Celebrating New Year's in Astana

New Year's is a big holiday in the USA, but nowhere near as big as it is in other parts of the world.  In Kazakhstan, as well as other parts of the former USSR, New Year's is like a combination of Christmas and New Year's.  Everyone stays up to midnight and drinks champagne and watches fireworks, but also there's a New Year's tree (identical to a Christmas tree), there's Grandfather Frost (nearly identical to Santa Claus), children get presents, schools throw elaborate parties, etc, etc.

Here, it seems common for children to stay up to midnight and celebrate, too.  Also, presents arrive at midnight, I think.  When I returned from Berlin, on New Year's Eve morning, I gave presents to my friend and her daughter, who was surprised to receive presents before midnight.

So, since I was in Kazakhstan for New Year's Eve, I thought I might as well celebrate.  I returned too late to really make plans, so in the evening, my friend and I got dressed up and went on a walk.  Ostensibly it was just a walk, but we dressed up for fun and just in case.

Outside, the weather was so nice--mostly clear, cool, crisp, about -10º C (14º F). 10 degrees colder than it had been in Berlin, but I was dressed the same as I'd dressed in Berlin, and perfectly fine.  Less humidity = less cold.

Outside, we saw the Tre Kroner restaurant, a fancy Dutch (I think) restaurant across the street from my building.  Let's go there, we said.  We went there and found it was full--tickets for tonight had to be bought in advance.

Now determined to do more than just take a walk, we went to the next restaurant (there are several rather expensive restaurants in a row here), a Georgian restaurant.  Yes, they had tickets, they said, for 25000 Tenge a piece.  That's $167.  We actually considered it--on the program was Grandfather Frost and Georgian dancers.  But we passed.

The next few restaurants were closed, which we thought was amazing--closed on what could be the busiest night of the year?  Closed when people were willing to pay 25000 Tenge just to go out?

We crossed the street and walked by the Sariarka mall; maybe we could go to our favorite pizza place, Il Platio.  The entire mall was closed!  Next we walked towards the Triumph apartments, where I'd once spotted a pub.  That might be nice to try.

It was closed!

(FYI:  This is not Germany, where shops love to close early and often.  Shops are open late here, 7 days a week, and on every other holiday for which I've been here.  I've been here for Nauryz, the biggest holiday, and they're open then.)

We hailed a taxi and went to the American Bar and Grill, formerly TGI Friday's.  It was completely full, and tickets were 15000 Tenge ($100) each.

We crossed the street and entered a small Russian restaurant.  It was open and completely empty!  We decided against it and entered the Chelsea English Pub.  There were some men milling around, but the bar and restaurant itself was empty.  We left.

The small Turkish restaurant was closed, and so we decided to walk down to the Guns N Roses restaurant.  I've been there three times before, and I've tried to go two other times, when it was too crowded and they wouldn't let anyone else in.  I was assuming it would be too crowded today, however it wasn't.  However tickets were 25000 Tenge!!

We found out that there were 10000 Tenge tickets--sit at the bar and order a la carte, and finally, we agreed.  I was getting hungry and I was a bit curious as to what this New Year's show would be.

Inside it was less than half-full, and we were ushered to the bar--we couldn't sit at any of the empty tables.  We sat next to an Australian man who said he used to come here a lot, and it used to always be crowded, but lately it hasn't gotten very crowded.  It's under new management and it's less crowded now.

We ordered hamburgers and drinks, and we ate and talked until it was almost midnight--not many more people arrived and not much happened, and we were wondering what on earth we had paid 10000 Tenge for.

Finally, they changed the TV to a Kazakh station and the president came on.  We listened to his speech, in Kazakh and in Russian, before counting down and drinking champagne.

Then Grandfather Frost and his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden (who accompanies him in former USSR countries) arrived.  He was tall, with a long, curly white beard, and dressed in a fancy red robe.  She was dressed in some kind of silver dress.

He talked and then danced and then we had a "Countries of the World Dance Contest."  They played music from different countries while we tried to dance in different styles.  My knowledge of music isn't good enough to tell you what countries we heard, until finally "Gangnam Style" came on--everyone knew that!

My friend and another lady won!  How nice!  She got a coupon for 15% off at the restaurant.

Then Grandfather Frost selected some people to help tell a Russian fairy tale.  He wanted some foreigners, so a Turkish guy and our new Australian friend were picked.  My friend was picked to be the translator (which is, by the way, her real job).

