Monday, April 19, 2010

Almaty - Day 3 - Church & Panfilov Park



Sunday morning a guy from the Almaty branch of Rebeca's church picked us up and drove us to church (NOT the church in the picture!) She is some sort of Evangelical Christian, and, amazingly, the Catholic church is literally next door! I had planned on attending the 10 am Catholic Mass, and being only perhaps a half hour late to the 11 am service next door, but there was no 10 am Mass today. As far as I could tell, this was because it was Palm Sunday, and Mass was at noon. I was, luckily, not the only person who showed up at 10 am, confused.

So I attended the first part of Rebeca's church service, which was just singing. A translator was provided for us--we were given headsets to listen to her translation--so I felt a bit guilty that I was leaving before the preacher came on. I was told that he'd get upset if I left during his sermon, so I snuck out before he got started.

Palm Sunday service was starting outside, and I noticed that there were people selling some kind of sticks, and people were holding these instead of palm branches. I ended up paying 100 Tenge for a bundle of these things--long sticks with little fuzz-balls on them. My mom recognized them as "pussy willows," common in colder regions such as Montana where she's from.

The church was larger than the one in Astana, and Mass was crowded. There was a second floor from which people could look down on the service; this seemed to be a good place for children. (Sophia was not with me, she was attending the children's group at Rebeca's church.)

I sat down at a pew in the last row, and immediately felt guilty as I noticed that I couldn't see another young person sitting. Maybe it's because there just weren't too many young people here, but I suddenly felt rude for taking up a seat when I'm young and healthy and the church was so crowded--there were more people standing than sitting. I found the opportunity to right this when an elderly woman at the end of our small pew got up, and an elderly man sat down. A few minutes later, she returned, and the only way to make room for her was for everyone to scoot down. On my right was a rather old lady, and she would have to stand for this to work. So I insisted I switch spaces with her. Because our pew was smaller than the one in front of us, I still had a kneeler, but I didn't have to spend the entire service worrying about how rude I was for having a seat while much older people had to stand.

Sidenote: Older people, especially women, are very much respected in this culture, at least when it comes to seats. Almost everyone gives up their seats on the bus for older people (who usually politely protest and then sit down with a gracious "thank you") and younger people are frequently asked by other passengers to give up their seats for older people.

During Mass, I noticed the use of the word for "Sunday" far too frequently (even for a Mass on Palm Sunday). Later on, I learned that "Vosskress" means "He is risen" and "Vosskressenye" means "Sunday" or, "He-is-risen Day." (And "vosskress" really just means "is risen", the subject is taken to be understood.)

After Mass, I returned to the other church to learn that Sophia had had quite a pleasant two hours. Some people from the church were very much interested in showing us their city, and so we went to Panfilov Park.

This year Palm Sunday fell on the same day for Catholics and Orthodox Christians, which is a rare occurrence. In front of the (relatively) famous Zenkov Cathedral (see picture above) were plenty of people selling pussy willows for Palm Sundays. There were also beggars.

No one else was very much interested in seeing the inside of the church, and so I went in alone, while someone from the church took Sophia & Alison to a play area. It was very, very ornate. Okay, ornate is an understatement. It was gold and full of paintings and statues. There was a small area near the front to purchase items; most people were buying candles and then placing them in front of a statue or icon and then praying. Priests were wandering around, one priest was sprinkling holy water on people's pussy willow branches. Since I had missed this blessing at the Catholic church, I had mine blessed here.

It was very beautiful and it would be nice to one day attend a service here. Very elaborate, very solemn. Lots of people blessing themselves over and over. Lots of places to pray before a stature or icon. A large painting of people going to hell on one side and on the other, going to heaven. And no one else was taking pictures, so I didn't dare.


Outside, I rejoined the others and we walked on to a large monument to World War II. A statue of a bunch of soldiers coming out from the center. A caption that said something about Moscow being great but still needing protection from its soldiers.

After that, we headed in the direction of home and stopped to eat at a cafe nearby. We shared half a duck and half a chicken, and, while the chicken was moist and delicious, I must say I was disappointed with the duck. It was dry, a tad cold, and just not very yummy. I noticed that no one ate much of it.

Then we got a call from Alexey, who was going to drive us to the airport, asking where we were. My brother's cell phone, on which we were relying for time, had stopped working, and we were late! We rushed to pay the bill, run back to the apartment, pack, and get in the van. Luckily, we still made it in time for the flight.

