Dan's blog

If you meet an expat in Almaty who has been here a while, they nearly all tell you that they came out for 6 months and ended up staying. I just joined the club. A little under three and a half years ago I set off on an adventure which was supposed to be nine months. Once upon a time I said I'd never want to be a primary school teacher, live away from the UK or ever want to live in Russia.

Sir Roger Moore made a visit to the school last week, as part of his role as Ambassador for UNICEF. Our school have joined UNICEF and other organisations in supporting Kazakhstani athletes preparing for the Special Olympic games being held in Athens in summer 2011.

After the last epic bike journey to Morocco and the edge of the Sahara, I thought it would make sense to reach another line of extremity on the map and headed for the Arctic Circle this summer.