Heartbeat of a Camel

On our field trip we walked through the hot, dry steppe and out of nowhere appeared this green oasis with a stream flowing through it. Years ago nomadic tribes fought for this land. Now they have built an entrance with this figure. We all got out to eat our lunch in the shade, but had to share our picnic spot with cows. We were all told to bring a lunch and so all the Americans brought a lunch for themselves. The two teachers from Kazakhstan brought the traditional picnic - enough food for everyone. Bringing your lunch to them meant sharing everything they had, while we all had our individual sandwiches. I love the Kazakh picnic much more!

This is a picture of the gas station that we stopped at to fill up our bus. I thought it was so rustic and then the bright red car drove up ruining my picture. But I decided that it is neat showing the old ways and the new car.

I took this through the bus window and was amazed that I got the picture of the camel along the road. This looks like a little village, but it is a cemetery. I would love to go explore it someday.

I know you see old trucks of hay in any state in the US, but look how old that truck is.

Oh, my gosh, I have fallen in love with the camels. Do you get that excited feeling when you see a deer? That's how I feel whenever I see a camel, but in a bigger way. Everyone laughs at my excitement, but I sure haven't experienced camels before. The teachers didn't want me or the school kids to get too close, because nobody can guess the nature of a camel. These camels were at a feeding station and we noticed that their front two legs were tied together. Earlier I had seen one lone camel running as fast as it could across the steppe. I

wish I could have figured out what it was running from or where it thought it was going and why it was in such a hurry.