The flight was short and uneventful, and we bid a sad farewell to Almaty. We could see the mountains from the airplane. Good-bye, beautiful mountains! We'll return soon!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Almaty - Opera House



After eating at the restaurant, we continued our walk down Furmanov Street. I was interested in making it to Panfilov Park, which has a magnificent Russian Orthodox Cathedral, among other things.

As we were walking, we came across a large building to our left. "I think that's the opera house," Rebeca said. We decided it was worth checking out, and so we went in. We were lucky--it was the opera house, and a performance started in 10 minutes. Tickets for decent seats were 800 Tenge each, and we bought tickets before giving my brother and the girls a chance to weigh in with their opinion. "What is it?" my brother kept asking, and all I could say was, "I don't know." I could tell that the ballet "Sleeping Beauty" would be performed tomorrow night, ending half an hour before our plane took off. Bad timing.

It turned out to be a 2-hour composite, mixing scenes from opera and ballet. Rebeca says she thinks the performers were new performers, and this was a way of showcasing new talent. The opera hall was large and impressive, decorated in a way that made us feel extremely under-dressed. (I was wearing blue corduroy pants and white tennis shoes!!)

The girls amazingly were mostly good for the first hour. They giggled and wiggled a bit, but other people were whispering and cell phones went off, so I don't think Sophia & Alison were any more of an annoyance than others.

The audience clapped and cheered often. I had been taught to wait until the end of an act to clap or cheer, not just a dying down of the music, or an amazing leap. Perhaps it's Kazakh to clap often, perhaps it's because they were showing support for the new talent.

The first piece was a large group of people in traditional Kazakh costume, singing. After that, it was more European-style opera and ballet. A scene from "Sleeping Beauty" was included.

Halfway through, I took Sophia and Rebeca out for a much-needed break. But they were able to return and sit still for the remaining hour.

The second to last song was "Troubadour" from "Carmen," my favorite opera.

Leaving the opera house, we met one of the opera singers, which impressed the two girls, and they had their picture taken with her.

Sophia & Alison skipped and danced for quite a bit, singing in their best opera voices. I was glad that we'd decided to expose them to some culture.

We walked for quite a bit, but did manage to find a bus to take us home. The opera house is only two blocks from the street our apartment was on, but several kilometers away. When we got off the bus, we were quite lost and wandered for a bit before finding our home.

So, yes, we did spend quite a bit of the day going up and down a mountain that was, for all intents and purposes, closed, but in the end, I think it was a worthwhile day. Sophia & Alison played on a hill in the snow, we ate at a Russian-style restaurant, and we saw opera and ballet. A good day in Almaty.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Almaty - "Once Upon a Time"







"жили-были" is Russian for "Once upon a time." (Literally, something like, "There lived, there was...") After arriving back on Furmanov Street in downtown Almaty, we saw a restaurant with this name. It looked very cute--a fairy-tale cottage in the woods, on an otherwise rather normal street--and we decided to eat there.

It was about 3 pm, and so the restaurant was mostly empty, but that was nice. We had the whole upstairs to ourselves. The theme was "Old-fashioned Russian cottage" and everything was made of wood (real or fake, I don't know.) There was a fake well on the second floor. The tables were large and grand--plenty of room in a booth for 3 people. The menu even was made of wood. A bear's skin hung on the wall.

They had an English menu as well as a Russian menu, which was wonderful. I ordered Sophia chicken nuggets arranged to look like a spider, she loved those! Rebeca, Alison, and I all ordered a kebab, which was quite delicious. For desert I had something whose English translation was "honey baking"--a baked apple with honey.

We spent a couple hours there, eating and talking. The girls played hide and seek. (It's nice to have a whole restaurant to yourself.) The only think out-of-place in this restaurant was the huge flat-screen TV, which I eventually turned off. It was showing an MTV-type station, complete with scantily-clad women bumping and grinding. Completely messing up the old-fashioned vibe of the place (plus, not something I wanted Sophia to be staring at!)

Almaty - Day 2 - Going Up and Down a Mountain



Our entire goal for this trip was to see the mountains. We had only a few days, and so we wanted to be focused. Rebeca & I agreed that the mountains were the most important.

