Adventures in Kazakhstan

-40º

2012-02-05T15:54:00.003+05:00

There are so many different levels of cold, and this past week we experienced beyond cold, beyond freezing cold, beyond frigid. The highs were lower than -30º C (that's -22º F) and the lows got down to -40º (where it's the same in both Celsius and Fahrenheit).

At some level, you're no longer cold. You're in pain.

The previous week had been frigid, and there was no outdoor recess. Sophia and I bundled ourselves up before the walk to school and again at the end of the day; in the morning, we wore ski goggles. Bundled up so that no speck of our skin touched the cold air, we were fine during our walks.

This past Sunday after church a coworker offered to drive us to school in the mornings. He lives in our building and gives us rides home from church. I almost said no, we were doing fine, but I said yes. I'm quite glad I said yes.

Because there's a difference between -30 and -40. I learned this week that -30 and warmer I can handle, whether or not I want to. The closer you get to -40, the further you get from cold and the closer you get to pain.

We still bundled up just for the walk from our door to the parking lot. Yup, it was that cold. But we didn't need ski goggles. I learned my lesson, however, as one day I felt like my eyeballs themselves (and my contacts!) were starting to freeze during the walk home. I blinked my eyes rapidly, hoping to keep them warm, and the moisture from my breathe froze onto my eyelashes, nearly freezing my eyes shut.

Yup, it was that cold.

The principal sent out an email to everyone saying that school would close (or be delayed) when it got below -40. This means -41 and lower, and the only time it reached -41 was Tuesday, and it didn't reach that temperature until we'd all arrived at school, and so school was not cancelled. I learned this week that it actually does get colder after the sun rises! I hadn't known that before, nor would I have believed it until this week. The temperature would be -38 when I woke up, and slowly would drop as I got ready for school.

We were infinitely grateful for our ride to school. One morning, my coworker said that his car almost didn't start. It turns out that our apartment's garage isn't heated, and he has one of those automatic systems on his car so that it turns on when it gets too cold. But that hadn't worked well one night, and his car almost didn't start in the morning. The principal & her husband, however, he said, didn't even have a garage for their car. So their car froze and wouldn't work, and they've been walking to school.

At school, the hallways were cold. The school is made out of 5 buildings--one is used for the preschool through 1st grades, plus many activity classes; one is used for the elementary grades, plus the library and music room; one is used for the administration and high school; one is the gym; and one is the cafeteria, with the auditorium/indoor play area above it. So doors are constantly being opened and closed as children and teachers come and go from one building to the next. The hallway on the first floor got so cold that we could see our breath!

Luckily, the rooms managed to stay warm; we kept our doors closed to keep in the heat. My assistants get colder much faster than I do, so they kept the mini heater running, and I was quite cozy.

We had to warn the children not to touch door handles with their bare hands. The metal gets so cold it can burn your skin, so I was constantly reminding the children not to touch the handles without gloves on!

But there is at least one positive side effect of extreme cold: A friend of mine, who lives in South Carolina, where winter temperatures this year got close to +20º C (68º F), posted on facebook a video of people in Canada doing an experiment. They threw boiling hot water into the air, and it instantly turned into a puff of cloud.

I told my assistant, who was so excited that she immediately went to boil some water. The kettle is next to the 6th grade classroom, so they were the lucky ones to see the experiment first.

Finally, we got to see it. She poured some of the water from the kettle into a cup, opened the window, and threw the water outside. Poof! Suddenly there was a huge, vaporous cloud coming towards us! The children squealed in delight.

A coworker tried to see what would happen to room-temperature water; nothing. I guess it will have to get colder for something to happen!

On the walk home one day, I didn't think to make sure Sophia's face was fully bundled. She had on snow pants, extra socks, gloves under her mittens, and even a balaclava (ski mask), but I didn't insist that she cover her face with it, so she rested it under her chin like she prefers. I just wasn't thinking that it can still be painfully frigid in the afternoon.

She started crying right away that she was cold, so I stopped to pull her hat over her forehead more. Then I hurried her along until we got to Mega, the mall that's halfway between our school and our home. We went inside and then I saw what had happened--her tears had frozen into rather large chunks of ice on her cheeks. I wiped them off and saw that while most of her exposed skin was bright red, the skin under the ice was white. This concerned me, and we stayed in Mega for some time as I waited for her to warm up.

Those spots on her cheeks remained white for a while, and at home I googled "frostbite". In the end, she probably just had what's called frostnip, not even superficial frostbite. (And definitely not the worrisome deep frostbite.) The area is now red and it blistered a little and some skin came off, but it never looked too bad, never blistered very much, and never turned black, as skin affected by superficial frostbite will do. Phew! But now I definitely make sure her face is properly covered!

So the moral of the story is this--Don't cry if you're outside in temperatures below -30º C! But if you're inside, do throw some boiling water out the window.

Kitten!

2012-02-05T15:14:00.002+05:00

Two weeks ago, I went to our accountant to ask for money. (Since we don't have local bank accounts, the school holds onto our money for us and we can "withdraw" from our accounts... Some of our money goes directly into our home bank accounts, and some stays here.)

He then asked me, "Do you know anybody who'd like a kitten?"

Well, Sophia and I had to leave two cats in the US when we came here, and ever since then we've been dying for a cat. But I've been trying to be practical--I travel so much, how could I find someone to watch a cat every time we leave the country? Plus, my landlords here are so weird and so nitpicky about little things, I'm not so sure they'd agree to a cat.

But I always knew that if I were given a cat, I wouldn't be able to say no.

The accountant is taking driving lessons, and for weeks now he'd been seeing this kitten at the place where he takes lessons. He said it was obvious that the cat didn't have a home, although he suspected that some kind soul might be feeding it. So the other night, he put the cat in his coat and took it home with him. He and his wife recently bought two guinea pigs, so they can't keep the cat.

I asked him about my landlords, since he's the one in charge of dealing with issues and problems with the landlords; he seemed to think it would be okay. I think he was being overly optimistic; being Russian maybe he doesn't understand that Kazakhs just aren't used to house pets. But I also know that he is very good at dealing with landlords, so I figure he can help sort that issue out.

That very night, he and his wife came over to our place with the kitten. It wasn't too tiny, probably between 3 and 6 months old. And it's definitely a boy. I was quite surprised with how well it reacted to being suddenly placed in a new environment; it wasn't scared and seemed to like people.

I made a make-shift litter box out of an old cardboard box; the accountant's wife had bought us some litter and kitten food. The kitten instantly knew how to use the litter box.

Sophia and I debated over the name; she didn't like any of the cute Russian names I suggested (such as Mitya, Sasha, Vanya). I suggested Balthazar and for some reason that stuck. All of my students burst out laughing when I said our cat's name is Balthazar; no one seems to think it's a pet name.

Balthazar adjusted rather quickly to our house, and slowly has grown more comfortable. He's now trying to climb up and onto more things. I've made him perches by two windows, which he seems to enjoy, even though it's rather cold by the windows. He's a kitten, and he loves to play, and meows until we play with him.

The week after we got him, we went to Artyom to look for cat supplies. In my limited Russian, I managed to ask for cat toys, a cat scratcher, and a litter box. The cat toys are fine, the cat scratcher is small and needs to be hung up (no scratching posts) and the only litter boxes they had are tiny. I found one piece of cat furniture, nothing too fancy, and it cost 25000 Tenge (around $168)! We might just buy something in the US and pay for the extra luggage; that'd be cheaper!

Sophia's Kazakh friend spent the night last night, and it was interesting, because she was rather scared of the cat. We had to keep Balthazar away from her! Over the course of the evening and next morning, Sophia managed to help her to feel a bit calmer around him.

We're glad to have him. Here's hoping we'll find a good summer home for him!

Mimioriya - a children's play area

2012-02-05T14:50:00.004+05:00

A few Saturdays ago, Sophia was invited to a classmate's birthday party. It was located at the Saryarka Mall, which is near our house. On the second floor in the mall is a place called Mimioriya, which is where the party was held. I'd seen this place before but had never gone into it.

Mimioriya is like a child's dreamland. When you enter, you first encounter the cashier; then you can cross over a small bridge to a colorful land that looks very much like a place where you'd find fairies. You walk down a small path and can choose between several small cottages, again, looking like fairies' homes. One looks somewhat like a mushroom; one has a Japanese look; one is Kazakh, designed like a camel.

Inside each cottage is an artsy activity, with an adult ready to help you. There are spaces for 4 to 6 children at each table. The art project takes approximately 45 minutes to complete, with the adult walking the child through each step. Sophia made a painting on glass; she also made a cat out of playdough-like material.

It's calm and serene and I can imagine being a very happy child here! There's also a pirate ship, but I didn't get to see that. On the other side, there are tables and places to sit and eat, and the children can even help bake things.

Sophia had a good time at the party; when it was over, I even paid 1000 Tenge for her to do one more activity. I'm not completely sure how the pricing works. I know one activity is 1500 Tenge ($10) and each subsequent one is 1000 Tenge. It seems like a great place for a children's party!

Trying to find a place to eat breakfast

2012-01-11T17:44:00.006+05:00

The mother of one of my good friends from high school recently took a job in Semey, a medium-sized town in eastern Kazakhstan. Her winter break coincided with mine, and she decided that she wanted to visit Astana, and we planned it so that she arrived a day after Sophia and I returned.

She took the bus from Semey, a 12-hour overnight ride, an incredibly bumpy ride, with stops along the way to use incredibly stinky outhouses. We met her at the bus station at 6:30 in the morning.

"So," she said, "let me treat you to breakfast!"

I racked my brain for places that are open for breakfast in Astana. Since I usually am only up at the time when I have to go to work, I really don't know about what is open in Astana at this time. I know that the mini-marts don't open until 8 am, and that the malls are pretty deserted until after noon.

So first we went back to my apartment, and I googled two places that I'd heard did brunch. The Lonely Planet web site listed one place, Samovar on Kennesary Street, as being open 24 hours, and I'd heard from others that this restaurant serves a yummy brunch.

So at 8 am, we went to take a cab to go to Samovar.

The driver stopped in front of the restaurant, obviously confused. It's still dark in Astana at 8 am, and the street was nearly pitch-black--and so was the restaurant. Obviously not open!!

In my broken Russian, I managed to convey that we wanted to eat breakfast, did he know of any places that were open?

Remember that although there are official taxis in Astana, most people just take "gypsy" cabs, which is pretty similar to hitch-hiking in the US, except that it's incredibly common here, and that you pay the driver. So this poor guy was now stuck with 3 Americans in his car with nowhere to go! He called a friend and drove us to another restaurant--the lights were on, cars were parked outside of it, there were even a few people around. We thanked him profusely, tipped him generously, and got out.

The restaurant was closed.

Now we were stuck, still in the dark, still wanting breakfast, and thankfully the weather was kind. It was only about -10º Celsius (14º F), which is pretty mild for Astana in January before sunrise.

My friend then asked about hotels, and I realized that that's where we should have looked in the first place. Fancy hotels catering to foreigners should offer breakfast! We were near the King Hotel, a fancy hotel (rooms around $200 a night), so we walked there. Inside we asked if they had breakfast, and they did! Yay!

Breakfast was somewhat similar to a continental breakfast in an American hotel--dried fruits, nuts, cereal, bread and a toaster, rolls, tea and coffee. As well as some meat and vegetables. My friend asked for eggs--no one spoke enough English to understand, and I must have slaughtered the pronunciation of the Russian word for eggs, because no one understood me either. Finally, someone translated and we got sunny-side-up eggs, with the yolk practically uncooked. We also got 3 raw eggs, which we mistook for hard-boiled until my friend cracked one.

The bill came to 7200 Tenge--$48. Pretty steep for not such a great breakfast.

Oh well. Next time I want breakfast in Astana, I'll either cook it myself or wait until 10 am. I'm sure the brunch places open by then.

**Update: Today my Kazakh friend and I, along with our daughters, went to eat lunch at an Italian café that we discovered last year. The sign on the door said that it opens at 8 am; the menu included lunch--pancakes, omelettes, danishes, and everything under 1000 Tenge, so not too pricey (not too cheap, either). So now I know where to go next time I want breakfast at 8 in the morning!

The place is called Rafé; it has 2 locations in Astana; we were at the location near Congress Hall on Kenessary Street. 16 Bukeykhana Street.

(I also highly recommend Rafé for its desserts!)

Ordering Pizza

2012-01-11T17:42:00.003+05:00

One of Sophia's and my favorite restaurants is called Il Platio; it's an Italian-Japanese restaurant, with reasonable prices and decent food. Sophia likes the pizza and pasta; I like the pizza and pasta, as well as the salads and meat options. There are two Il Platio's in Astana; one is located in the Sariarka mall near our house, so we sometimes go there after school for dinner. We can sit by one of the large windows and watch the sun set over the steppe. It's nice.

The other is located on Respublika Street, next to where the TJI Friday's used to be. TJI Friday's is now the American Bar and Grill. The same company owns these two restaurants.

Once while eating at Il Platio, I noticed a brochure that seemed to imply that we could order delivery over the Internet. I would love to have my dinner delivered, but although I can order fine in Russian, my skills on the telephone are practically non-existent.

So I went on the web site, http://dostavka.rosinter.kz, and found that they had a page in English, and that, yes, you can order delivery on-line! Hurrah!

Delivery is free, but the delivery prices are a bit higher than in-store, which is fine. 999 Tenge (under $7) for a cheese pizza, so not bad. You have to order at least 3000 Tenge ($20) in order to get delivery.

One evening, we tried it. I submitted my order on-line, I got a confirmation email--and then I went back and read the delivery info. on the site and found out that I'd get a phone call confirming my order. So I wasn't bypassing a telephone conversation altogether.

But the phone call was much easier than placing an order via phone. A lady called, confirmed my name and address, and all I had to do was so, "Da" (Russian for "yes"). I can do that.

Two hours went by and no pizza!

So I called a Kazakh friend, who called the restaurant. She was told that since it was the eve of a big holiday (Kazakh Independence Day) and they only had one driver, they were backed up quite a bit. Not long after, the pizza arrived, a bit cold.

Well, a few days ago I decided to give them one more chance. They had a good excuse last time, didn't that? I placed my order on a Monday, the eve of no holiday that I knew of.

The confirmation call didn't come for about an hour. I'm suspecting that they just didn't check their computer. The pizza came about an hour later, hot this time, but after bedtime!

Which, sadly, means that this place really isn't worth it for on-line ordering. Maybe if I called an order it'd be quicker? Definitely if we went there and ate it'd be quicker! It'd be worth it on a Saturday, if we had nowhere to go and no need to go to bed early. But not during the week, which is when I'd really like it.

Oh well!

Freezing Cold

2011-12-24T04:25:00.002+05:00

December 2012

Last year, when we left Astana for South Carolina, USA, there was almost no snow on the ground. I don't remember how cold it was, but I don't remember being freezing.

This year, temperatures dropped to -30 Celsius. I didn't wear my ski goggles--not that cold yet--but I did carry them with me to school a couple times, just in case.

Even Sophia admitted to being cold and willingly put in gloves (usually after we'd been outside for a while). I learned how great snow pants are, using a pair I'd bought from a co-worker last year.

Also, there's been a lot of snow. This part has been good. The kids at school have already been digging snow tunnels, and it's so much fun to watch them. There's the usual troubles of some kids stomping and ruining other kids' tunnels, but overall it's good fun. They work so hard at these things and really enjoy them.

Two groups of boys continue to play soccer, despite the ice and snow. It's cute to watch the bundled-up 5-year olds kicking the ball around and sliding on the ice.

In front of our apartment, the snow was shoveled quickly, just like last year. But this year someone took the time to make an ice slide out of the small mountain of packed snow that was shoveled to one side. They made steps going up one side and a slick slide going down the other. Sophia and her friend discovered this one day, and had quite a bit of fun going up and down that thing.

--UPDATE--
Last year, when we returned to Astana shortly after the New Year, it was freezing cold. I started wearing my ski goggles to school. Sophia didn't have any and was cold. This year so far, there has been no need for snow goggles. The temperature has ranged from -10 to -20 Celsius, with very little wind and clear skies. It was been very nice!

Marine Ball

2011-12-17T09:27:00.007+05:00

Saturday, 12 November 2011

(Photos: Not us, just a bunch of people posing for a photo. And the Staff Sergeant Marine serving a piece of cake to the oldest Marine.)

The annual Marine Ball, I have learned, is a big event, and happens in nearly every city where there are Marines. It is a celebration of the birthday of the Marines, which is around 10 November.

Tickets were $100, and the ball fell on Sophia's birthday, but I have never been to a ball before, and I had a dress, so I was determined to go.

I found another single co-worker who was willing to go with me, and last minute the principal and her husband as well as the vice-principal and his wife decided to come too. They were all busy, so they each gave me a $100 bill, and Sophia and I went across town to purchase the tickets. On the bus with $600 in cash. Such is life in Kazakhstan.

As soon as Sophia's party ended, I hurried to clean the house and waited for A., one of my teaching assistants, to come over. She's very artistic and had asked me earlier if she could do my hair and make-up. Of course! I answered since I am pretty clueless in those areas.

She Skyped with her friend in Japan, who knows a lot about these matters, and after a few hours I was beautiful.

I don't have curlers, and my hair resists any attempt to change it from its usual straightness, so A. used a curling iron to curl small pieces of my hair, spray them, and then pin them in tight circles. She burned my ear a couple of times in the process.

As she was doing my make-up, Sophia complained that she had a headache, and soon she was throwing up and begging me not to go. A mom's dilemma -- I spent $100 on these tickets! I've been waiting a year for this event! How sick is my child?

My friend R. had volunteered to watch Sophia and her child, Sophia's best friend. She assured me that Sophia would be okay, and I gave Sophia her phone so she could call me anytime.

With the hair and make-up taking so long, and the long stop to calm Sophia, I was over an hour late to the ball. I missed the cocktail hour and came in during a speech.

There were several speeches by Marines and a retired Navy officer. Then the cake was ceremoniously brought in, and a slice offered to the ambassador, the oldest Marine, and the youngest Marine. Then, finally, dinner was served. My appetizer was a cold salmon salad; my dinner was a rack of lack with dijon-mustard sauce on tomato-zucchini gratin and semolina filo. (Yes, I still have the booklet which listed the menu, there's no way I would have remembered all that.)

We had wine and the kind of waiters who are intent on making sure that the amount of liquid in your glass never changes, so they were constantly refilling.

Then the music played and I realized what a ball in the 21st century is like--just like a dance club, except everybody is dressed super-formally and most people are relatively important people. The music was not very good, and ranged from Elvis to Lady Gaga.

Sadly, it was not very interesting, and it was too loud to do much conversing, but we got some good pictures with the Marines. There are only 5 stationed in Astana, since all they have to do is protect the embassy. The youngest Marine was 23 years old; the second oldest was 30; and the oldest was 43. So a small, young crowd.

We left at midnight; Sophia had just fallen asleep when I walked in the door.

An okay evening, in the end, a good event for photos and talking about later, but nothing too extremely special.

Sophia's 9th Birthday

2011-11-14T17:16:00.002+05:00

Saturday, 12 November 2011

We invited 12 kids to her birthday party--all the girls in the 3rd & 4th grade, plus 3 boys, plus her friend that goes to a local school. All but two RSVP'ed, and all but one showed up, so that was a pretty good turnout.

First, we met at the entrance to the movie theater at the Mega Mall, and went to watch the movie The Adventures of Tin-tin. You can look up movie times on-line, for the current day as well as the next two days, but when I looked up the times for most of the week, only the current day's would show. On the other pages, it would say something like, Wait for the administration to put the schedule up.

So I was nervous--for one week, Tin-tin had shown at 11:30, but what if today they changed the schedule?

Luckily, Tin-tin was showing, and at 11:30. I'd asked everyone to show up at 11, which was good, since, as usual, several people were late.

I bought the tickets--12 children's tickets plus 1 adult ticket--for about 5600 Tenge. That's about $38. Really nice price :) (And Sophia was free because it was her birthday.)

The movie was in Russian, but only a few of the children don't understand Russian, and of them, only one was bored. There's enough action in Tin-tin to follow the basic plot and be entertained. Kids' movies in general are easier to understand than adult movies.

After the movie, we walked back to my house, where I had them do a small scavenger hunt and then open presents while I made macaroni & cheese (imported from the US!) and chicken nuggets. Sophia's local friend was a bit shy, so I had her help me. She'd never seen macaroni and cheese before and appeared disgusted by the mixture when I poured in a huge slab of butter, some milk, and the powdery mixture.

Several of the Kazakhs hadn't had mac and cheese before, but they all liked it. The chicken nuggets were popular too (the frozen kind! now readily available in stores here).

Then I decorated the cake and brought it out and we sang "Happy Birthday." My apartment isn't tiny, but 13 kids is a lot. (The 11 who came, plus Sophia, plus the cousin of one of the girls.) And even though I'd bought some paper plates and had some plastic silverware, we were running out of those! Especially by the time cake and ice cream came along.

At this point they were pretty rowdy, getting in pillow fights, and so I was grateful that it was a rather warm day for mid-November in Astana. It was just 1 degree below 0 Celsius, and it was sunny and not windy. So I sent them outside to play Capture the Flag.

They were still happily playing when their parents came so I judge this party a success :) My house was messy, but we'd still managed to have a good party and for not too much money. And Sophia now had over 11 presents (because some kids gave her more than one thing).

The party ended at 4 pm; the last parent picked up at 4:30 pm; I spent half an hour cleaning the house, and then it was time to get ready for the Marine Corps Ball.

An English-speaking tailor

2011-11-10T20:09:00.002+05:00

November 2011

For the most part, you don't need to speak the same language as a tailor. You can walk in, show them the tear in your coat (or whatever) and they can fix it. It helps to know times and numbers (for prices) but a large knowledge of English on their part or Russian or Kazakh on yours is not necessary.

There are a lot of tailors here; every mall seems to have one. The top floor of Artyom is full of cheap ones, and I learned my first year that taking something in to a tailor is cheaper and more convenient than pretending that I'd get around to sewing it myself. (Although I have sewn some things myself!) Like shoe-repair people, they're pretty cheap--a couple hundred Tenge (a few dollars) for the jobs I've used them for (fixing tears).

But this time I had a ballgown I wanted fitted, and so when a friend recommended an English-speaking tailor, I was more than glad to listen.

I took the dress in on Saturday, and by Tuesday evening it was ready. It cost me 2300 Tenge (about $15.50) and the tailor did a better job than the tailor in America who'd first fixed it.

So... in the rare chance that somebody reading this blog wants to find an English-speaking tailor, here goes my directions:

Start at the Mega shopping center. Walk past the circus and cross Kabanbai Batyr Street (the first big street you'll meet). The Kaskad buildings should be in front of you (the tallest of these buildings has a sign for "Turkish Airlines" on top of it.) Walk straight down the small street, so that Kaskad is on your right. The supermarket Alma is part of the Kaskad buildings, also on your right. A hotel will be on your left.

You'll walk about a block more after passing Kaskad, and probably start to wonder where I'm taking you, since it seems like just a neighborhood. But after about a block, a small, two-story shopping center will appear on your right. Enter by the first door. There will be stairs on your right; go up.

Upstairs are several small shops, walk straight down the hall until you get to a small set of steps; go up them. Directly on your right at the top of the stairs is a tailor--that's her!

Witnessing a kitten drown

2011-11-08T18:37:00.003+05:00

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Behind our apartment building is another apartment building and a public school (School 17), with some shacks behind the other apartment building. Next to the shacks is the imposing Triumph building, an apartment complex and hotel with a swimming pool inside.

In order to get to Kabanbai Batyr Street, with buses to Artyom and other places, we cut through a large vacant lot behind the school.

Sunday as we were walking there, we heard a loud meowing. We stopped and saw a kitten on top of a sewer/manhole covering. There are lots of these in Astana, and, unlike those in the US, many of them are not secure. Oftentimes the covering is not there, and when winter comes you have to be careful! And even when the covering is on, it might not be securely on. Although, on this side of town, we've had few problems; two years ago, there were more uncovered and poorly-covered manholes.

There are lots of stray cats and dogs in Astana, looking rather pathetic, and we worry about them when winter comes. I used to carry a small bag of cat food around with me, just in case. (We are BIG cat lovers.)

So we went towards this kitten, and it got scared and ran off the manhole covering and started looking into a hole in the ground. Then it started to fall in. For whatever reason I told Sophia not to touch it, I would get it, but by the time I came up to it, it had fallen in.

The hole led to the sewer below, and the kitten was in the water. It had stopped meowing, at the time I thought this meant was okay; looking back, I realize that it was either too terrified to meow, or too busy trying not to drown to bother with trying to meow.

I opened the manhole covering (it was heavy) and we looked inside. The kitten had grabbed onto a stick and was paddling around. A ladder led to the water below.

We debated what to do. It was too far down to reach in and grab it. And it didn't think to grab onto the ladder that led to safety.

I debated climbing down. How safe was the ladder? How safe was the water? What was that strange valve-like thing that I'd most likely bump into while climbing down? Could the kitten find safety without us?

Then, we didn't see it, but we heard it -- a few loud, plaintive, gurgling meows. (We could hear the bubbles of water....) The most awful, horrifying, and pitiful sound I have ever heard.

Silence.

We looked in, we couldn't see it, we put the covering back, we started to walk to the bus stop, Sophia burst into tears, we returned home.

We'd witnessed a kitten drown.

And probably could have done something about it.

My first ballet in Astana

2011-11-06T18:50:00.002+05:00

Friday, 28 October 2011

It wasn't until the end of last school year that I finally managed to get on the US Embassy's unofficial newsletter, a bi-monthly email with information about goings-on in Astana. So now, every two weeks, I learn about events such as ballets and operas, as well as symphonies, art exhibits, and other information.

The National Ballet & Opera Theater is located by the train station, an odd location for such a place, since that area isn't exactly the nicest area of town, nor is it near much else. And as far as I know, tickets have to be bought from there (but maybe I'm wrong?)

Most ballets and operas are Friday, Saturday, or Sunday evenings, and this year my friend's daughter has afternoon school -- half-day classes from 2 until 7 pm, Monday through Saturdays. And Sophia & I have church Sunday evenings. So it's difficult to fit in an opera or ballet.

But "Coppelia" (a ballet) was showing on Friday, 28 October, and Sophia & I were on Fall Break, and my friend decided that she and her daughter would just show up late. So Sophia & I took bus 12 for quite some ways to the theater to get tickets, and on Friday we went to the ballet.

We paid 1000 Tenge (under $7) for our tickets and had good seats, near the front. The theater is small, so just about everyone can see, but it's also very beautiful, very elaborately decorated inside. I later learned that the cheap balcony seats are awful--you can't see the entire stage.

My friend didn't show up until Intermission, which was good, because I was worried I'd get in trouble when my cell phone beeped (I told her to text me when she arrived, because I had her tickets). And luckily it was a 3-act play, so we still had 2 acts to go.

Not the most impressive story (guy falls in love with a doll, girlfriend pretends she's a doll to show him how ridiculous it is to love a doll, then they marry and everyone dances). But a weak story can make for a great ballet, and it was really well-done and the dancing was impressive to watch.

The audience really got into it, and during the final act they clapped enthusiastically in beat to the music. We all cheered quite a bit when it ended.

My friend's daughter wanted her picture taken with a ballerina, so after it ended, we climbed on stage and went backstage. No one told us not to, so we went backstage and met some of the dancers. They were all very friendly and quite happy to have their photo taken with Sophia and her friend. The lead ballerina talked to us for a while. She's 18 and has been practicing ballet for 8 years now.

I was happy that Sophia and her friend enjoyed it; we look forward to going to a ballet or opera again soon!

(Update--That night we learned that the opera "Madame Butterfly" would be playing Monday, 7 November, which is a Kazakh holiday, meaning we both would be free to go. After getting a co-teacher to watch Sophia, I took the bus to the theater after school one day--to find out it'd been canceled! The whole trip took close to two hours, just for nothing! On a positive note, I learned that I knew the Russian word for "canceled".)

Almaty - Turgen Gorge

2011-10-31T17:48:00.004+05:00

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Today one of my friend's connections had arranged for a driver to take us to Turgen Gorge, a waterfall that's about an hour and a half outside of Almaty. The fee was 15,000 Tenge ($100) for us 3 for the entire trip, which is much better than what any travel agent offered. (Although on their web site, at least one travel agent listed the price as much cheaper than what they said when we emailed them. My guess is part of the reason is that we weren't doing a group tour. If we went on the weekend with a large group, it could probably be $20 - $40 a person, not over $100 as they said.)

Our train was to leave at 7 pm; we were to meet the landlord at 5:40 pm; and we wanted to make sure we'd be back in time. So we left at 8:30 am.

The driver was very friendly, although he speaks no English. He said he is Uighur (a people from western China) but he lives in Almaty and is from a small village near Almaty, which we drove through. He has 3 children, the youngest is only a few weeks old. (Yes, my limited Russian helped me learn all that!)

We had a nice, bumpy ride through small villages and then we turned right, paid an entrance fee, and road on a windy road near a river, through some hills similar to the ones we'd seen on the way to the canyon.

After a while we were there, at a picnic area by the river, an empty building that said "Restaurant" in Kazakh, and a signpost that said "Waterfall" in Russian and pointed to our left. Our driver said he'd sleep in the car and wait for us.

So we hiked.

I'd expected to be cold--I'd been warned that the mountains were colder than Almaty. But maybe this wasn't mountainous enough--it wasn't cold! Soon we were taking off our jackets and sweaters.

The hike was entirely uphill, and at times we had to cross the stream. At times the path was a branch of the stream--perhaps there was more water than usual due to yesterday's rain. Luckily, the weather today was beautiful--sunny and perhaps 18 degrees Celsius (about 64 Fahrenheit), although maybe it was cooler and it felt warm because I was hiking.

We passed by the remains of a bird fight; whatever the bird had been, it had beautiful, orangeish-brown striped feathers. Sophia collected a few.

Finally, we made it to the waterfall! A beautiful waterfall, tall and thin, nothing too extraordinary (I've seen quite a few before). But still worth it. We had to cross the stream to get to the picnic area, so first we decided to see if we could climb to the top. Sophia had discovered a path and had started to scramble up it.

She hadn't gotten too far when we realized that just because we could climb up didn't mean we would be able to get down. It was rather steep, and the surface was just loose rocks. Indeed, I had trouble coming back down. But maybe it led to the top of the waterfall and the struggle would be worth it? Or maybe it would result in a twisted ankle and have us stranded here, a kilometer's hike away from a driver who speaks no English, an hour and a half drive away from the city?

I decided to climb ahead, see if it'd be worth it. It was quite a climb, enjoyable and very tiring, and I quickly discovered that if it led somewhere, that somewhere would take quite some time to get to. And it wasn't safe going down--not for an 8-year old, at least! So I took some pictures and returned down, disappointing Sophia with the news that we wouldn't be continuing upwards.

Then it took her 20 minutes to get down from where she was, and I think that convinced her that going higher would not be worth it!

We trekked across the stream (icy cold water! -- but luckily we barely got wet, using the stones as stepping stones). There was a bench and plank of wood for a picnic table, so we stopped, ate, admired the view, and took more photos. In the distance we could see snow-capped mountains.

Then we crossed the stream again and returned to the van. The trek down was a lot easier than the trek up.

On the way back, we stopped at a trout farm to fish. The driver told us that this place gets extremely crowded in the summertime, but there were very few people there today.

We went in and were given a primitive fishing pole (no reel or wind-up thing or whatever it's called.) The woman who gave us the pole tied a piece of red plastic to the hook. There was a small, rectangular man-made pond stocked with fish, so we fished. Other people had corn tied to the end of their hooks, and we were wondering why we only had plastic.

Sophia caught no fish for quite some time; finally, the woman came by and showed us that we could take some corn from a can that was lying around. Maybe that was what we were supposed to have done first.

I started to wonder if we looked like dumb foreigners, giving Americans and Indians a bad name.

Finally, Sophia caught a fish. We shrieked in excitement and ran to her and screamed some more--she had a fish at the end of her line. Of course, this is to be expected, but we are not fishermen, and we did not want to touch a life, flopping fish.

So we took a few pictures, with the fish flopping around pathetically, and then managed to convince Sophia to set it free. We didn't have time to cook it, nor did we really care to eat fish. But then we had to figure out how to get the hook out of its mouth, and that involved touching.

