New Year's is a big holiday in the USA, but nowhere near as big as it is in other parts of the world. In Kazakhstan, as well as other parts of the former USSR, New Year's is like a combination of Christmas and New Year's. Everyone stays up to midnight and drinks champagne and watches fireworks, but also there's a New Year's tree (identical to a Christmas tree), there's Grandfather Frost (nearly identical to Santa Claus), children get presents, schools throw elaborate parties, etc, etc.
Here, it seems common for children to stay up to midnight and celebrate, too. Also, presents arrive at midnight, I think. When I returned from Berlin, on New Year's Eve morning, I gave presents to my friend and her daughter, who was surprised to receive presents before midnight.
So, since I was in Kazakhstan for New Year's Eve, I thought I might as well celebrate. I returned too late to really make plans, so in the evening, my friend and I got dressed up and went on a walk. Ostensibly it was just a walk, but we dressed up for fun and just in case.
Outside, the weather was so nice--mostly clear, cool, crisp, about -10º C (14º F). 10 degrees colder than it had been in Berlin, but I was dressed the same as I'd dressed in Berlin, and perfectly fine. Less humidity = less cold.
Outside, we saw the Tre Kroner restaurant, a fancy Dutch (I think) restaurant across the street from my building. Let's go there, we said. We went there and found it was full--tickets for tonight had to be bought in advance.
Now determined to do more than just take a walk, we went to the next restaurant (there are several rather expensive restaurants in a row here), a Georgian restaurant. Yes, they had tickets, they said, for 25000 Tenge a piece. That's $167. We actually considered it--on the program was Grandfather Frost and Georgian dancers. But we passed.
The next few restaurants were closed, which we thought was amazing--closed on what could be the busiest night of the year? Closed when people were willing to pay 25000 Tenge just to go out?
We crossed the street and walked by the Sariarka mall; maybe we could go to our favorite pizza place, Il Platio. The entire mall was closed! Next we walked towards the Triumph apartments, where I'd once spotted a pub. That might be nice to try.
It was closed!
(FYI: This is not Germany, where shops love to close early and often. Shops are open late here, 7 days a week, and on every other holiday for which I've been here. I've been here for Nauryz, the biggest holiday, and they're open then.)
We hailed a taxi and went to the American Bar and Grill, formerly TGI Friday's. It was completely full, and tickets were 15000 Tenge ($100) each.
We crossed the street and entered a small Russian restaurant. It was open and completely empty! We decided against it and entered the Chelsea English Pub. There were some men milling around, but the bar and restaurant itself was empty. We left.
The small Turkish restaurant was closed, and so we decided to walk down to the Guns N Roses restaurant. I've been there three times before, and I've tried to go two other times, when it was too crowded and they wouldn't let anyone else in. I was assuming it would be too crowded today, however it wasn't. However tickets were 25000 Tenge!!
We found out that there were 10000 Tenge tickets--sit at the bar and order a la carte, and finally, we agreed. I was getting hungry and I was a bit curious as to what this New Year's show would be.
Inside it was less than half-full, and we were ushered to the bar--we couldn't sit at any of the empty tables. We sat next to an Australian man who said he used to come here a lot, and it used to always be crowded, but lately it hasn't gotten very crowded. It's under new management and it's less crowded now.
We ordered hamburgers and drinks, and we ate and talked until it was almost midnight--not many more people arrived and not much happened, and we were wondering what on earth we had paid 10000 Tenge for.
Finally, they changed the TV to a Kazakh station and the president came on. We listened to his speech, in Kazakh and in Russian, before counting down and drinking champagne.
Then Grandfather Frost and his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden (who accompanies him in former USSR countries) arrived. He was tall, with a long, curly white beard, and dressed in a fancy red robe. She was dressed in some kind of silver dress.
He talked and then danced and then we had a "Countries of the World Dance Contest." They played music from different countries while we tried to dance in different styles. My knowledge of music isn't good enough to tell you what countries we heard, until finally "Gangnam Style" came on--everyone knew that!
My friend and another lady won! How nice! She got a coupon for 15% off at the restaurant.
Then Grandfather Frost selected some people to help tell a Russian fairy tale. He wanted some foreigners, so a Turkish guy and our new Australian friend were picked. My friend was picked to be the translator (which is, by the way, her real job).
He had everyone stand in a line of sorts, gave everyone a name and something to say when he called their name. It took a few minutes, but I figured it out--they were acting out "The Enormous Turnip."
Next, Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden left, but first we made sure to have our photo taken with them! Several people had that request.
Then, after some music and dancing, three young women came out to dance. They were scantily dressed in Santa outfits and danced quite sexily. After their dance, we had another "break" with just us normal patrons dancing, and then these women came back dressed even barer. After another sexy dance and another break, they came back again. At this point I was ready to go home. It was past one o'clock and it was clear that a good bit of my 10000 Tenge had been for these barely-dressed ladies.
As we paid our bill, the ladies left and a live band came on. Still, it was time to go. We paid and walked outside.
The weather was nice--still crisp and light--and so we decided to walk home. Some people were setting off fireworks in the Guns N Roses parking lot, and we ran away from that noise. As we crossed the Rainbow Bridge, we saw people on the ice and even people ice skating!