We left the apartment around 11 am. I was doubtful as to how quickly we would be able to find a "taxi" (aka, random driver) who would be willing to drive us to Medeu, which is about an hour's drive away. My brother, the kids & I stayed away while Rebeca bargained with a driver (knowing that, if he heard us talking, he might raise the price--Americans are, after all, rich). To my surprise, the first driver she talked to was willing to drive us there, for 3000 Tenge. (About $20) This is a country where last-minute is perfectly fine...

He pulled into a gas station before we left the city, and even though the station seemed packed with cars, he managed to pull up to a gas pump right away--by cutting in front of many drivers. This didn't go over well and pretty soon he was in a rather loud argument with the drivers behind him. Eventually, I think they cut a deal--the drivers immediately behind him went first, while he went next. During this time, Rebeca looked out the window and noticed another driver (not involved in this fight, thank goodness!) had a gun.

Finally, we left the station and headed up towards Medeu. Medeu is, according to my Lonely Planet guide, a "settlement" and all we saw was a restaurant and the skating rink, which may be all there is to it. It's partway up the mountain and the closest mountain-type place to Almaty. Our apartment was on the other side of Almaty, so it's probably a 1/2 hour to hour drive from Almaty, depending on traffic and where you're coming from. We never fully left the city--on the drive up we passed rather nice houses being built (think of some of the nicer houses around Paris Mountain) and even an apartment complex.

Before getting to Medeu, we passed through a toll area. So when we arrived, the driver upped the price to 4000 Tenge, which, after arguing, we paid. After he'd left, another driver told us that the toll was only 300 Tenge, so we'd been cheated.

There were several "drivers" around Medeu--guys with cars hanging around, hoping to make money by giving someone a ride.

First, we learned that the skating rink was closed. Unlike yesterday, which had been warm, dry, and sunny, the weather today was cold, cloudy and wet, and the rain soon turned to snow.

We eventually bargained with another driver to go further up the mountain, to Chimbuluk, which has skiing. We then spent about an hour at Chimbuluk, trying to figure out if we could ever go skiing. Apparently, they weren't renting out skis due to the fog, but we could see people skiing, plus we aren't advanced skiers--shouldn't a baby slope be open? I haven't skied in well over ten years, but I remember that I rarely made it more than 2 feet without falling. I don't think fog would present that much of a hazard to someone like me. Also, at first it seemed as if the slopes might be open soon.

Eventually we just got cold, and then we learned that they were closing for the day, due to the fog. The ski lifts stopped carrying people, and my guess is that the few people who were still skiing owned their skis. We gave Sophia and Alison a folder to use as a mini-sled and they had fun sliding on that until it fell apart, and then they slid on their bottoms and just rolled down the hill. Rebeca begged a few people to borrow their skis for just a little bit, to no avail.

In the end, we decided to return to Almaty. The same driver who had driven us up offered to drive us down, but we weren't quite in the mood to spend another 2500 Tenge. All this money spent on transportation! We decided to walk to Medeu, from where we'd catch a bus, and yes, we may be crazy--it's several kilometers, and we were rather cold. But I think it was a smart move on our part, because when the driver saw that we'd rather walk than pay 2500 Tenge--and there really weren't other people around who needed a ride--he offered to drive us all the way to the center of Almaty for 3000 Tenge. This was worth it, and we accepted, and yes, being driven was much nicer than walking and then taking a bus.

So, all I can say about Almaty's mountains is this.... They must be so much fun when the weather's cooperating!!! Luckily, Sophia and Alison appeared to enjoy themselves, so maybe it wasn't all a loss.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Almaty! - Pizza Hut and the Eiffel Tower




What country am I in?

After leaving the bazaar, Rebeca asked another random person and learned how to get to one of Almaty's centers (apparently it has several, I'm thinking it's just stretched out). We took a bus to the intersection of Abai and Furmanov Streets, which is in the "Walking Tour" map in my Lonely Planet guidebook. (That's not why we chose it, someone told Rebeca to go there.)

We hadn't walked far when we saw the Eiffel Tower down the road from us. What? Really? Then, in front of us, we saw Pizza Hut. And not a fake Pizza Hut, but the real thing.

I have no problem sticking to local food (well, as long as I can choose not to eat the kurt and other sour milk products). But for Sophia's sake, I felt we had to go in.

Sophia was quite thrilled with another American restaurant, and the quality was pretty much Pizza Hut-quality--not really the greatest, but good enough. After eating, we tried to find a bus home, and walked past the Eiffel Tower. It was, of course, not as big as the real thing, but still nice for pictures.