He had everyone stand in a line of sorts, gave everyone a name and something to say when he called their name.  It took a few minutes, but I figured it out--they were acting out "The Enormous Turnip."

Next, Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden left, but first we made sure to have our photo taken with them!  Several people had that request.

Then, after some music and dancing, three young women came out to dance.  They were scantily dressed in Santa outfits and danced quite sexily.  After their dance, we had another "break" with just us normal patrons dancing, and then these women came back dressed even barer.  After another sexy dance and another break, they came back again.  At this point I was ready to go home.  It was past one o'clock and it was clear that a good bit of my 10000 Tenge had been for these barely-dressed ladies.

As we paid our bill, the ladies left and a live band came on.  Still, it was time to go.  We paid and walked outside.

The weather was nice--still crisp and light--and so we decided to walk home.  Some people were setting off fireworks in the Guns N Roses parking lot, and we ran away from that noise.  As we crossed the Rainbow Bridge, we saw people on the ice and even people ice skating!

We made it home to find our daughters still awake and stubbornly insistent that we had never even told them to go to bed!  They had watched fireworks from the windows, and had seen a police officer talk to some of the people shooting fireworks in the parking lot.

Finally we made it to bed.  An interesting New Year's Eve, to say the least.

Flying through Moscow without a visa

Usually when I book my flights, I automatically disregard the ones that fly through Moscow.  I've heard that you need a visa just to be in the Moscow airport.  However, more recently I've heard that that only applies to certain terminals, it is possible to fly via Moscow without a Russian visa and be okay.

This past spring our principal and her husband flew to Moldova.  On their way back, they were not allowed to board the plane because they didn't have a visa for Russia, and they were flying via Moscow.  After several days, they finally returned to Astana via Ukraine.  I learned then that Kazakhstan is considered "domestic" in Russia, and they were booked to fly a domestic flight from Moscow, meaning they'd have to go through passport control in Moscow, which they couldn't, because they didn't have a visa.

However, this past summer two families from our school flew through Moscow.  The school secretary told me that the principal had booked her Moscow-to-Astana flight separately from her Moldova-to-Moscow ticket, and that is what caused her problem.  And when looking for flights to Berlin for Christmas, Transaero (a Russian airline that flies through Moscow) kept coming up as the cheapest.  I finally decided to book the tickets, after which I panicked and asked around.  It seemed like technically I should be okay, Transaero should provide a way for me to get to my gate without needing a visa, but no one knew for sure.

I must admit I was worried.

So...

Sophia and I left Astana early morning 18th December, and we flew to Moscow's Domodedovo airport.  When we left the plane, we followed everyone else down a tiny hallway to a small room where everyone got in the passport control line.  I saw a woman sitting behind a desk, above her was a sign, in Russian and in English, that said something like "Transfers for non-visa holders".  I talked to her; she checked our tickets and passports, wrote something down in her book, and told me to wait.  Three other people waited with us--a woman with a small child, and a man.  They both looked Kazakh and I heard the airport woman try to tell the man that he didn't have to wait with us (but he did anyway).

Finally a shuttle bus came; she unlocked a door and led us to the bus.  It drove around in mostly a large semi-circle before dropping us off somewhere else.  We entered another, larger hall, with lots of other people exiting planes and going into long passport-control lines.  A woman ushered me up the stairs, and I saw a sign saying "Transfers" pointing up the stairs.  I also saw a sign saying this was for holders of Belorussian passports.

Upstairs Sophia and I went to the transfer desk and they pointed to another sign that said "transfer," which was next to the stairs I'd just come up.  I was confused until I noticed that there was a small hallway behind this sign.  So we went that way.

There, we went through security and had our passport checked before entering the international terminal.

The international terminal was nice, although crowded.  We shopped for a few souvenirs and looked in the cafes before searching for a seat.  It was a large terminal, but not large enough for all the people, and we milled around a bunch of seats until someone finally moved and we could snag one.  A man had pity on me and stood up, so I got a seat too.

Finally, it was time for our flight...  So far, so good!  We made it through Moscow!

In Berlin, I started to worry again...  Would the return home be as easy?  Because this time, I'd been going from a supposedly domestic flight to an international terminal; next time, I'll be transferring from an international flight to a supposedly domestic flight.   I emailed the school secretary and my co-worker (who'd flown through Moscow before).  The secretary said the same as she'd said before--it should be okay, but of course she couldn't be sure.