Finally, we set it free, and were happy that we did. Although, really, I'm sure the other people there were thinking that Americans and Indians are incredibly dumb.

Our driver led us to other parts of the farm, where we saw tons of baby fish, and another section with huge fish.

Finally, we returned home. We made it back with an hour to spare. My friend realized that she'd have nothing to eat that night--she'd been planning on eating in the train's restaurant, but the Hindi festival Diwali was starting, and so she couldn't eat meat. And, of course, it's hard to be a vegetarian and eat in Kazakh restaurants. So she called one of her connections and had her call Pizza Hut, for a last-minute delivery of a cheese pizza.

I ran to Hardee's; there was one a few blocks away, and I was craving a Hardee's milkshake. In the US I never go to Hardee's, but last weekend, two of my co-workers got milkshakes from Hardee's and they looked so good! Indeed, the milkshake was delicious!

We checked out with the landlord, who then drove us to the train station.

All in all, we had a very wonderful three days in Almaty!

Almaty - A Foggy Day

2011-10-29T11:16:00.003+05:00

Monday, 24 October 2011

We were going to go into the mountains today, and tour the city on Tuesday. Instead, we opted to do the city today, and we were lucky we did, because today the weather was icky. It was foggy and rainy - and damp means cold also. Tuesday's weather was back to beautiful.

A friend of my friend's father had arranged for his personal driver to take us to Medeu (where I've gone ice-skating before.) Since my last visit, a huge cable car line has been put up, taking people up the mountain from Medeu to Chimbulak, offering magnificent views. Medeu and Chimbulak are two places that are near Almaty, a 30 minute drive from the center, up a mountain that contains pricey housing developments along the way.

On my first visit to Almaty, we spent an entire day going to Medeu and then Chimbulak; both places were closed due to bad weather. Apparently Almaty is known for not-so-great-weather.

Today we left at 10:30, and noticed the immense fog as we drove higher. We drove up past Medeu and were soon stranded in fog. We could see the road, but not much else. Definitely not the majestic mountains that were all around us.

The cable car that we'd intended to ride was closed. I don't know if this was because it was Monday (sometimes Monday is a day when things are closed) or due to the weather. Whatever the reason, we had to go back down.

But luckily we'd left early, and had time to do something else. We asked the driver to take us to Kok-Tobe, which is a hill near Almaty center, with a cable car going from downtown Almaty to the top of the hill. (I'd been here last year.)

The driver dropped us off somewhere I didn't recognize, and said we could take a bus and he'd wait for us for one hour. We spent quite some time figuring out what to do. I was confident I could manage exploring Kok-Tobe and then the city, provided the cable car was working that day and could take us into the city. The driver seemed to want to wait for us--and then do what? He had to go back to his job (being a personal driver for someone in the embassy, I think) so he couldn't chauffeur us around all day. And did we really want to do Kok-Tobe in just one hour? If we had to come back to him, would we then miss doing the cable car?

After phone calls to people who spoke both English and Russian, and could talk to the driver and the lady selling bus tickets, we decided to tell the driver we could handle ourselves from then on. He seemed angry, I guess he just wanted to do his job and take care of us, not leave us in the cold. But we wanted to explore, not be under a time constraint.

So we took the bus -- 200 Tenge for a short drive up the hill -- and then were there, still in the fog, in the light drizzle, and definitely cold.

We wandered on the hill, saw the pathetic zoo with the miserable-looking animals who were dying for the crackers I had to feed them. We took pictures of the fog and could just barely make out the city buildings down below, surrounded by fog. Again, we could not see the mountains, although we knew they were everywhere all around us!

We drank mulled wine and then paid for the cable ride down -- 800 Tenge. Despite the fog, it was worth it; it's a nice view, going down the hill, over the houses and into the city.

In the city, it was definitely warmer--not warm, but we finally weren't cold.

We crossed the street through one of the underground pathways. I like Almaty's streets better than Astana's--Astana is full of highways, and you cross them at a light or a pedestrian crosswalk -- cars stop for you, because it's the law, and they really do, even if you're crossing a super-busy highway, but it's still a bit scary. Almaty has large streets, but they're tree-lined avenues, and busy intersections have underground pathways crowded with shops. Much more pleasant for crossing!

We stopped in several shops and bought some cheap jewelry.

Then we continued down Abay Street several blocks until we found Pizza Hut! Yes, I've now been to this Pizza Hut (on the corner of Abay and Furmanov Streets) three times now. I'm not the hugest fan of Pizza Hut, but I also have never been impressed with the pizzas I find in Astana. Pizza Hut pizza is so much better!

After eating, I asked the hostess what bus to take to get to Panfilov Park. I knew we could walk the distance -- a pleasant 2-kilometer walk, along Lonely Planet's recommended walking tour -- but it was getting late and we were tired.

Bus 25 took us from Pizza Hut to the entrance of Panfilov Park. We wandered through the park and saw the impressive WWII monument and the eternal flame.

Then we went and saw the impressive Zenkov Cathedral, a bright yellow Russian Orthodox church, made entirely of wood. (See this post for photos of the church and the WWI monument.)

We went inside and it was dark, since the light usually comes from the windows and it was already 6 pm, dark outside due to twilight and the cloud coverage.

My Indian friend was amazed at how dark it was, apparently Hindis make an immense effort to always keep their temples extremely well-lit.

It wasn't that dark, and we could still see the elaborate interior--paintings after paintings, icons after icons, a huge chandelier in the middle, gold everywhere.

We then played air hockey for 100 Tenge at an outdoor place near the cathedral, and then we wandered a block to Jibek Joli Street (Kazakh for "Silk Way"). We didn't have time this trip to go to the bazaar, which disappointed me, and I hoped to do some shopping. We went in a super-crowded shopping center (crowded with stores, with little room for people). Downstairs we found some good deals on clothes, but mostly prices that compare with Astana prices. I bought Sophia some cute Ugg boots, not that she needed them, but another pair of winter shoes is always worthwhile.

Then we took a taxi home. I was quite amazed when the first cab who stopped for us agreed to take us back for 300 Tenge ($2). Last time, the drivers were all too eager to charge 1000 Tenge for foreigners.

Once home, we were exhausted. Time to get ready for one more day in Almaty!

Almaty - Charyn Canyon

2011-10-28T15:38:00.003+05:00

Sunday, 23 October 2011

We arrived at the train station at 7:47; our landlord met us directly in front of our wagon and took us to our apartment. We quickly showered and by 10 am were ready to head to the canyon!

My friend's father works for the Indian Embassy and has connections in Almaty; he managed to connect my friend with some Kazakh girls who had studied Hindi (and thus knew Indians in Almaty) and who were super-friendly. They found and hired a driver and a van to take us to the canyon--and they went along too, explaining that they had been planning all summer to go to the canyon, but hadn't made it yet. The driver charged 80,000 Tenge, which the 8 of us split. MUCH cheaper than any tour I'd found on the Internet (charging over $100 per person).

Charyn Canyon is located 300 kilometers from Almaty, and if Kazakhstan has freeways or highways, they are not along this route. The road was small and bumpy the ENTIRE way, getting far worse the last 10 kilometers when we turned onto a dirt road, not much different from the flat dusty land alongside it.

But we got to drive through many villages, and it's always fun to look at different towns and wonder what it's like to live there, in the shadow of the mountains, living such a simple and different life than my fast-paced Western-style life in the funky and new-age Astana.

We passed by a livestock bazaar--where people go to sell livestock. We saw several people walking home, with a cow or donkey at the end of a rope. We saw a man with a sheep he'd just bought.

Then, we saw a donkey pulling an old-fashioned wooden cart. Actually, we saw several donkeys pulling carts. I felt pulled out of the 21st century and back in time a century or two.

The driver had to stop for a cow who was standing in the middle of the road. The cow didn't move, so we went around it.

We stopped in the center of a village where people were outside selling all sorts of things (food mostly). We managed to find the bathrooms--two stinky outhouses, for 25 Tenge. I'd rather go behind a tree, but there were too many people there, I probably would have gotten in trouble.

We bought some water and continued our drive.

The hills reminded me of eastern Washington state, a place that's very dry, with mostly dirt and some not-very-green shrubs, where the hills look like cardboard paper that's been bunched up several times. Very fascinating to someone like me, who grew up in the very green South Carolina.

Finally, we stopped and paid the entrance fee--211 Tenge. Why 11? Who knows. (And I can't really remember if it was 211 or 611, I just remember the 11.)

We drove a bit more - the land was flat and reddish. We got out and the driver said, be back in 3 hours. At that point I wasn't sure what we'd do for 3 hours.

A sign said "Descent" in Russian, Kazakh, and English, and so we went down.

It was rather steep, and the wooden railing wasn't very sturdy. But we made it to the bottom and began a several-kilometer-long hike to the river. On our sides were tall, reddish rocks, and I later learned we were in the place called the "Valley of the Castles," due to the strange and elaborate rock formations.

We took plenty of pictures and took our time getting to the river. Along the way the rocks changed color and texture to a dark color. Later I learned that these are the oldest rocks, volcanic rocks.

Sophia was the first to notice the rodents that lived there. There were rodent-holes everywhere and these little guys were scampering about. They are probably a Kazakh relative of the prairie dog. They had long rat-like tails and according to Sophia, who got close enough to notice, monkey-like heads.

The river wasn't large but it was moving quite fast, and it was a beautiful aqua color. On our side there was grass and areas for picnicking; on the other side, just cliff walls.

The Kazakh girls had brought quite a feast, even a portable camping stove, and they set up camp and we picnicked. Sophia enjoyed walking alongside the river's edge (with an ever-worried mom making sure she didn't fall in!)

We left with less than an hour to spare, and realized then that the way back was all up-hill. Plus, Sophia was exhausted. So we took our time--and took more photos!

It was a wonderful trip, a good hike, and such interesting rocks! A friend from Arizona said that it looked a lot like Arizona, and it definitely doesn't compare to the Grand Canyon, but it still was a great trip!

Almaty - Spanish "fast" train versus slow train

2011-10-26T16:54:00.003+05:00

I've been to Almaty 4 times now. I've taken a slow train three ways; an airplane three ways; and the fast train two ways. (See this post about my first train ride, in March 2010; this post about the second train ride, in November 2010; this post about the last and awful one, in December 2010.)

This time we did not buy the tickets at the train station. The train station is a good hour's trip away via bus, and last year it was a pain going to buy the tickets, waiting in line, and then discovering that my friend didn't have the proper documents for her child, so we had to leave and then come back. (Yes, you need documents--eg passport, some sort of identify card--simply to purchase tickets for train travel within Kazakhstan, for yourself as well as for minors.)

I'd heard that the small travel agency in Sariarka Mall (near my home) sold train tickets. And they do. Plus, there was no line, and the lady working there spoke English. She explained the tickets to us, showing us where to find the time, our wagon number, etc.

This time was my first experience on the fast train; after my last experience on the slow train, I vowed to never take it again (despite the first experience being rather pleasant).

We left Saturday at 7:25 pm and arrived Sunday at 7:47 am.

First, the inside is different. The hallways are even narrower than on the slow train; the interior is different (similar to white plastic walls, kind of futuristic). Inside the cabins are four blue chairs; the beds are pulled down by train attendants upon request. This frees up more space inside, and you don't bump your head while sitting upright. However, there's less room for luggage, as I'm used to spreading my things out on an upper bunk.

The slow train had a mini-table, which was nice to gather around; the fast train had a sink, which was nice in the mornings. It had TV-trays that attached to your chair for eating.

The attendant in charge of our wagon on our way to Almaty was super-friendly. She went out of her way to make us feel at home, even asking the people in my cabin to change spots with my two friends, who were in neighboring cabins. One man agreed to change, so there were three of us in one room, plus a Kazakh woman. In the end, it was nice that she stayed with us, she spoke some English and could help translate.

The restaurant menu was in our cabin, we could have ordered room service! Prices are inexpensive, too. The most expensive options were meat dishes, at a little over 1000 Tenge.

The attendant asked us to fill out some sort of guest book. Previous passengers had left their names and numbers and a short paragraph. She also gave us her name tag so we could write her name down. I wasn't sure if this was some sort of thing where we talk about service, or this was a memory-type book for her. I wrote in English that we were having a great time and the service was great; my friend signed in Hindi.

In the morning, we had breakfast at the restaurant--eggs and "blini" (Russian pancakes, similar to French crepes.)

Sophia slept sound, but my friend and I didn't sleep too well. As nice as a train can be, it's still a train. It rocked a lot, but that didn't bother me too much sleeping.

On the way back to Astana, the attendant wasn't too friendly, but she wasn't mean either. She seemed to simply go through the motions of what she was supposed to do, not bothering to put extra effort into it. In the morning, she knocked persistently at our door until we let her in (Sophia was changing, I yelled out, "Wait!" in Russian but she didn't seem to want to wait long.) Finally, we opened the door, she quickly said something in Russian, and before we could even acknowledge that we had heard her, she left to knock on the next person's door and say the same thing. Probably she said something like, "It's morning and we're almost there." But it was funny that she was so insistent on telling us something and then didn't care if we'd heard or understood.

Still, overall it was a good experience. Half as much as the plane and gets you to downtown Almaty in the morning, with the whole day in front of you.

Finding a Place to Stay in Almaty

2011-10-26T15:32:00.002+05:00

Finding an inexpensive place to stay in Almaty is easy, as is finding an inexpensive way to get to Almaty from Astana.

I've taken the 19 - 22 hour train several times to Almaty; with one-way tickets around 5000 Tenge per adult ($33) or less, this is the best deal. I've had varying experiences on the train, however, and this time decided to take the "Spanish" train, a fast 12-hour train. More on that later.

I've also flown; flying is cheap but twice as expensive as the fast train (which is about 8000 Tenge per adult, one-way, or $54.)

Last year one of my assistants found the web site www.apartamenty.kz (which has a link to turn it into English). This is a great site to find apartments for short stays in Almaty. The apartments are furnished and begin at 5000 Tenge per 24-hour period. I have a map of downtown Almaty, I use this and google maps to find out just how close to downtown the apartments are.

Last year there were 6 of us traveling, we found a great one downtown for 10,000 Tenge a night (about $67.) Two large bedrooms, one living room with a pull-out couch for the girls, a nice kitchen. It was a very pleasant stay.

This year we found this one: http://www.apartamenty.kz/ru/almaty/kvartiry_posutochno/2kh-komnatnaya-kvartira-1574.html

It was smaller than last year's, with a very small bedroom and living room (with a pull-out couch for the second bed) but suitable for 3 people (a friend, Sophia and me). It was a longer walk to the central attractions of downtown Almaty, but still downtown--still on the "downtown walking tour" in the Lonely Planet guidebook.

We chose it because the Russian description of it included some English. I had my assistant call and do the booking for us, and the landlady does speak some English, which was nice.

For 1000 Tenge extra, the landlady's husband picked us up from the train station, meeting us directly in front of our wagon and helping us with our luggage to his car. He was very friendly and knew a tiny bit of English.

Our stay was very pleasant, and I highly recommend using this web site for finding a cheap but great place to stay in Almaty.

Professional Development in Almaty

2011-10-20T14:21:00.003+05:00

On Friday & Saturday, 14 & 15 October, all the Central Asian schools in my school's organization came together in Almaty for professional development. They do this every other year. All together, 7 schools were represented. We were flown in and provided homestays (staying with a teacher from the Almaty school, which is large, with 500 students.)

Teachers from my school flew in Thursday night, and we had the option of staying on Sunday and going up to the mountains. Although my previous attempts at going into the mountains in Almaty have failed, I knew I'd rather get home Saturday night and have Sunday to relax before school started again on Monday.

So I didn't get to see much of Almaty. But I have been to Almaty twice before and plan on returning in a week for Fall Break, so missing out on a day of mountain sight-seeing wasn't really a big loss to me.

Sophia & I stayed in the house of one of the vice principals at the Almaty school. Almaty is an interesting city; the main downtown area is only about 2 or 3 km long and 1 km wide, very walkable. But it's a huge city, very spread out, with really bad traffic. So it took us over an hour to get from the airport to our home. And the school is about 30 - 40 minutes drive from downtown, possibly more.

A few of the teachers are housed in nice houses in the nice neighborhood surrounding the school; the rest are housed downtown, I heard that this is because there aren't that many available near the school. I also heard that first year teachers have to stay further away, and then I don't know what the system is for determining who lives closer.

Those that live near the school aren't very close to much else besides the school, the lovely neighborhood, and a store (which I never saw, so I can't comment on it). So the teachers that live near the school have cars, and the teachers that live far from the school either have cars or take taxis every day. So this made me happy that I'm only a 15 minute walk from my school (much less, if I choose to cross the busy 8-line highway, which I don't) and the mall and supermarket are on my way to school.

The vice principal who I stayed with lives in a nice two-story house near the school. He has a front and back yard, beautiful now that it's autumn and the leaves are changing colors and starting to fall. He has a swing set in his backyard, too (and an adorable 16-month old baby).

Sophia got to walk around the neighborhood some (with a babysitter and a few teachers' kids, toddlers) and she said it was very nice. There are a few play areas in the neighborhood.

There were 8 sessions, taught by different teachers on different topics on which they knew a lot. Some were better than others, of course, and I especially enjoyed a session on teaching English-Language Learners, by someone who'd gone through a program to become certified. I'm just certified in Elementary Education, not ESOL. This session was nice, because it confirmed that pretty much everything I'm currently doing is, according to current research, the best way to teach ESOL. It's nice to know that what I'm doing is correct.

I also got to meet and talk with other teachers. I met a nice lady who teaches in a very small school in Aktau, by the Caspian Sea, and she loves it. She says that Aktau is very multi-cultural, lots of different ethnicities, and the city is very quiet and peaceful, very safe to walk around in. Plus there's the beach and a few hours away are necropolises and underground mosques and white mountains and other interesting sites.

The teachers in Atyrau, also near the Caspian Sea, but further north than Aktau and about 20 km from the sea, said that it's a nice place, but not interesting for visiting.

A teacher in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) liked it, but I think she would rather be somewhere else. She has three young kids, and she said that city doesn't have a lot of options (clubs, activities, English-speaking children) for older children. Plus, the city is very dusty (dust from Afghanistan, she said) and she thought the smog-filled air in Almaty was cleaner than the air in Dushanbe (another Dushanbe teacher disagreed, though, and said that Almaty air was dirtier.)

Also, she said that policemen are everywhere, and often are closing down the main roads for important people or whatnot, so then they have to take the back roads to school, driving through dirt roads by shacks.

It was interesting to talk to different teachers about their experiences! And, really, the more I talk to others, the more I want to travel in Central Asia.

Friday evening a school van drove us to Mega Mall, a mall that compares to American malls (large). We ate at a Pizza Hut, and, yes, it was yummy. Some teachers ate at a Hardee's.

Everybody ran into the huge supermarket Ramstore, looking for Western products (more readily available in Almaty than Astana), but by the time I went in, looking for Cheerios, another teacher had beat me and bought the last two boxes.

Saturday I just went to the 4 sessions and then we left immediately after for the airport to go home.

It was a good experience, and I look forward to returning to Almaty to go to the mountains.

My landlord's not crazy. He's MEAN!

2011-10-18T19:04:00.002+05:00

I've written about them twice before - here (from May 2011) and here (from September 2011). But I'd started to think that maybe I'd been too mean, a whining American. I asked our school secretary how my landlords compared to the 15 others she deals with, she said they're okay compared to the others.

And then this happened:

I came home Wednesday, 5th October, at around 6 pm, in a good mood. Then I saw that EVERYTHING had been taken out of my freezer, and placed on the bench in the kitchen. The refrigerator had been unplugged.

Yes, my refrigerator has been broken since May, and to get to the piece that's broken you have to go through the freezer. But my landlord had come over, taken everything out of the freezer, attempted to fix the fridge, failed, and then left the apartment. Like that.

He also put up some of the hooks so I could hang the curtain, not all of them. And someone didn't notice the rainwater coming in through the gaps in the windows.

I had a stuffed freezer, and everything was slowly thawing, and it was raining in my bedroom. I was not in a good mood.

I checked my email, the secretary had emailed that he was coming over at 3 pm. So that means my food had only been out for 3 hours, so that's not too bad. And when I plugged the fridge back in, the freezer appeared to still be working.

I was livid, though. I emailed the secretary and said that I wanted to move immediately. I tried calling her, but she didn't answer. I later learned that she'd had a very, very busy day, with lots of people being mean to her. So when she finally got hold of me, and I was angry, I know that just made her miserable day even worse.

The next day at work I typed up all my complaints about the apartment, ready to turn that in to the principal as an explanation as to why I wanted to move. But I waited, knowing I had to be calm and thinking rationally before I did so.

At the end of the day, our new accountant came to talk to me. He's a Russian guy, recently arrived from Novosibirsk, married to our 2nd grade teacher. He told me that from now on, he was in charge of dealing with the landlords. The landlords were quite mean to our secretary, and apparently thought they could take advantage of her because she's female.

Our accountant said that the landlord is no longer allowed in my apartment without 24-hour written notice, and that no one is allowed in my apartment without my presence. He explained that for some reason, in the apartment contract, the school is liable for the fridge if it breaks. Rather than pay the money for the expensive broken piece, the school would buy me a new fridge (which the school will then keep, not the landlord, when the apartment stops being rented by the school).

So now I have a new, working refrigerator. It's a bit smaller than the old one, and not as fancy, but it works.

And now I'm not planning on moving. I'm quite impressed with how quickly the school decided to help me, considering I hadn't yet complained as I had planned on.

Computer Shopping

2011-10-10T19:34:00.001+05:00

Sophia has used my mom's old computer for the 2+ years that we've been in Astana, and I'm afraid it's finally breathed its last. So I decided to look into buying her a cheap netbook or notebook here in Astana. I'd heard of Tekhnodom, an electronics store, and on Saturday we went there.

Since I know very little about computers, and not enough Russian to converse with employees about computers, when we went inside the store I took out a pencil and my notebook and starting copying the information about the netbooks. ALL of the information, since I didn't really know what would be useful or not. (The plan was to email the information to my dad, and to ask his advice.)

An employee attempted to speak to me in Russian and found out that I didn't speak Russian. He must have gone to find an English-speaking employee, because soon one came up to me and said that I couldn't write down the prices, it was not allowed.

I explained to her what I was doing, and she said okay, although her okay seemed to come more from resignation (how can you argue with someone who doesn't speak your language) than from agreeing with me.

The next day, I went to a computer store, Beliy Veter (which means "White Wind" in Russian.) I'd been to this store my first year, the school's IT guy had called it the Best Buy of Kazakhstan, and it was seriously disappointing in that respect.

Maybe it was because I was with my Russian-speaking friend, and maybe it's because Beliy Veter has better service. But an employee was very helpful, and when I started to copy information into my notebook, he said no need, he could print out all the information (included price) for me.

The computers were a bit more expensive at Beliy Veter, but better models. Also, Beliy Veter has a service center and a one-year guarantee. I'm pretty sure that when I finally get around to buying Sophia a computer, I will do so from Beliy Veter.

A Good Restaurant Next to Artyom

2011-10-10T19:15:00.004+05:00

On Saturday, after sleeping in and resting from the full week and Fall Festival, we went shopping. We had several things on the list--most importantly, an autumn coat for Sophia. She has a light raincoat plus some sweatshirts, and a below-the-knee, down-filled winter coat. But lately she's been rather cold--it's too cold for mere sweatshirts and not yet cold enough for the winter coat.

We went into the shopping center across from Artyom. I've mentioned Artyom, this huge, crowded shopping complex, many times before (for example, in these posts from November 2009, November 14 2009, September 2010, and, most recently, September 2011.) Yes, judging by how much I've written about it, you might be quite surprised to learn my first time in the shopping complex across from Artyom was just 2 weeks ago. I'd gone in to look for speakers at Tekhnodom, an electronics store someone had recommended to me. I'd only been on the first floor of the shopping complex.

There are several small shopping complexes behind Artyom and a half-block down the street from it. I'd finally managed to visit most of those , but not this one. It has a sign on it saying that Ramstore is located there. Ramstore is the grocery store closest to me now, and one that sometimes has peanut butter.

So two weeks ago, I went in, and noticed a sports store that seemed bigger and nicer than MegaSports (*the* sports store in Astana, but maybe no longer!)

First, we went to Tekhnodom, then we wandered upstairs. There are four floors in this thing! Most of the floors sell furniture--some furniture in stores, some out in the open. But there are several other smaller stores.

Begemot, a toystore, was on the top floor. I noticed that it seemed to specialize in non-brand-name stuff, knock-offs of Barbie and My Little Pony, with bad English. Sophia enjoyed it though.

The cafe on the top floor was your usual Kazakh diner--food seemed greasy.

But on the third floor we found something I wish we'd found earlier--a clean, cheap Italian restaurant. How many times have we been hungry while shopping at Artyom! Artyom has a cheap cafeteria on the top floor, plus a crummy pizza restaurant, and nearby there are sketchy places for shashlyk (Kazakh kebab). But this place was nice.

We sat next to the window, watching the crowds in the streets outside, and for $10 we had a medium-sized cheese pizza, a small Greek salad, a milkshake, and a bottled water. Not bad.

Then, after several hours in the mall, we finally made it to the sports store, where the first thing we saw was an girls' autumn coat, in light blue (Sophia's favorite color) and on sale. Super.

Now Sophia has a coat to keep her warm in this weather, and I know where to go when we're hungry and shopping at Artyom.

Fall Festival 2011

2011-10-10T18:16:00.003+05:00

Our school has an annual Fall Festival, which most kids just refer to as "Halloween." (See last year's post about the Fall Festival.) Most kids aren't sure as to when the exact date of Halloween is, so they were quite happy to believe that Halloween this year fell on Friday, 7th October. I was quite happy to spend a week with a "Monster" theme, an evening doing Halloween activities, and then to have it over with.

During the week, we listened to the song "Purple People Eater" and other songs I have on a Halloween CD. We made monsters from some worksheets I have of various ghoulish eyes, noses, and mouths. The next activity was to write a descriptive paragraph about those monsters, of course.

This year, I was assigned an activity for the Fall Festival--the Cake Walk--along with a co-teacher. This turned out to be great. There was little prep work--parents brought in cakes--and the event was so popular that we ran out of cakes in a little over an hour, leaving us with almost hour free to explore.

I didn't have a costume idea, but my co-worker's haircut looks like Justin Bieber's, so she went as Justin Bieber and I went as Justin Bieber's fan. She printed out a photo of him; I cut it out in a heart-shape and glued it onto the back of my hoodie. (I learned that Justin Bieber likes hoodies.)

Every activity at the Fall Festival is free; however, food was being sold, since it was dinner time. Kids came dressed in different costumes--Sophia wore an Indian dress; cat costumes were popular for girls (easy to make, I think); boys came as various superheroes.

Since there are so many activities, at first it was hard to get about 10 people for the Cake Walk. We did the Cake Walk as a variant of musical chairs & cake walks that I've done before--we had ten numbers on the floor in a circle. Everyone walked around the numbers while the music played; when it stopped, they stopped on a number. I stood in the center with my eyes closed and called out a number. Whoever was standing on that number won a cake.

We showed off a fancy-looking cake to entice people to play. I saw my 9-year old Korean boy (with very limited English) and dragged him into the circle. He was completely confused, but when I yelled out "3!" he was standing on the 3, so I shoved the cake into his hands. He ran off excitedly to his mother.

Later, in class, he happily told the events, with plenty of expressions and hand gestures--"Cake Walk! Three! Cake! Yay!"

The high schoolers put on a haunted house in the room above the cafeteria. This proved to be rather popular. It was neat to see what they could do with little time and space. They managed to create a spooky atmosphere with spooky music and little light, to make rooms by hanging dark-colored sheets, and to do a good job with make-up.

Overall, it was a fun night. The kids seemed really, really happy. It rained outside and to walk from the gym to the cafeteria you had to go through puddles, but no one seemed to mind.

And maybe next year, I'll finally have a real costume...

French Club

2011-10-01T17:26:00.003+05:00

This year, the school is having after-school activities twice a week for the elementary school students. The elementary school gets out 50 minutes earlier than the high school; last year, it started 50 minutes later, and kids who arrived early were watched by an assistant in the gym. This year, they can go home at 3:15, or they can go to Study Hall or an after-school activity.

Teachers are required to lead one activity every week; every 6 weeks or so the activities change. Unfortunately, we also have to come up with the activity ourselves, and this was hard for me to do. Some teachers are doing different arts and crafts, some are doing board games or outdoor games. One teacher is leading a very-popular cookie-making class; another teacher is leading a science club (also very popular).

I decided to do a French Club, partly expecting that no one would sign up and then I'd get relegated to helping someone else. After all, we're in an English-language school in a Russian-and-Kazakh-language country; what kid wants to add another language on top of all those?

But 6 kids did sign up for my club, which is a decent-sized number, considering we're such a small school. And their teachers say that they are talking excitedly about it in their classrooms.

It's turned out to be a lot of fun. I know many French children's songs, plus have tons on CD, so I've taught them a song every week. We also play Bingo (learning colors, numbers, and parts of the body along the way) and eat cheese and bread. They really aren't learning much; once a week for 50 minutes isn't really enough time to learn a language, but they seem to be having fun.

And I do enjoy talking in a foreign language that I actually know, rather than stumbling through Russian. I really need to work on my Russian, don't I?

Bikes

2011-10-01T17:12:00.003+05:00

Sophia's bicycle is broken - something happened and the handlebars could no longer turn. With the help of one of my assistants, I took it to the bike shop I'd found at the end of last year. (See previous entry.) My assistant filled out a form with her phone number and we left the bike there.

About a week later, they called saying that they couldn't fix it, at least not without some part that they didn't have. Their best guess was that we might be able to find it at the bazaar. So now I have to find some time to go with my assistant, first back to the shop to figure out what piece we need, and then to the bazaar to hunt for this piece. Ugh.

It stopped working only a few days after I'd bought my bike, so I've rarely ridden mine. I was so excited that we'd finally be getting around Astana a bit faster, on bike rather than bus or foot, but we're back to being pedestrians and bus-riders.

Today Sophia was at a friend's house all day, and I had some shopping to do, so I got to ride my bike. First I went to the bike shop to buy myself a helmet. After I'd gotten a helmet, the guy who'd helped me get it followed me outside to check on my bike. I obviously seemed clueless, and not just clueless in the Russian language but clueless about bikes too. He checked the tires and said that they needed the be pumped, and he brought out a pump and did that for me. Then he asked to ride my bike, I let him. He didn't seem to impressed with my bike. He used the word "tyazholi" which google translate says means heavy or hard. But he didn't seem to be too alarmed, and he let me ride away, didn't insist on fixing anything. So I hope it's okay!

(I bought my bike at a bazaar, it was cheap, so I'm sure it's cheap quality.)

I rode away, finished my shopping, and it was nice to ride a bike and not have to wait forever for a bus. I wore my helmet, despite most likely looking ridiculous because nobody here wears helmets.

And I'm glad the guy at the shop seemed concerned about my bike, even though I couldn't understand him. I came in for just a helmet, and he cared enough to check out my bike.

Hopefully, my bike will last me the remainder of my time here in Kazakhstan.

Map Park!

2011-09-29T17:11:00.003+05:00

Map Park is fantastic! I completely recommend it to any and all visitors to Astana. I'm just upset that I never visited it sooner.

We took the entire elementary school on a field trip to Map Park this past Friday, 23rd September, as part of their units on Kazakhstan. (Every grade has a Social Studies unit on "Host Country" and we chose to all study Kazakhstan at the same time.)

Map Park is located behind Duman, the place with the aquarium. Duman is across from Mega (the big mall) so it's easy to find; everyone knows where Mega is.

I'd passed by Map Park many times without knowing what it is; it's also not on a main road. So if you go looking for it, find Duman, and go behind it.

We walked there from the school and took a short-cut through Duman's parking lot, and we ended up going through a fence. This happens a lot in Astana, you end up trekking through dirt or trenches or construction or holes in fences.

The ticket price is 200 Tenge ($1.35) for children, 400 Tenge for adults, so really cheap. And most signs are in Russian, English, and Kazakh.