The block was one long hill, and I found myself singing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music." Astana is not as flat as New Orleans, but it's still pretty flat. It was nice to be in a hilly city again.

A 20-something Kazakh woman saw me dancing and singing with Sophia, and decided to dance with me. Um, it's one thing to sing a Broadway song and dance with a 7-year old, it's another thing to dance with a complete stranger on the street. I realized that it was Friday night, she was probably drunk.

It took us forever to find a bus stop, and by the time we did, we weren't even sure if our bus was still running or would go by this stop. Rebeca hailed a cab, and soon we were in. The driver seemed nice enough, he was a young man in his 20s or 30s, and he knew a little English. ("What is your name? My name is..." The basics.)

When we were almost home, he pulled over. I was about to get out when I realized why he had pulled over--a policeman had pulled him over.

We were in the car for about 30 minutes while he talked to the police officer. I wondered if it would be rude to get out and walk--we were that close!!

I noticed that several other cars were pulled over while we were waiting. The police car was mostly hidden behind a parked bus, and the officers were pulling over people after they'd made their U-turn. (Left turns across double lines are illegal in Astana & I guess also Almaty--you can turn left at intersections only, I think. So U-turns are incredibly common and legal. So the U-turns were not what was causing the police to pull people over. I don't know what.)

When the man finally returned to his car, he was incredibly angry but insisted on driving us to the apartment--after all, he'd promised us that he would.

"сука!" he said ("suka") and I really shouldn't have giggled, but I did. Just a few days ago, I had noticed this word written on the elevator wall. My student "Alex" calls me that a lot, and I had been told it meant stupid. Then I looked it up on google translate and learned it means "b****". I giggled because I knew the word! (And had unfortunately taught it to Sophia, thinking it only means stupid. When Sophia started saying the word, Rebeca had to explain that it means something much worse.)

So... not a very eventful day, but a good one nonetheless. We spent half the day on a train, a couple hours shopping, a couple hours in a Pizza Hut, and another hour wandering around (taking pictures, singing, looking for a bus...) And Sophia can curse in Russian...

Tomorrow, the mountains!

Almaty! - Bazaar - Friday, 26 March 2010


(No pictures of the bazaar... So here's one of the Almaty-1 train station. Almaty-2 is where we got off, right next to the center.)

What is the first thing you do when you arrive in a new city with only 2 1/2 days to spend there? Go shopping, of course!

It was above freezing in Almaty, and the sun shone bright into our cabin on the train, and so when we got arrived, we were burning hot and bemoaning our lack of "spring" coats. (Where I come from, "spring coat" is an oxymoron; here, it's a fact of life.) Rebeca had heard of a bazaar that's larger and cheaper than Astana's Central Bazaar (the one I went to in October) and so we decided to go there to look for lighter-weight coats and in general to shop.

Rebeca's church in Astana is a small branch-off of a church in Almaty, and through her church she had made contact with a nice Russian lady in Almaty, who had a small apartment and was willing to let us stay there for the weekend. She frequently stays with her mother, and so had no trouble allowing us to stay there. Kazakhstanis are amazingly hospitable. (We stayed for free.)

However, she was worried when she learned that an American would be coming. She wasn't sure if her place was up to par by American standards. I said that, after my experience with my apartment in Astana, I've learned that the one thing I really need is water. As long as there's water and I can shower and drink coffee, then I'm fine.

Her place was small and excessively cluttered. The kitchen was in the process of being redone, which explains some of the kitchen mess, and the fact that there was no sink in the kitchen.

After she left to return to work and we'd eaten a small snack, we did something that I could never do in a non-English speaking country: ask around to find the bazaar. We just went outside and Rebeca asked the first person she ran into. We headed towards the bus stop, and when we weren't sure if it was to our right or to our left, she asked someone else. Speaking the language makes a lot of things incredibly easy!

We took bus 52, a small bus, and after 5 or 10 minutes we realized that we had no idea how to get back, so we asked some girls sitting next to us if they knew where we'd gotten on. Luckily, they did, and we wrote down the name of the intersection.

The bus drove for quite some time and after a while we found ourselves bumbling down a tiny alleyway between shacks. There didn't even look like there was enough room for a mini-bus, and it didn't even look like a road.

Finally the bus stopped in a crowded, cramped alleyway, and we soon learned that this was the end of the route. We got off. The tiny alleyway was filled with people and vehicles. Ours wasn't the only bus that took this route.