The day before our flight back, my co-worker responded.  She'd been in Kyrgystan with no internet.  She and her family had had no problems coming back, except for the 6-hour layover with no food.

Yes, we too had a 6-hour layover.  Ugh.  I made sure to put some movies on my computer for us to watch and to pack some apples and croissants!

When we arrived at Domodedovo, we entered the hallway we'd been in before (the larger one with the stairs).  So we went upstairs and registered at the transfer desk.  They asked about our baggage and checked our baggage ticket; I think they had to call someone to make sure our baggage went where it was supposed to go.  Then we were told to wait.

We waited for an hour here, quite patiently, and two more people showed up.  Both were far more impatient than us, and after some time asked the transfer desk women how much longer. 

Finally, the tall Russian woman with long blond hair briskly told us to follow her; we followed her down the stairs and waited by a door for some time for the shuttle bus to show up.  She seemed a bit frustrated that it took a while to come.

She unlocked the door, told the bus attendant how many of us there were, and then we were in this other woman's charge.

We drove to the other terminal, and then waited in the bus while the attendant waited for someone to come to unlock the door.  Then we entered a tiny room at the bottom of a staircase and were led to the 3rd floor, where we went through security.  Then we were free to go.

The terminal we were in was a long hallway with several gates, all to Kazakhstan.  There were two closed shops here, plus two vending machines, an ATM, a water cooler, a smoking room, and bathrooms.  At this point we were down to about 3 1/2 hours (our first flight had been an hour late) and so settled down to watch a movie.  Not long after the movie ended, the screen with our flight information said "go to gate."  Our gate had no seats, so we just stood there with a bunch of other people, in front of the smoking room (ugh!) until we were finally able to board.

Not a bad experience.  But it would have been nicer if there'd been a cafe in the Kazakhstan terminal!

Driving in -40º C (Driving a Car in Astana part 2)

Miraculously, my car got fixed right before -40º weather hit.  (-40º C = -40º F, by the way.)  We had a week in which the high never got above -30º C, and it got below -40º the day after school got out for winter vacation.  (Local schools close at some temperature in the -20s or -30s; we don't get out until it's below -40 at 6 in the morning, when our school buses start running.)

I was excited to have a car, and drove over 150 km in one weekend.  Rather unsure how I did that...

I haven't yet bought the system to remotely turn on the car, so it takes about 10 minutes to warm up.  Which is about how long it takes to walk to school.  So we had to leave extra early in order to drive to school!  The car garage for my apartment is not connected to the building, so we had to get all bundled up just to walk to the car, and by the time I got there, my fingers felt like ice!  I learned that I need to wear my liner gloves plus my sheepskin gloves, even for short distances in -40.

The day my car was fixed, I left it in front of the school for several hours, and then it wouldn't turn on.  My friend who'd fixed it told me to press the gas pedal several times and then try to turn it on.  This worked, thankfully.  He'd also bought a new, nicer battery, and upped the voltage or something like that, so he said it should turn on in cold weather.

On Saturday, I turned on the car, waited 10 minutes, and then drove Sophia to a friend's house, and then all of them to another home.  My friend had been trying to get a taxi, since she doesn't like to drive in this weather, but none were available, due to the weather.

It was a hazy -40, and I can't quite remember if all -40 weather is like this.  But it was so hard to see!  The smoke coming out of each and every car was immense, and when cars started after a light changed to green, you couldn't see--it was like being lost in thick, thick fog. I inched my car along, so slowly and so carefully, careful, too, because of the layer of ice that was on the roads (I do have winter tires, luckily!)  My car's shock absorbers don't work well, and so we bounced a lot, because the roads were rather bumpy, with ice patches and all.

I inched the car to the other house and went inside with my friend and the kids.  After a short while, I got back in, to drive to Khan Shatyr (the tent-like mall) to meet another friend to lunch.  Again, it was hard to see due to the haze and smoke.

At Khan Shatyr, I circled the entire building before finding the entrance for indoor parking--it seemed to be closed, and cars were lining up waiting to get in.  My guess was that it was full.  I called my friend, who said my car should be fine parked outside, as long as I turned it on every 90 minutes or so.