Map Park is basically what it sounds like it is - a park that's also a map. It's like a large map of Kazakhstan. You enter in the southwest, near the Caspian Sea. There were wooden ducks floating on the water.

In southwestern Kazakhstan, there are apparently some white mountain-like structures. In the park, they appeared as large white rocks, with steps on one, quite fun to climb on and several meters tall.

My Lonely Planet book does not mention these; however, a quick search through all sections on the south and west show that there are some huge chalk rock structures (one is 323 meters high), so I'm guessing that's what those white mountains were.

The southwest is where there are necropolises and other surreal things, according to my Lonely Planet, and I need to find the time to read more about this. Map Park made it look so fascinating--white mountains, caves, etc.

We wandered around the Caspian Sea, seeing fake flamingos (and some people saw fake seals). Map Park contains miniatures of dozens of Kazakh cities, with dollhouse-sized buildings that are quite fascinating. We saw mosques, Russian Orthodox churches, Russian-style architecture, government buildings, cottages, train stations, etc. We also saw lots of sites for drilling oil, as oil is a big business in Kazakhstan, especially near the Caspian.

The Left Bank of Astana was on a raised platform; underneath it were drawings of different parts of Kazakhstan, plus "Barbie dolls" dressed in different national clothings; plus exhibits showing different parts of Kazakh history.

The Left Bank is the new part of Astana, the part that has been planned in great detail and rivals Dubai, some say. A miniature version of it is quite impressive. Keep in mind that these mini buildings were the size of enormous dollhouses, so still small compared to the real thing but impressive and awesome nonetheless.

We saw the Right Bank of Astana, the older part, with Republic Street. Children excitedly pointed out where they lived or where their parents worked. And they were quite disappointed that our school wasn't there. (Our school's on the Left Bank.)

We then went to Almaty, and the fake snow-capped mountains looked rather real. I recognized the amazing Orthodox Church that can be found in Panfilov Park.

Overall, it was a very fun experience, and the children very much loved it. Most everyone was chattering excitedly, despite the chilly weather.

Some people found an area where other countries were represented; I never saw this and now I need to go back! I also need to go back without children, so I can take the time to read the signs. Every building was numbered, and signs explained what each building was, in Russian, Kazakh, and English, but the children wouldn't let me stop long enough to read these.

And I'm having trouble right now uploading pictures; hopefully I'll get that fixed soon, since the pictures make it look fantastic!

Do you have size 41?

2011-09-25T11:32:00.003+05:00

My shoe size is 9 1/2 in the US, which is a 41 here in Astana (also in Europe, that's my shoe size). Although slightly larger than the average American woman's shoe size, I usually don't have a problem finding my size in the US.

But here in Astana, it's a different story.

Sophia was at a 24-hour birthday party/sleepover, so I decided to use the time to go shoe-shopping. I'd already looked briefly in some stores in the nearby malls Mega and Sariarka; the one shoe I'd found that I'd like was not available in size 41.

This time I went to Artyom, the large, crowded mall, with 6 floors. The bottom floor is an overcrowded food bazaar--mostly fruits and vegetables and spices, very mouth-watering to observe if the crowd doesn't bother you. The top floor is mostly furniture, two restaurants, and a bunch of tailors and hair-cutting places. (A co-worker had her hair cut for 800 Tenge - about 5 1/2 dollars.) The middle floors are full of stores that look like glass-walled cubicles--tiny, cramped, hundreds of them. And at least one full floor devoted mostly to shoes, with other shoe stores on other floors.

Next to Artyom is the remnants of what used to be one of the larger, outdoor bazaars. I learned that several years ago, as Astana grew larger, the bazaar was moved further away. But pieces of it remains, in crowded one-story, shack-styled buildings, and next to the parking lot, and even sellers on the streets. I've found better deals there than at the actual bazaars.

I went first to the place where I'd had luck before finding shoes. Two years ago I bought comfy, somewhat fashionable, fur-lined size 41 winter boots, which lasted a full year before falling apart. For under 6000 Tenge - $40 - they were worth it.

I was looking for shoes to wear as my indoor shoes at school during winter, something fashionable and nice. There were plenty of options. But I soon learned that no one had size 41.

As I went from store to store, I became much more adept at saying, "U vas yest sorok-pervy?" Or "Do you have 41?" (Actually, I said 41st, for some reason when I said 41, they usually answered me with the word for 41st.)

Several sellers found me a shoe, insisted I put it on, and when I did and noticed it was too tight, I checked the size--they had given me a size 40. This happens all too often. One seller even sprayed some foamy stuff into the shoe, swearing that this would make it fit.

Artyom must have hundreds of shoe stores, and none that I found had my size in anything remotely attractive. A few did have one or two hideously ugly shoes in size 41.

Really? Is my shoe size that hard to find?

Last year at the big outdoor bazaar, I'd run into the same problem--sellers attempting to sell me size 40s. When I'd finally found what I wanted in size 41, I was thrilled--and bought it immediately.

This time, I left Artyom and headed in the direction of Zhannur, a mall. On the way I stopped into a shoe store that was advertising 50% off. The prices were rather high, so even with 50% off, they weren't that cheap.

They found an okay-looking size 41, but it was much too large. So I tried on a size 40, which actually wasn't too tight. The man gave me a greater-than-50% discount, so for about $40 I picked up a pair of shoes.

If my feet were a half-size smaller, I could have found something good for $20. Oh well.

The Exploding Light Bulb

2011-09-05T20:28:00.002+05:00

It didn't really explode, although it looked like it did. This morning, Sophia was sitting on the couch, eating breakfast, when I turned on the lights. We have a chandelier in the living room as well as something that may perhaps be called "track lighting" - multiple small lights in the ceiling, in a line.

I heard a noise, sparks flew, and one of the small light bulbs fell and bounced off Sophia's head. There were enough sparks and enough noise to really have me worried. Sophia sat in stunned silence for a short while.

She was fine, just stunned. The sparks didn't cause a fire, and amazingly, the light bulb is in one piece.

This has happened before, but never on Sophia's head. Light bulbs in Kazakhstan aren't content to simply die, they must go out with a bang.

Church in Russian

2011-09-04T14:44:00.002+05:00

My Kazakh friend, R., is Christian, and attends a small non-denominational church with its headquarters in Almaty, and most of the congregation is of Korean descent (yet Kazakhstan citizens & Russian speaking).

Yes, most Kazakhs are Muslim, similar to how most French are Catholic--it's part of their ethnicity but they don't necessarily practice. (It's incredibly rare to see a Muslim in full Muslim dress -- burqua etc. In fact, you're just as likely to see a nun as a woman in a burqa.) However, for the few Kazakhs who have converted, it has been a big deal. It took some time for my friend to convince her family that she's still a good person, even though she's a Christian.

I attended service with her once; it is one hour of singing and then one hour of preaching. The children are pulled out during the preaching part for more kid-friendly activities. Sophia thoroughly enjoyed that hour, despite it being in Russian, and has asked repeatedly to return.

My friend does not mind driving her, and so I have let her go several times (as often as logistics work out). Last spring they had a small "Children's Fair", where they sang and danced and played games, and they bought prizes with "talents" -- tickets earned by answering questions correctly during Sunday school. The children also each got a present and a nametag with a special nickname. I was quite pleased to see that Sophia was remembered--her nickname was "Angel" and her present was a picture frame. She was quite happy.

So this year she has asked to go again, and she went this morning. Today they have "homework"--a worksheet with Bible verses and other activities, which she is completing with her friend.

But I won't let her off the hook for Catholic church, at least not completely. There are times when I go to the Russian-language Mass in the mornings, at the same time she goes with her friend to her service. But there are also times which we go to the English-language Mass in the evenings. She is quite content to attend church two times. And today is the second time that her friend is going to both. In fact, she pretty much begged her mom to stay with us, even if that means going to church twice in one day.

I think it's amusing that my child and her friend beg to go to church twice in one day. I know it's not so much for the church as for the friendship, but still. I'm glad they're willing to go twice. And I hope that the exposure to a friendly Russian-language environment will help her with her Russian. I'm amazed at the difference between our friend's church and our previous school--both Russian speaking environments where Sophia was different. At our old school, she was excluded, and the teachers didn't try to appear as if they cared. At this church, she is included. The kids are very friendly and accepting, and the teachers work hard to make sure Sophia is included. It's a nice environment.

Yes, my landlords are crazy

2011-09-04T11:58:00.004+05:00

I love my apartment. It's beautiful, well-furnished & supplied, and has good-quality furniture too. Even after the landlord came and took a lot of stuff away last spring, I still have plenty of stuff. I love the location. It's a short walk to two malls, a short walk to the school, and I'm on the first floor. Sophia can go outside and play or ride her bike and I can stay inside and still keep an eye on her. We're right above a mini-mart which stocks enough supplies to keep us happy during the winter. (No peanut butter, of course, but few stores sell that.)

I wish I had a dishwasher and I wish I could open my windows during the hot summer nights, without worrying about someone climbing in. (We're on the first floor, it'd be very easy to climb inside our apartment, and it's very noticeable when our windows are open!)

But, I'm happy with it.

My landlords, however, are weird. Not weird enough to make me want to move. More like quirky, bothersome, annoying weird. I didn't like my landlady from my previous apartment, either, but in a different way. I knew she was tight with money, unhappy, and didn't like me because I didn't speak Kazakh. In the end, I grew more comfortable with her, understanding that she just doesn't like spending 1 Tenge on anything, so she'll complain about everything.

But these guys... I think the man is nice and friendly, it's his wife who's weird. She's the one who came and raided my house for supplies twice when they moved back to Astana last year. She's the one who hounded our poor secretary this past June, begging to know when my cleaning lady would be in, so she could give her a huge list of things to do over the summer. "Who'll pay my cleaning lady for these tasks?" I asked the secretary. "You," she said.

Well, I got the secretary to tell them that since I was packing, I was too busy to answer their questions, and so they never told my cleaning lady to do any tasks. Amazingly, they came in this summer to do them themselves.

In my clean, beautiful home, they painted all areas that weren't wallpapered (and the paint wasn't cracked, peeling, or dirty at all). They took down the blinds & curtains and cleaned them. They did NOT attempt to fix the huge draft coming in from the windows that causes the place to feel like Antarctica in the winter. So, superficial changes. Nothing actually needed.

When I returned home, at midnight, I noticed that they had not replaced all of my curtains. They had all summer, and hadn't gotten around to finishing the job! The thick curtains in my bedroom were missing, as well as a few blinds. I only had blinds on a few windows, plus a thin, see-through curtain. Not only does this meant that at 6 in the morning bright sunlight pours into my room, but it also means that at midnight, everyone outside can see inside my bedroom! I've been changing in the bathroom. (Remember, I'm on the first floor, my bedroom windows look out onto the play area and parking lot, and Kazakhs tend to stay up late at night, children still playing outside at 11 and sometimes even midnight.)

I immediately emailed the secretary, who called them and reported back--Yes, they have my curtains. They'll return them.

Really? Why couldn't they have returned them sooner?

Finally, they came by, less than a week after we'd returned to Astana. Yes, the house was a bit of a mess. We'd had 4 days to unpack and recover from jet lag before returning to work full time. The landlord's wife was extremely unhappy. The school secretary, there to translate, told me later that the wife had said something to the effect of, "The teacher who lived there before was clean. But this one! ...." And other such ramblings. She was quite unhappy when she couldn't find the cleaning supplies in the bathroom (they were on the porch). Unhappy that I was cooking and the stovetop was a bit messy. She even asked why I don't use the cupboards and cabinets (which were all full, some of them still holding her husband's stuff).

When I mentioned that the washing machine makes an extremely loud noise on the spin cycle, akin to an airplane landing, she said that it's just because I put the stuff in wrong. I responded that last year it had never made this noise. Oh well, apparently that's not a big deal.

When I asked about the windows and the draft (not bad now, of course, but I'm preparing for winter!), the landlord started rambling about the painting they had done.

So, yes, quirky, annoying landlords, who used to live in Almaty and only visit once every other month or so. I could handle that so much more easily.

Of course, our poor secretary has to deal with them more than me. When the landlady complained about my cleanliness, our secretary said, Aren't we paying the bills? Aren't we paying rent? It's not your business how she lives.

(On a side note--I am not a messy pig! Yes, I hadn't finished unpacking yet, and yes, I was making dinner rather than doing the dishes, but the house is not a disaster. And now that it's Sunday and the cleaning lady came by on Friday, my home is quite presentable.)

So, we'll stay happily in this apartment for at least the remainder of the school year. The pros far outweigh the cons.

We're Back!

2011-09-04T11:53:00.002+05:00

For the third year in the row, I arrived in Kazakhstan later than I had planned. My first year, I arrived a full month later than planned, due to issues with getting the letter of invitation; my second year, I arrived a full week later than planned, due to the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington, DC, taking 5 weeks to process Sophia's visa. This year, they processed our visas in just one day, and I was excited to finally arrive on time.

No such luck--we were to fly from Charlotte, NC, to Newark, NJ; from there to Frankfurt and then to Astana. Due to bad weather in Newark, our first flight was delayed. Meaning--we would miss our connection in Newark and subsequently our connection in Frankfurt. The next Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Astana was two days later, so we had to stay in Charlotte two extra days.

Of course, US Airways offered nothing for our problems.

However, we did finally make it here, 4 days before teachers started work, so that's better than previous years, when I had to start work immediately. Maybe next year we'll arrive on time!

Borovoe, Final Day - Honey on the way home

2011-07-05T12:28:00.002+05:00

Monday, 27 June 2011

We left Borovoe on Monday because my friend had to work. The guest house had promised Internet, which they had, wi-fi via a mobile phone, but the connection was incredibly slow and rather spotty. Her work is through the Internet, and so we returned Monday morning so she could get back to work.

On the sides of the freeway on the way to Astana from Borovoe are small stands where people sell homemade jams, honey, canned mushrooms, etc. I had heard that the jam and honey are good, so we stopped at one place in order to buy.

My friend helped translate the different kinds of honey—honey from acacia, different herbs, sunflowers. Honey comes in many different textures and colors, but this is not due to the plant it comes from, but rather it's due to the process it's been through. More natural honey is thicker; more processed honey is clearer and thinner, much like the honey we see on shelves in America. I quite like the thick, creamy honey sold here. Although the thickest honey is too much for me--it can not be spread on bread, but instead is simply eaten with a spoon, straight out of the jar.

A liter of honey was 1500 Tenge, about $10; I bought some sunflower honey for myself and a half-liter of sea buckthorn honey for my dad.

Yes, sea buckthorn honey! I'd never heard of sea buckthorn until this trip; at the bazaar they were selling oil and juice concentrate from this berry, and I had to use google translate to figure it out in English. It's a small orange berry that is very common around here; according to wikipedia, it's also common in Europe. It's supposedly very healthy, and the oil and juice were tooted as being able to cure a multitude of woes, including sinus problems by snorting the oil! The little berries grow near water sources, and are surrounded by thorns much bigger than the berries. I can imagine it's a pain to pick these berries and to gather enough to turn them into a juice or oil. The juice concentrate was over $10 for a liter. And sold in re-used plastic bottles, very non-commercial.

I'm not sure if the sea buckthorn honey came from the plant, or if it was just some other kind of honey mixed with the berries. There were berries in the honey jar. It looked interesting and unique, a perfect present from Kazakhstan! (And I'm so curious to try some, I hope my dad shares!)

And when I return to Astana in Kazakhstan I'll have a full liter of sunflower honey to enjoy. On bread with my expensive American peanut butter.

(Side note: On my trip home from Kazakhstan via a stopover in Germany, I noticed that sea buckthorn is common here. Sea buckthorn tea was offered at a restaurant; at my hotel, I used sea buckthorn jelly every morning on my bread.)

Borovoe Day 4 - Beach and Another Hike

2011-06-29T18:41:00.004+05:00

Sunday, 26 June 2011

On Sunday we went to the beach at Lake Borovoe. The weather was hot and sunny, perfect for the beach. The beach is narrow but long, and it was very crowded. The path to the beach is through a woodsy area, full of mud due to the recent rains.

My friend and I rested and read our books while the girls played. They spent three hours there, perfectly happy and rather upset when we finally said it was time to leave.

I observed the people around us—Kazakh and Russian, old and young, families and friends. Most women wore bikinis, regardless of their body type, the men wore tiny Speedo's or other tight-fitting swimsuits. And very few people were skinny.

Some people smoked. People walked by, selling fish or shashlyk (Kazakh kebab) or other food. The pathway was crowded with walkers and bike riders. In the lake, people swam close to the shore; further out, people were in boats. Borovoe's majestic mountains outlined the lake.

The mountains are most likely just large, steep hills, but still magnificent, and rocky, covered mostly with pine trees but with rocky tops, quite a sight.

Finally we dragged the girls out of the water and went home. After a rest and dinner we went out again. This time we took a taxi into the park, to the monument—a tall pillar with an eagle on top of it. This seems to be a central location in the park.

There were two eagles there, one even had head armor on it. For 300 Tenge we could hold the eagle. We chose the shorter line, with the smaller eagle with no head armor. I think the bird's species is related to the eagle, perhaps not an actual eagle. It was not too big nor too heavy, as I've heard the real Kazakh hunting eagles are.

A boy about Sophia's age put on a large, thick black mitt and picked up the eagle, and then transferred the mitt and eagle over to Sophia. The mitt is needed to protect your skin from its claws. Sophia was quite happy for the few minutes she spent with an eagle on her arm, having her picture taken and passers-by pause and stare.

We walked towards the hilly woods and started to go up. It's a forest of tall, skinny pine trees, golden in the light of the setting sun. They are spaced apart, allowing much room for roaming and wandering. The girls ran ahead and had to be warned to stay within sight.

Soon the way got steeper and rockier. We found ourselves scrambling up rocks, out of breath, attempting to keep up with Sophia's friend, who has the energy and agility of a monkey.

Finally, we stopped for pictures and to take a breath. We could see the lake below us through the trees. We convinced the girls to head down carefully.

Sophia's friend didn't listen and ran so fast that she tripped and flipped over a fallen-down log. I don't think she even came out with a scrape, she was perfectly fine.

At the bottom we looked up at the hill we had tried to climb—we had wanted to reach the top. Near the top the trees slowly die out, leaving a rocky cliff face. We had to laugh—no way could we climb that!

The next morning we would leave Borovoe to return home. It had been a marvelous few days and we are already making plans to return. There's so much we haven't done—more hiking, a pedal-boat ride, mud baths, a nearby lake called “Swan Lake”, animal sight-seeing.

Till next time, Borovoe!

Photos: The eagle; climbing the steep hill; the top of the hill we wanted to climb--yeah, right, we can't climb that!

Borovoe Day 3 - Walking by the Lake

2011-06-29T11:12:00.003+05:00

Saturday, 25 June, 2011

Today we all slept in and left late. We had promised the girls the beach (swimming by the lake side) but the weather forecast was light rain all day. So we walked through the town to the park and then walked by the lake side. There is a small paved walkway going around the lake, and many people were walking or riding bikes. The girls loved to run off the walkway and through the trees, or climb rocks by the lake. We had plenty of fun taking their pictures.

The lake is so beautiful, large, and round and surrounded by mountains. Granite rocks are everywhere, plenty of places to scramble up. Sophia caught a butterfly and later a large caterpillar, making her quite happy.

We spent several hours on our walk; afterwards we ate and looked in various shops. And maybe tomorrow the weather will let us go swimming.

Borovoe Day 2 - A Hike, A Spring, and A Camel

2011-06-28T12:17:00.006+05:00

Friday, 24 June 2011

The town of Borovoe is full of tour agencies, and people in booths on the side of the street, offering tours. You can take a tour to a cave where the famous khan Kenessary once hid; go to Astana and take a tour of the new capital; go to a place which offers mud baths; go on various hikes.

We signed up for a 2-hour tour. We were driven through the town of Borovoe into the National Park area. Then we went on a short yet steep hike to the top of a rocky hill, from which we could view the entire area. It was a lovely view; we could see Lake Borovoe, many mountains, another lake across from Lake Borovoe. A wonderful place for picture-taking, after a hike that's suitable for children.

(Disclaimer: really, the "mountains" are just steep and beautiful hills, but they look like mountains, especially compared to the surrounding steppe.)

Then we traveled further into the park and hiked to a spring, where the water is said to be very fresh and drinkable. Alas, we had no empty water bottle to fill up, so we cupped our hands and drank.

That was the tour. The girls enjoyed running uphill and through the woods and scrambling over rocks. I enjoyed the views and the fresh air. The tour guide also gave us information about the area and legends as to how Borovoe was formed, which my friend translated for me. (In sum: when God created the world, he gave mountains to some people, forests to other people, and the flat steppe to the Kazakhs. They were upset, and so he granted them Borovoe.)

After that, we ate lunch and then decided to go back to Shchuchinsk to ride horses. There are many horseback riding tours in Borovoe, but a woman staying at our guest house had recommended this one.

Since there aren't that many cars in Borovoe, it was hard to get a taxi, but after standing for a while, waving down cars, we finally found someone willing to drive us. (My friend didn't want to drive her car over the mud-filled potholes again, understandable.) It was an old man, in an even older car. As he sped through the winding road to Shchuchinsk, he warned us not to touch the doors, he wasn't sure how sturdy they were. The car had no seatbelts in the back, and so I held onto the girls and made sure they didn't touch the doors! Scary!

The horse place was about a kilometer off the main road, through muddy, pothole-filled, windy roads. Finally, we arrived, but there was another group of people there about to ride all the horses—no horses available for about 45 minutes.

But there were donkeys and a camel nearby. One donkey was wandering free; a mother and baby were in an enclosure with the camel. I had carried croutons with me (Sophia likes them), and soon discovered that donkeys love croutons. We fed the donkeys and an elderly man offered to have the girls ride the camel.

First Sophia's friend rode the camel. She posed for the camera by hugging its hump. Then it was Sophia's turn, but the man said that the camel would not sit down again and be willing to get back up. So she had to climb the fence to the top of a dumpster-like thing and from there get onto the camel. This was a bit too scary for her, so I got on the camel and rode for a bit.

The man was extremely friendly and understanding of Sophia's fears, so he found a small pony. First, her friend rode, and then Sophia. He even had the pony rear up on its hind legs for the friend (but not for Sophia).

Then we fed the donkeys and the camel some more (even camels like croutons). The girls also got on the donkeys to ride. The donkey Sophia was on refused to move, so I tried offering it croutons to move, and it moved a little.

Then it was time to ride the horses. We were worried about the girls' ability to control a horse, and so we convinced them to ride in a trailer pulled by a black horse. My friend and I got on horses and we had a nice 40-minute walk through the woods. It was very pretty and pleasant, except the woman guide kept yelling at me, something about my legs that my friend (who translated for me) couldn't understand. It was also very slow, as the horses were well-trained to only walk for strangers. They will only move quickly when told so by their owner. (Smart horses, smart owners, I think.)

Then the man who'd helped us with the camel and donkeys drove us back to Borovoe.

That evening our host took out a telescope and the girls got to look at the stars. They saw Saturn and its rings. Sophia was very excited about that.

So it was a very good and very exciting day! I'm so happy I got to ride a camel, although walking around a small enclosure isn't too exciting, but at least it was on a camel!

Borovoe Day 1 - Getting There

2011-06-27T17:36:00.004+05:00

Thursday, 23 June

Borovoe is the name of a lake and the town next to it, about 250 km north of Astana. There are several small lakes in the area, surrounded by a few small mountains, making the place a picturesque oasis in the middle of the Kazakh steppe. It's a very popular resort area, a touristy place with visitors from Kazakhstan and Russia.

I first heard about it last year when I had the students bring in pictures of themselves; one of them brought in a picture of himself in a woodsy, hilly area, much unlike the flat steppe I was used to. I asked him where he was, he said Borovoe, not far from Astana, and from then on I have wanted to go.

Sophia and I went with my Kazakh friend R and her daughter A, who is best friends with Sophia. We left on Thursday, 23 June. Classes ended at my school on 21 June, and the last teacher workday was 22 June. I had a little over a week before my flight out of Kazakhstan.

The drive takes between 3 and 5 hours, depending on how fast you're willing to go on the freeway. The road to Borovoe is one of the nicest in Kazakhstan, I've heard, and resembles a freeway more than a highway. (The road to Karaganda resembles a two-lane highway.) The bad thing about freeways is that you can't just pull over on the side if you have to use the bathroom, you have to find an exit. And since most of Kazakhstan is the middle of nowhere, there aren't too many exits.

There are rest stops, marked by signs with a picture of picnic table and a pine tree. So we stopped there once. I got no closer than 10 meters from the outhouse when I decided I'd rather use the side of the road than that bathroom. Seriously, it stunk that bad. Luckily, no one was around, and we were able to use the bathroom outside.

Finally we got to the town of Shchuchinsk (I've yet to be able to pronounce that name!), which is about 20 km from Borovoe. If you take the train from Astana, you get off here and then find a taxi or a bus to Borovoe.

My friend had found a place for us to stay; we met our host outside Borovoe's small bazaar. He was on his bicycle, which we soon discovered was a faster way to go. The muddy ground was full of potholes that were filled with mud; we progressed rather slowly and fearfully in our tiny car.

Finally we arrived at the guest house. It's a large 2-story brick house, converted into a guest house with many rooms. We had the largest room, with five extremely narrow beds (but only paying for 4, since there's only four of us.) There is a shared living room and kitchen and 3 toilets—one on the 2^nd floor, one on the 1^st floor, and one outside (outhouse). There is also one shower.

Two families from Russia were staying there, and between them they had 3 boys. We learned that our host and his wife are from Astana, they are renting this place for the summer and using it as a guest house to make money. They also are living here, so we share the tiny kitchen with all the other guests plus the host and his wife. It can get rather crowded!

It's nice to have a kitchen, but it can get awkward with so many people. The kitchen is small and poorly equipped. The refrigerator is stuffed full. And the host likes to stay up late, drinking beer and listening to loud music. However, he is a very friendly and amicable man, and he is good with the children.

And this place is better than a log cabin with no bathroom or shower! (One of our options, at 4000 Tenge a night. This place is 10,000 Tenge a night for us four.) And I'm sure a nice hotel would be more expensive, and not have a kitchen.

The kids love it. The yard is overgrown with weeds, but of course they don't care. There is a place to throw darts; there is also a volleyball. The neighbors have kittens.

Our first day we arrived at dinnertime, so we just walked until we found a place to eat. We'll get to explore Borovoe tomorrow!

Bike Shop in Astana!

2011-06-19T12:49:00.005+05:00

(Scroll to the bottom of this post for information on how to find Astana's bike and bike repair shops.)

We finally found a genuine, "Western" bike shop in Astana! We'd bought Sophia's bike in the bazaar. We'd looked for bikes in random, tiny, crowded sports stores; as well as MegaSports, the sports store in Astana, which is pretty pathetic and small compared to sports stores in the US, although nice and large compared to the other sports stores in Astana. All of these stores are extremely seasonal; you can't find anything when it's not in season, and if an item runs out before the season ends,well, then, that's it. Wait till next season.

The pedal came off Sophia's bike and I was unable to fix it myself--I had bought two wrenches, but neither were the right size. Luckily, a co-worker had brought his unicycle and unicycle-repair kit with him from the US, and he knows a lot about bikes. So he was able to identify the problem, but, unfortunately, the wrench he'd brought with him was the right size for most pedals, but not for Sophia's.

Luckily, the school has a wide array of tools, we found the proper tool there and the co-worker fixed it.

But that left me wondering, what would I do if my co-worker were unable to fix it? Or if we needed some part? My Kazakh friend who'd recently bought a bike had brought it into a car shop when the tire got a hole. Unfortunately, they said they couldn't fix it.

My co-worker suggested I talk to an Austrian couple, parents of two sweet children at our school, who are leaving soon to return to Austria. The husband is an avid cyclist, and they have been in Astana for 3 or 4 years.

I'm so glad I talked to her! She knew of two places and told me how to find them. The next day we were shopping for souvenirs at the mall across from Congress Hall, on Kenessary Street, and when I realized how close we were to the funky blue buildings (landmarks for finding one of the bike repair shops), we decided to look for the bike shop. It was easy to find, and had bikes for sale out front.

Inside, it looked like a normal bike shop--bikes for sale, as well as bike parts--pedals, seats, etc. There also were some other outdoors supplies--sleeping bags, fishing poles--and biking clothes. I asked about bike locks, they were out, but would have them again soon.

They had helmets, and the sales assistant seemed more knowledgeable than me (I know nothing) and we found a helmet for Sophia that he said was the right size. It was about $25, and it was nice to get one here, rather than tote one back from the US. Since I know little about bikes, I can't give a great review of this place; it seemed to be a good place, the staff seemed knowledgeable (although not English-speaking); and I was quite pleased with it.

All in all, it's nice to know there's a bike shop here in Astana!

So now, instructions on how to find one of these places, if you're in Astana and would like to find a bike, bike repair, or bike parts shop.

One located somewhere near the American Embassy, and is hard to find. The International Women's Club of Astana has its name and address on their web site, as well as a photo of it. Scroll down on the "Shopping" page and you'll find it.

The other one is the one we ended up going to. It's easy to find due to the landmark it's under. Next to the river, across from the huge Central Park, there are these 3 tall blue buildings. Down the center of each blue building is a yellow squiggly line. Yes, they look very strange and are very recognizable. At the bottom of the buildings are shops (mostly empty, I think) and the bike shop is located not on the side facing the river.

Astana can be a confusing city to navigate, due to its many alleys and tiny roads, but it's full of unique landmarks. If you find yourself in Astana, you're bound to notice these buildings; if you head to these buildings and wander along the shops at the bottom, you're bound to find the bike shop. As we did. I'm attaching a photo of these buildings. It's on the bottom floor, on the other side of the taller middle building.

***Update: The shop does fix bikes; we brought Sophia's bike there to be fixed, but unfortunately they don't have the part that 's needed to fix her bike. My guess is that it's because hers was some cheap bazaar bike and not a normal model or something. This shop also rents bikes, about 800 Tenge per hour, 1200 Tenge for 3 hours. Also, they seem very friendly despite not speaking any English. When I came in to buy a helmet, one of the workers followed me outside to check my bike for me, although I hadn't asked. He pumped the tires then because he said they were low.***

Attempting to go Swimming

2011-06-10T19:12:00.002+05:00

Today we attempted to take the upper elementary to the swimming pool for their 3rd lesson.

We arrived at the sports center to learn that the pool was closed. Why? Because there is no hot water. I was confused--so? The pool water was fine, but there was no hot water for showers, and so they'd closed the entire pool.

Really?

Luckily, the PE teacher had the presence of mind to call the principal and ask permission to just take the kids to the park. We had 40 kids with us, in swimsuits and standing in the hot sun, most of them fully expecting to have fun, all of them expecting to be out of class for the afternoon. We couldn't just take them back to school and go to class.

Another teacher there remembered seeing a large fountain near the Pyramid, and we caravanned to the Highvill apartments, which are located near the American Embassy and the Pyramid.

We parked across from the apartments and trekked through the large park until we found the fountain.

The word 'fountain' doesn't do it justice. It's more like a wading pool and fountain combination. It's very large, but the water never got over my knees. And lots of fountains and sprinklers shooting off water into the pool/fountain.

The kids really enjoyed this. The water was murky, the ground underneath it was slippery and mossy, and so no teacher was trying to get anyone to put their head underwater, or to do a back float or a breast stroke. It was just pure fun, splashing about in water on a hot summer day.

We only had about thirty minutes, but it was a blast.

Later that evening, the PE teacher and I went back to the fountain with our kids. We stayed for about an hour, maybe more, even though by now the air was much cooler.

The fountain is directly in between the Presidential Palace (aka White House) and the Pyramid, and the sun was beginning to set behind the White House. (Astana's new downtown is set in an east-west direction, with the Pyramid in the east, a a bunch of other landmarks in a straight line between it and Khan Shatyr in the west.)

A "stream" broke off from the large fountain-pool and led towards the river. We waded this way--it looked as though we could wade right up to the White House, although of course we couldn't.

It was a very fun evening and definitely a place worth coming back to on a hot day!

Swimming with an International Mix of Kids

2011-06-08T19:39:00.005+05:00

Today I went swimming with the upper elementary kids (grades 3, 4, 5, and 6). Swimming is a selective unit in PE, meaning that the PE teacher doesn't have to choose this unit, but our teacher chose it. I give her credit for that, I'm not sure I'd be willing to put up with the hassle of taking 40-something kids to the swimming pool.