We walked a bit further and came to a larger road. Across the road was the bazaar--a long row of ramshackle buildings. We crossed the street and made our way into the bazaar (a good bit was under some sort of cover, with the booths or stalls not being too much different from the shops at Astana's Artyom mall, although, perhaps, dirtier, and we were outside, albeit under cover). It was near closing time, but that probably was for the better--no need to waste too much time on shopping!

I noticed that Rebeca is as uncomfortable with bargaining as I am, so bargaining is not something that locals naturally do better than me. When we came across some hair accessories that seemed highly priced, she did what I frequently do--put them down and move on. We didn't bargain for the track suits we bought our children--the price was cheap enough to begin with. 2000 Tenge ($13) for a windbreaker-type coat and matching pants. Another 2000 Tenge for a light-weight coat for me.

We bargained for the sunglasses--my brother, Sophia and I each picked out a pair; the asking price was 3000 Tenge ($20), we asked for 2000 Tenge and settled for 2500 Tenge.

As the stores finally closed, we headed back towards the buses. Rebeca and Allison stopped to buy some food at a stand--a bag full of white balls. It looked like it could be a yummy snack, but when Rebeca said it was a traditional Kazakh food, I had a faint memory of something I'd read or heard before... Maybe these aren't good?

Nevertheless, I took a taste, and luckily Rebeca has a good sense of humor and is not easily offended, because I couldn't help myself--I spit it out while making a face that Rebeca found hilarious. The balls are құрт ("kurt") and made of sour milk and taste like sour milk.

I'm proud that I've tried a traditional Kazakh food. I'm not proud of the face that I made, but am glad that Rebeca was not insulted. She and her daughter happily ate more of the kurt and saved some for later.

An acquired taste, maybe?

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Almaty! - Getting There - Thursday through Friday 25 & 26 March 2010

Almaty is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the decision to go there was very last-minute. At the end of each term there is an almost 2-week break; however, teachers have to work quite a bit of it. Saturday, 20 March--the first day of break--my Kazakh friend suggested it. On Monday, 22 March (Nauriz) I called my principal, who agreed to let me have Friday off. Tuesday night we went to the train station to buy tickets.

Kazakhstan is the 9th largest country in the world, and Almaty is quite far from Astana. The fastest train can take you there in 12 hours. Our plan was to take this fast train, both ways, so that I could be back in time for work on Monday morning. However, either that train was completely booked for the days we wanted, or wasn't running. So we got tickets that would have us leave on Thursday at 5 pm, arriving in Almaty the next day at 1 pm. I would leave Almaty on Sunday morning at 11 and arrive in Astana at 8 on Monday morning. The tickets were cheap--4500 Tenge (about $31) for one adult one way, 2500 Tenge (about $18) for Sophia one way. But would it be worth it?

Last-minute I decided to purchase plane tickets for the ride home. 23000 Tenge ($156) for a fully refundable one-way ticket home. Less than half of that for Sophia. The flight would be under 2 hours. Amazing the difference in prices and times between the train and the plane. (FYI, I was only charged about 100 Tenge--$7--for returning the train ticket.)

The information about my Air Astana ticket included a line about how, while they would appreciate it if I informed them if I were unable to make my flight, however they would not charge me if I simply did not show up, and my ticket price would be refunded. Wow!

On Thursday, I worked for about 3 boring hours, as almost no one else was there, and then left to hurriedly pack. Then my brother, Sophia & I took the hour-long bus ride to the train station, where we met my friend Rebeca and her daughter, Alice. (Not their real names...) Rebeca is Kazakh and works as a free-lance translator, mostly translating instruction manuals from English into Kazakh. Her daughter is 9 years old and is learning English, and is friends with Sophia.

Rebeca, Alice, Sophia, and I shared one small cabin with 2 bunk beds, and my brother was a few rooms down, sharing a cabin with 3 hospitable Kazakh women.

The 19-hour train ride went by much more smoothly than I had anticipated. Sophia was thrilled to be on a train, and to be spending the night with Alice. Two Kazakh boys were next door to us and played with the girls for a short while. We went to eat at the cafe, which had rather cheap food, considering I'd expected it to be expensive. (Maybe expensive by Kazakh standards.)

Our room was small yet comfortable. There was enough room to sit up on our beds, which made the top bunks rather high up and difficult for the girls to get to. At midnight, I switched beds with Sophia, in part because she and Alice could not fall asleep because they kept looking at each other, and in part because I was worried that she would fall. The railing on the top bunk was small and short, not much protection for a kid who moves a lot in her sleep.