After lunch, I went back to the car, waited for 10 minutes while it warmed up, and then went back inside the mall to do grocery shopping.  Then I went to get gas (having read somewhere that in this weather you should keep your tank as close as possible to full).  Then I met my friend and the kids at another mall (they'd found and taken a taxi).  We stayed less than two hours, and huddled together in my car for another 10 minutes while it warmed up. I took my friend home, Sophia to a sleepover, then drove to the other side of town to visit with a friend.  I was getting my driving practice!

Driving at nighttime was even scarier than driving in daytime.  It was harder to see, everything was haze and darkness with bright lights here and there.  Lanes are hard enough to see normally, and cars often make their own lanes, and I'm still figuring out the traffic lights here (they're not all located in the same spot; and if there is a left turn signal and it's not on, you can't turn left--but if it's not on, it's hard to tell if there normally is one, because if there isn't a left turn signal, then you can turn left on a regular green....)  Again, I drove slowly and carefully--and safely, luckily!

The next day I picked Sophia up from the sleepover, and drove a friend home--back to the other side of town!  I went inside and had tea with the friend's mother while the girls played.   She has a car, a remote for turning it on, but no garage.  So in this weather she has to turn it on every two hours!  Luckily she can do this from inside her apartment.  She has a 5-month old baby, who wakes up every two hours, so when the baby wakes up, she turns on the car.  Convenient, if tiresome, schedule.

Another friend had told me about her first year in Astana, three years ago, when she had a car but no garage or remote system.  Every two hours in the freezing weather, she would wake up and go outside and sit in her car for 10 to 15 minutes for it to warm up.  She's grateful now to have both a remote system and indoor parking!

What dedication you must have to have a car in Astana winter!

However, as I drove around on this -40 weekend, scared because of the limited visibility, scared because of the ice, scared because of how frigid it was outside, I was so incredibly grateful to have a car, work and all.  Yes, it took months to fix, yes it still needs lots of repairs, yes, it takes 10 minutes to get started in the mornings, and yes, I have to go outside to warm it up every two hours (if it's parked outside), but it was -40 outside and I was warm inside my car.  I was able to get around Astana, not cooped up in my apartment or reliant on others.  I wasn't outside for more than several minutes at a time.

A car is hard work, lots of money, and bad for the environment.  But in -40 I think it's worth it.

Update:  One thing I hadn't mentioned...  The snow, of course, covers the roads and turns to ice, but the snow plows do a good job of clearing it up... Except often they don't clear the far right lane very much.  So usually the roads become one lane smaller during the winter, and the far right lanes are used just when turning or for taxis.
 
My previous post on driving in Astana is here.

The Difference between -20 and -40

-20º C is cold.  -40º C is painful.

Sometimes it's just so cold!

I've been here over 3 years now, and I've been outside in -40º weather (that's the same in Celsius as in Fahrenheit!)  And I've gotten to the point where if it's warmer than -20º C (-4º F) I just don't think much about it.

But some days it just feels much colder!

I know there's wind and humidity to take into account, and I know these make a big difference.  0º C (32º F) here is just so much warmer than 0º C in my hometown or in Germany, where it's humid and often cloudy.  Here, it's often sunny and dry.  Very nice.

You also have to take clothing into account.  If it's above -20º C, as I said, I don't think much about it.  So I might not put on my super-insulated Columbia boots (not as attractive as my other boots...) or wear a balaclava (ski mask) and I definitely won't wear ski goggles!

Last night hovered between -11 and -15º C, and I wore my ankle-high fur-lined boots, thick tights, and my autumn coat, and I was fine.  My friend complained as we walked the 15-minute walk from my place to the British Embassy; she was wearing regular tights.

Today the temperature was about the same, I threw on regular tights and my knee-high fur-lined boots and Sophia and I went to church.  The church's heating system is barely there, and we were cold throughout Mass.

Then we took a bus to Congress Hall to buy tickets for upcoming concerts.  Still cold, we waited outside Congress Hall for Bus 32.

We waited for half an hour.

My first year here, I bought cheap fur-line boots that kept my toes warm in cold weather.  Those were cheaply made and fell apart after one winter; every winter since then I've tried to find a similar pair; I've spent more money but have yet to find something that keeps me warm.  (Other than my unattractive Columbia boots, which I reserve for colder weather.)

My toes froze then grew numb then burned.  Sophia had on her Columbia brand boots, but she hadn't laced them or even tightened the laces.  She didn't have a scarf, snowpants, or extra layer of pants.  We froze as we waited for the bus.  I jumped up and down and wiggled my toes.

