April 16
We left early that morning and visited Kabanbi Batyra 4, a private school located in Astana. We gave presentations on our various schools and programs and then met with students interested in our schools. We were able to speak to the students for about 10 minutes before we had to jump on the bus and visit Public School #66, where we did the same presentations and individual meetings. The last school visit was at School Zerde, a private school that was originally opened by the President of Kazakhstan. We enjoyed meeting with the very bright students before we had to rush back to the hotel for the public fair. Over 400 people came to the fair (at least 6 schools bused students in) and we gave away all our material. There is a big interest in studying abroad in Kazakhstan. We finished the fair and had enough time to go to dinner that evening, but had a short delay leaving the hotel because the Prime Minister of India was staying at the same hotel and we had to wait for his departure with his entire entourage.
This concluded the first half of the trip (Central Asia) and today I am flying to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates today for the Middle East portion of the trip.
-Josh Clark
