Well after two years and some odd amount of months, days, hours, minutes and seconds I'm back in my hometown of Almaty in Kazakhstan.

It's incredibly great to come home to your family and an environment you've spent your childhood in, it all feels like things are finally the way I wanted them to be. All the pieces have fallen into their respective places and I'm enjoying a beautiful equilibrium.

Visiting me from the capital city of Astana is my cousin. We're having a pretty good time blowing away ridiculous amounts of money daily on... nothing in specific Well the amounts of money aren't all that ludicrous, I just like to exaggerate but, we do indeed sometimes not fall within the limits we set on our outings.

I've missed the food my grandmother cooks and I've missed my grandfather's sage advice and indescribably calm nature, it's nice to come back and see that majority of the things I've truly missed about the country are still intact, such as the abundance of vegetation and that insane summer heat that's driving me nuts. ^^

Unfortunately a lot of things that I dislike are also intact... The incredible amounts of dust in all parts of the city and it's vicinity are irritating my nose and I can't walk down the street for five minutes without sneezing

On the plus side, the local tobacco is actually of a surprisingly good quality

Regretfully I can't seem to find any good material for photography around here... Although it wouldn't be the wisest idea to go out on a "photohunt" here since... petty crime is insanely rampant. Another aspect of the country that, I hoped, would be eliminated at some point.

I still will try to get some landmark photos or something in and send them out to the dA, but I don't promise anything.

It's nice to be home however, I do quite miss my current place of residence.
Toronto may have been getting quite unexciting but I do indeed love that city... It kinda sucks being torn between two cities.

Apologies in advice for the lack of consistent structure in the journal, but at least I squeezed out an update and explanation for the lack of activity or replies, to anyone who happens to care

Oh well... I'll be on my way then, it seems I'm overstaying my welcome at the local coffee shop