We were provided with plenty of blankets and sheets. A tap near the bathroom provided hot water (we had to bring our tea and tea cups.) The bathrooms weren't great, there were two on each car and some were squatters.

When we left Astana, it was mildly cold and outside the ground was snow-covered and flat. When we woke up in the morning, it was no longer snow-covered and there were hills. As we got closer to Almaty, we could see an amazing sight--snow-covered mountains in the background, looking very much like clouds in the distance.

Almaty, here we come!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

TGI Friday's - 22 March 2010

After the Nauriz celebration, we decided to take bus 10, just because, which took us to the old downtown, Republic Street. It was getting late and Sophia was getting grumpy so we headed to TGI Friday's, which, as far as I could tell, was the real thing.

It really was TGI Friday's, with a focus on cocktails, and a menu in English and Russian. Some of the English was poorly translated. (The omelet comes "staffed" with cheese.) We found Sophia's favorite--fried mozzarella cheese sticks--but didn't have success on ordering pasta without any sauce.

Some kids were playing nearby so I encouraged Sophia to join them. To our amazement, the children spoke English and attend the international school where I'll be working next year! Sophia was quite happy to tell them that she'll be at their school next year. One little boy will be in 2nd grade with her next year. I talked to the parents. One was Finnish and one was Russian (and I forget where the other two were from--Canada or Britain, I think.)

So, 6 months spent in Kazakhstan and we've found American food. I don't mind eating local food, but it was nice to eat American for once. And I hope to return for the pancake breakfast one day...

наурыз - part 2 - 22 March 2010





When we first arrived at the festival, we saw some statues of peacocks, oddly out of place in all the snow. Then I saw what I assumed to be a statue of a camel. I asked Sophia to go up to the fake camel to have her picture taken. As we got closer, we realized that it was a real camel. I don't think I've ever seen a real camel before. A Russian man was standing next to it, allowing people to take pictures but not allowing anybody to get too close. It was pretty amazing.

After the yurt experience, we wandered around the tower. Really, for a city this size & the capital, it was a pretty pathetic festival. A few people were selling children's toys or food, one person had set up his art work for sale, there were a few yurts, a small stage with wrestling, and another small stage with singing and dancing. A little ways away were some large swings--big enough to hold half a dozen or more people, standing up.

As we walked away from the small singing stage and towards the swing, someone with a microphone overheard us speaking English and started talking to my brother. My brother backed away but I came up to see what was going on. It seemed that this man worked for a TV station--he was with a guy with a camera--and he wanted a foreigner's perspective on the festivities. So I agreed to be "interviewed"--basically I said a few lines about how wonderful the festival was, how beautiful the yurt was, etc, etc. So I made it on TV, somewhere in Astana.

Next we went to the swings. They are called "altybakan" (a swing with 6 poles). We waited in line for a short while before going on one, but never managed to reach a great height. Nevertheless, it was fun.

We wandered down the boulevard away from Beyterek. We came across a stand and bought sausage (for Sophia) and tea. Then, we had to use the bathroom and saw people entering and exiting a large building, so we decided to try that.

... And that is how we found yet another mall. This mall's name is Keruan, I think, and has four floors, with the food court & "Babylon" game area on the third and a cinema on the fourth. It is a lot like the Mega mall we have grown fond of--very American in style, more expensive than other places. At the food court we found a "Little Caesar's" and "Dominos" although I doubt they're connected to the chains in America. We ordered food from "Southern Fried Chicken" where Sophia found chicken she was willing to eat.

The food court was extremely crowded, and at 4:00 a Nauriz celebration started on a very small stage. People crowded around the stage, and Sophia and I could see nothing. My brother stayed to watch while we went elsewhere. He is tall and was able to get some good photographs of the different showcases. The first group we saw were some teenagers doing some hip-hop dancing. Not very exciting. But later there was a male acrobat, as well as more traditional Kazakh dances and instrument-playing. I saw some girls backstage looking very much like peacocks in elaborate, brightly-colored costumes.

Sophia and I went into the Babylon game area (much like a very large, very noisy Chuck E. Cheese's or a mini amusement park) where she decided to have her face painted. We waited about an hour for her turn, then about another hour for her entire face to be painted. In the end, she looked very much like a cat.

When we exited the mall, the yurts were down and snow was falling. Celebration of the beginning of spring...