during the course of today i learned that:
1. a friend of ours in pennsylvania has a contact in the kazakh court system.
2. said contact lives in astana (the capital) but happens to be in taraz right now on a business trip.
3. not only is that contact staying in the same hotel as us, but she has been living in the room almost directly above us for the past week.
we'll see if this makes any difference.