We have kids from over a dozen countries and kids with widely varying swimming abilities. We have kids who are at ease in the water, love swimming, and are far better at it than I will ever be.

And we have kids who had never been in the water until their PE teacher made them. The PE teacher says it's usually the Asian kids (Korean, Japanese, Indian) who have never swum before.

This was the 2nd time this year, and there will only be a few more times left. So not enough to really teach a lot. But enough to teach something.

I was asked last-minute to go today, because some of the aides who were supposed to help didn't have swimsuits. I live nearby, so it was easy for the PE teacher to drive me home during lunchtime to get my swimsuit.

We left around 2:10; everyone changed at school. We arrived at the Sports Center, the one I've been to a couple times, swimming with friends. It's very cheap and has a nice-enough indoor pool. One pool is about a meter deep the entire pool, and there is a water slide going into it. There's a little kiddie-pool; there's also a hot tub, attached to this pool.

Then there's a larger pool, maybe not Olympic-sized but your generic, rectangle shape, with lanes. This one is several meters deep at the shallow part. Someone said it gets to 15 meters (about 49 feet) deep. Last year my brother tried to find the bottom and he couldn't.

We waited, crowded around the entrance, for about ten minutes until it was time to be let in. We also had to wait for someone to make a photocopy of the receipt--apparently, they give you a receipt at the cash desk, but but then you have to turn it in when you enter the swimming area. So we needed to make a copy of the receipt for the school records.

Also, you can't wear outdoor shoes in the swimming area, so we all had to change into flip-flops before we entered.

Finally, we got in; we had a room to ourselves, with a key, so everyone got ready and we could lock our stuff in there. We all showered and then we got into the pool.

The principal had called ahead of time and asked if he could pay over twice as much and have the entire pool for himself. It was about $60 or $70 for all of us; he offered to pay $150. They said no.

So it was a rather crowded.

The PE teacher gave me a group of beginners--6 boys--a Kazakh, a Russian, two Indians, a Japanese, and a Korean. Several of them are my students, and the Korean boy is the one who arrived shortly after Easter with absolutely no English. His English is better, but still extremely limited.

The Russian and the Kazakh can do some basic swimming, probably about as good as me (I'm not much of a swimmer, I can do some basic strokes but rather poorly). The Japanese boy was willing to do what he was asked, but always came out of the water with a shocked look on his face, spitting out water. The Indian boys, I think, had done this last year, but were still very wary of putting their heads under water. One Indian boy managed to blow a few bubbles with his head partly submerged. He was extremely proud of this accomplishment.

I'm rather positive that this was the Korean boy's 2nd time in the water, last week being his first most likely. He refused to put his head under the water, saying "No, no, no!" and making all sorts of motions.

One boy taught the others how to go under water--cover your entire face with your hands (make sure you're plugging your nose!) and go under quickly, and then pop back up.

Then they had to jump in, and land with the head under water, popping back up. For the most part, this did not happen, and the Korean boy wouldn't even dare to jump. He did get out and then climb in.

Next, they had to hold onto the side and do the "scissors-kick"--kicking with their legs straight back. How do you say "Don't bend your knees" in Korean? I remember learning this kick; I had found it impossible to not bend my knees, and these kids were no different.

Then the back float. Three of the boys tried on their own, and weren't good, but not entirely unsuccessful either. The other boys I had to hold up, their bodies extremely tense, their heads kept above the water. I couldn't tell if the Korean boy was asking me to do it again, or to never do it again.

He did discover that if he grabbed onto my arm and lifted up his feet while I walked, I could pull him through the water, and he seemed to think that this was a lot of fun.

For the rest of the time we worked on blowing bubbles and putting our heads under the water. Finally, the Korean boy agreed to go under water--with me. And I couldn't explain to him why I can't, I wear gas-permeable contacts which are very expensive and very liable to pop out when wet. So he didn't put his head under water.

Then they were told to go down the slide and then shower. The Korean boy was adamant that he would not, and he managed to "sneak" off without the PE teacher noticing. I myself am scared of the thing, so I didn't chase him down to force him down the slide.

All in all, it was more fun than I'd expected. I enjoyed being with these boys, so nervous & tense in the water, yet so obviously delighted at the same time. At times I think the Korean boy thought I was trying to kill him... but I like to think that he also enjoyed himself, just a bit.

Water is fun for kids, and hopefully they'll leave this school feeling just a bit more comfortable in it than before.

Picnic at the Lake

2011-06-07T19:08:00.004+05:00

Last Saturday was the school's 2nd or 3rd annual end-of-the-year staff picnic at a lake. The lake is outside a village, about an hour's drive north of Astana, where the parents of our secretary live.

The school provided a van for those of us without cars; we all brought a food dish and boarded at around 10 am.

We drove north out of the city, onto the steppe, amazing in its dullness and beauty--flat land, greenish grass that goes on and on and on and on and on. Every now and then we'd see a flock of birds or a herd of cattle--"Oh, look! Cows!" someone would cry and the children would squeal.

A co-worker commented that we could be in the middle of the United States, judging from the view.

After a while we took an exit and went through a tiny village, mostly small one-story houses, with random animals hanging around. Dogs, goats, geese, chickens, other random birds. We even saw a bunch of baby chickens or ducks, fluffy yellow.

We still didn't see a lake.

We exited the village and rode on a dirt road through a vast, grassy field--no lake in sight. The road was more of a muddy path made by the wheels of a car. (It's been a rainy week.)

We passed some mounds of dirt with a few people hanging around. It looked like it might be the village landfill.

Still no sign of a lake.

We felt like we were going to tip over, the road/path wasn't easy for a large van to navigate.

Finally, we saw a small "forest" of dozens of funnily-bent, white-trunk trees. We pulled up in front of that.

In front of us was a steep hill, an embankment, and I guessed correctly that beyond was the lake.

We got out, some people started a fire to make shashlyk (kind of like a Kazakh kebab), and Sophia, a co-worker and I wandered through the trees. The grass was tall and the ground was littered with feathers (and bird poop). The birds' cawing was extremely loud. When I looked up, I saw dozens of birds' nests.

Then we went up the hill to see the lake, not a very large lake, but pretty nonetheless, the sun shining on it, dark clouds hanging in the distance--and children already splashing in it, swimsuits on.

But then we heard thunder, and so we told the kids to get out of the lake.

As soon as we'd started our picnic, the rain started. Sophia and I, and a few others, headed into the van, while others stayed outside. The rain lasted for about an hour; we ate and talked inside, while some people remained outside through it all. Finally it ended, and the world was soaking wet and buzzing with flies and mosquitoes.

Sophia and I went back up the hill to the lake.

The steep path up the hill was pure mud now--some of the teachers slid down it barefooted as if on skateboards or surfboards. My sandals picked up new layers of mud every time I stepped down. At the top, we realized that others were going swimming, so I went back down to get Sophia's swimsuit.

Sophia and the other children (teacher's children, plus two friends) and a small group of teachers went swimming. The children stayed near the shore. Three teachers swam rather far out. They said that it got rather deep, but you had to go quite far to get away from the seaweed. They also said that it was very cold, but not ice-cold.

To get to the lake you had to go down a small embankment--extremely muddy of course. One of the kids discovered the pure joy in trying to climb up the muddy path. He couldn't, but refused to take an easier path. Scrambling up a path made of pure mud is fun! Soon, the kids were turning the path into a "mud slide" and throwing water onto it and having a contest--who could get up it on their own?

The mud slide turned out to be more fun to make than to slide down. Sophia was the first and last to slide down--she went too fast and at the bottom of the slide were rocks that she slid over. She wasn't happy, to say the least.

Sophia's teacher spent most the time sitting on a rock with her 2-year old (who went in the water for a short while). Sophia's teacher is rather artistic, and she noticed quickly that the mud was very clay-like, and so she sculpted a few animals out of the clay-mud. She had her husband put a bunch of the stuff into plastic bags to take home, to use as clay.

Finally, the grown-ups left the water and the remaining grown-ups got tired of watching the kids. So we told them to clean up and helped them up a less-muddy path. I cleaned my sandals as best I could.

Some teachers were playing catch with the kids; some more were eating & talking; another was taking a nap on the picnic blanket.

Soon it was time to go home, we loaded back into the vans. If the way in had seemed a tad iffy, the the way out was plain treacherous. The path was much muddier and more slippery than before, and quite frequently we felt that the van was going to tip over. It was safer, too, to drive off the path than on the path.

We passed through the village again and back onto the freeway.

What a wonderful, pleasant day! And Sophia had a ton of fun too, of course!
Photos: All the mud! and the picnic and trees as seen from the top of the embankment; the lake; the treacherous ride from the lake to the village; the village

Vodka on the Porch

2011-06-07T18:45:00.002+05:00

A story a co-worker related to me:

One winter, on a really cold evening, her neighbor knocked on her door. He'd come to inform her that it was going to get below -40 that night, and so she'd better take her vodka off the porch.

It hadn't occurred to him that she might not have vodka, or that if she did, she'd keep it in the fridge and not on the porch.

But it had occurred to him that being a foreigner, she might not realize that vodka freezes at -40.

So there's an act of kindness for you--a stranger telling you to take your vodka off your porch so it won't freeze.

Lights

2011-06-06T20:45:00.003+05:00

Lights are a problem here in Kazakhstan, as I found out a few months after my first arrival. The light in the bathroom had gone out. A co-worker had recently bought some extra bulbs, so she gave me some. I tried them, and nothing happened. So I figured maybe faulty wiring. But the hallway light was good enough, and so I did nothing more.

Then the hallway light went out, so I talked to the principal, who had the secretary call the electrician. He came by, looked at the lightbulb, shook his head and spoke to me in Russian, then left and came back in 5 minutes with lightbulbs that worked. Apparently, my co-worker's lightbulbs were either so old they didn't work, or they were the wrong kind. The electrician seemed to think I was crazy.

So I've been wary ever since. If a lightbulb goes out, I carry around the exact kind with me until I find a store that sells that bulb.

Because, almost every light here uses a different kind of bulb. Very few use the standard-type bulb that most lights in the US use. Most lights here are "fancy" to some degree or another, making it a pain to find lightbulbs. (Every apartment seems to have at least one chandelier. Mine has 3. Plus "track lighting.")

Most large stores here sell some lightbulbs, but very few and not a great selection. So, yeah, if you need lightbulbs, it can be a hassle.

I went most this year without having to worry. I have 5 lights (4 bulbs and one fluorescent) in my bathroom and slowly, one by one, they went out, until right before Christmas I was starting to worry. But during Christmas vacation my landlords came by and replaced them, so I was happy.

Then, again, they started to go out. I carried a lightbulb from the bathroom with me for weeks, hoping to find a replacement. I brought it into school and showed my assistant and a student, who didn't think I'd be able to find it at the nearest supermarket. Ugh.

Then, I went to Artyom--which is about 40 - 60 minutes away by bus or walking, maybe 10 minutes by driving--and I was in a store with the largest selection of lightbulbs I'd seen here (maybe a dozen different kinds, if that many). I searched my purse--uh-oh! I'd left the lightbulb at school.

Finally, I went to the school secretary, with 3 or 4 different lightbulbs from different lights that needed replacing. Please, could she have someone go out and buy these bulbs for me, and could she possibly have someone replace some of them for me? (I couldn't figure out how to get the bathroom lightbulbs out.)

She said no problem.

Within two days every burnt-out lightbulb in my house had been replaced. And the guy who went to my place also went to the other teachers' apartments, checking and replacing their bulbs. So everyone was quite happy.

That's what my school does--helps us poor teachers who sometimes feel at our wits' ends dealing with things in a foreign country. It's the minor things that bug you, and the minor kindnesses that make your day so much better.

Water Issues

2011-05-24T20:17:00.004+05:00

Every now and then something happens that makes me think, "If I ever leave Kazakhstan, it won't be because of the -40 degree winters, it will be because of this..." Having heat that is controlled by someone other than me is one of those issues. (They don't turn on the heat until a certain date, regardless of how cold it gets!) Water problems is another.

As far as I can tell, everyone living in Astana can expect to have water issues, regardless of who they are or where they live. Your water will get turned off at least once a year, for a minimum of one day, a maximum of who knows? You will wake up one day to no hot water, only cold (and ice-cold at that), and, again, this will happen at least once a year for at least one day. If you are insanely lucky whoever's in charge will time it so that this happens while you are at work. I've only met one person who's been so lucky, and she hasn't lived at her current apartment for long. So maybe her luck will be short-lived.

If you live in Astana, you may possibly find one day that you don't have COLD water. I have no idea how they manage to do that.

And, of course, the water coming from your tap will not always be clear or mostly clear. It may be brown. It may be neon yellow.

Usually, if it's brown, just run it a bit and then it'll be okay. But sometimes it'll last long enough to be incredibly annoying.

One afternoon, I noticed that the toilet water was brown. That didn't phase me, whatever, it's just there for flushing. I didn't think about it until I tried to do the dishes--the kitchen water was brown. I let the water run for a long time. Still brown.

Then my load of laundry finished. As soon as I'd come home from work, I'd put in a load of whites. Yes, whites. They came out brown.

So I was unable to wash the dishes and now I had a bunch of brown clothes. Lovely.

I posted my misery on facebook, only to have the principal's wife respond that once, her water was neon yellow. Somehow, brown seems better than that.

The next morning, my water was thankfully back to normal & I could take a shower. Earlier this year I had found bleach (labeled 'bleach' in English) and that worked to fix my whites. So resourcefulness, laziness, and patience solved this problem. (Yes, laziness helped--after a few moments of distress about not being able to wash the dishes, I settled into laziness & didn't wash the dishes.)

Yesterday morning I woke up to no hot water. I'm used to this by now. Sometimes, I just have to let the water run for longer. Sometimes, I have to boil water in my kettle or on the stove and take a sponge bath of sorts (I don't have a bathtub). I was running late yesterday, so I took a cold shower. I told myself I could live through this, but it was ice-cold! (But, yes, I did apparently live through it.)

Yesterday evening I still had no hot water, and this time resourcefulness kicked in and I boiled water for washing dishes. This morning I was prepared and not running late so I boiled water on the stove for my sponge bath-shower.

This morning I talked to the school secretary (who handles all our housing issues, amongst other things). She recently married a co-worker and they both moved into my building, which is wonderful for me, because it means that if I'm experiencing distress over water issues, so is she. She can sympathize. And she had already called about the lack of hot water, and had been told that it should be fixed today.

This afternoon I came home and had hot water! (Along with cold, of course--the good, ol' fashioned choice--hot? or cold? or something in between?)

But my refrigerator wasn't working.

Argh!!!

But that's for another post...

Mothers' Day

2011-05-16T17:25:00.003+05:00

For Mothers' Day, two friends and I went out to eat at a fancy French restaurant, Regine, located near Beiterek, the funky tower in the new downtown.

Kazakhs celebrate Mothers' Day as part of International Women's Day on March 8, and when I planned our dinner for Sunday, May 8, I wasn't thinking about Mothers' Day. But it worked out great, as my two friends and I are all single mothers-- it was our Mothers' Day treat to ourselves.

Sophia stayed home with my assistant (her favorite babysitter) and my friend's daughter.

We first took a cab to a French restaurant located in the middle of the huge Central Park. We got out of the cab in front of this fancy building that looked more like a mansion near Versailles than a restaurant. We had our picture taken on the red carpet leading up the stairs to the main entrance. Then we were informed that it was closed due to a private party.

We were in the middle of the park, wearing heels. Nowhere near a road. Oh dear.

So we trekked back to the main road, where we hailed a cab and went to Regine's, which was open. It's located on the 4th floor in a business/shopping complex. Above it is a night-club, Jimmy's, owned by Regine's.

We were the ONLY people there the entire time, and we stayed for over 3 hours. Yes, it was a Sunday night, but it was a holiday, because the next day was Victory Day.

But we quite enjoyed having the entire restaurant to ourselves. We sat near the window--overlooking Beiterek Tower and the fancy, funky buildings of downtown Astana, watching the sun set.

The restaurant was by far the fanciest restaurant I've ever been to, but it wasn't too expensive. You could order a la carte, or order a 4-course meal, and they had three choices for the 4-course meal--a 6000 Tenge ($40) option, an 8000 Tenge option, and a 10,000 Tenge option. The most expensive included foie gras, which I really didn't want anyways.

I ordered the 6000 Tenge meal--a salad with goat cheese, French onion soup, chicken in red wine sauce, and creme caramel for dessert.

We ordered the cheapest bottle of white wine, around 7200 Tenge. The waiter brought it out and showed it to us, and had one of us sample it before he poured our glasses. Throughout the evening he made certain that our water and wine glasses never dropped below halfway full.

He also put on white gloves to change our silverware between courses, so we would only have the utensils needed for each course.

The salad was the best part of the meal, the goat cheese melted in my mouth, and the whole thing was utterly divine. It also started to fill me up so by the time I got to the main course, the chicken, I was quite full.

But the creme caramel was so delicious I had to ignore my bursting stomach just to eat it.

After eating, we took our pictures in front of some of the paintings hanging on the wall.

It was an excellent meal, fun to have an entire restaurant to ourselves, and nice to have an evening without children.

Seasons in Astana

2011-05-14T18:40:00.005+05:00

I've lived in South Carolina, New Orleans, and Paris. South Carolina & Paris have 4 seasons--they have fall with pretty colors, winter with cold-ish weather, spring with flowers, and summer with hot, sunny days. South Carolina's seasons are a bit more pronounced, with a bit of snow in the winter.

New Orleans doesn't really have seasons, although the winter is less hot than the summer and rainier. It's also "tourist" season.

But in Astana the seasons are more marked than in any other place I've lived. It's amazing. The difference between winter and summer is extreme. I really feel like there are two Astanas, two separate places where I live. There's the winter Astana--blanketed by white, void of greenery, frequently dark, yet bright and shiny when the sun's up. And there's the summer Astana--colorful, green, hot, frequently light, a very pleasant place to take a walk or ride a bike.

Astana just looks so incredibly different now than it did mere months ago.

Astana has two main seasons--winter and spring/summer--and two lesser seasons--autumn and the first part of spring. Autumn is painfully short--one week it's alternating between summer temperatures and colder temperatures, the next week there's snow on the ground.

The first part of spring is perhaps the worst season--the snow melts and the city is covered in slush and mud and water. Icky. But that lasts maybe a month at most and suddenly you're in glorious, beautiful spring! The two springs don't really belong together as one season, they're so different.

And then, for several months, you have spring and summer--longer days, clear blue skies, bright sun, wind... It's May now and still cool enough for a light jacket and/or sweater, with some days warm enough for short sleeves and shorts. I know that in the summer it'll get hot, up to 40 degrees Celsius. And the city will be blanketed in bright flowers.

Then it will get cooler, days shorter--a swift autumn and then winter again. White again. A whole new city. The cycle continues.

Photos: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer

Khan Shatyr - The Beach

2011-05-14T18:01:00.003+05:00

So I promised Sophia that I would take her to the infamous beach at Khan Shatyr at least once. I told her she had to find a friend whose parents would not mind paying the entrance free. Last I'd checked, the entrance fee was 8000 Tenge ($55) for adults and 4000 Tenge for kids.

She found a friend in the 9-year old class, a Kazakh born in Uzbekistan who spent most her life in California. We arranged to meet at Khan Shatyr at noon.

The entrance fee had lowered since September, and I only paid 7500 Tenge for the both of us. Not bad. A sign said that there was a 10000 Tenge fine for bringing in your own food or drinks.

We changed in a locker room, locked our stuff in lockers, and then went up to the main area. First, we went to the pool to our left--a somewhat large, shallow looking pool, surrounded by sand and beach lounge chairs. I recognized a kid from Sophia's class and talked a bit to his parents. They come every Saturday, they said, but try to come early because sometimes it gets crowded. The husband likes to do laps in the pool.

Then I learned that the pool was about 5 feet deep--not too deep, but not too shallow either. Sophia's friend's mother had asked that she only go in water in which she can stand with her head above the water. Astana has few, if any lifeguards, and this place had none, and I wasn't about to risk someone else's life, however slim the chance. So we got up and went to the other pool.

The pool at the base of the water slides is for the water slides only, but there is another pool behind it, one that gets 3 feet at most, and has waves at times. This was where the kids were. I relaxed in a lounge chair while they played.

At one point we got up to get a drink. I gave them 1000 Tenge (about $6.50) and said to get 2 sodas while I went to the bathroom. When I came back, I was quite surprised to learn that I hadn't given them enough for 2 sodas! So I made them share one soda.

We also got a pizza, and we ended up staying for 5 hours. They had a blast, and I was happy that I didn't have to get in the water.

In the slightly-deeper pool, there was this big plastic bubble, looking a bit like the kind of ball a hamster runs around in, and for 500 Tenge you could get in it and float across the water. Kind of odd.

So... a good day, and of course Sophia wants to go again. I keep hoping somebody will invite her...

See this September post for my description of Khan Shatyr.

Happy Easter!

2011-05-12T18:29:00.000+05:00

Good Friday and Earth Day coincided this year, and so I spent the first part of the day picking up trash with the upper elementary kids, and the second half of the day celebrating Easter.

Yes, Easter is a religious holiday, but it has so many secular traditions that are quite fun for elementary kids.

I tried explaining what we were going to do, to my group of 3 extremely-low-English 6-year-olds. I did my best to use simple words, to speak clearly, etc. But after my short speech, my Pakistani boy, said, completely confused, "What is this, egg?" Ok, so he didn't get it. Not yet.

The three afternoon activities were egg-dying, egg-hunting, and cookie-decorating. The principal's wife (and 3rd grade teacher) did such a marvelous job of planning the whole thing that I made lots of mental notes in my head, in case I end up doing it next year. (They're leaving, and I'm not sure who'll take charge of events like this one.)

We didn't have that many plastic eggs--you find those in Kazakhstan by eating Kinder-eggs (chocolate eggs with mini-plastic-eggs filled with cheap plastic toys). We had about 100, and the students were divided into 3 groups of about 20 - 30 kids each. They were told they could only find 3 to 4 eggs, then they had to turn the eggs in for a bag of candy. Then they had to re-hide the eggs for the next group. It worked well, I think, and the kids loved hiding the eggs.

On Sunday, my daughter went to church with her best friend (my friend's daughter). While they were at church, I hid the eggs in our apartment.

It turns out that Sophia's friend and my friend, both Kazakhs, had never heard of an egg hunt before! They were confused when I invited them over for an egg hunt. But Sophia's friend was quite excited once she figured it out, and she loved it very much.

I learned later that Russians have "egg fights" instead of egg hunts. Two people tap their eggs together until one cracks. The person whose egg does not crack is the winner and wins the other eggs.

Traditions are fun and I love learning new ones! I really, really would love to one day celebrate Holi at our school! (I know little about it, but it's an Indian holiday that involves throwing something like paint at other people, so that everyone ends up very colorful.)

My Landlords are Crazy

2011-05-12T18:04:00.000+05:00

... and apparently, that's somewhat normal. Although I suspect that the US has its fair share of crazy landlords.

Over Christmas break, they came into my home--they replaced some lightbulbs, fixed the faucet on the sink, and left me some chocolates, so I can't complain. They had told the secretary, but during that time things were very hectic for her and she forgot to tell me. So I found out some months later, and when I went to ask her about my landlords in my house when I wasn't there, she said that, yes, they had asked, but her reaction was--she couldn't say no, could she? It's their home, so of course they can come in. When I said something to the registrar (secretary of sorts), her reaction was--that's why she always changes the locks when she rents, so the landlords can't get in.

I know in the US they're not allowed in without permission. It's not a matter of, it's their home, so they can do whatever they want.

Anyways, as I said, they were nice, so although it unnerved me a bit, it was okay. If you want to come in without telling me and change my lightbulbs, I won't complain.

But then, the landlord was in town and wanted to come over when I had a translator. So we arranged for my aide to meet us at my place.

Then he told her that he and his wife were moving back to Astana, and they have nothing in their new home, so they'd like to take some stuff from here.

This place had come with a ton of stuff, more than I need, but I had been under the impression that everything in here was for my use.

They went through cabinets and cupboards, asking about so many things, emphasizing that they wouldn't take anything I used, but asking about everything. Some things I don't mind--there are cabinets that are so high I've never looked in them, so I can't complain if I lost something I didn't know I had. But I was racking my brain, trying to think about how many blankets we used, and which sheets were regularly used, so they could take everything else.

Then the landlady went through the pots and pans and bowls and spoons... Seriously? You can't just buy yourself some more silverware, you have to rummage through the stuff you left for your tenant?

And it was so awkward. What is my right to this stuff? It's not mine. Do I feel sorry for her and offer her everything, or do I feel selfish and claim the stuff as mine, as long as I'm living here?

And why hadn't they told the secretary their reason for coming? It just took me so much by surprise that they wanted their stuff!!

But they left, I cooled down, I still have too much stuff... Then about a month or two later, they came back. This time the secretary was there, and the landlord and his grandson went around the house and asked permission to take various--mostly boxes that were stored on the porch, so of course I didn't mind.

The secretary left to go cook dinner, and we waited for an hour for the landlady to show up. I thought they had already picked out what they wanted, but then she went through the kitchen.

The first time, I felt sorry for them--moving back to Astana, having no stuff in their new apartment. But now they'd had months to buy things, or bring things from Almaty. And she'd already gone through all the kitchen stuff! I thought she'd taken what she'd needed the first time.

She looked at my pots--do I need these? Yes, I said. So she pointed to each individual one and asked, this one? Until finally I let her have one.

But I was stubborn when it came to my spoons. We use spoons a lot, she'd already taken several last time, and she said she only would take what I didn't use, and I use those spoons! (And, again, seriously? She hadn't gone out and bought extra spoons during the two months between her visits to me?)

Again, in hindsight it's not a big deal. I still have plenty of stuff and I was never promised 6 spoons or whatever. Last year I had very little, and at least one co-worker here has little stuff in her kitchen. But I've used this stuff for a year, and it was nice to think that if ever I decide to have guests over, I have enough plates, bowls, glasses, silverware, etc, to serve them, and enough pots and pans to cook for them, and enough blankets to keep them warm should they spend the night.

And it's just SO ODD!!!

Shanhai Bazaar

2011-04-24T12:46:00.004+05:00

Saturday, 23 April

There are two large bazaars located a bit outside the city. I'd been to the one called Central 3 or 4 times by now, but never to the one that's a bit further away, called Shanhai or something.

Buses 36 and 43 can take us there; we hopped on Bus 36 and waited quite some time as we slowly passed through part of the city, past one busy section full of shopping centers and smaller markets, across the long bridge after which you find yourself effectively out of the city, and a few stops more to Central Bazaar.

One or two more stops later there appeared on our right another bazaar, and everyone got off the bus. This must be our stop!

It was early afternoon, chilly yet sunny, and luckily the bazaar was not crowded. Sophia and I wandered around, and I found that visiting a bazaar is not stressful if you're not intent on buying something in particular. The bazaars are huge, with hundreds, maybe thousands, of stands, and while you can find a bargain in the bazaar, it can take a whole day of searching to find one. So going just to look and see was a pleasant enough experience.

I found a cheap pair of tennis shoes, pretending to be the Puma brand, and I bought those for $10, not even bothering to bargain, the price was low enough. We went to an indoor place with bathroom and bedroom stuff, and I searched amongst the pillows for a soft pillow. How could I explain to the lady working there that I did not want a "nice" pillow, because all the nice pillows are firm? I finally found two cheap, soft pillows, less than $10 for both--and again, I did not bother to bargain.

We wandered some more, looking for a purse for Sophia. She had had a nice "purse" (a handbag or something that would be appropriate on a guy, so not sure the exact name for it), that she had lost a month ago. It had been good quality and we'd got it for only $10, but we couldn't find anything of similar quality and price today.

She looked at toys, and one thing I've noticed about bazaars is that the toys are always crummily cheap.

We found a candy store, selling candy by the kilo, and Sophia recognized some chocolates that she liked. 700 Tenge for a kilo sounded expensive, but I ended up getting half a kilo--which was a ton of candy! For only a bit more than $2, so that was a good deal after all.

Then we saw bikes. I've been wanting to get her a bike for some time now; we looked a lot last year, but spending over 100 bucks on something makes me wary; yet I know that bikes cost more than that!

This year we looked again, and bikes were even more expensive than last year. And Sophia's at an awkward stage, too big for a little kids' bike, too small for a teen bike; and she's still very awkward at riding, she still needs to practice.

So we tried a bike--too big--and then another one--good size and blue, too! (She doesn't like pink.) It didn't have gears, as a lot of bikes do, and I figure that's okay since she's still learning, plus gears are probably more expensive. The guy selling the bike saw how much she wobbled while testing it, so he offered to put on training wheels--2000 Tenge. I said okay. I'd really been hoping she wouldn't need training wheels, but I guess she does.

In the end, the grand total for her bike was 13000 Tenge -- that's just under $90.

Now--how to get this bike home? Home was rather far away, and there are no nice bike lanes on the busy road back into the city. And the wind was fierce.

So I decided to see if we could get it onto the bus.

The bus attendant said something to us when we got on; in fact, she said a lot. But she never said anything resembling, "Get off my bus!" or anything that I could understand. She never made any "Get off my bus!" gestures, so I figured, if she didn't force us off the bus, we'd stay on. She charged me 40 extra Tenge for the bike.

I felt bad as we went further into the city and the bus got really crowded. I avoided eye contact with the attendant, who at one point spoke to me again. Not sure what she said, but after several guesses on google translate, it looks like she might have said, "это выжает" which means something like "It's a squeeze." So maybe she was unhappy, but I wasn't breaking any rules (maybe?)

She helped us get the bike off the bus when we finally made it to our stop.

Sophia biked part of the home, and then after dinner she biked in front of our apartment.

We're on the first floor, and right out the door is a large play area, consisting of a small playground and a large concrete area, akin to a parking lot--but no cars allowed. Perfect for a kid to practice bike riding on.

Beach Day!

2011-04-09T11:32:00.002+05:00

Thursday, 7 April 2011

Beach Day was hilarious, because everyone dressed in beach clothes. Most teachers just wore shorts and t-shirts, as well as flip-flops and sunhats if they had them. A lot of kids wore bathing suits. The weather was sunny and above freezing, but still cold enough to wear plenty of clothes over the bathing suits.

I had recess duty, and I wish I'd had my camera with me! The kids were running around, playing, some in full winter gear--snow boots, winter coats, hats. (Ok, not "winter" by Astana-winter, but definitely more than most people in South Carolina wear in the winter!)

And some girls had taken off their shirts and were running around in shorts, bathing suits, and snow boots! Yes, bathing suits and snow boots! What a sight!

Crazy Hair Day & New Students

2011-04-09T11:16:00.002+05:00

Monday, 4th April 2011

This week was our school's Spirit Week, and each day had a crazy theme. Monday was Crazy Hair Day, so most of the teachers and students did their hair in a crazy way. My hair is short and straight, so I just made about 6 pigtails, the top one stood up straight and bounced around. I definitely looked crazy.

This being an international school with many students from embassies, and embassies not following a school-year calendar when they bring in new staff, we can get new students at any time of the year. Including in April. So last Friday, a Korean man with almost no English walked into the principal's office and said something akin to, "Me, children, 2, no English, Monday," which meant--"I have two children who speak no English and will start school here on Monday."

So on Friday afternoon I was informed that starting Monday, I would have two new students in my Intensive English class.

My aide hypothesized that they can't possibly have worse English than my lowest group, three 6-year old's who all arrived at the school within the past few months, with extremely limited English at the time. Except now they are all reading (very simple books, but still) and can speak in complete sentences. How fast these children progress!

So, Monday morning, I arrived at 8 am with incredibly wacky hair, and promptly met the mother and father and two children, none of whom spoke English as well as I speak Russian (which is to say, rather poorly if at all!)

The boys are 6 and 8 years old, with names that are impossibly difficult to pronounce--for me, at least. I think Korean is the hardest language for me, pronunciation-wise.

The boys recognize most of the letters of the alphabet and can count in sequence to 20, but that's it. Ask them, "What is your name?" and if they are paying attention, they'll repeat back, "Whatisyourname."

