Birthday Celebrations --

This month two of the ladies in my office celebrated birthdays within a week of each other and when in Kaz, we celebrate like ain’t no tomorrow!

First, was the birthday of one of the assistants to the director. She celebrated her birthday here at school. She brought in TONS of food and we ate for a long time pausing only to give toasts! We all chipped in and got her a juicer. I’m not sure how often people really use these here…heck, I’m not even sure how often people in America use these; but she seemed to enjoy it. I gave her candy from America.

A few days later my best work friend Rada celebrated her 25th birthday. It was at a local café where we again ate A LOT of food, gave many toasts and then got our dance on! Rada always steals my sharpies, so I asked for some specifically for Rada’s birthday. They came earlier this summer and it was all I could do to not give them to her early or just use them myself :-)

My flat is having repair right now. I knew that when I agreed to rent that my landlady wanted it to have repairs done on it. I’m in the process of getting new windows! This is actually SUPER good for me considering that winter is approaching much more quickly than I want it to. I already got the windows and they are in, but there are 2 women who are still working on the wall around the windows. Yesterday there was wet cement on the walls and it took all I had in me to NOT make some sort of mark in it. This was very difficult! But I managed. As much as I want it to be done, my living room is torn apart and everything is covered in a light dust, I kind of enjoy the company of these women. They have both been over for like 5 hours for the last few days and although I haven’t been home the whole time that they have been there, it’s kind of nice to have “company.”

Next my landlady wants to get new wallpaper. I kind of don’t want new wallpaper. I mean, I like the idea of having pictures of friends and family as “wallpaper.” And if it’s new I probably won’t be able to tape pictures up because it will ruin the wall paper. I guess there is always the ever popular photo albums.

Town Day Celebrations

Earlier this month my town celebrated Town Day! At first I thought, of course, we have a holiday for this, there really is a holiday for EVERYTHING, but then I remembered Sparta Town & Country days – we kind of celebrate Sparta for 5 days; this was a one day celebration and was lots of fun.

I tried Kumyz (fermented horse’s milk) for the first time! And probably for the last:-) it wasn’t that great, in fact, I thought it was rather disgusting, but since I purchased it I did manage to drink all of it. There were speeches made and awards were given. I’m not sure for what though. Then singing and dancing ensued.

Totally Touristy

This past weekend I ventured to Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital. I left my site on Friday night, travelled by train to Karaganda and then onto Astana by bus. I arriving in Astana mid-morning on Saturday, I found an apartment where I would sleep before hitting the town! I first went to Bayterek. I took to lift up to the top for 500 tenge and was able to put my hand in Nazerbyev’s hand print…cool huh?! From the top of Bayterek I could see many parts of Astana. I took lots of pictures like a crazy tourist and then went for a walk outside. It’s too bad it started to rain. To stay dry I waited under a building. Finally, when the rain let up I wandered to find the T.G.I.Friday’s I had heard about. I was SUPER nervous that it was going to be a lie, that there really wasn’t going to be a T.G.I.Fridays, but I was in luck, there REALLY one! It was totally INCREDIBLY tasty! I ordered a soda (coke light, of course). Followed by an appetizer, mozzarella sticks (I don’t even get appetizers in America). Then I had some sort of chicken meal – like cheesy chicken, I don’t remember it’s name, it came with mashed potatoes and was divine! This was followed by a Friday’s Sundae, which was out of this world! It was a small price to pay for a fabulous meal from a restaurant that I hadn’t been to in over a year! Although, while I was eating I couldn’t help but wonder, if I should be eating local foods out of a yurt or doing something cultural, but I guess I have a whole to do cultural things huh?

Sunday was Constitution Day and I was excited. I had heard there was going to be a parade and that other activities would be going on around town. Unfortunately, I never made it to the parade. But I did find the other activities. There was a concert in a park area where people were dressed in traditional Kazakhstani wear. There was singing and dancing and toasting and dombra playing. This was cause for a good time! My only regret is that I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have.

Late afternoon I boarded a bus to return to site. I would first go to Karaganda and then take a train back to site. I had 3 hours to wander the city of Karaganda and went on the hunt for more Constitution Day activities, I think they had passed by the time I went out looking for them. Instead, I went shopping and tried on things that I would most likely never buy. Then headed back to the train station to catch the train. This train was perhaps one of the greatest train rides I’ve had The people in my cart were exceptionally friendly. They shared their meal with me and we all played cards. Then we hit the bunks and I woke up as the train was stopping at my site.