While living in Uzbekistan I often had to pass through a small region of Kazakhstan if driving between offices in two different cities. While most often foreigners are given special treatment in Central Asia, it was not uncommon to encounter some challenges. At border crossings, I quickly had to learn that making a small "donation" would help you get processed and ultimately get on with your plans more quickly. This was quite a shift for me as I am from Canada and was very unfamiliar with this type of exchange. Interestingly it is just a normal part of doing business in many countries around the world. If I was unable to adopt to this system, I would not have been able to survive in this part of the world. Sometimes we need to completely change our perspective on issues or events to make progress.