I have them during the first 2 periods--for English class--as well as after Math, during the Cultural Studies/Science time.

During Math class on Monday, we had a fire drill, and although the weather is nicer, it's still a bit cold. These boys must certainly think we are crazy! Everyone with funky hair and then everyone forced to go outside in the cold during the day, standing in line outside for 5 minutes, for no apparent reason.

At lunch, I tried to get a sweet 7-year old Korean girl to talk to one of the boys, but she was way too shy. So I found the high school teacher who is Korean-American, and he helped the boy figure out lunch.

He told me, that once the boys were seated and eating, and they thought he had gone away, one boy said to the other, "What are we doing in this place?" Poor kids.

Luckily, most of the other students are nice to them, as most of the students know exactly what it feels like to be in a strange place where they don't know the language. The 6-year old's tend to laugh at and mimic Korean, but they also get along with their new classmate, since 6-year old's tend to be silly, and silliness needs no language. We're trying to explain to K--a Russian boy in the 8-year-old class who arrived with no English and who spent the first month being utterly lost--that he needs to go out of his way to help his new classmate. It took a week, but he's finally learned to look for this boy, grab his hand, and show him the way.

And the boys are progressing. Sometimes I want to pull my hair out--I realized that I've never worked with students whom I have absolutely no method of communicating with; usually I or someone nearby speaks their language. (The Korean-American teacher is in another building and I never see him, except for sometimes at lunch.) But they now know a few core vocabulary words (still confuse "folder" with "bathroom"!) and can answer the questions "What is your name?" "Where are you from?" and "How old are you?"

I know that by the end of the year they'll be doing nicely, and perhaps by then they'll understand just why everyone was acting so strange their first week. (Crazy Hair Day on Monday, Twin Day on Tuesday, Pajama Day on Wednesday, Beach Day on Thursday, and Alien Day on Friday.)

A Walk in the Park

2011-04-09T10:51:00.002+05:00

Saturday, 2 April

The morning snow did not leave too much of a mess, the sky cleared and the sun shone brightly, so at about 4 pm Sophia and I set out on a walk. I decided to try and walk the roughly 3 km to Eagilik, the English-language library that I call the "American library."

Between Mega (the mall we are next to) and the river, there is a vast park, that I hadn't given much thought to due to the fact that, obviously, buses and cars go around it, so I'd never really seen it. During spring break was my first day there, when we crossed the bridge and Sophia went ice-skating on the river, after eating at the French cafe.

So I decided we'd walk through there.

We ended up spending 2 hours on our walk, mostly just ambling through the immense park, not even seeing all of it. There is an amusement park there, which looks just as abandoned as can be, although maybe it just looks that way due to the harsh winter. Rides looked old, gates were open so people could even go up to the rides and sit in the seats, glass on a kiosk was smashed. Mud was everywhere. But again, winter just finished, and who would try to upkeep an amusement park during the kind of winter that Astana gets? Maybe it'll be fixed and running by summer time.

We weren't the only ones in the park, several people and groups of people were wandering around. We had fun going up to the rickety roller coaster, we could have walked on the tracks if we'd wanted to. There were kid-friendly rides, including a safe-and-slow-looking mini roller coaster called the "Worm." And lots of kiosks for ice cream and such.

It was a very pleasant walk, and should be even more fun in the summer time.

Then we tried to get to the pedestrian bridge by walking on a path next to the river, but soon we
were cut off by a barbed wire fence. I didn't want to turn around, so we stepped onto the river. Yes, on 2nd April we walked on the river! It looked messy--very, very slushy--but most of that was melted snow, not melted ice. I saw a few other people on the river, and it seemed like the ice was still very thick, but in the end I panicked and we turned back. I don't know enough about frozen rivers to know how safe we were.

We made it to the pedestrian bridge, and we saw plenty of ice-fishermen, relaxing on the river. So I guess the ice is still okay?

Across the bridge there was a cool playground, with all the equipment based on gym-type equipment. A woman with her 12-year old daughter became very interested in me, although she
didn't speak any English. She managed to communicate to me, however, that she has another daughter at a university in Rochester, New York.

Finally, I was cold, and we made it to a bus stop--we had only 3 bus stops before the library, but we were ready to ride the bus!

It was a good day and a great walk. Looking forward now to Astana in the summer!

Photos: At the top, the entrance to the Park from the bus stop on Sary Arka Street, as well as a view of the ferris wheel with some funky buildings in the background. (Those buildings are on the other side of the river, and next to the cool playground we found.)

At the bottom, a man ice fishing. The box helps protect him from the wind. Some men were fishing from inside small tents, some were just out in the open.

Spring Snow

2011-04-02T11:54:00.002+05:00

I know this is my second year in Astana, but I have spent most of my life in the American South, and yesterday was such a warm, pretty, sunny day (above freezing!), so I was quite surprised when I woke up today and looked out the window and saw snow.

Snow!

Yes, indeed, snow on the 2nd of April. Lots of beautiful, white snow flurries. Hurriedly rushing to the streets where they will gather and stay for a few moments or hours before they melt, refreeze, and melt again, ensuring that our streets and sidewalks stay slushy and slippery and brown-ish-gray.

It will be a while before spring as I see it in my mind (flowers!) appears.

The President's Cultural Center

2011-03-27T16:49:00.002+05:00

Friday, 25 March 2011

Hello, spring! We'd been planning on going to the bazaar (one further away than the big one I've been too) but the weather was downright icky. Winds at 30 km per hour and higher; a mixture of rain and sleet falling from the clouds; the ground a messy mix of snow, slush, ice, dirt, mud, and water. Going to an outdoor bazaar did not seem like such a great idea today.

So we looked through our "Lonely Planet" and my little Astana tour-booklet, and we decided upon the President's Cultural Center, a short bus ride away.

We still had to walk to the bus stop, and then the bus drove right on by the Center and went on for quite some time before stopping, so we waded through slush and water to get to the place. Parts of the side streets were flooded, or, as I like to call them, lakes.

The President's Cultural Center is a huge, fancy, new museum, five stories high. The center is a large circle with a blue dome on top; there are four "wings" that stretch out from this center.

Admission was free, which was nice, and we were offered an English-speaking guide for 50 Tenge per person (about 33 cents per person). A good deal, but we declined.

The center room on the ground floor contained many displays, all of items that had been gifts to the President of Kazakhstan from various countries and businesses. It also contained large replicas of Baiterek and the President's house (I think these were also "gifts".) There was a large wooden globe, a gift from a representative from France.

A side room contained clothes and ornaments from Kazakh people from the past few centuries. We oohed and aahed over the ladies' dresses and jewelry. Fancy, clunky jewelry; a bracelet that was attached to three rings via a chain.

The next room contained more clothing (fancy robes) as well as armor and weapons. I liked the fancy leather container for the bows and arrows. The spiky-ball-on-a-chain thingy looked scary. Sophia noted that you might hurt yourself while using it, so I said that first you must practice, and she replied that you would hurt yourself even while practicing!

Another room had a yurt, its doors open so we could see inside (but a rope barring us from entering). There were more clothing; a decorated horse; tools, decorations, etc. for use inside and outside a yurt; and photographs of people from a hundred years ago. There also was information about hunting with eagles, photos of men with their pet eagle, and a display eagle with head armor (yes, even the eagles wore armor!)

We then went to the top floor and saw colorful and interesting paintings. At this point Sophia became really bored (and vocal about being bored) so next we went to the gift shop, which was similar to all the other souvenir shops I've seen (there are a lot!)

We then left and went ice skating--but it was definitely a worthwhile visit. And since it's free, we might go again some time. A few days later, Sophia surprised me by recounting in detail all that she had seen and learned. Although she had claimed to be bored, she had been paying attention and was quite excited to tell her grandparents about it.

French Cafe!

2011-03-26T10:04:00.004+05:00

Yes, there is a French cafe in Astana!

At the Radisson Hotel one day, my co-worker and I picked up a little brochure, a list in English of restaurants in Astana. One of the restaurants listed said it was a French cafe, with coffee, tea, and dessert. Google maps placed the restaurant near the Radisson (which is across the river and two or three bus stops from our home).

So on Thursday, 24 March, we decided to try it out.

It's behind the Radisson, which is an immense building, and on a tiny side-street, so it's hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for. It's across the street from a German restaurant that looks promising.

This cafe, La Belle on Irchenko Street, is absolutely adorable. It has two sections for dining--the bar side, with super-tall armchairs and dim lighting; and a lighter section with fancy tables, comfy couches and armchairs, and a light-green-and-white, flowery, "I'm in a garden" kind of feeling.

We relaxed at our table and spent quite a while poring over the menu. The Russian menu had pictures, the English menu had, well, English, so we needed both menus.

I chose a banana tort--a fancy cake with bananas, white cake, and chocolate mousse--as well as a cappuccino. My co-worker chose a Belgium waffle with "creamy" sauce and some tea. Sophia chose cranberry juice, chocolate ice cream, and a grilled cheese sandwich.

The banana tort was divine, as was the waffle. The whole experience was heavenly and pleasant--a relaxing afternoon. The bill was rather high for Astana, but what you would expect from a French cafe. Around 700 to 1000 tenge per dessert (about $5 - $6). The tea, though, was a surprise--a pot of English Breakfast tea cost 1200 Tenge, and the milk was extra! This in a town where hot tea is plentiful and usually the cheapest option and milk in your tea is taken as a given, not an extra side-item.

Definitely a pleasant afternoon!

Ice Skating!

2011-03-26T09:45:00.002+05:00

So I bought Sophia a pair of ice skates, and now I tote them almost everywhere in hopes to make use of them--make them worth their money.

There's a small ice-skating rink in front of Mega, the mall that's near our house. One Friday I brought the ice skates to school, as well as an extra pair given to us by a friend (too small for Sophia, though). After school, I took Sophia and one of her friends to the Mega ice skating rink.

We had intended to go across the street to "Ice City"--a parking lot that in winter was turned into a mini city of ice, with an ice-brick wall surrounding it, ice slides, and an ice skating rink. However, this had already started to melt and was being taken down.

The rink in front of Mega was still open so we went there. It was 300 Tenge per skater (about $2) and I let them skate for about an hour. It's a small, oval-shaped rink, nothing too exciting, and parents were allowed on the ice to monitor their kids. I began to wish that I had rented skates for myself--it gets cold standing on ice for one hour!

Sophia skated much better than her friend--the half-hour lesson in Almaty really paid off! Her friend, however, falls much better than her--she fell dozens of times, each time getting back up with a smile on her face.

On Wednesday during our spring break (23 March) I dragged Sophia to the school so I could get some work done, promising her ice-skating afterward. So I took her to Mega on the way home. This time I rented skates for myself (an extra 200 Tenge). However, this time, the rink was pretty awful due to the recent spurt of 0 degree weather and the bright Kazakh sun.

One part of the rink was un-skateable. The ice crushed under the weight of your ice skates and you had to waddle through.

The rest of the rink wasn't in very good shape either. But Sophia had fun, she even enjoyed crunching on the loose ice and wading through the bits of water that seeped through.

On Thursday, after dessert at a French cafe (next post), we wandered by the river. It looked a bit scary--thawing, after all. But really, the water that we saw was not the river water, but the melting of the foot of snow that had fallen on the frozen river. The river was still pretty frozen; people were ice-fishing and the skating rink was still open.

I was happy that I had her skates with me, and we put them on and she skated on the river. I just watched, but it was fun to watch. There were a few other people ice skating, and two boys sharing a bicycle that they rode across the ice.

There were cracks in the ice, but it was because of these cracks that you could see how thick the ice was. Some of the cracks were a foot below the surface--meaning the ice was at least a foot thick, most likely thicker.

Sophia ended up tripping over a surface crack and hurting her knee. But she got up and continued skating.

And now I can check that winter to-do item off my list--skating on the river.

Then Friday I took her to the indoor rink near the Eurasia shopping center. This time I rented skates, and we skated on the large, smooth, indoor surface. The rink was almost empty--just three other people, who left soon after and then it was just us. We had an entire rink to ourselves for almost an hour! It was a lot of fun.

At 5:35 we left and noticed that a group of beginner ice skaters were coming in for lessons. So that's why it was empty--they were closing to the public soon for lessons. So 4:30 - 5:30 seems like a pretty good time to ice skate there!

We'll never be professionals, but we do enjoy ice skating!!

Nauriz 2011 - Spring!

2011-03-26T09:09:00.005+05:00

Nauriz is the Kazakh word for "March." It is the holiday celebrated each year on the spring equinox; it comes from the Persian New Year holiday, which, according to my Iranian student, is the biggest holiday in Iran--Iran's version of our Christmas.

Nauriz was on Tuesday, 22 March, this year, and so Sophia, a co-worker, and I went downtown for the festivities. I had gone last year, and it wasn't too exciting, but, hey, it's something to do.

There are festivities all around town, but the main one is around Baiterek (the funky tower in the "new" downtown, by all the space-age buildings). Dozens of yurts were set up around the tower; there was a stage with music and another stage with wrestling. A woman was singing while random children in snowsuits climbed onstage and started dancing.

People in traditional Kazakh dress stood in front of the yurts and posed for pictures. Just like last year, I was unsure if the yurts were open to the public or private. I believe that they are private--rich people celebrating Nauriz downtown, coming out of their yurts to pose for pictures. Just odd.

Last year, we popped into one, and when it was discovered that we were Americans, we were invited inside and offered food. But I suspect we really weren't supposed to be inside, and this year I didn't feel like trying my luck.

Last year, too, there had been a camel and some swings. Just a little something more than this year.

A group of people were crowded together, so Sophia and I pushed through to see what it was--an arm-wrestling competition. I noted that Sophia and I were the only females watching this.

We bought some ice cream and soda from a stand and then went inside Baiterek. It was far more crowded than I've ever seen it--but when you consider that this is Astana's "Eiffel Tower" it wasn't bad at all. Tickets for adults are 500 Tenge (less than $4); Sophia's cost 150 Tenge (about $1). We waited a few minutes in line to push ourselves onto the cramped elevator and go up 97 feet to the observation platform.

I've seen it before, but it's still nice to see Astana from up high. You can really see how the city is laid out--a huge stretch, more than a mile, of the new downtown--a straight east-west line from the pyramid in the east to Khan Shatyr in the west. The sun rises over the pyramid (and president's house, which is in front of the pyramid) and sets over Khan Shatyr.

My favorite part of the view is, and has always been, the abrupt end of the city. These fancy, modern, funky buildings--a cityscape--suddenly and dramatically give way to a flat expanse of nothingness.

My co-worker and Sophia both waited in line to put their hand in the imprint of the president's hand--make a wish!

After Beiterek, we crossed the street to a business-and-shopping-center I've never been in. A new Ramstore (supermarket that sometimes has peanut butter) was there, which was our motivation for going that way.

Inside was a small crowd watching a guy do magic tricks. Later there was dancing, involving women in Kazakh dresses as well as children from the audience.

The Ramstore did not have peanut butter, but there was a small cafe, so we ate some sort of cabbage mixture and drank tea while Sophia colored.

That was our day--nice, nothing too exciting, but a good Nauriz nonetheless.

Winter in Astana

2011-03-21T18:15:00.004+05:00

Today or tomorrow is the first day of spring. Tomorrow (22 March) is Kazakhstan's celebration of Nauriz--the first day of spring, the Persian New Year. It's one of the biggest holidays in Kazakhstan.

So now's a good time to reminisce about winter.

This year's winter has been SO MUCH WARMER than last year's, it's hard to believe. Here's proof that it's been warmer: Last year, I waited patiently for winter to end. I derived a certain satisfaction from being able to out-do all my friends when it came to talking about the weather. (My Chicago friends finally admitted that I was much colder than they were.) And on March 21, 2010, I was able to proudly say, "I survived a sub-Siberian winter." I was quite proud.

This winter I was better prepared--a down-filled Lands' End coat instead of a polyester-filled coat from the bazaar; ski goggles to protect my contact lenses; lambskin mittens; a Wii Fit so I could exercise without leaving the house.

While the Lands' End coat turned out to be a disappointment (not good for weather colder than -20 Celsius), that was alright. I hardly used the Wii Fit because I spent so much time outside. As we entered February, I started to despair--was winter going to end so soon? My weekends passed swiftly, and I just didn't have enough time to do all that I wanted to do. And now, as winter finally ends, I have yet to go ice skating or skiing on the river, yet to take Sophia sledding more than once--and the ice thins on the river, the snow melts and turns to slush.

Winter is over.

It maybe got to -40 once. I never saw it on my computer, but a student claimed that his dad woke up in the middle of the night and it was -40. Of course, I don't lament the end of -40 weather. I lament the end of a frozen river. It's fine with me that we never reached -40.

But that's Astana's claim-to-fame--the land where the temperature gets to -40, the land where Fahrenheit and Celsius meet. And it didn't happen this year.

We had a couple mornings that were around -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) and, yes, it was awful walking to school. But with my ski goggles on, not a part of my skin was showing, and, really, I was okay. Sophia, however, didn't have goggles, and she was not happy. This summer we're looking for ski goggles for her.

-30 C is so cold that your forehead--usually the only piece of skin that still shows after you're bundled up (the part between your eyes)--hurts terribly. So it became a measure of how cold it was. One "warmer" morning we went outside, all bundled up, and, yet, it wasn't as cold. "If your forehead isn't in acute pain," I told Sophia, "then that's good."

It got so cold that for a couple days we said no outdoor recess. Most students didn't mind.

It got so cold that touching metal with your bare hands could burn you. I learned this last year, when I took off my gloves to get my key and then opened the door to the apartment building--ow!!!

This year at the school, we have 5 buildings to go between, and so often we run outside not as fully dressed as we should be--in -20 we might wear our winter coats but not gloves. So I burned my hand touching a door handle. So did a 7-year old. So we had to announce to the entire 2nd grade class--don't touch door handles with your bare hands! Use your shirt sleeves if you don't have gloves!

Never thought that would be a rule I'd be telling a group of 7-year olds.

(The burns weren't bad, just hurt.)

I was better prepared this year--I bought expensive "insulated" boots that are good enough quality to last several years (versus the bazaar shoes I had last year--fashionable and warm, they barely lasted one season). My lambskin mittens, around $10 from the bazaar, kept my fingers warm. Last year I came home one day so cold that I collapsed in front of the radiator on the first floor of my apartment building, unable to go any further until the burning pain in my fingers subsided.

(Notice how extreme cold more resembles "burning" than "freezing".)

And then, towards the end of January, a co-worker who lives in the same building as us, asked us if we'd like a ride to school. She and her husband had recently bought a car, and she had meant to ask us earlier, but it had slipped her mind.

So from then on, Sophia and I had a ride in the morning. There was only one more week of god-awful, -30 Celsius weather, but I'm glad I missed walking in that! And -20 isn't exactly fun to walk in either.

The co-worker has since returned to the US to have a baby; her replacement has been driving us since then. We're getting lazy in the mornings.

Now the snow is turning to slush, the roads and walkways are filthy. And the water refreezes at nighttime so black ice is everywhere.

And, yes, there's still a ton of snow. And the river is still frozen (just thawing)

Spring is here!

Windows and Heating

2011-03-21T17:27:00.003+05:00

Winter, 2009 - 2010, 2010 - 2011

It's amazing what a difference windows make. And it's funny how the Kazakhs do heat.

As I found out last year, most people (maybe all?) do not get to determine how much heat they use. Some agency controls this. The heat is turned on in mid-October and turned off sometime in April. You don't get to decide.

The agency or whoever it is, determines how much heat you get. You don't. So if you're boiling hot, you must open the windows. Even if it's -20 outside. And, yes, it is possible to get boiling hot when it's -20 outside.

You must pay for the heat that you use, although you have no control over how much you use.

So, if the weather starts to cool off before they turn the heat on, you suffer in coldness. I was quite miserable for most of October this year.

And if, by some chance, your heater doesn't turn on when the building's heat gets turned on, you need to know enough to ask for someone to help. Both years that I have been here, my heat didn't come on when it was supposed to, and I didn't know that everyone else's heat had been turned on. So I suffered the cold for a couple extra weeks, before I learned that everyone else was warm. Then some maintenance guy came over and fixed my heaters.

And, both years, I was only warm for a little while.

Both years that I have lived here, my windows have let in cold air. (FYI, I've lived in two separate apartments.)

So, as the air outside got colder, so did I. In around-freezing temperatures--October, part of November--I was fine. And then, as everyone else stayed warm (and complained of being too hot), I got colder and colder.

Last year, the science teacher came over with some stuff to seal the windows. This worked so magnificently that I became one of those too-hot people, opening the window in -20 weather.

And I didn't pay attention to the name of the stuff he used, assuming everyone here knows what it is.

This year, as I became colder, I started asking about that stuff, but no one at my new school knew the name of it. And first, we had to check that my heater was working. This took weeks, as the maintenance people never showed up when called.

Finally, they sent one of the guards to my house to tape the windows. He used a tiny bit of masking tape, which did nothing.

When I returned after Christmas break, my house was as cold as if I'd had the windows open for all of break. Lying in bed, covered by dozens of blankets, too cold to shower even though I'd been flying for 30 hours, I considered quitting my job, just so I could get on a plane and go someplace warm.

I came to my senses and instead decided to tape the windows myself, with some gorilla tape I'd brought with me. I could feel the winter wind blowing in through the windows (where the glass meets the edge). I taped and taped and taped. The tape became really cold. But my house warmed up.

I used two mini-heaters and the principal gave me a huge heater that he said could heat up my entire apartment. He said it was safe to leave on during the day. So I went home, turned it on and--poof! Out went my power. After last year, I was quite used to sudden power outages that can be fixed by flipping switches in the fuse box. But this didn't work. Thankfully, the school secretary answered her phone and called the maintenance guy until he came over (and then talked to him since obviously I couldn't). I decided that the mini-heaters were good enough.

I could still hear the wind howling on windy nights, and after a few weeks of using mini-heaters and listening to the wind, I got out the ladder and taped the tops of the windows. The wind had been blowing inside for so long that the ceiling was cracking and turning black.

Now, the wind no longer howls and I can wander around in shorts and a t-shirt even when it's -30 outside.

Yet, I don't get boiling hot. I'm comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt, not sweating. So I don't have to open the windows.

But it's amazing what a well-sealed window can do.

Sledding Day - Friday, 4 February 2011

2011-03-12T12:34:00.004+05:00

Every year our school has a "Sledding Day," which I think is a great idea for an international school located in such a cold climate. The majority of the students are not from Kazakhstan; many are from places where it doesn't get too cold, and this is their first real winter. So why not take the entire elementary school to the river one day to go sledding?

So for 2 hours in the afternoon of Friday, 4 February, we went to the riverbank by the principal's house and went sledding.

Kids who had their own sleds brought theirs, and everybody shared. When not using a sled, children enjoyed running down the hill, chasing other sleds, talking, and drinking hot chocolate (provided by the school).

The school van drove some people; everyone else rode in a car with a student's parent or driver--enough parents signed up to help drive that we didn't have a transportation problem. We did have a seatbelt problem--every kid had to be seatbelted in. I was assigned to ride with 3 students and their driver. There were no seatbelts in the backseat, and the driver could not understand why I was making a fuss about it. "Ne nada," he said--"No need." The mother was there in her super-fancy SUV and she agreed to drive us. This car not only had seatbelts but several TVs.

We went to the riverbank by the principal's house, so in case anyone had to use the bathroom, one was available. (Smart idea. In the end, everyone was too excited to think about using the bathroom.)

We went to the riverbank because Astana is flat and the riverbank is the best place to sled.

We lucked out, the weather was sunny and around -10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit). Sophia and other children started sweating under their winter clothes. I had to let Sophia unzip her coat and air herself out; she was sweating really badly.

Two kids spent the time crying because they were cold--one boy (from New Orleans, so obviously not used to the cold!) tripped and fell at the beginning; his gloves came off and got snow in them, so his hands became really cold. He cried until his mother arrived.

Another girl was wearing a warm coat, but not a waterproof coat. She fell and the entire back of her coat became wet. Needless to say, she was freezing and not in a good mood.

Everyone else had a blast, though, including the adults. I went down on a sled once--they go really fast and it was almost scary! My daughter enjoyed sharing her sled with everyone--she has one of the nicer, big sleds (a present from Santa last year that we've hardly used).

It was a great idea, and tons of fun. A good end to the week!

Asian Winter Games - Figure Skating Day 2

2011-03-10T19:18:00.007+05:00

Saturday, 5 February 2011

The schedule listed 3 Figure Skating Events for today: one at 3 pm, another at 7 pm, and another at 8:30 pm. I figured we'd do the 3 pm one, then maybe go somewhere to eat, and then decide if we wanted to come back. I didn't realize we'd end up spending over 6 hours at the arena. It ended up being a long and totally worthwhile day.

The arena wasn't packed, but it was far more crowded than on previous days. First, about 17 women skated; I think it was a "long program." This lasted for over 2 1/2 hours, with a few breaks.

The women, I must say, were better than the men. Stronger, more confident. Yes, after 2 1/2 hours of watching, I was tired. But I was exhilarated. So amazing to watch their boundless energy, their twists and turns, their jumps and spins, the positions they could get their bodies into.

I was learning how to follow them along with my camera on zoom, my finger on the button, keeping the image in focus. I learned to recognize the movements that led up to a jump, so I finally managed to get some decent shots of skaters in the air.

At 5:30 we realized we would not have time to go somewhere to eat, so we headed to the cafe, downstairs.

The cafe was tiny and not at all prepared to handle hundreds of hungry, tired people. We waited in line for close to an hour. During this time, a friend who had better seats--courtesy of her husband's company--decided that she wouldn't stay longer and gave us her tickets. Then my friend and her sister decided that they were exhausted and they left. Sophia and I stayed.

It was extremely crowded. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is worse. Paris on Bastille Day is worse. But I suspect many people here aren't used to such crowds, and the pushing and shoving that comes along with it.

When we got to the front of the line, we learned that they were sold out of most of their items. Really. This place was unprepared for the massive amounts of guests they had, although wasn't this what Kazakhstan wanted? Tons of people coming to an amazing event?

So Sophia had M & Ms and a soft drink for dinner.

At 7 pm, some friends joined us in our newer, closer seats. We watched the first pairs' event. At first I wasn't too impressed--synchronized dancing, but no throws. Later, when I looked at my pictures, I realized how amazing these performances really were. Skating fast, the man carried the woman, whose body was contorted in an impossible position (impossible for me, at least). Sometimes the woman stood on the man's leg while he held onto her leg--if the man didn't hold her up properly, then her skate would cut sharply into his leg. Sometimes a man held a woman up, high in the air, with just one hand. Seriously, she had to have the utmost confidence in him. And one time, the woman abruptly stopped skating while on her knee. I saw the ice fly as she skidded to a stop. Shouldn't that really hurt her knee?

At 8:30 I asked Sophia and she wanted to stay. So we stayed. This pairs' event was the one with all the throwing. The man would throw the woman, the woman would spin, and then either he would catch her or she would land gracefully. All while skating fast. Amazing.

We ended up staying very late, because then there was the awards ceremony. When we finally got home, we were exhausted. Yet it was an amazing, thrilling day and evening.

Figure Skating - Asian Winter Games 2011 - Thursday, 3 February

2011-03-01T16:13:00.004+05:00

The first event for today was listed as starting at 4 pm, and I was rather nervous that today would end up like Tuesday--missing about half of it, due to the schedule being changed.

Then I got a call from my friend R (who's also my transportation) that she just found out that her daughter's ice skating class was going to all the figure skating events. So she was already there, could I catch a taxi and meet her there? (I had the tickets.)

I know that every Kazakh takes "taxis" without problems, and that most foreigners do so too. But I still feel awkward hitch-hiking, which is what "taking a taxi" is here (except you pay here, but still, it feels just like hitch-hiking! In a foreign language!)

In the end, she found her daughter's teacher and drove to pick up Sophia and me, and we made it there around 4:30 pm.

It was much more crowded than Tuesday, but still not packed. Our tickets were checked this time.

We came in during a pairs' event, sat through another pairs' event, and then watched the men.

I spent a lot of time trying to get decent photos. These people move so fast, and digital cameras are slow--by the time I've clicked the button to take a photo, they've already jumped, twirled, and landed.

The men looked more like boys and weren't as exciting as I had expected. (I later heard others saying that the competition hadn't been all that great; someone said they thought there were other events going on in Europe, which had attracted the better people.)

Still, it was very, very exciting. Until moving to Kazakhstan, I had only ice-skated a few times, and never as an adult. Now I've ice skated many times, each time getting better and faster. I enjoy practicing going backwards (very slowly and shakily) and doing a beginner's spin (very, very shaky!) So watching these people fly backwards and forwards effortlessly, spin with legs in the air or in various poses, jump and twirl and land on one leg--this was all very amazing and breath-taking.

Denis Ten, Kazakhstan's competitor, was by far the best performer. His jumps were high and sturdy, he glided effortlessly over the ice. He was amazing to watch. (And take pictures of.)

Misha Ge, from Uzbekistan, was the most fun to watch, although he was a bit shaky and fell once or twice. He looked so young--his cheeks bright pink from the cold--but he dressed in red with flair, and he definitely had flair to his movement. He had attitude and confidence, which helped him in the points department.

It lasted several hours, and during a break, we got up and wandered around. We managed to find better seats, closer to the ice, and no one bothered to look at our tickets. I'm sure we were in the 3000 Tenge ($20) seats now.

Behind us were two men with enormous cameras. One man spent most of the time sleeping, only waking up when a Japanese guy skated. He took dozens, perhaps hundreds, of photos of this guy.

All in all, a fun and thrilling evening. It was so much neater to see this in person than on TV. And made me want to go ice skating again! Although I now realize just how poorly I ice skate compare to these people!

Below: Denis Ten in black and white; Misha Ge in red.

Speed Skating - Asian Winter Games 2011 - Tuesday, 1 February

2011-03-01T14:56:00.003+05:00

There was only one speed skating event held after 4 pm, and so that was the one I got tickets for. The schedule said that one event was at 3 pm, and another at 5 pm. I have a planning period from 3 - 4 pm, so I got permission to leave early and see if anything was going on at 4 pm. (Maybe the 3 pm event would last until 5...?)

My friend R (whose daughter, A, is close friends with Sophia) picked us up and we went to the Speed Skating Arena, not too far out of town. Traffic was not bad--nothing like on Sunday (Opening Ceremony day).

We arrived around 4 pm and to our astonishment, no one looked at our tickets! We did go through security--a metal detector and we had to open our bags and turn on our cameras for the security officers. Surprised, R joked to the security officer, "Do you want me to show you pictures of my daughter?" He smiled.

I'm an American, which means when I have a ticket, I expect that it means something. So I led R all the way around the building until we found the exact section where our seats would be, and I spent some time trying to find our exact row and seats. Someone (a volunteer, I think), told R that we could sit wherever we want, which in the end we did. No one seemed to care whether or not we had tickets, whether or not we sat where we were supposed to sit.

Why had I paid $10 per ticket when I could have come for free?

A few people were skating around the rink--an enormous rink, with beautiful, smooth, shiny ice. After a while we realized that an event was taking place! It was the 500 meters race, two people racing at a time. They started on the other side from us, so it was difficult to figure out what was going on.

But once we figured it out, it was fun. They announced which countries were racing, we listened for the bang! signaling that they had started, I positioned my camera in hopes of getting a good photo, and Sophia and her friend cheered for opposite teams. (Sophia rooted for China and Japan; A prefers Korea.)

Then, at 5 pm, was the awards ceremony. It was over.

Wait a second. Hadn't the schedule said that there would be an event at 5 pm? My ticket said 3 pm, the time of the first event, but the schedule had listed two events, one at 3 and one at 5. A schedule that a volunteer had listed the events as running continuously from 2 pm, ending around 5.

Well.

So, yes, it was fun, and at $10 a ticket, it wasn't that expensive. But it was short and could have been free. Disappointing.

On the way home, we stopped at the park in front of Khan Shatyr, which had a huge torch and a statue of the snow leopard mascot. We took some pictures and then made it home by 6 pm--earlier than I usually get home from work! At least that was nice.

Two more events (figure skating) to go!

