstan

Many months have passed since I last wrote in this web journal.  It has not been for lack of subject matter.  The heights and depths of emotion and experience in Kazakhstan have been every bit as great as they were in Romania, my previous post, but the countries and cultures are different.  The experiences in Kazakhstan that have been of greatest significance to me are not ones that can be written about openly without whitewashing or otherwise removing all that made them significant.  Thus I choose to remain mum.

But I am keeping a record for myself in the old fashioned way that puts pen to paper.  I've kept such handwritten journals at other times in my life, and I can't say that I've gone back to consult them more than out of curiosity.  This time is different.  My last year in Kazakhstan -- the last year of my international life -- is starting.  It is a year I will want to remember in detail, and a handwritten journal kept regularly will see to this.

So what is to become of this web journal?  Writing here is also a good exercise, and I do not intend to abandon it.  There are still things in Kazakhstan I can write about, and as I get closer and closer to the end of the international life, my future plans will be more and more in view.  But readers should also know that most of what has been of greatest significance to me in Kazakhstan will remain in handwritten form.

With that caveat now aired and made plain, I invite readers to continue following Alice in State.  And if you have been wondering if the title of this journal is a play on words, let me remove all doubt by saying . . . who knows?