We made it home to find our daughters still awake and stubbornly insistent that we had never even told them to go to bed! They had watched fireworks from the windows, and had seen a police officer talk to some of the people shooting fireworks in the parking lot.
Finally we made it to bed. An interesting New Year's Eve, to say the least.
Here, it seems common for children to stay up to midnight and celebrate, too. Also, presents arrive at midnight, I think. When I returned from Berlin, on New Year's Eve morning, I gave presents to my friend and her daughter, who was surprised to receive presents before midnight.
So, since I was in Kazakhstan for New Year's Eve, I thought I might as well celebrate. I returned too late to really make plans, so in the evening, my friend and I got dressed up and went on a walk. Ostensibly it was just a walk, but we dressed up for fun and just in case.
Outside, the weather was so nice--mostly clear, cool, crisp, about -10º C (14º F). 10 degrees colder than it had been in Berlin, but I was dressed the same as I'd dressed in Berlin, and perfectly fine. Less humidity = less cold.
Outside, we saw the Tre Kroner restaurant, a fancy Dutch (I think) restaurant across the street from my building. Let's go there, we said. We went there and found it was full--tickets for tonight had to be bought in advance.
Now determined to do more than just take a walk, we went to the next restaurant (there are several rather expensive restaurants in a row here), a Georgian restaurant. Yes, they had tickets, they said, for 25000 Tenge a piece. That's $167. We actually considered it--on the program was Grandfather Frost and Georgian dancers. But we passed.
The next few restaurants were closed, which we thought was amazing--closed on what could be the busiest night of the year? Closed when people were willing to pay 25000 Tenge just to go out?
We crossed the street and walked by the Sariarka mall; maybe we could go to our favorite pizza place, Il Platio. The entire mall was closed! Next we walked towards the Triumph apartments, where I'd once spotted a pub. That might be nice to try.
It was closed!
(FYI: This is not Germany, where shops love to close early and often. Shops are open late here, 7 days a week, and on every other holiday for which I've been here. I've been here for Nauryz, the biggest holiday, and they're open then.)
We hailed a taxi and went to the American Bar and Grill, formerly TGI Friday's. It was completely full, and tickets were 15000 Tenge ($100) each.
We crossed the street and entered a small Russian restaurant. It was open and completely empty! We decided against it and entered the Chelsea English Pub. There were some men milling around, but the bar and restaurant itself was empty. We left.
The small Turkish restaurant was closed, and so we decided to walk down to the Guns N Roses restaurant. I've been there three times before, and I've tried to go two other times, when it was too crowded and they wouldn't let anyone else in. I was assuming it would be too crowded today, however it wasn't. However tickets were 25000 Tenge!!
We found out that there were 10000 Tenge tickets--sit at the bar and order a la carte, and finally, we agreed. I was getting hungry and I was a bit curious as to what this New Year's show would be.
Inside it was less than half-full, and we were ushered to the bar--we couldn't sit at any of the empty tables. We sat next to an Australian man who said he used to come here a lot, and it used to always be crowded, but lately it hasn't gotten very crowded. It's under new management and it's less crowded now.
We ordered hamburgers and drinks, and we ate and talked until it was almost midnight--not many more people arrived and not much happened, and we were wondering what on earth we had paid 10000 Tenge for.
Finally, they changed the TV to a Kazakh station and the president came on. We listened to his speech, in Kazakh and in Russian, before counting down and drinking champagne.
Then Grandfather Frost and his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden (who accompanies him in former USSR countries) arrived. He was tall, with a long, curly white beard, and dressed in a fancy red robe. She was dressed in some kind of silver dress.
He talked and then danced and then we had a "Countries of the World Dance Contest." They played music from different countries while we tried to dance in different styles. My knowledge of music isn't good enough to tell you what countries we heard, until finally "Gangnam Style" came on--everyone knew that!
My friend and another lady won! How nice! She got a coupon for 15% off at the restaurant.
Then Grandfather Frost selected some people to help tell a Russian fairy tale. He wanted some foreigners, so a Turkish guy and our new Australian friend were picked. My friend was picked to be the translator (which is, by the way, her real job).
He had everyone stand in a line of sorts, gave everyone a name and something to say when he called their name. It took a few minutes, but I figured it out--they were acting out "The Enormous Turnip."
Next, Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden left, but first we made sure to have our photo taken with them! Several people had that request.
Then, after some music and dancing, three young women came out to dance. They were scantily dressed in Santa outfits and danced quite sexily. After their dance, we had another "break" with just us normal patrons dancing, and then these women came back dressed even barer. After another sexy dance and another break, they came back again. At this point I was ready to go home. It was past one o'clock and it was clear that a good bit of my 10000 Tenge had been for these barely-dressed ladies.
As we paid our bill, the ladies left and a live band came on. Still, it was time to go. We paid and walked outside.
The weather was nice--still crisp and light--and so we decided to walk home. Some people were setting off fireworks in the Guns N Roses parking lot, and we ran away from that noise. As we crossed the Rainbow Bridge, we saw people on the ice and even people ice skating!
We made it home to find our daughters still awake and stubbornly insistent that we had never even told them to go to bed! They had watched fireworks from the windows, and had seen a police officer talk to some of the people shooting fireworks in the parking lot.
Finally we made it to bed. An interesting New Year's Eve, to say the least.
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