Asian Winter Games 2011

2011-03-01T14:34:00.005+05:00

(Picture is of the Stadium used for the Opening Ceremony)

The Asian Winter Games came to Kazakhstan this year, which was a very big deal. Billboards and posters were everywhere tooting this event, saying in 3 languages, "Unity of Spirit." An adorable snow leopard is the mascot.

This is the first time the Games have been held in Kazakhstan, and the first time, I think, that they've been in a country other than China, Japan, and Korea. The skiing events would be in Almaty and the skating events in Astana. Three new, huge, stadiums were built in Astana for this purpose.

The principal's wife bravely volunteered to get tickets for everyone--she printed out a list of the events and times; we signed up for what we wanted; and we gave her the money.

Yes, this is Kazakhstan, where nothing is as easy as it should be.

Over the course of several days, she went to several different places (several places each day), all over town, trying to get tickets. Some tickets were not being sold yet. Some were just not being sold at the location she was at (at least not on that day at that location). At least once she was told that she couldn't buy as many tickets as she wanted in seats that were next to each other. She had to divide the large group into two smaller groups and get 6 seats here, 6 seats there.

She managed to get me tickets for a speed skating event and a figure skating event. Another day, I went with a student's mother to Khan Shatyr (big tent-like mall) to get tickets for the other figure skating event that I wanted. We couldn't get them there, but later she found them at another mall. (By the way, the principal's wife had already tried both these locations, with no luck, for the same tickets.)

The ridiculous thing was--none of the events were sold out!!! The figure skating event that I had had so much trouble getting tickets for, was so empty that they'd covered huge sections of seats with giant "Astana-Almaty 2011" tarps. And they weren't selling tickets at the door.

On Sunday, 30 January, was the Opening Ceremony, the most expensive event at 7500 Tenge per ticket. (Most events were around 1500 Tenge - $10 - per ticket.) We didn't go, and we missed seeing the torch being run through the city. Sophia and I walked on the river not long after the torch obviously passed through--a path was laid out, with "Astana-Almaty 2011" flags--for the torch-bearer.

I learned later that the Opening Ceremony had been on TV--oops, we hadn't thought of that.

I also learned that it was an amazing and spectacular event, kind of like an elaborate circus. And that the city hadn't fully planned on transportation. Everyone had to ride buses to the stadium, they got on the buses at various locations around the city (mall parking lots, etc.) At the end of the event, everyone poured outside of the stadium in the freezing cold, masses of people waiting for the buses. The buses had little signs on them saying where they were returning to. (If you parked your car at Asia Park Mall, you wanted to ride that bus back, of course!) Crowds of people pushed and shoved to get near the buses as they approached, people straining to see if it was their bus, pushing and shoving to get on.

My friend waited about an hour in the freezing cold before finally spotting a regular city bus that she knew would take her near her home.

So, definitely an experience, but I'm OK that I missed it!

International Day at the School - 18 January 2011

2011-02-27T20:17:00.009+05:00

Our school had its first-ever International Day on Friday, 18 January 2011. The director and his wife had attended such a day at another school in Kyrgyzstan, and decided that we must have one too.

It was an excellent idea. The event started after lunch, and the whole school, plus parents, assembled in the room we use as an auditorium/indoor playground. Our preschool aide presented an Indian dance, which was amazing. You know a dance is good when 70+ elementary school students sit still for 5 minutes. (The preschool aide is from India and majored in Indian dance.)

On the wall, around the room, were drawings of flags for all the different countries represented by our student body. We were instructed to gather around our flag. Of course, the American and Kazakh flags had the most people. Some flags, such as Germany and Iran, had just one student. Beneath the Israel flag stood one 2 1/2-year old boy, a bit confused as to what was going on (and definitely wondered why everyone wanted to take his picture--he was so cute!)

Then, there was a mini parade of nations, as everyone walked around the room, carrying their flag.

After that, we broke into groups of 8 or so students per teacher/assistant, and we went to another building. (Our school is made up of 5 buildings--enough room for every class and activity, but a pain to move between in the cold weather!)

I was in charge of most of the 11-year old class, and we started on the top floor, at the Austria booth. Parents had volunteered to represent their country, and about 13 countries in all were represented, with activities and food from each country. We had ten minutes at each station.

It was a lot of fun, and even the 11-year-olds, who had at first been skeptical that this event would interesting for them, enjoyed it. We learned a little and ate a lot.

We visited Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the USA, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, South Korea, India, Finland, Canada, Poland, Japan, and Iran. (And perhaps I'm forgetting one.) We got food at each booth. The students also had "passports" which were stamped at each booth.

In the USA booth, we got chocolate rice krispie treats (because they don't sell plain rice krispie cereal here). In Kazakhstan, we could eat horse meat. In Japan the girls tried on kimonos and we ate sushi. (Well, I didn't. I don't like sushi.) In South Korea we watched a Tai Kwon Do demonstration. (The kids loved that.) In Pakistan we ate the most delicious food. I have to say, Pakistan was my favorite country, the food was so good!!! Spicy, yet totally delicious.

In Poland we ate tons of home-baked goodies. In Finland we learned that Santa Claus lives in Finland. In India we got tons of free English-language comic books about Indian mythology. (Cool.)

Really, a good day. It was so much fun learning about different cultures, seeing the paintings, pottery, etc, and clothing on display. And eating the food.

The food, from top: Austrian goodies; horse meat from Kazakhstan; yummy Pakistani food; Polish baked goods

Train Ride Home from Almaty - December 2010

2011-02-27T19:36:00.002+05:00

After a nearly 3-month hiatus, let me see if I can go back to keeping up on my blog. First, I feel that I have to end the Almaty story with a warning....

Don't ride the slow train from Almaty to Astana (or vice versa). I know, I've done it three times--the first time, it was a good experience, the second time it was less-than-stellar but do-able, the third time was awful.

The first time was a year ago, going from Astana to Almaty during Nauriz (spring holiday). We bought tickets for a 19-hour train ride, and we lucked out with a clean train. Due to time constraints we flew home.

The second time was in December 2010, from Astana to Almaty. The train was much dirtier, the car rocked, the toilets dirty. But still, it wasn't too bad, we arrived in Almaty tired but excited and had a great week.

The third time was returning from Almaty to Astana. It was 21 or 22 hours, unlike the others which were 19 hours. We got on late at night and so, after a fitful night's sleep, we had a full day on the train.

It was COLD. The train rocked. We were COLD. (Need I say it again? I slept with my winter coat over me and still was cold.) There was NO restaurant on the train, and we hadn't taken food, since the other times we'd ridden, there was a restaurant.

After a horrible night's sleep, spending 12 hours in a dirty, confined place with no food was pretty awful.

Oh, and the toilets were disgusting. Possibly the most disgusting toilets I've ever seen since arriving in Astana. (Yeah, that bad.)

So, I forgot how much that ride cost, it was really cheap. For twice as much--and still very little money--we could have taken the "fast" train, the 12-hour train, which I've heard is as nice as my first Astana-Almaty train ride was.

Moral of the story is: If you're going to take a train ride between Almaty and Astana, do yourself a favor and splurge on the 12-hour train. It's still incredibly cheap.

Day 6 in Almaty - Shopping & Central Asian Crafts

2010-12-06T19:45:00.003+05:00

Friday, 3 December

Our train left at 8:56 pm that night. I felt sick that morning so we didn't leave the apartment until noon. But we managed to pack quite a bit in (and get so frantic that we might miss our train!)

First, we walked the few blocks northward to Zhibek Joly Street, where the TsUM shopping center is. Lonely Planet had acted like TsUM is a shopping experience you don't want to miss. It was nothing spectacular. Huge, and a lot of the "stores" open rather than in separate rooms, but clean and a tad on the expensive side. Yes, it had a lot of souvenirs, but they were expensive.

We were hungry, and we saw a "Kind Burger." So we went in. This fast-food joint had your usual fast-food fare, plus pizza (for Sophia) and for 1000 Tenge ($6.70) a "business lunch"--an all-you-can-eat buffet that included hot tea, soup, some hot meat-and-vegetables meals, and dessert. Far better than McDonald's!

It was snowing, and we had a nice walk home, with the snow softly falling around us and on the wide, tree-lined streets.

Once home, we debated the merits of going out again--the Kazakh National Museum was having a Central Asian Arts & Crafts Festival, beginning at 4 pm tonight. But it was a good half-hour away, or more, depending on traffic and whether or not we could get a cab.

A little before 5 pm, we decided we should do it. We went out in the snow on Friday during rush hour and tried to find a cab--hard enough, and the guy charged us 1000 Tenge, well over the 300 Tenge that a local would demand. (My Kazakh friend wasn't with us to bargain.)

It was worth it. The main hallway and stairwells of the museum were full of vendors selling their brightly colored wares, all hand-made items from some place in Central Asia (countries ending in -stan.) So much to choose from!

I made the mistake of wandering and looking at everything before buying--the event closed at 6 pm that day, which I hadn't known! Suddenly, it was a mad dash to buy something before it was all closed!

I bought finger-less gloves for myself, from a lady from Kyrgystan; Sophia bought a small sheep (doll); and I bought gifts for friends. Our American friend bought a nativity set made out of wool felt (common material for toys, etc, here) and a colorful jacket; my co-worker bought a purse.

Now it was 6 pm; one hour until we needed to get a cab, to return to the apartment & check out & then get to the train station. We were a long half-block away from the big Ramstore. Ramstore is a supermarket here that is nice and clean and large and sometimes sells Western goods. This Ramstore was reputed to be huge and with even more Western goods.

So we went.

We raced through the large store--nothing special, since I already know where to find peanut butter in Astana and I don't use salad dressing--but I did buy some food for the train ride home and dinner for Sophia.

Then we went out, into the slightly-below-freezing and snowing weather, in the middle of rush hour of a huge city, and we tried to get a cab.

There were dozens of people trying to get taxis. And nobody stopping.

(In Kazakhstan, any car can be a taxi. Just hold out your hand near a road, soon enough a car will stop and then you can negotiate the price.)

One guy stopped for me, but said no, he would not take us. Maybe it was too far--there definitely was a ton of traffic between us and our destination! Maybe several kilometers, not bad during regular hours.

So we walked to the corner to try our luck again. No luck. We walked and we walked and we walked. No one would stop. We couldn't even find a bus stop!

Finally I called my friend R, who had gone to visit a friend in the city. Lo and behold, she was in a taxi at that very moment and the driver agreed to go out of his way to pick us up!!! Luckily, I knew exactly where we were (fake Eiffel Tower near Pizza Hut, on Furmanov Street), and luckily R is Kazakh and was able to negotiate a cheap price. 1000 Tenge for picking her up, driving to get us, driving us all to the apartment, waiting while we got our stuff, and then driving us to the airport! All during horrible traffic and a snowstorm!

We made it to the train station with perhaps 20 minutes to spare--and a ton of luggage to drag through the snow. I broke a wheel on a brand-new suitcase last year, in the slushy snow of Germany, so I wasn't about to wheel mine. So I carried my heavy suitcase.

Luckily, a guy who worked there offered to put all our luggage on a cart and bring it to the train (and show us where it was!) for 500 Tenge. He was amazingly fast, moving our luggage to the cart, and then wheeling it through the snow. We had to cross train tracks, too, and he had to get each piece of luggage across the tracks and then get the cart. We weren't the only ones running towards the train last-minute.

Finally, we got on the train, with perhaps 5 minutes to spare. Sophia's new snowpants were covered in ice.

Good-bye, Almaty!

Day 5 in Almay - Ice Skating in the Mountains

2010-12-05T12:35:00.005+05:00

Thursday, 2 December 2010

About a half-hour to an hour drive outside of Almaty is Medeu. I'm not sure what it is, if there's more than the giant outdoor skating rink halfway up the mountain to Chimbaluk, where you can ski.

Last year we went to Medeu, to learn that the rink was closed due to inclement weather (icky, wet, sleety, foggy) and then we went up to Chimbaluk, to learn that the skiing was closed for the same reasons.

This year my Kazakh friend R made some phone calls and checked the Internet, so we learned ahead of time that the skiing was closed due to renovations--the great Asian games (Asia's Olympics) will be held in Almaty & Astana in February. The ice skating is closed Monday & Tuesday.

On Thursday we took a taxi to Medeu, for 1500 Tenge--$10. When we arrived, the girls expressed their disappointment--they were expecting Chimbaluk! (They didn't say "Chimbaluk", they said they wanted to be in the mountains and snow, not ice skating with mountains surrounding us.) We explained over and over that Chimbaluk was closed, we had wanted to go skiing too!

Entrance fee was rather cheap--2100 Tenge for me and my child (children being cheaper)--about $14. Skates were 1000 Tenge ($6.80) for rental; children's skates were 500 Tenge, but the sign was misleading! Children's skates only went up to size 33; Sophia is a size 34. Skates were mis-sized; Sophia ended up wearing a 35 or 36 that was still too tight on her; I wore a size 41 (my size in Europe & Asia) that was way too big.

We also had to give ID to rent the skates, I was so relieved when they accepted my American driver's license! I did not want to give up my passport!

Finally, we made it out. The rink was huge, and the ice a little rough. The weather was fair; we were okay in wool sweaters and did not need bulky coats. There was a stadium around us, behind it, tall hills and mountains, with a bit of snow. There was no wall on the side of the rink, something Sophia usually clings too.

My friend R went to watch her daughter practice--she's going to Uralsk (western Kazakhstan) soon for an ice skating competition--and I spotted a little glider thing--it looks like a walker with no wheels, perfect for someone who needs support while on the ice. We took it, but then a Russian woman with a name-tag came up to us and said something in Russian. "It's busy," she said in English. I managed to get my friend to translate--the glider was in use, and cost 300 Tenge per half-hour. There were only two available, and the one we were trying to use was not in good condition. The woman was an ice skating instructor, half-hour private lessons cost 1000 Tenge. She said she couldn't teach my friend's daughter--who's working on her triple-axle--although she did watch and comment. But she could work with Sophia.

So for half an hour Sophia practiced with this instructor, who was amazingly patient and amazingly good. Sophia copied her and learned a lot--she can skate without wobbling; she can turn around on the ice!!! For someone who used to cling to the wall, this is amazing progress!

My friend's daughter had to leave that evening for Uralsk--her plane was at 7 pm, she would fly with another girl who was going for the competition. Her coach would meet her in Uralsk and then fly her back to Astana with the other girls from Astana. All of this was last minute, causing my friend a lot of worry the day before we left for Almaty! (She'd almost canceled the trip to Amaty.)

So then we had to leave, take a taxi back to the mall near our house, and then R took another taxi to the National Museum, where our two flat-mates were. They hadn't gone ice-skating with us, and there was only one key to our apartment, and so they had the key.

I fed the girls--KFC--and took a picture of the fast-food restaurant called "Kind Burger." Then we met up with the others, who did some quick grocery shopping at the Silk Way City supermarket, in the basement of the mall, which is bigger than any supermarket in Astana.

R and her daughter made it to the airport in time; then R and our American friend went to church together, while my co-worker, Sophia, and I relaxed in our home.

One more day to go!

Day 4 in Almaty - the BIG Bazaar

2010-12-02T09:13:00.004+05:00

Wednesday, 1 December

When I say big, I mean BIG. I mean ENORMOUS. I mean, entire cities are smaller than this place.

Over Fall Break, I went to Central Market in Astana. After four hours of shopping, I realized I wasn't even halfway through.

After 6 hours of shopping in the market on the northern outskirts of Almaty, my co-worker and I were exhausted, and we hadn't come close to halfway through. Probably not even one-tenth through. We had seen some of the clothes and coats. Definitely nowhere near all of the clothes and coats. And not the hats, boots, appliances, furniture, knick-knacks, or whatever else we missed.

(We did see some hats, but I suspect that there were aisles of them somewhere.)

A few hours into the experience, we stopped at a restaurant that was pretty much hidden--down a dark hallway/alley, through an unmarked door. It was your basic Kazakh restaurant, cafeteria-style, and for 450 Tenge I got barley with chicken & a few vegetables, bread, tea, and a cake. I asked for a half-plate of my main course, which was quite large!

The bazaar is on two sides of a somewhat busy, definitely crowded road. The stalls are partly inside, partly outside--shacks, lean-tos. They are located down long, cramped aisles. You are inside, but outside--the floor is mostly packed dirt, there is a ceiling, and little light from outside.

Men with carts overloaded with goods raced down these aisles, shouting in Kazakh, and ready to knock over anyone in their way. Bent women pushed carts selling tea, some pastries, and candies. And women who resembled gypsies wandered around, seemingly begging but also selling. My co-worker L had sympathy on one and gave her 50 Tenge. Then the woman gave her a pin. L thought this was sweet, but the woman wouldn't leave her alone. Our Kazakh friend translated--the pin cost 300 Tenge. L said gave back the pin, although the woman did not want to accept it. She'd rather the 300 Tenge.

My Kazakh friend had stayed home with the girls, which turned out to be good. It was a long day, cramped and crowded, and needing patience and a love for shopping. We had to take two buses there, it took about an hour. Our new American friend had a Kazakh friend from Almaty; it was she who took us there and showed us around.

I found a few good finds--including an angora hat with matching scarf and gloves for 500 Tenge ($3.40) and a sweater for Sophia for 1000 Tenge (about $6.70). Our Kazakh friend found a fur-on-the-inside, leather-on-the-outside coat for not much over $100. Amazing.

But in the end my co-worker and I wore out well before the other two women and we headed out, armed with a copy of the directions I had written down while we took the bus over here.

Outside, we crossed the road and headed in what we thought was the direction of Almaty, and I wondered at how the mountains were really hidden in the haze. When we had arrived at the bazaar, I had noticed that the mountains--and Almaty--were behind us. Then my co-worker recognized a building as one we had passed coming in (on this side of the road), and I turned around -- lo and behold, those majestic mountains! To make sure, we asked a man where Almaty was. He seemed a bit confused by the question, he gestured towards the mountains.

Then I remembered, that sometime early in our day, we had climbed down some stairs--we must have gone under the road!

So we crossed the road again and walked to where it seemed that other people were waiting for buses. A few buses later, we saw our bus--Bus 120. just to be sure, I asked the bus attendant, "Tolebi?" He said yes and helped us on the bus.

Earlier that day, on our way to the bazaar, we had changed from bus 126 to bus 120 at the intersection of Tolebi and a street whose name I could not pronounce. Since bus 120 only crossed Tolebi, I figured I was okay only asking for Tolebi.

The bus got more and more crowded, and the attendant pushed us further and further back. My co-worker had found a seat right by the door, luckily. The street in front of the bazaar was so crowded, the bus just inched along, as the attendant leaned out the door, smoking a cigarette and calling out the names of various stops along this bus's route.

It took probably half an hour to get out of the bazaar. The bus was so crowded, and I became worried that I would not recognize our stop, and I was sure that the attendant wouldn't remember my question from so long ago. (Especially since the question was a one-word question--"Tolebi?") But now I was too far from him to go up and ask him to let me know when we got there.

The man next to my co-worker wanted to get off. I saw this, but my-coworker didn't notice. The attendant started talking to her in Russian, probably asking her to let this man off. She didn't understand and soon the two were very frustrated with each other. "Nyet Russian!" she shouted. "American!" I called out to her what I thought the attendant wanted--her to let the man next to her off. She did, but soon the attendant and others were laughing and saying something about "Americans"--so, I thought, now might not be a good time to ask him to tell me when we got to Tolebi.

But then, we got to a stop and he said, "American, Tolebi!" and even helped my co-worker and me off the bus.

We were a short walk from the intersection, and nothing looked familiar. We started wondering if the attendant had purposely let us off at the wrong stop, us being stupid Americans and all.

So my co-worker encouraged me to ask a passer-by for help, she picked out a good-looking young man, and he happened to speak English and be good with maps. We were indeed on Tolebi, two short blocks from the intersection where I had assumed we'd be let off (the bus might have a slightly different return route?). And bus 126 did pass by here, all we had to do was cross the street.

We thanked him, got to the bus stop, and bus 126 showed up before we had time to ask anyone for confirmation that it would show up.

Now we had a half-hour ride, but in peace, since we knew we would recognize the Silk Way City shopping complex where we had to get off.

I was so proud of myself, returning home from the bazaar all by myself!

Day 3 in Almaty: Panfilov Park, Walking, and Funny English

2010-12-02T08:37:00.005+05:00

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Half of the 6 people in our apartment are early risers; half of us are late risers. The kids and our new American friend M are the early riser. My friend R and co-worker L and I are the late risers. So today was another late start like yesterday.

First, R and M had to go to the train station to change M's ticket so she could return on the same train as us. L, I and the kids decided to walk towards Zelony Bazaar (the Green Market), the place where we had decided to start the day.

It was a fun walk down tree-lined streets, and soon we felt like we could be in Paris--fancy shops on our sides. We popped into a cosmetics store where L finally found the hair dye that she uses (yet to be found in Astana!)

We arrived at Panfilov Park and decided to stop there with the kids. Panfilov Park is where the amazing, yellow Russian Orthodox cathedral is. I had seen it last year and was awe-struck. L went inside while I watched the kids at the nearby playground.

Some horse-drawn carriages came running by at fast pace, the kids chased the carriage. We found a spot behind the church with dozens of pigeons, which entertained the girls. Finally, we went inside the cathedral.

The cathedral is all gold inside, and amazing. We didn't go far in, just shopped at the gift shop in front.

By then R and M had met up with us, so we walked the block to Zhibek Zholy Street, which I now know means "Silk Way" in Kazakh.

The street was super-crowded, with vendors on the street. We shopped and bought some warm pants for the girls. (4 pants for 3500 Tenge--$24!)

Then we went inside some huge building, which kind of reminded me of Artyom in Astana--a large, overcrowded mall with stands and cubicles for stores. I found a stand with genuine Soviet pins, the cheapest being $10 and the most expensive been much, much more.

Then we walked some--we never went to the Green Market, it's well known for food, but we didn't need food and we were getting cold--and found the Silk Way Mall, which we'd heard of. But the entrance we were near was closed off, and we were hungry, so we popped inside a restaurant called Pizza Mia.

I will always remember this restaurant for its English. It was nice that they had a menu in English, but it was funny to read. Under dessert, you could choose "Ice Cream 'Move & Pick' 2 balls." We had a good laugh over that.

You could choose "bread funds" (we figured out that this was bad translation of "bread fondue").

On the door, you could "Na sebya" (Russian for "towards yourself"--eg, pull) or, in English "Inwards."

As we left, my Kazakh friend talked to the waitress and we correctly translated quite a few items for her.

The others were tired and ready to take a cab. I volunteered to walk the girls home. It was only about a mile, and we were full of energy.

It was night-time, so we just took the same route as we had before. We popped into a store which was selling ENGLISH-LANGUAGE newspapers! Unable to decide, I bought all 3--USA Today, The International Herald Tribune, and the Times of Central Asia. These 3 newspapers were a big hit at the apartment.

One more day in Almaty, a day of relaxing and conversation, a day of exploration and new finds, a day of two little girls getting along splendidly. A good vacation!

Day 2 in Almaty: Kok-Tobe Cable Car

2010-11-30T19:52:00.005+05:00

Monday we decided to take the Kok-Tobe Cable Car. It's a cable car that takes you up a very large hill on the edge of Almaty. The ride up is fantastic, as we watched the city get distant, and the houses beneath us. There were plenty of unfinished houses and plenty of shacks, crammed into tiny spaces on the steep hill with few roads (some dirt paths).

At the top of the hill we could see the city--now I realize that it is much larger than Astana, with many tall buildings. The city was in a haze, however, which I've heard is most of time time.

And in front of us--to the south--were the mountains. Again, they were in a haze.

As the day went on, the sky became clearer, and the mountains more breath-taking. Sharp, jagged, snow-covered peaks that went on seemingly for forever. The tallest peaks seemed to arise out of the sky, especially when it was hazy; I had to squint and double-check--was I seeing mountains, or just clouds?

So behind us was the city, in front of us the mountains, and to our sides rolling hills, spotted with houses. The hill we were on was immense, and we had a lot of walking in front of us.

There were several restaurants, a Beatles statue where we all posed for a picture, and a small zoo. Sophia loved the reindeer; there were also peacocks and majestically colored pheasants.

The grass at the top was green and well-tended to, but my favorite part was the un-tended slopes on the sides. They looked just like the mountains in South and North Carolina towards the end of fall. Sloping hills, mostly bare trees, dead leaves on the ground. I hadn't dressed for hiking, but I ran down the hill, high heels and all. Sophia and her friend enjoyed playing on the hillside. In the distance we could still see the snow-capped peaks.

Mostly we took pictures and basked in the shadow of the mountains. How glorious!

After, we took the cable car back down and walked the short distance to the Pizza Hut where we had eaten last year.

Then it was back home and to bed.

Sophia and her friend have been getting along amazingly this week so far, better than sisters, with very few and very short spats. Mostly, they hang out, talking and giggling and letting us adults be. Her friend's English is amazing, considering she's been taught by her mother and hasn't really had it in school, and Sophia is her only English-speaking friend. But every now and then she'll have to ask her mother for a word in English. Once the word was "trash", another time "war". You have to wonder what they're talking about!

They both are very much into imaginative play, and the language barrier seems to be no issue for them. They love to play with stuffed animals when they are inside; pretend they are riding horses when they are outside. They love to collect nuts--large acorns--outside; inside they like to draw and color. Sophia enjoys putting Russian-language movies for the two of them to watch on their computer.

Monday morning, R and I were woken up at 6 am by the most delighted-sounding, "Dobri utro!" ever ("good morning!") as R's daughter pranced into our room. R responded as I do when woken up that early, with a low growl and something like "go away." Luckily, this did not upset her child, and she and Sophia played quite happily together until we did feel like waking up.

A wonderful vacation for all!!

Day 1 in Almaty

2010-11-30T19:36:00.003+05:00

We arrived in Almaty on Sunday morning and spent the morning getting to our new apartment and then showering and resting. We were tired after our train trip (more tired than after last year's train trip... but last year we arrived late in Almaty and so had been able to sleep in on the train.

We took a taxi to the apartment complex, where the landlady met us. She seemed very professional; she and a man who spoke a bit of English helped us up the four flights of steps to our apartment.

Our apartment--so cheap!--is large, with 2 large bedrooms and a living room. My friend R & I are sharing one bed; my coworker L and our new American friend are sharing another; and
Sophia & my friend's daughter are sharing the pull-out couch. We are three pairs of generations, all single women: two women in their sixties; two women in their thirties; and two girls under ten.

After showering and resting, R went to church (I was still un-showered by the time of the last Catholic Mass at noon). Around 5 pm we decided to head out to find something to eat.

We wandered a bit and R and I kept getting a feeling of deja-vu--had we been here last week? Almaty is a great city for those who love maps and cardinal directions--the streets are all parallel and perpendicular and run north-south and east-west--but not good for those who find their way via landmarks. Every street looks identical--large, about 4 lanes, sometimes one-way, large sidewalks for walking, ditches between the sidewalks and roads for drainage, trees, and several-story tall buildings. Pretty, but every block and street corner looks the same!!

We passed a few places that seemed OK, but finally settling on a restaurant called City Cafe (with City spelling in English and Cafe in Russian). It was a great choice! The food was delicious and not too expensive; I had lamb shashlyk (like a kebob), and Sophia was able to have her favorite--cheese pizza. The menu was in Russian, English, and Turkish, and some of the food was Turkish; they also served more local cuisine, such as "manty" (dough-like noodles) and Uzbek plov.

We had beer and dessert, and just a nice time relaxing. The girls let us chat--they sat at a different table and amused themselves. We walked home slowly, taking pictures along the way.

A great first day in Almaty!

Train Ride to Almaty

2010-11-29T20:19:00.003+05:00

Saturday 27 - Sunday 28 November 2010

A big OSCE Summit is happening in Astana for a few days this week (1 and 2 December, maybe a few other days too) and the city has basically been shut down. At first it was going to be just for a few days--Tues - Thurs--this week that the city would be closed, schools closed, roads closed--I was told I couldn't even leave my apartment! I wasn't looking forward to this!

Then the government announced a couple weeks ago that the shut-down would last the entire week, Monday - Friday--school closed as well. Well, I didn't go anywhere over Fall Break, so this seemed like an excellent time to get out of Astana!

In the end, I don't think the shut-down is going to be as bad as I'd feared, although I think I live in the "Red District" where there are more restrictions, the main roads are closed for most of the day, and even the mall will be closed for most of the day. But Monday and Friday might not be so bad, and the other side of town has a lot more freedom.

But I'm still glad I took this opportunity to go somewhere!

My friend R, her daughter, my daughter, my co-worker L, and I all got tickets to take the train to Almaty and back. My assistant helped us find an apartment in the center, and last-minute, L met another American who was going to Almaty and needed a place to stay.

So now there are 6 of us in a very nice 2-bedroom (3 rooms with double beds--one's a pull-out couch) apartment in the center of Almaty. Paying about $25 a day for this. Very nice!!

Train tickets are really cheap too--I can't remember how much I paid, but I think it was well under $100 for round-trip tickets for Sophia and me. Because everyone wanted out of Astana, the train was getting booked, so we weren't able to get one whole room for us.

The train ride was 19 hours--it cost twice as much for the 12 hour train, which didn't seem worth it. Waiting for the bus, I was so nervous we'd be late. Bus 12 arrived, which I had thought would take us to the train station, I asked, however--"Vokzal?" and the bus attendant said no. But then he said, "Ya pomagu," which means "I'll help you," and he easily lifted up my huge, heavy suitcase and ushered us on the bus. He wouldn't let us pay, but explained (in Russian) that we would get off at the next bus stop and take 21 to the train station. He helped us get our luggage off, too. He was very nice, as was the bus attendant for bus 21, who confirmed that, yes, this bus goes to the train station, and he helped us with our stuff.

I love how friendly and kind the Kazakh people can be!

So we made it in plenty of time, before our train even! On the train, we were a bit separated--Sophia and I had the top bunks in one room, L and my friend's daughter had the top bunks in the room next to us, but R had a room in the neighboring car! We were hoping someone would be kind enough to switch with R!!!

Her daughter was crying, and I thought this was because she was worried that she wouldn't sleep with her mother. I kept reassuring her--L would go and sleep in the other car, so R could be with her daughter. But it turned out that she was crying because she wanted to sleep with Sophia and was worried that she would have to sleep in the other car with her mother!

The people in L's room said they could not switch places, they had to sleep on the bottom bunks. The people in my room did not show up until the Karaganda stop, so we had several hours with one room to ourselves. We relaxed, had tea and ate. The girls drove us crazy, going up the bunks (and needing help) and then changing their minds and coming down (and needing help) but they were so happy.

R asked a guy in the room next to us if he would switch with her--she explained her situation that her daughter was over here. He very rudely said no, what's the point in switching, she'll be running around anyways?

But at Karaganda, when R asked the guy who had the bunk under me, if he would switch, he said yes without hesitating!

While they were off in the other car making the switch, the other passenger--the one with the ticket to sleep under Sophia--arrived. He had a TON of stuff, perhaps the hugest bag I have ever seen, and he was a large man. I didn't think he would really want to switch and have to sleep on a top bunk. He was settled in by the time R returned, so we didn't bother asking him to switch. It would have been nice to have a room for ourselves!

As awkward as it was to share a room with a strange man, he was perhaps the best cabin-partner you can have. At dinnertime, he took out some chicken to offer to Sophia and her friend. He was very pleasant, let them sit on his bed to eat, smiled at them and talked to Sophia's friend some. If he minded how active and giggly they were, he never let on!

At nighttime, I was starting to fall asleep to the bumps and jolts of the train--I was the top bunk, having given the bottom bunk to Sophia. The top bunks have very tiny rails to prevent you from falling off, so Sophia was sleeping on the bottom. But now I was watching my friend's daughter. She had moved in her sleep and was now so close to the edge.

R came in; she was sleeping now in the room next to us and was worried about her daughter. We considered the different options--how to make sure the girl didn't fall off during the night? We agreed that I would sleep in the other room, and R might try to squeeze into the same bed as her daughter, or just sleep across from her and keep an eye on her.

Then, the man woke up and offered to switch beds with R's daughter!!! This huge man, recently sound asleep, waking up and offering to sleep on the pathetic top bunk so R could feel safer about her daughter! How incredibly kind!

No one slept too well, though, the train rocked quite a bit--L pointed out that were were near where the two cars attached, which must be why it rocked so much. L was next to the bathroom, and drunk guys kept throwing up all night.

