Tajikistan - Team Get Together

We've been doing LOTS of training as a team.  We've learned about many aspects of Tajik culture, we've met with the Lovetts (who live and work in Tajikistan), we've learned about culture shock, gotten immunization shots, and done many other things as a team to prepare for this trip.  This time, though, we met to have fun and get to know each other better.
Not everyone could make it, but for those of us who were there, it was a great time.  We tried splitting the bocce ball teams along gender lines, and it was a bit of a disaster from the girls' point of view, but we had lots of fun in spite of it!  The pontoon ride was great - the sun was shining, and though it was a bit cool out, the water was refreshing.  And no one got dunked!  For the cookout, everyone was supposed to bring a salad or a dessert, but somehow everyone brought dessert.  We seemed to cope pretty well with this "problem" - a good omen for future team relations.
We also talked a bit about how we were doing in our preparations for the trip.  Most of us have some apprehensions or difficulties regarding the trip.  We all have many things still to organize, pull together, and accomplish before we leave.  For many of us it still seems a bit unreal - it's hard to believe it's less than two weeks from our departure date - but we're all also looking forward to the time when we're actually on the plane!
We got in a team photo of those who were there (several folks had stopped by earlier and had to leave).  In the picture are Forrest, Kody, Jeremy and Eric (top row), Kjirsten, Misty, Erin, Angela and Denny (middle), and Becky, Kelley, and Shannon (bottom).