Erken's law of travel "just do it"

Drasvootiya Comrades,
We are happy in Karaganda. Last Friday I may not have used the word happy but today it is accurate. You remember the smooth crossing at the border on the train? Well it may have been too smooth. On the back of the migration paper it says to register within 5 days. The law appears to say if you are on a 30 tourist visa ( which we are) you don't have to register. There is also an unwritten law that seems to say " just do it". Even if the law says you don't need to do something go ahead. The next city or region or policeman or...may require it.
I spent last Friday at the migration police dept. with the head of the Kabup Eng. dept. interpreting for me. The crime - failure to register within 5 days. After almost two hours they said to bring Jan back Sat. morning to go through the same thing. Oh, they took me upstairs to the big guy that pronounces the fines. He asked how old I was and said because you are advanced in age there will be no fine ( $80 to $800 per person) this time. I lined up Sergei to interpret for Jan on Sat.
Well, after talking to Ian and going on line reading the law we decided to cancel Sergei and just move on. At lunch on Sat. we had Akmaral (teacher) and her future husband. Dumon is a customs officer at the airport. What could be better. He made a few calls and then said, "they should have stamped your card twice at the border- don't worry about it. Then during dessert his phone kept ringing. You have to register today! More calls and then he puts us in the taxi. We got to the main migration office and it is only open on Tue. and Thur. Oh, my. We went back home.
On Sunday after meeting ( which was another really nice meeting with Sergei) we told Sergei our problem. He agreed to take us on Monday to the little station I had started at (it is open all week). We arrived at 9. The officer arrived at 10:30. Lots of people waiting now. We worked our way through an interesting system including running next door for photocopies (the police don't have a copier). Jan and Sergei went with the officer, got the ok - no fine, speech and after a few more papers we were out of there. I must say that the officer had a good sense of humor and a nice smile. That is pretty typical with the Kaz. people.
I helped Sergei move some furniture from their pharmacy to their home. They are soon expanding to a second pharmacy. They work hard and Aleya seems to be a terrific business woman. They are a real help to us in many ways.
The weather is cloudy, rainy, windy cold and sunny and warm. It is Spring.
We hope all is well with you also.
Love in Him, Morrie