But we did sleep, and in the morning the man offered oranges, rolls, and chocolate to the girls to eat. Really, he was so kind after putting up with two giggly girls for so long!! (They woke up early and played for quite some time before the rest of us awoke.)

Finally, we made it to Almaty. We thanked the man as best we could and dragged our lugage off the train.

The men here who offered to help with my luggage weren't just being kind--they were trying to make money! R had to ask how much--500 Tenge per bag--so we had to forcefully say no. Not much longer, a guy pretty much grabbed my large suitcase from me and wouldn't let go. R again had to talk to him--he promised he wouldn't charge much, but no! we said.

We had to go up some steep steps, a woman speaking good English kindly offered a hand then. Going down some steps, a man offered to help--he offered politely, and did not grab, and when we wearily asked if he would charge he laughed and said no, of course not. He helped, we said thanks, and off he went.

Some people are kind, some people are drunk, some people just want money...

Although the train was dirty and it lurched a lot, it still was a good experience. Drinking tea, good conversation... and now we are in Almaty! Former capital of Kazakhstan, a large city situated in the shadows of the mountains!

Karpatt

2010-11-21T09:57:00.002+05:00

Saturday, 20 November 2010

So we saw the French band Karpatt last night.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpatt
http://www.myspace.com/karpatt

Over the past two weeks, I've tried unsuccessfully to go to an event sponsored by the Alliance Francaise (they've had several recently), and it was nice to finally make an event.

It was at a fancy German restaurant called Tre Kronor, which is across the street from my apartment building. It started at 8; we arrived at 8:30. I went with Sophia and my friend R and her daughter.

The band was on a small stage, there was a small dance floor in front of them. The dance floor was already getting crowded (with women, no men dancing!) and the tables were all booked. Although it was a bit crowded, there was still plenty of room for us to push our way up front.

The band consists of four members--a drummer, a lead singer/guitarist, another singer and guitarist, and a bass player. They were very lively and very good with the audience. I strained my ears to listen to them when they spoke French, and was pleased that I understood some. The lead singer, Fred, spoke in English, too. An audience member came on-stage to translate what they said into Russian.

They were very good with the audience, sometimes coming onto the dance floor to dance with audience members. The lead singer saw my friend's daughter and improvised a song to her, "I love the little girl in the pink dress."

They had a routine about a fly--the bass player played his bass to sound like a fly while the two guitarists pretended to follow it around the room with their eyes. The lead singer pretended to catch it, debated killing it, and then let it free. The whole thing was synced pretty well, the sound of the fly buzzing corresponding with what the other two were pretending that it was doing.

They also made noises to the beat of the music and had the audience repeat it -- hums and other rhythmic sounds. When they saw the children, they also meowed to the beat and the audience meowed back!

They sang one song in Russian, that they had either written or someone had given them. They also sang the "Champs-Elysees" at the end and really wanted the audience to sing part--but we were pathetic and didn't know the words.

A French boy who looked maybe 12 or 13 years old came onto the dance floor and started doing some amazing footwork--absolutely fantastic. The lead singer saw him and pulled him on stage to dance. At first the boy seemed nervous but then he got into it. It must have been a great experience for him, to dance on stage.

The audience cheered so much that they performed one song for an encore. Then, we kept on cheering and hollering, that instead of a song, he sang a quick ditty in English--telling us where we can buy their CDs and how to find them on the Internet.

Then it was over.

We found the lead singer, Fred, signing autographs; he recognized my friend's daughter as the girl in pink to whom he had sung; and he signed his name on the back of a business card for her. Then Sophia wanted an autograph soon. The girls ended up with 3 autographs each, and they are quite happy with that. And it wasn't until we were in the parking lot, leaving, that I remembered how to say my ABC's in French--I had tried to explain how to spell my friend's daughter's name, but it came out wrong each time.

It was a fantastic evening--great music, a good experience for the kids, and listening to the French language.

I have to visit France again!

Comments on an International School

2010-10-26T11:05:00.005+05:00

October 2010

*Every now and then I'm just struck -- awe-struck, in a way-- by the sheer lack of discipline problems I have at this school. Usually, I just go about my business, focusing on teaching and all the issues that come along with that. I start to get frustrated with my workload, the multiple groups I am teaching at multiple levels. And then, I remember: I used to have discipline problems. Last year and for my 4 years teaching at a public school in South Carolina, I had immense discipline issues. So much so that I rarely taught; I felt like my entire teaching life was simply managing discipline. If I could get the kids to not hurt each other or an adult, well, then, my day was a success.Here, though, discipline is not an issue. The kids are good, kind, loving, sweet, and hard-working. I have rules posted in my classroom, but I don't think I've even pointed them out to my students. THAT'S how good they are.

Most of my students WANT to work and WANT to learn. The biggest issues come from the students who speak almost no English. As they learn English, they start to behave. I have one older student with OK English who in America would be diagnosed with ADD. He has some problems, but he is not a disruption. I am more concerned about him academically and socially than I am concerned about how his behavior affects my classroom.

*As this is an international school, so many of my students are from far-away places. I know they are dealing with homesickness, culture shock etc. One 6-year old boy, with almost no English, on his 2nd day here, when his teacher tried to explain to him that he didn't need to change his shoes, crawled into his cubby and started to cry. Poor child--new city, new school, new language.

*I have a Kazakh student who is from another city. His family lives there; he lives in Astana with his tutor (or something like that). He is an older boy, but genuinely excited when his mother comes to visit. During Fall Break, he went home. This is a kid whose parents have enough money to pay the $20,000 a year tuition plus pay for a full-time tutor/nanny and for him to live in another city. What did he do over Fall Break? He collected mushrooms and grazed sheep. What wealthy American kids do that during their free time? What wealthy Americans are that close to the land and our rural roots?

*Other comments on this being an international school: Already we've had to declare our intent for next year--simply, do we plan on returning to this organization? Do we plan on returning to this school? By Dec. we'll have to say for sure and even what grade/subject we will teach! (Although that could change.) I know for sure that I'll be back, but others aren't too sure--for those teachers who have never taught abroad before, the first few months have tough and they're not sure if by the end of the year they'll be loving it or ready to high-tail it out of here.

Me, my main dilemma is whether or not I want IE (Intensive English) again. My other choice would be 4th grade. I love teaching IE, but with so many levels, it's a headache. Once our school gets bigger, we could probably get another elementary IE teacher, and I could focus on the beginners, the other teachers on the intermediate students. But for now, it's just me. Last year, there was no one, so the other teachers are quite happy to have me! Last year, the low-to-non-English speakers went down a grade or two for English class, and had an hour of Intensive English (with a local assistant) during the foreign language.

*Also, we just ordered our supplies for next year! Again, how hard it is to know now what we'll want for next year! Esp. since I'm also teaching 6th grade math--I know which supplies would have been useful to have for the units I've taught already, but I have no idea what I'll be needing later in the year! Oh well. I ordered some things to teach decimal place value with; last year, teaching 5th grade math, that was the hardest concept for the students to get. This year, too, so that's something I'm sure is needed.

I also ordered a ton of books, since the IE classroom doesn't have any books, since there wasn't an IE classroom next year. The principal let me order well over my limit, since he knew I needed the books so badly. So it would be nice to have IE next year and to use all those books!

Dinner & Movie

2010-10-26T11:04:00.005+05:00

Saturday, 16? October 2010

The librarian invited Sophia, me, and a few other teachers over for dinner and a movie on Saturday night. Her husband picked some of us up; a few teachers walked. Yes, it took them 45 minutes (and they walk fast). I am a bit jealous. I wouldn't mind walking that far, but I know Sophia would.

The librarian is a fascinating person; she is Belgian and was born in Africa. Her husband is American and works for the US Embassy. Together, they have traveled much of the world. They have two teenaged daughters and next year they plan on retiring to Colorado.

Their home is amazing. Sheerly amazing. They live in the same complex as the principal and his wife, and it's nice because the buildings form a circle of sort, with playgrounds, mini parks, and walkways in between the buildings, and mini-marts too. A sort of micro-c0mmunity.

She lives on the 4th and 5th floors--a 2-story apartment. Her first floor is bigger than my place.

They have an entrance way, with a spiral staircase leading to the second floor. They have a kitchen that opens to a a breakfast-nook-type area that opens to the dining room and living room. The windows in the living room overlook the river and the entire new-downtown of the city. All the while facing west, so you can watch the sun set over the city. Perhaps the best view in all of Astana.

Also on their first floor is the formal dining room (currently being used as a storage room) and their daughters' very large bedrooms. Upstairs there is the study, with a small gym in the back, and the master bedroom. As well as the perhaps the best room in the apartment--the cinema. The cinema room contains a large screen for watching movies, plus several large, comfortable chairs and sofas. A bookcase stands in the middle of the room, effectively dividing it into two parts--the cinema in front and the music room in back. The music room contains guitars and other equipment for playing music. A door leads to the sauna.

Yeah, a nice home.

We ate dinner--homemade chili--and dessert, including a yummy grapefruit-like fruit. Then the adults moved to the cinema room while the children stayed downstairs to watch a child-friendly movie on the normal-sized TV.

We watched "The Emperor's Club", a movie starring Kevin Kline as a teacher at a super-wealthy, elite school. The movie excels in its nuances. Nothing dramatic happens, no one dies or is fired. Kevin Kline does not change the life of the slightly-troubled boy he meets. A teacher's life rarely has amazing defining moments, but rather small, nuanced ones. A teacher's career contains successes as well as failures.

Of course, the story of a teacher trying to reach an unhappy student is a great movie for teachers to watch, and afterwards we had a great conversation. The topic changed to other topics in education, and pretty much everyone who had recently taught in the US had horror stories about teaching in the US.

We stayed up very late, but it was a wonderful evening; it was great to have intelligent conversation. And Sophia had a good time too.

Fall Festival, 15 October 2010

2010-10-26T11:04:00.004+05:00

Halloween!

Our school has a high percentage of kids from Western cultures, most of them homesick. Most of the staff is Canadian or American. And many of the non-Western kids have heard about Halloween and think it's a great holiday. So, we couldn't quite ignore Halloween, could we?

We did what schools in the US, who are concerned about being politically correct and culturally sensitive, do. We had a Fall Festival.

Our Fall Festival was on Friday, 15 October 2010, from 6 to 8 pm, and was "open" to the public. That is, we didn't invite massive amounts of strangers, but we did let others know about the event. (I'm not sure how, I was told that other foreigners were told about this and allowed to take their children here, and that they were grateful for the chance to celebrate Halloween.)

This is the school's first year with a gym and auditorium, and so everyone was excited that the Fall Festival could be celebrated there, and not in the teachers' individual classrooms. Teachers had to come up with an activity. Tables and chairs were provided.

My activity was the "Mummy Wrap." I'll be forever grateful to the parent who, 4 years ago, hosted a Halloween party in my classroom in the US. She found this game on the Internet, and it has proven to be a great success. It's so simple: get tons of rolls of white toilet paper. Put students in pairs. One child has to wrap his partner up as a mummy. Whoever finishes first, wins. Children LOVE this.

I requested that my students bring in rolls of white toilet paper, finding it a bit funny that I had to specify color. The cheap toilet paper here is brown. The not-so-cheap toilet paper comes in a multitude of colors, including white.

I set up my booth (meaning, I taped the sign that the children had helped me make, and I brought out the rolls of toilet paper) and waited for the evening to get started.

I had plenty of candy to pass out, as all the parents had been asked to bring in one kilo of candy. In Astana, there is no shortage of shops that sell candies by the kilo.

The gym soon became crowded and noisy. Adults and children were dressed in various costumes. Kazakh seemed to be a popular costume for non-Kazakhs. (Think about it--what's a good costume that you can find last-minute in a city that doesn't celebrate Halloween and thus doesn't have many costumes for sale at this time of year? A Kazakh dress!) I dressed as an Indian (from India), thanks to my Indian assistant, who dressed as a Kazakh. Sophia wore the Kazakh dress that I bought for her last year.

There were mummies, vampires, witches, princesses, fairies, Darth Vader... everything you'd expect to find at a traditional American Halloween celebration. Dozens of nationalities were represented at this event, everyone clearly happy and excited. Two American teachers had spend the afternoon getting their costumes ready, creating theirs from scratch, using cardboard and other items. The pre-school teacher dressed as Khan Shatyr, the big tent-like mall. His wife dressed as Beyterek, the tall tower with a golden sphere at its top. Their son dressed as the tall building known as the "lighter building" due to its uncanny resemblance to a cigarette lighter. Their costumes were very cute, funny, and original. And proof that you don't need to buy your costume or have brought yours from America to have an awesome costume!

The vice principal and his wife, Sophia's teacher, came dressed as each other. The v.p. even shaved his beard so he could look like his wife, and his wife painted a beard on her face. They looked awesome.

My friend R. and her daughter came. She was tired form a long work week, but her daughter was clearly excited to celebrate Halloween. We hardly saw her and Sophia all evening, and whenever we did, they were having a blast and getting a LOT of candy.

The Mummy Wrap was a lot of fun. I gave up making it a contest, kids just wrapped each other up for fun (and candy). They soon discovered that playing with the used toilet paper (after someone had become a mummy, they tore the toilet paper off) was just as much fun as wrapping someone up. I started to create a new game--who can collect the most toilet paper?--because the toilet paper was spreading across the entire gym! What a mess!

But then I talked to the principal, who waved away my concerns about the mess. Toilet paper is relatively easy to clean (that is, clean toilet paper--it's not sticky or messy or anything) and he had already arranged to have cleaners clean the entire gym the next day. All I needed to worry about, he said, was stuff that was mine. Don't worry about cleaning, at all.

What a relief!

So I let the kids play and soon it was a free-for-all in my little corner of the gym, children and some adults throwing toilet paper around, making piles of toilet paper and diving in, burying each other in toilet paper. All the while some children continued to make each other into mummies and get candy.

I talked to some parents about their kids. They seemed really happy with this school so far, how their kid was doing, how their kid was feeling. My general impression about this school is that the kids are happy, and that most parents who work and live far from their native home are most concerned with how happy their child is at school. And--surprise, surprise!--happy children learn better than unhappy children.

And teachers in such an environment--where the happiness of children and staff is a priority--are better teachers. I really know my children and feel confident talking to the parents.

At 8 pm, we left. The gym was a mess, Sophia and her friend were excited and overloaded with candy, and we grown-ups were ready to go home!

A great Halloween!!

Kazakh-American Wedding -- Part 2 -- Food!

2010-10-14T19:23:00.000+05:00

Dinner was a buffet, full of interesting items, I took a lot to try them and relied on the pre-school teacher to try all of the food. He has an amazing appetite and always tries everything whenever we go places.

I ate something that made me feel sick as I ate it, it probably was pure fat and I shouldn't have eaten it. I didn't try the tongue, though. (There was tongue!) I liked the salad with cheese, olives, cucumbers, and tomatoes and some kind of yummy light sauce. That went quickly. I also liked the fruit--cut into amazing designs. Would you like an apple sliced and designed to look like a swan? It was yummy! There were plenty of foods that I'll categorize as "dumplings"--dough or bread surrounding meat or veggies or something on the inside. Something had caviar on the inside. (I didn't try it, sorry, I'm a picky eater!) There was this large, super-thin, hard & crispy, honey-glazed bread that was definitely delicious (and a bit sticky!)

There was even more food after that, plus two pies for desert, but I was pretty full!

After most people had eaten, the toasts began. I learned last year that Kazakhs love to give speeches, and so of course at a wedding there were speeches. The bride's family had come in from Shymkent (very far from Astana, in the southern part of Kazakhstan). Her grandmother, father, mother and aunt all gave speeches, as well the the school principal. Her grandmother was a typical Kazakh babushka, short, her hair covered by a scarf, and lecturing the bride in the firm yet loving way that grandmas do.

After the speeches, the 1st grade teacher and her assistant had a Newlywed Game prepared. The shortest married couple, the longest married couple, and one couple that volunteered all participated. She asked multiple-choice questions, they answered without telling their spouse, and then the answers were compared. It was a three-way tie.

Afterwards, we moved downstairs for cake, bouquet-tossing, and dancing.

The pre-school aide is from India and majored in Indian dance; she presented quite a show, an amazing dance. She is so expressive and beautiful, the dance was lovely.

It was an amazing evening, an American-style Kazakh wedding.

Kazakh-American Wedding -- Part 1

2010-10-13T11:03:00.000+05:00

Wedding Reception, Sunday, 10 October 2010

In August, our school's "registrar" (like a secretary) announced that she was getting married. To an American. In October. And MOVING TO HAWAII.

So it's safe to say that most of the school is jealous.

My assistant, however, had a different reaction than me. "Hawaii?!" she said. "It's dangerous!" And she was being serious. Hawaii has volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis...

The wedding was at a small Christian church (she had converted to Christianity), but I missed it because I was sick. The next week was the reception.

I, like many others, did not bring any dresses to Kazakhstan. Last year, luckily, Sophia had had a nice dress, which she wore for many occasions, but she's outgrown it. So we raced to find us fancy dresses. There's no shortage of neat dresses around here, but it's difficult to find anything for cheap!

Sophia picked out her dress, it's two pieces and fits her well. It's pink, the skirt is long and flowing, very much has a princess feel to it. The material is more summer-y than winter-y, but she shall wear it for Christmas anyways! I found a long-sleeved white shirt in a nice material that looks good underneath it, so she can stay warm.

I found a tan-colored dress that I can't describe really well, but it fit me well, and looked very nice and had sleeves just past my elbows, so it should work for Christmas and other occasions as needed.

We found the restaurant easily on a map, but before we could go there, we had to trek to the school (okay, only a 10-minute trek, but out of the way!) where we'd unfortunately left our dress shoes. Then back to the bus stop, where we waited for 20 minutes in unbearable heat! Sophia and I each have 2 styles of coats--light spring jackets and warm winter coats. So we had on our warm winter coats and were burning! Sophia wouldn't take hers off or even unzip hers, because she wasn't wearing her long skirt--just her fancy top and short shorts over tights.

Some teenagers who spoke English started talking to us, everyone always seems eager to try their English with us. They said that their high school would be celebrating Halloween, they were very excited for that.

Then we got on the bus and went to the reception.

The bride was standing outside the restaurant, talking to relatives, in a gorgeous wedding dress. The dress was American-style, but the tall white hat was Kazakh.

We went inside, and quickly to the bathroom to put Sophia's skirt on, and then checked our coats. There was a downstairs and an upstairs, so up we went and found seats at a table. We were next to the kids' table, but Sophia preferred to sit with me.

We sat at a table with two other American teachers from our school (a couple with two kids), the librarian/French teacher and her American Embassy husband (fascinating couple!), a French woman whose kids attend the school, the Russian art teacher, and the Kazakh accountant.

Birthday Party

2010-10-12T19:33:00.000+05:00

Saturday, 9 October 2010

There are only 6 girls in Sophia's class, and so when we got the invitation to a birthday party, I knew we should attend. I discovered that it was located not far from our house, and so Saturday afternoon we went.

I was going to drop her off, but she wanted me to stay. I was going to leave after a bit, but I ended up staying the whole time. Here's why:

First, the birthday girl's father offered me some tea. It had been a busy day, so I accepted, sat down and relaxed.

Then, another teacher (who has a child in Sophia's class) showed up. She, too, had been planning on leaving, but she too had had a busy day and welcomed the opportunity to sit and relax with a cup of tea.

Before we knew it, we were ushered to another table and presented with plenty of delicious food as well as champagne. Why not stay?

The party was located in a restaurant that had signs on it labeling it as "music" and "karakoe". Inside it was decorated with festive balloons for the party. Two "pirates" led the party. They were pretty enthusiastic, and also obliging when they learned that some of the party guests did not speak Russian. We heard "one two three!" in Russian, Kazakh, and English.

One adorable little 1st grade girl recognized me and clung to me when the pirates arrived, saying she was scared of the pirates although she did find them quite funny. A short while later, after talking to this girl, the birthday girl's mother came to me and asked me how it is that this girl speaks Russian. I tried to explain that the girl's mother is Uzbek, but she was still confused. Finally, she realized that I am not this girl's mother. We just look alike, and she was clinging to me, but no, this child is not mine, and speaks Russian way too well to be mine!

As the pirates led singing, dancing, games, and, later, pizza and cake, we grown-ups sat and chatted. The birthday girl's father has lived in many different places, including Georgia (the country). He was a jovial, nice man, quite happy to have us here; his wife was very friendly and very relieved that people had shown up for her daughter's party. There were about a dozen kids there, only one boy; but they had been worried that no one would show up.

The food was very good, I had salad similar to that at the wedding. Then I had the absolutely best dessert I have ever had. The closest thing I can compare it to is applesauce, but that does this dessert no justice. There were soft apples on the bottom, and some kind of whipped cream sauce on the top but this dessert was so much more sumptuous than "applesauce with whipped cream". The apples were soft and sweet, a dessert in themselves, the whipped cream light and creamy. The other teacher and I agreed, this was the best dessert ever, whatever it was!!

They sent us home with extra desserts (beautiful little cakes that turned out to be some kind of sugary gelatinous something or other---delicious!) It was a great day, Sophia had a blast, I had a relaxing, delicious time.

Getting Sick

2010-10-11T11:02:00.000+05:00

Over 2 weeks, end of September and beginning of October 2010. Ugh :(

Last year I NEVER got sick. I was pretty amazed--I mean, traveling to a new country, new school, drinking tap water (which locals never do! and foreigners are advised against!), working with kids who were getting sick all the time, under a lot of stress, single mom on my own for the first time, way-worse-than-freezing-cold weather.... You'd think that was a prime time for me to get sick! But I didn't. Except for a few times at the beginning, neither did Sophia.

Maybe it was all the juice I drank (I drank a lot... but I still do!) Maybe it was something in the water (ha, ha, I doubt it!) Maybe it was the Kazakh custom of everyone wearing masks when they think they might be sick (not sure if that works, because at least half the sick people don't wear their masks all the time, and sick kids are kids, pretty germy & good at spreading germs whether or not they're wearing masks). Maybe it was the Kazakh custom of keeping kids home for 10 days when they're sick. (Except... I can't believe that's the reason! You're most contagious before you really know you're sick, aren't you?)

Whatever the reason, I had a super-healthy year last year and fully expected another one.

When I got here, I got a runny nose & used up all my Mucinex-D, the medicine that works best for me on runny noses. I hadn't brought a lot.

Then, towards the end of September, I got an upset stomach. It came and went for a few days; one day I almost called in sick, but made it to work just half an hour late. Since we show up at 8 am, and the elementary classes don't start until 9 am, showing up a bit late was no problem.

Another teacher had a really bad stomach bug, so I was guessing I had something like him.

Monday, 27 September, my stomach felt fine but my throat felt like it was on fire, like it's never felt before. During the course of the morning it got better and I thought that this was the end!

Then Tuesday, I had to call in sick. I could barely leave my bed, and when I made it to the bathroom, I could barely leave the bathroom.

Always feeling guilty about calling in sick, when I started to feel better, I slowly got ready and Sophia and I went to school around noon. We could have stayed home and played the Wii, my important classes were already over, but I felt like I had to go into work.

At all previous schools I've worked at, I've felt guilty at calling in sick, and guilty that I wasn't sick enough. I felt pressure to go in, or to prove that I'm really sick. In South Carolina, of course, I had only so many sick days, so this was definitely a motivation to come in!

But here, when I showed up, other teachers & even the vice principal & principal were surprised. "You should have stayed home and gotten better!" was the universal reaction. They understood when I said I'd feel guilty staying at home, playing the Wii with Sophia, however, they said it'd be best for me to rest.

I've never gotten such a reaction. It makes sense, though, to rest thoroughly when you're sick so you can get better. But I've never worked for people who had that attitude towards their employees.

It was an awful rest of the day, as I didn't have a break (staff meeting after school!) and I had so many pieces to pick up from having missed the morning. I should have stayed home.

This sickness lasted like this--up and down--for over another week. But I didn't have to call in sick again. It slowly turned more into a runny nose and a mucus-filled throat, which was absolutely awful, and how I missed my Mucinex-D! But I waited it out, and eventually got my voice back so that I could sing with my students.

It went around the school and a lot of people got it. Sophia got sick for one day, towards the end of October. Not sure if it was the same thing.

Here's hoping, however, that that was my only time being sick this year!!

Brazilian Singer & Super-Friendly Kazakhs

2010-10-10T12:18:00.003+05:00

Friday Night, September 2010

The librarian at our school had informed us of a Brazilian singer coming to sing at the Pyramid--a free concert of Brazilian music! Sounds like fun! Once I learned for sure that it was at the Pyramid--not far from my former school--I was sure I could get there, although I knew it would take a while. Via bus and foot, my former school is roughly an hour away. Via car, it's much, much closer.

Another teacher, L., and I met up to take Bus 35 from in front of Mega (the mall). The accountant at our school (a local) had given us bus directions, which matched what I probably would have figured out on my own, but it's nice to have extra assurance that you're doing it correctly.

Bus 35 takes a long, ambling route through the new downtown, which is not nice if you want to get somewhere in a short amount of time, but it is nice if the sun is out and you want to enjoy the sights. So we decided to enjoy the sights of the amazing architecture of downtown Astana.

We got off in front of the Ministry buildings and waited for Bus 41. (Or was it 40? Now I forget which one it was.) We took this one until we saw the Pyramid, then we got off. We then noticed that the bus turned right and stopped directly in front of the Pyramid, whereas we now had a short walk to the Pyramid. Oh, well. Living in a foreign country you learn to smile and make most of mini road-bumps.

We were barely on time for the concert, and inside the Pyramid we noticed that many people were rather dressed up. We were wearing jeans.

On the basement level of the Pyramid is a theater, this is where we went. It was getting rather crowded, but eventually we found 3 seats in a row. We noticed that we were near Mr & Mrs L, two other teachers from our school. I noticed one of my favorite students from last year sitting a few rows in front of us.

The concert was a Brazilian singer, a middle-aged woman with an amazing voice, singing, well, songs that are fit for Lite Radio, songs somewhat reminiscent of Frances Cabrel and other calm, romantic French music. Her voice was amazing, strong and passionate, but the music was not the sexy Latin music we had been expecting. Sophia, especially, quickly became bored.

She first sang the Brazilian national anthem, and then she had the musicians play the Kazakh national anthem. She didn't know the words, but beckoned for every in the audience to sing. This was funny--because, nobody in the audience seemed to know the words! Sophia & I knew just as much as everyone else! Last year, everyone in our school had sung it at the assemblies on Monday and Friday mornings. So it was quite funny to realize how few people actually know the anthem.

Between songs, she spoke in Portuguese, and waited for a reluctant translator to translate into Russian. The translator seemed to be rather unsure of his translating abilities.

After a while, Sophia was antsy and so we decided to leave. However, the usher guarding the door wouldn't let us out! Several other people tried to leave, too, and she wouldn't let them out either, so we ended up sitting on the stairs and milling around the exit door, getting rather frustrated. Finally, someone discovered that if we climbed over some chairs, we could get out another door. So a large amount of people left that way. Not sure why we couldn't go out the door closest to us?

We milled around the lobby for a while. I saw my former student, he ran up to me and said, "Hello, Miss Elizabeth!" and then when I said something to him, he mumbled in Russian that he had forgotten all his English. Oh well.

We met up with the two other teachers who were there, and decided to figure out a bus home. If the buses in front of the Pyramid do a U-turn at the end of the road, as they did last year, then I felt confident that I could get us back. If they did not, and continued on in that direction, well, then, I wouldn't be so sure...

In the end we took Bus 40, which did U-turn, but did not turn back towards the new downtown and the Ministry Buildings, where we expected to get Bus 35. However, pretty quickly, everyone on the crowded bus figured out that we were foreigners trying to find our way to Mega (everyone knows that mall). Soon everyone was offering advice and ideas, in limited English and with tons of gestures. The decided-upon advice was the same idea I had come up with: Get off at Momyshuly Street and catch Bus 35 from there.

Several passengers and the attendant made sure that we got off at this stop, and that we knew exactly where to go to get to Bus 35's stop. We thanked them profusely, and got off--pretty close to where I used to live.

As we were walked towards the next bus stop (just across the street, really), a young man who had been on the bus with us came up to us. He spoke English better than most Kazakhs (not very well, but good enough for communicating without using gestures) and was eager to help us find our bus stop.

He was taking Bus 35, also, and so he walked with us to the stop, and rode the bus with us, eagerly talking to us during the whole trip.

Finally, we reached our stop, said good-bye to the friendly man, and returned home!

Quite pleased with the hospitality and kindness of Kazakhs towards strangers.

Metro - the Sam's Club of Kazakhstan

2010-10-02T13:33:00.004+05:00

Another Saturday in September, 2010

Sometime last year, Metro opened in Astana. When I first heard people talking about it, I thought hopefully that this meant a subway system. Nope, it's a German-run discount, bulk, need-a-card supermarket store, kind of akin to a Sam's Club or Costco.

My brother and I researched it on-line, as all good nerds do, and learned that to get a card, you need a Tax ID number (which I had) and some other business-stuff (which I didn't have). Like good nerds, we decided not to go to Metro because we couldn't get a card.

This year, I learned that this is Kazakhstan, and you don't really need that stuff to get a card there.

My Kazakh friend R. offered to take me one Saturday (it's rather far away, located more on the steppe than in the city) and so of course I agreed.

She had a card, so I never bothered to figure out if I could get one.

Metro is huge and not entirely impressive. Not as much bulk items as I would have expected, and the prices didn't seem to be much cheaper than at regular stores. It did have a larger selection than most stores I've been to. It even had looseleaf, lined-paper! Something that is virtually impossible to find here, so I bought some.

It also had a ton of spices, with ENGLISH on them, I had fun looking at all of them, and ending up buying a huge jar of the French spice Herbes de Provence, which R. and I split.

In the frozen section, I found something that I had yet to find in Kazakhstan: frozen chicken nuggets. Fish nuggets are very popular, chicken nuggets seem to be unheard of. But here they were. I bought 4 packets. They were rather small, later I came to wish I'd bought every single one that the store had. I also bought a 2.5 kg bag of frozen broccoli---broccoli is the only vegetable Sophia eats. It had the frozen pizza that I buy for her (just sauce, nothing on it--have yet to see frozen plain cheese pizza!) and in the cheese section I bought some sliced Edam cheese, which took me less than 3 days to finish.

Overall, a good shopping experience. I bought a lot. Metro isn't entirely amazing, but it has a slightly better selection of things Americans like, and prices weren't bad. But it's so far away, I just have to rely on hitching a ride with someone who's driving there.

Learning to Cook Plov

2010-10-02T11:25:00.003+05:00

Some Saturday in September, 2010

My Kazakh friend R. offered to cook for me, and so one Saturday we had a nice long, relaxing day. First, we went to Mega, the mall near my home, with the kids. We instantly got side-tracked by a music-etc. store. I wanted to see how much a Wii cost here, since I had gone to the trouble of bringing a Wii from the US. I forget how much, but around $400. My parents later assured me that they had spent far less on my Wii! So perhaps worth it to bring it from the States?

(Side note--the American Wii power supply does NOT work in Kazakhstan, even with a converter. We had to wait over a month for my dad to order and then ship me a power supply that will work here. Now our Wii works great.)

Then we looked at CDs, and soon we were browsing the traditional Kazakh music section, where CDs are rather cheap (between 400 and 1000 Tenge---$2.70 and $6.70). Rabiga helped me pick out 3 CDs and then got some for herself, plus a karaoke DVD of Russian children's songs.

Finally, we made it to Ramstore, where we shopped for vegetables etc. R. was surprised to learn that I cook so rarely that I don't have onions at home, we had to buy some. Then I surprised her when I said I needed to buy flour, so I cook cook desert. She pointed to a tiny pack of flour, but I said I needed much more flour that that! Really? She rarely uses flour.

We walked home and the kids put on a DVD in Russian (Disney's "Atlantis") while we cooked. Okay, I watched and R. cooked.

Plov is a traditional Uzbek dish. And VERY easy to cook.

The main ingredients are rice, meat, and vegetables.

R. first soaked the rice in water to soften it and then we set about to cutting up the vegetables. She took out a huge, orange-ish vegetable, which I assumed was a yam. I told her what it was and surprised her. It was a carrot. I have never seen a carrot so huge before.

