Andrew Weber: I've been in public service for twenty-six years. And I was in the United States Foreign Service when the Soviet Union fell apart. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about the embassy in Kazakhstan and the sub-headline was, " For Diplomats Who Find Paris A Bore," and it sounded like a really interesting place to be. So the next day, I asked my Human Resources officer if I could volunteer to go to Kazakhstan and serve at our embassy. So, they were desperately looking for anyone with a pulse and had me sign on the dotted line and then I was sent for Russian language training and arrived at Kazakhstan in the summer of 1993.