Finally, I went to hail a taxi.  The first guy drove away (don't know why he had stopped in the first place...), the second asked for more than 500 Tenge (about $3.33), so did the third.  I guess they know it's cold so they can ask for a lot!  (500 Tenge is the usual price I pay, which is more than locals pay.)   When I was walking away, though, the third guy opened his door and asked me how much I wanted.  I said 500 Tenge, he agreed, we got in.

We had him drop us off near our home, and then, because we were cold, we did a silly thing--we ran!  The ground is covered with snow and ice, the wind is a fierce 32 kilometers per hour (19 mph) and we ran.  "Just don't trip!" I said to Sophia and I thought we were being careful.

We rounded a corner and --boom!-- she slipped and smashed her back straight into the pointy concrete corner.  She let out a wail I haven't heard from her in years.  It was too cold to stop, so we hurried inside.  In our apartment, I noticed that the concrete had managed to tear her super-thick winter coat and scratch her back.  Ouch!

And now we're inside, trying to get warm and get the strength to go back outside, brave this again.  We'll definitely dress more warmly!

But sometimes -16º just feels so much colder!!!

They pay you how much?!

A friend's teenaged relative was working at one of the cafes on the top floor of Artyom, the huge, cheap bazaar/shopping center.  She said she was paid 1000 Tenge (less than $7) for an entire day of work.

Wow.  Yes, that's against the law here, but apparently the law isn't too well followed.

Poor Advertising

A friend of mine is a violinist for the State Philharmonic Orchestra, and he called me about a week ago to inform me of a concert for this past Tuesday.  So this weekend I went to Congress Hall, the place to buy tickets for these events.  (Contrary to what I'd initially thought, Congress Hall has nothing to do with government, it's a large venue for music as well as markets.  Though it's usually popular music, so the music I listen to is never there, just the tickets.)

I'd learned from a music-loving friend that Congress Hall is where you go not only to buy tickets, but to find out about events.  They have posters saying what's coming up.  Well, I couldn't see any posters for this event.

So I went to the cashier and tried my best to ask, "Is there a concert on 4th December?"  But she didn't understand my question.

So I went home and checked my email--I'm on their email list--and although I had an email with December events, this particular concert was not on it.   I also double-checked their web site, which hadn't been updated since August or September.  Then I asked a friend to call Congress Hall, they said it was sold out.  I remembered that I'd seen a sign for some concert at Congress Hall on that date, they probably meant that one.  (How can something that's not been advertised be sold out?)  So I texted my friend, who responded that it was not sold out, please come!

I realized that I hadn't clarified where this concert would be, I'd just been assuming it would be in the Organ Hall at the National Music Academy, but there are other venues for classical music concerts.  So Tuesday morning my friend called the National Music Academy and they gave her another number to call, and the lady there said she didn't know.  What?  How can you not know if there is or isn't a concert?!

Well... I was lucky enough to find a friend who was willing to go to this mysterious concert with me and was quite able to be content should it turn out that it did not exist.

We arrived there on time, there was almost nobody there, but we were informed that there was indeed a concert, and it was free.

My friend and a pianist were the only two performing, stars of the show!

But there were only about 12 people in the entire audience.

How awful!

The music was absolutely fantastic, and I enjoyed every second of it.  It was truly a shame that nobody was there because nobody had heard about it!!!

Also, it started at 6 pm, and this is a country where most people don't get off work until 6 pm.  I had a few other friends who'd wanted to come, but couldn't, due to work.

Afterwards, an older lady who seemed to be in charge apologised for the lack of people, giving some excuse as to her water pipes breaking so she couldn't put out the advertisements in time.  Hmm...

On the plus side, we went out afterwards to tea--my co-worker, the violinist, a Kazakh woman, and a Brazilian from the Brazilian Embassy.  I was the only non-Russian speaker in group, and two of them (the violinist and the Kazakh) didn't speak English, so the language of conversation was Russian.  The Brazilian, being not a native speaker, spoke slowly and clearly, and my co-worker excels at repeating what's being said, slowly and in simple language, and so I was able to follow along most of the conversation.  I wasn't able to say much more than "da" (yes), but still, I was quite proud of myself!

For me, it was an excellent evening.  But how frustrating for the musicians!!!

I talked today to a co-worker, who said that our music teacher, who frequents these kinds of events, says that that happens a lot.  That the events just are poorly advertised, and few people show up.  How frustrating to be a musician in Astana!