In a large pot, we heated some oil, then we poured in the vegetables, the already-cut-up beef, and some salt. We let it cook for about 20 - 30 minutes and then we poured in the rice and some water. R. added more salt, tasting the water to see if it was okay. We let it simmer for another 20 minutes and then we had plov.

Really simple and kind of fool-proof, since we had the pot on the wrong burner for quite some time, and so we really didn't heat up the oil as we were supposed to. It tasted really good, although of course Sophia didn't like it and R.'s daughter only picked at hers. And it refrigerates well, so I had dinner pre-made for the next couple nights.

And it's something that you can mix up and change to your taste--change the kind of meat, change the vegetables, add different spices.

Yummy!

Then, I made chocolate muffins, from a recipe I found on the Internet. Whereas R. made hers from memory, not even using measuring cups, I followed the recipes correctly, measuring everything precisely. R.'s daugher had never seen an electric mixer before and was enamored by its use.

The muffins turned out delicious, warm and moist. We listened to the Russian's children DVD and R. and her daughter sang some Russian songs. (I tried.)

In the end, we spent about 8 hours together, shopping, cooking, eating (and drinking a little Georgian wine).

A good evening which gave me enough courage to consider maybe making plov again, maybe learning a new recipe!

Constitution Day

2010-09-21T20:13:00.004+05:00

Monday, 30 August 2010

Today was Constitution Day, and thus no school. I had heard that there was to be a parade, and so a coworker and I decided to go with my Kazakh friend R. and her daughter. It would be near the Pyramid, and so I thought that trying to get there by car would be best.

The parade was to start at 11:00 am, we left a little after 10 am. And never made it.

The road was blocked due the parade, and we couldn't even cross the river to get close to the pyramid. We drove around for quite some time before finally parking the car by Beyterek Tower (nowhere near the Pyramid) in order to walk to the parade. The weather was in the mid 30's (90s Celsius) and the sun was VERY bright. Astana is mostly a cloudless place.

We made it onto one of the huge bridges that cross the river, and there, under the gleaming of the bright sun, we watched the jet show. Jet planes flew in formation, maneuvering and circling as they flew quite fast. They set off fireworks or something like that as their grand finale. Rather impressive.

We continued to walk across the bridge, towards the bank with the Pyramid; although, as other people kept walking back across the bridge, we began to wonder if we were too late. Finally, after asking a few people, we learned that the parade was indeed over.

At this point, however, everyone who had been to the parade seemed to be crossing the bridge, and so we decided to sit in a bit of shade and wait for the crowd to pass. The girls were hot and tired, and this was a very good idea. When we finally started walking again, it was still crowded, and R.'s daughter soon became lost in the crowd.

My coworker and Sophia ran ahead to look for her, R. ran backwards, and I stayed in the middle. After several minutes of nervousness, I saw my coworker, Sophia, and R.'s daughter. I ran back to tell R., while calling her on her phone. She passed by me in a police car. She had realized that it would be rather futile to search the entire crowd alone, and so had enlisted the help of a police officer. There were quite a few around, dealing with the crowds.

It is nice to know that, as intimidating as foreign cops can be, that they are there to help.

When we got off the bridge, we took another break in the shade, near the Ministry buildings. Then, walking back to Beyterek and the car, we passed by Arman, the restaurant that caters the food to our school. The principal had taken the new teachers there on the day that I had had off (to sleep off jet lag), and my coworker said it was really good. So we went in, and luckily they served pizza as well, so Sophia was able to eat.

R., my coworker & I all ate the first dish that we saw--something like noodles with meat. R. explained how they make the noodles, they really aren't noodles, they're made differently, from dough, and are really good.

After that, R. drove us home. I had been planning on going into the school to do some work, but the hot sun and walking had gotten to me. I was exhausted.

But it was a wonderful day, even though we didn't get to see the parade. Spending time with friends and seeing just how beautiful Astana can be in the summertime.

Back to Church!

2010-09-12T09:38:00.001+05:00

Sunday, 21 & 28 August, and 5 September 2010

It was wonderful returning to church and seeing familiar faces. When we left in early June, the Mother Teresa nuns had already left the country, sorting out visa issues, and it was unclear when they would be able to return. The day we left Astana, Sophia's teacher and another teacher, also parishioners, also left the country, never to return. A week or two after we left, the other teachers who attended the English-language Mass also left the country.

As the nuns slowly left, we learned just how much work is put into making a Mass nice. Who decides who will do the readings? Who picks out the songs? Who sings in a loud, clear voice? Who decides when to start singing?

Our singing was falting and somewhat awful. Mass started late just so we could work out, in a last-minute whispering frenzy, who would do what reading and what songs we would sing. We stopped singing the Gloria and the Christe, Eleison, among others.

But, it wasn't so bad. I learned to show up early for church. Sophia's teacher and another Filipino teacher--who has an amazing voice--sorted through the hymnal and picked out and led songs.

Then we all left, leaving much of the details up to the the altar boy's Ukrainian, non-Catholic mother (she's Russian Orthodox, which is similar, at least).

Sometime during the summer, the altar boy's family left for vacation.

On the same day, we all returned--3 Filipino teachers, including the one with the amazing voice; Sophia & I; and the altar boy and his family. Not the nuns, not the teachers who hadn't planned on returning, but still, that's 9 people added to a rather tiny group of people. Including singers and people who know the routine.

When the priest looked out before Mass began, he broke into a wide grin and couldn't stop smiling all during Mass. He was clearly happy.

He told us that the nuns were due to return next week.

After Mass, I hugged and gossiped with my former co-workers, the Filipinos who have returned to work at my former school. We were all so happy to see one another.

The next week, the nuns were back, and the singing was even better, crystal voices in the still air of the large, open church. The nuns were happy to see everyone, too.

The week after that, they added a piece to our small service--the procession that brings the offering to the altar. Our congregation had been too small, this piece had been left out up until now.

Sophia would lead the procession, carrying a candle. Before Mass, we practiced, and she became terrified. If there is a shy gene, then I've passed it onto her. She flew from the church, crying, and hid in a corner by the big entrance doors. A nun saw her and came up and offered words of advice--it's okay if she chooses not to participate; this procession is for Jesus Christ.

Sophia calmed down, we re-entered the church, and when it came time to do the procession, she was willing to do it. I walked next to her as she slowly carried the candle down the aisle, others followed with bread and wine and other offerings. Everyone was pleased that she had chosen to participate.

Hopefully soon we'll be able to get her in preparations for Reconciliation and First Communion, I have to talk to the nuns, I think one will be able to give her private lessons, since she is the only English-speaking child of age.

After Mass, we passed on a present for one of the Filipino teachers--a bottle of maple syrup, that he had requested from America. He was thrilled. We had already given our other present-from-America to the other teachers.

Earlier that week, Marilyn & Emily had come to our apartment--a full hour away, by bus and foot--to borrow our modem, as I had let them know that I now have an extra one. The teacher who lived here last year had bought one and left in the apartment, as his new apartment already has one. Well, no use in me keeping two modems and only using one! So I let the other teachers know that I had an extra modem to lend. Marilyn & Emily were thrilled, since modems cost about $50.

They came over and I gave them the modem plus the American presents--lotion from Bath & Body Works. (per request)

They told me that when they had told the vice principal that they were coming to me to get the modem, he had grown suspicious and asked, "Is it the school's modem?" Thinking that perhaps I had "stolen" a modem bought for me by the school.

No, they assured him, I had used my own money for this modem.

They were happy to see my place and we were happy to talk, but it was getting late and they had an hour return journey!

Astana's a small city but it can take quite some time to travel via bus.

But it's great to see familiar faces, to feel welcome. It's good returning to a city.

Khan Shatyr, the Palace of the King

2010-09-11T12:07:00.006+05:00

Saturday, 28 August 2010

Khan Shatyr is Kazakh for Palace of the King, and it has been in the process of being built for several years now. My Lonely Planet puts its opening date in 2008, but it was not completed until this past summer and had a grand opening in July.

Khan Shatyr is, basically, a tent. A massive, leaning tent which contains a massive shopping mall. Another shopping mall for Astana.

Khan Shatyr is a big deal because it will maintain a consistent pleasant temperature all throughout the year, maybe 15 to 20 degrees Celsius. Even in the coldest of winter.

It was supposed to be like a mini-city, complete with parks, and contain the 4 seasons. Instead, it's just a big, extravagant shopping mall.

My friend & I were not impressed. My daughter and her daughter were.

Khan Shatyr has 6 floors. The bottom floor (basement) has a large supermarket, Green; there is a Green near Artyom where I once found tortillas for Sophia. There are some other stores on the bottom floor.

The first floor (or 2nd, depending on how you're counting them) has a large, open area in the middle. When we came on Saturday, a band was playing hip-hop music and dancing to it. They looked like your average scrawny, punk-ish, hip-hop-ish American boys. Except they were Russian and singing in Russian and actually the dancing was pretty amazing. (Break-dancing)

Behind them was a large pole leading up to the top, attached to the pole was an amusement-park-style ride, where people were sitting and the ride went up, halfway to the top of the building, and then the ride free-fell down. Up and down it went, sometimes going down slowly, sometimes as fast as you would if you were falling; sometimes going all the way down, sometimes going only halfway down. The people on it raised their hands or clung to the safety bars, squealing. Sophia, of course, wanted to ride (we didn't).

We could see all the way to the top, the funky leaning-tent ceiling, and partially outside, as the outer material is some kind of near-see-through material, supposedly good for maintaining a good climate inside.

The levels immediately above us seemed to contain shops, above that, we could not see. On one of the top levels there was another ride--like a roller coaster, but not fast or scary, just a roller coaster-like set of cars that went around some track, circling the 5th floor, way above the ground. Interesting. Perhaps dangerous, I'm not sure what the safety standards for rides are in Kazakhstan.

There were lots of plants, perhaps trying to give the place a park-like feel. (Fail)

The 2nd & maybe the 3rd levels had shops (I can't remember the floors exactly). Then came the level with food and some games for kids. The usual video games, Chucky-Cheese-like stuff, and.. bumper cars, and some amusement-park rides. Wow. We also saw a "Krusty Krab's" fast food restaurant--the restaurant from Sponge Bob Squarepants!!

We went up and there was a water ride. Kind of like the log ride, where you and one other person get in a log and then go around in water on various turns and sorts, and then go down really fast and splash and get wet. Sophia and her friend had plenty of fun watching the ride.

Then we found the entrance to the beach and spa. This was one floor above us, but to get up you had to pay or have a membership. Another teacher had been given a tour of the beach when he inquired about a membership, so I told my friend that that's what we would do.

The woman working there recognized us from the dancing lessons we'd attended last year. How nice!

The price list sheet was in Russian and the prices all had too many zeros on them for me to figure much out. 8000 Tenge ($54) for one day at the "beach", 4000 Tenge for a child. Membership for a year cost 400,000 Tenge ($2714). That's almost half a million Tenge for a membership!! Which includes the spa, but still!!!

So we asked about a membership and were given a tour. We got in the elevator and went up.

Upon exiting the elevator, there were two "beaches". Which looked like shallow and not-too-large pools surrounded by sand. There were a few people wandering around in skimpy bathing suits or robes.

One of things I like least about the beach is the sand. So why pay 8000 Tenge for sand plus a pool?

There were some water slides at one pool; later, one of my students would come here and then draw a picture of himself rather happy on the slide. There were waiters and food, and a spa somewhere.

But seriously. 8000 Tenge for one day. I'd pay close to $100 just for Sophia and I to go to a pool with sand. The pool that my friend had taken us to last year cost about 500 Tenge a person. And it was much nicer. Maybe the water slide wasn't as fancy, maybe it wasn't as warm, maybe there was no restaurant. But a nice 3-foot deep pool with a slide, a wading area for young children, a hot tub, and an Olympic-sized pool that was at least 12 feet deep on the shallowest end, with high-diving boards. Much better than what Khan Shatyr had to offer.

The Palace of the King... Maybe I'll come to like it in the winter, but seeing as it's a 20-minute walk, and in the winter nothing is worth 20 minutes in hellish-ly freezing cold, then maybe not.

(This picture is of the inside of Khan Shatyr, taking around Christmas-time)

Return to the American Libary & Artyom!

2010-09-11T11:54:00.003+05:00

Saturday, 28 August 2010

Sophia & I left the maid, still cleaning, at 1 pm, to meet another teacher, L, to show her where the American library is. Really, it's an English-language library & American-style coffee shop, run by an American, not an "American library". It's called Eagilik, and it can be rather hard to find the first couple times.

This is Ls first year in Astana, first time living abroad since before I was born, and I was quite happy to help show her around. We took bus 18, which drops you off right in front of the library. Except that the library is hidden behind some other buildings, so really, not noticeable from the road.

We went inside, said hello to Martha, the owner, and L instantly made friends with her and then with another American, who lives in Almaty and knows some of the teachers at our school.

Sophia was happy to have her chocolate cake and hot chocolate again. Then we picked out 3 books and 2 DVDs. My co-worker signed up for an account.

Next, we let Sophia play on the playground outside the library before heading off towards Artyom.L had been there before with some other new teachers. There is no bus that goes from our place to Artyom, compared to last year there were several. It's a few blocks from the library, so that's not bad.

Some of the other teachers had walked the 3 miles from our place to Artyom! Sure, the weather's nice, but I'm not sure Sophia's ready for that much walking.

L is a great shopping partner; like me, she enjoys just wandering around the markets, seeing what there is to see--the little vendors in their little stalls. Everything is crammed together, there's lots of people and lots to see and very few price tags.

We first looked for shoes for Sophia in some of the market-stalls next to the 6-story building that is Artyom. Then we went inside Artyom and on the second floor looked for household items. Then we went back down to the first floor--and indoor market of food, full of colors and fantastic looking fruit and vegetables. I bought raisins and nuts.

Then we went into a large-ish room, crammed full of tables and stalls selling household items, toys, makeup and toiletry items, and school supplies. We each bought a "Chinese bag" -- a large tote that can carry quite a bit -- for 350 Tenge (a little over $2). Sophia bought some bubbles.

It was getting late so at this point we headed home. I had plans to visit Khan Shatyr that evening with my Kazakh friend & her child.

I have a maid!

2010-09-11T11:42:00.002+05:00

Saturday, 27 August 2010

When the teacher who'd lived in my apartment last year mentioned that he'd had a maid, I instantly jumped on the idea and kept asking him about it--how do you get a maid? Where did you find her? How much?

So when she came into the school (having now been hired to help clean after school), he introduced her to me. She speaks some English and seems very nice. She is still cleaning for him, and now that she works for the school--she sounds trustworthy. And I just love the thought of not having to worry about cleaning my own place!

So, we decided that she would come in on Saturday at 10 am, while I'm there, and from then on she would come on Fridays, while I'm at work.

It was a bit awkward, because, well, I've never had a maid, and I am not good at telling others what to do. Luckily, I just asked her, "What did you do for Eddie last year?" and when she told me, I said, "Okay." She dusts, sweeps & mops the floors, vacuums, irons, cleans the bathrooms & the kitchen, washes the dishes. How great!

Sophia watched a video and I graded papers while she worked. As she worked, I kept thinking about how little I enjoy cleaning and how much work it is to clean a house! So I was quite glad to have her.

I'm paying her as much as Eddie paid her last year, which sounds like a bit much to me, but I justify it because I'm not paying rent. And if I am over-paying her, well, then, that's okay, I don't have to worry that I'm exploiting her.

I feel a bit weird giving a near-stranger the extra set of keys to my place and allowing her in my house when I'm gone. But, I remind myself--the landlords' stuff is far more expensive than any of my stuff, so if she could be trusted last year then she surely can be trusted this year!

So far, so good. Every Friday I come home to a clean house. I've realized that I'm really not a very dirty person, the house is usually rather clean when I leave it Friday morning. But it's nice to know that someone will be doing the vacuuming for me, the floors will be mopped weekly, the bathrooms cleaned--and Friday morning's dishes will be washed. Plus, the ironing will be done.

First Days of School

2010-09-11T11:16:00.003+05:00

Thursday - Friday, 26 - 27 August 2010

The first day of school was a half-day, which was nice. The kids met their new teachers, took a tour of the school, got accustomed to their classrooms, etc. My aide and I wandered the school and introduced ourselves to the 6-to-11 year old classrooms, the classes from which we might have students.

My 6th grade math class went okay. We didn't have tables or chairs in that room until the night before, I was pretty impressed by how quickly it went from an empty room to one that could be used as a classroom. I had the children look through the textbooks, I discussed the units we would be doing this year and about when we would be doing them. It's great to have a well-defined curriculum, because otherwise I wouldn't have a clue as to what we're going to be doing this year! But it's nicely divided into 10 units (plus 2 "selective" units that you can teach if you have time); with 180 days in a school year, you can assign 18 days per unit and easily determine about when you should be finishing each unit. The units are also closely correlated to the textbook, so, although you don't have to use the textbook, you can easily move through the textbook--which greatly helps someone who hasn't taught 6th grade math before!

We went over some math terminology--I've learned that in a class with mostly non-native speakers, math terminology is often the part that really throws the kids off. You might be an expert in math, but if you don't know what a "product" is in English, how do you know what to do when the problem says to find the product of two numbers?

Since we had little to do, my aides and I took our own mini-tour of the school, exploring some of the buildings we hadn't looked at yet.

On Friday, I started pulling kids to test them. I was glad that I didn't have to teach that day (except for math--we started a Pre-Test), and that I could focus exclusively on testing. I got about 3 students tested in one day! The other teachers were quite happy that I was helping them with testing. Until we finish testing the students, we won't know who goes into my classroom and what groups those students will be in.

We had an Elementary School assembly in the afternoon, where all the teachers introduced themselves. The head for all the schools in Kazakhstan (and perhaps Central Asia) was there, he was very enthusiastic & the kids loved him. The kids surprised us all when he asked if they knew the "Success Orientations." Success Orientations are 8 "orientations" that are important for success in life--character education basically--and QSI, the school's organization--stresses these skills. Skills such as responsibility, caring for others, independent endeavor, etc. But, well, most schools have something like that and the kids really don't pay attention. So we were rather impressed when, on the first day back to school, the kids could remember all eight of these orientations. Even pronounce "aesthetic appreciation" correctly. Remember, most of these kids aren't native English speakers. So that's impressive.

The weekend was going to be a long one--Constitution Day on Monday--and in the end, I think this is a good way to start a school year. The students have two days to adjust to their new classrooms, meet their new friends, learn the rules & procedures. It takes a while to get into your study-mode and away from your play-all-summer mode.

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

2010-09-08T19:32:00.002+05:00

Tuesday I met with the principal to discuss Intensive English. A lot of work, and we had barely touched on the curriculum (the point of the meeting) when an hour was over. At this point, I heard Sophia coming crying into the building. She had a headache, she said. The principal said it was fine if I go home. We had a Meet-the-Teachers BBQ that night, and the teachers were allowed to take a break in the afternoon before the BBQ. So no problem if I had to go home with Sophia.

I asked and he was able to arrange for the driver to take us home, which was nice. The Kazakh accountant was in the car with us. She's an older woman and very much a babushka (Russian for grandma, but pretty much describes most older Kazakh women--just very caring and nurturing when it comes to young children and young adults.) She fretted over Sophia and provided a plastic bag for Sophia to throw up in, although luckily Sophia never did.

At home, I checked her temperature--over 100. Since I usually get temperatures around 86 or something unreasonably low, I had to wonder--was this accurate? Was it possibly much higher? I tried another thermometer and also got over 100. Okay, so she had a fever.

I called the principal and he was understanding that I would miss the BBQ.

The next morning Sophia didn't have a temperature so we went into school. One more day to get ready and then school would start! I have two aides, but I wasn't sure what to have them do. I'm horrible at telling others what to do, and I wasn't too sure what I'd be doing anyways. They were helpful Tuesday, though. I left a note of things that I wanted to get done--and one item was "clean and organize room" and they did a good job. What a relief that something could get done in my absence. To come back to a clean, organized room, to know that it wasn't a mess when the parents were there, that was nice.

The other elementary teachers and I decided that I wouldn't teach Intensive English the first two days. I would let the children get used to their classes, the teachers do their introductory things--introduce people, tour the school, introduce and practice rules and routines. I would wander, meet the classes, and talk to the students. Also, I would help with testing.

The school requires that all elementary students are given a DRA reading assessment at the beginning of the year (and also later in the year, I think). Plus the younger kids get a test on ABCs and phonemic awareness. Good tests, but these take time. About half an hour to do one DRA test on one kid.

Luckily, these are the exact same test that I spent endless hours in training for back in Laurens, and I have 4 years experience of administering these tests to children. The exact same tests--the exact same books that we'd used. So I volunteered to spend my first few days helping the other teachers test their kids. It was pretty quickly decided that I'd do all kids who were being considered for Intensive English.

School tomorrow!

First Days at a New School, Same City

2010-09-07T18:58:00.003+05:00

The first day for new staff was Thursday, 19 August, but luckily my new principal told me that I could take the day off, since we had just arrived Wednesday at midnight! (Visa issues... Too many little mistakes plus the Kazakhstan Embassy taking longer than expected, meant that we had to put off our arrival in Kazakhstan by a week.)

Jet lag hit Sophia bad, as usual. Thursday she fell asleep around 6 pm, and I thought, maybe she'll sleep most the night. At least until 4 am. No, she woke up by 11 and from then on, she woke me up every half hour, saying "Momma!" Around 5 am I yelled at her and she was finally quiet. But then, I had to wake up at 6...

At 8 am, I came into the new school and met the new staff. The principal had lined up an aide to watch over the teacher's children, which was very nice. It's still a small school--maybe 120 students this year, or a bit more--and growing every year. It's in its 5th year.

Every year they've had to buy a new school building, as enrollment keeps growing. This year, the school is located in 3 tall buildings. My room will be in the middle building, the Elementary Building, for students aged 7 to 11 years old. Because the school caters to an international crowd, they call the classes by ages and not by grades. Because in different countries different grades mean different things.

On the first floor in my building are the 9-year old and the 7-year old classrooms, as well as a small bathroom. The second floor is where my rooms are located, plus the 8-year old classroom, the teacher resource room, and a bathroom. I'm doing Intensive English--English for students whose English is not good enough to take English and Reading in their regular classrooms--and I have 2 aides and a wide range of students, ages 6 to 11, with a wide range of abilities. So two classrooms, the second one being rather small. The 3rd floor has the 10-year old room, the 11-year old room, the assistant principal's office, and the cafeteria. The top floor has the library.

Each building has a cafeteria, which will be nice in cold weather. The less the students have to travel between buildings, the better. A local restaurant caters and children can decide if they want to buy lunch or bring their own.

One building contains the preschool through 6-year olds, plus the Elementary Kazakh and Russian classrooms, plus the computer lab and the Elementary art room. The Elementary music room is the cafeteria, as the 10-year-old teacher also teaches music, and her room is next to the cafeteria. The third building contains the main office and staff rooms, plus all the high school classes. Another building has the gym and storage--they are really excited, since this is the first year that the school will have a real gym. Another building contains an indoor play area for when it gets cold, plus an auditorium (just a large, empty room) on the second floor.

There are two areas with some play equipment, plus a basketball hoop. The entire area is gated, and there is a little guard house near the main entrance, and there are guards 24/7. So, in theory, if I wanted to get some work down at midnight on a weekend, I could come by and a guard would let me in. Also, in theory (and hopefully in practice, too!) if a kid wants to run away during the school day, a guard will notice and stop him.

I found out on Friday that I would also be teaching 11-year old Mathematics (Middle School Course 1, is what the textbook says). I decided to convert my 2nd room into a Mathematics room, which worked nicely when there were only nine 11-year old students, but now there are 12 and it's rather cramped!

I spent that Friday as well as Saturday and many days the next week attempting to get my room in order, to decorate it and make it look nice. Hard, since I wasn't sure exactly what I'd be doing, who I'd be teaching, how I'd be teaching, what they'd be needing. I was thankful for all the supplies the principal's wife had brought with her, and in the end, my room looked rather nice.

Friday for lunch were were driven to the American Embassy, where the Librarian / French teacher's husband works. Here I was able to order pizza for Sophia, which she only somewhat liked.

Saturday, while I worked in my classroom, my Kazakh friend watched Sophia for most of the entire day. That was rather nice. They went to eat at Mega, played in a park, went out for cake and tea, then Sophia went to the ice skating rink to watch her friend ice skate. I got quite a bit of work done without Sophia!

On Monday, I met the rest of the staff. Maybe about 20 people in all. Mostly Americans, some Canadians, a Korean-American, a woman from Barbados who I think is also Canadian. Mostly couples also, as the organization that runs the school prefers to hire teaching couples (to save on the cost of apartments, I believe, possibly other reasons too). Mostly around my age, in their 30s or late 20s, from what I could guess. The principal and his wife have two children, ages 9 and almost-7; a new couple have two children, ages 10 and 7; another new couple has an 18-month old daughter. The librarian (older) has two teenage daughters. A male teacher has a 4-month old baby; his wife taught here last year but now is staying home with her baby. She will be babysitting the 18-month old during the day. For now, the 18-month old's grandparents are here to help babysit.

For lunch, they took us to a restaurant with a buffet. Sophia did not like much of the food, but was able to eat the salami. She and some of the other children got quite silly after a while, which is to be expected, and it was nice to see her playing.

Two more days until school would start!

Returning to Astana - My New Home

2010-09-06T20:47:00.003+05:00

Hooray! I had seen my new apartment last year, but now I get to live in it. It is as nice as I remembered.

It is located on the other side of town from where I once lived, near the "new" downtown, where the fancy new buildings and government offices and the funky Beyterek Tower are. It is near the river and the large park by the river that I have never gone to but am slowly hearing good things about.

It is next door to Mega, the fancy shopping mall that Sophia loves, which has a fast food court, a theater, a children's area with games & roller skating, and Ramstore, the grocery store that sometimes sells items such as peanut butter and Parmesan cheese.

It is practically next door to Sariarka, another shopping mall, which seems pretty similar to Mega except no Babylon (the play place).

It is a bit more than a stone's throw from the steppe, but not that far at all. If we lived a bit higher up, I'm sure we could see the steppe from our window. But we're on the first floor.

It is about a 20 minute walk from Khan Shatyr (Kazakh for "Palace of the King", the large crazy tent-like structure that is supposed to be a city within a city, an architectural marvel that maintains a constant pleasant temperature year-round, with a beach and a waterpark--but it's really just a huge, over-done mall. With a pathetic excuse for a beach that costs 8000 Tenge ($54) just to go in for a day.

Our apartment's biggest downside is that the only buses that come by the nearest bus stop don't go anywhere that I'd ever care to go, except Khan Shatyr (which is only 2 bus stops away, so why bother with a bus?) or the airport (which is nice). It's about a 10 - 15 minute walk to the bus stops where I can find a bus to take me shopping, to the river, to the old downtown, to the American library, to church, etc. Since the weather is nice, that's not a problem. When the weather is minus 40, that might be a problem.

We are also pretty close to the new school; however, we must first cross a super-busy street before we have a 5 - 10 minute walk. In the mornings, we have mastered the art of jay-walking, as it's not too busy. But sometimes we get stuck in the middle of the road while cars whiz by us on either side. NOT GOOD. Even though plenty of Kazakhs--even with kids younger than Sophia--do this, that's not something I think I could ever get comfortable doing. Sure, I've yet to see anyone get hit. But still....

It's a short walk to the intersection with a light and crosswalk, and that entire area is under construction. Maybe by the time snow and ice have covered the ground, then there will be a real sidewalk there, and I won't be tramping through dirt on my way to school. But then, I won't be able to see a real sidewalk and I'll be tramping through ice not dirt...

Still, the location is great. There is a mini-mart, the Dolphin, directly below us--literally. If you look out Sophia's bedroom window, you see the tip of the glowing blue dolphin that marks the entrance to the store. The mini-mart will be very useful when it is too cold to run to Mega for groceries. And useful when I'm just too lazy. Great for a sugar run, when all you want is something sweet and you have nothing in your house.

Our apartment is on the first floor on one side, the second on the other. Underneath us (besides the mini-mart) is an enclosed basement garage, meaning that if we got a car (which we won't) we could keep it inside in the winter, making it so much easier to start. The playground is nice, nothing fancy, and the whole area around it is concrete, like a parking lot, but cars are blocked from coming there. A good area to practice riding a bike, but I've yet to get Sophia one (I've been looking). I wonder if when winter comes, if it'll be good for ice skating...

The problem with being on the first floor (at least on half of the apartment) is that if I open the curtains, all the children playing and all the people walking to and from their homes can look inside and see us. If I open the windows because I am hot (no air-conditioning, a bright sun, and 95 degree weather does make the inside quite hot!), then I can hear everyone outside and they can hear us. Not all the windows have screens, and it would be very easy to climb inside our apartment from the outside. So I keep the windows on that half of the apartment closed when I can.

In the apartment, there's a nice entrance foyer, with plenty of room for shoes, a wardrobe for hanging coats, a table with the phone and a stool for taking off shoes. To your right as you walk in, there's the large living room, with a couch and a two-person couch, a dining table, and a super-large flat screen TV that I'm quite terrified will one day just fall over and break. Usually Astana apartments have an indoor (but not heated) porch attached to each room; in this house, the owners made those porches part of the inside. So there's an extra mini-room, or sun-room, attached to the living room, making the living room even larger. The cabinets in this living room contain what looks like real crystal. So I stay away. And made a rule: no throwing balls in the living room. (I have a 7-year old, so of course one day she decided to play ball in the living room, so I had to make that rule.)

From the entrance foyer, to your left, is the kitchen, not exceptionally large but larger than any kitchen I've ever had. It has a nice table, plus a bench, a stainless-steel refrigerator, a bit of counter space, 2 small sinks (I only had one last year!), a flat-top stove, and an oven that took me quite some time to figure out how to work. And plenty of liquor stored in a cabinet.

Further down the entrance foyer is another hallway; straight ahead are the bathroom and toilet room; to the left is Sophia's room; to the right is mine. The bathroom is long and narrow, with a small German washing machine in it, and a tiny yet mostly clean shower. The sink area is large and beautiful. Plenty of space to store my stuff! Finally!

The toilet room has a bidet.

Sophia's room has a large cabinet and I found an extra small cabinet in my room's storage space that I put into her room. Plus, I have a couple other plastic storage units for her. So for once she has enough room for all her stuff. Her bed is cool. It took the school's driver, Abai, coming over for me to learn how to work it. But the side can go up and down, turning it into a couch if you want; the head can go up and down, kind of like a hospital bed. It's cool. Good for raising the head when I want to read her a story.

My room has more furniture than I've ever had before: a TV table and TV, a computer desk; a fancy bookshelf/cabinet thingy; a vanity (make-up table with drawers); a wardrobe; a full-sized bed; two end-tables on both sides of the bed. Everything in matching dark wood. And nothing's broken yet, so I'm guessing it's at least decent quality.

What the bedrooms are missing are sheets. I sleep on a sheet that is too small for my bed; Sophia sleeps on a bedcover. So we need to buy sheets. But that's okay.

Sophia's bedroom has the indoor-porch, that's where I put the Christmas tree and her sled. My room has the extra space, which is good for storage (empty boxes and suitcases) as well as a great place to keep the vacuum cleaner out of sight and to hang-dry the clothes.

Yeah, no clothes-dryer and no dishwasher. Two appliances I miss.

So, as wonderful as this place is, I was a bit daunted by the sheer thought of cleaning it, so as soon as the teacher who lived here last year mentioned that he'd had a maid, I begged him to hook me up with her. He gladly did. He still uses her--he's a single guy, so he was moved to a smaller apartment this year, and seems to bear me no ill-will at having him move out of this fancy place. So now I have a maid, someone who's cleaned this place before, which is nice, because I'd have no idea what to tell a maid to do. So she just does for me what she did for the other teacher. She's come by twice so far, and my place is sparkling clean. She'll also iron any clothes I leave out for her. Last year, I got by without ironing.

So, really, it's not like she's doing any work that I'd be doing otherwise. She's sparing me the pain of thinking about work that I should be doing.

And I'm happy with this place. It's large; it's well-furnished; well-stocked in the kitchen (pots and pans, etc); good location; and it's clean!