settling in

I've been in Almaty without a lick of travel for nearly two months now. And I've settled into a nice, easy, routine. When I see my office-mate dashing off every other week to here and there, taking 2 AM flights, I say to myself "Better him than me." (Though I am heading to Turkmenistan soon, once all my paperwork get approved by various officials at various levels.)

Work is close enough for a brisk walk or a lovely stroll, depending on how much in a rush I am to get to my destination. On the way there are several fruit/veggie stands, at least 15 convenience stores, and a supermarket. So picking up fresh produce or bread or whatever is easy-peasy.

Some nights I go home, other nights I hop on a bus and head to my friend's apartment. Anara has been very committed and diligent about learning English, and so we meet for 3 to 5 lessons a week, depending on our free time. She's got a great textbook, does her homework, and has a good instinct for English. It's been a gratifying to work with her. I didn't expect it to help my Russian, but it has, especially with precision in my vocabulary and grammar.

If she comes to my house, we hang for a few hours, working through her English book, drinking tea, or sometimes beer, eating pumpkin seeds, chak-chak, or suhariki. Chak-chak rocks. It's a huge, sticky, pile of thin, crunchy, deep-fried strips of dough that are covered in a honey/sugar mixture. Sometimes they add nuts or dried fruit to it, but I like the plain type best. I don't get it often because of the horrific caloric/cardiovascular implications of eating such stuff regularly. But dayyyyyum is it nummy. Suhariki are little strips of dried-out bread, nice and light and crunchy. The rye ones are especially good.

So we nibble and crunch and laugh and groan over her English textbook. She thinks articles (a, an, the) are a nightmare. I explain how their verbs of motion are even worse (every motion has two verbs: one verb to do that "motion" in general, another verb to do that motion to a specific destination, i.e., fly/fly to there, walk/to here or there, run, swim, stroll, bike.... They even have two words for here and there: here/there in general, and here/there if you're using a verb of motion to get here/there. Grrrr.) She claims that in Russian you pronounce every letter exactly as you see it. So our English with it's silent "e"s and "ph" that reads as "f" and "ti" that reads as "sh" and things like "ough" and "igh" are evil. I point out that many "o"s in Russian are pronounced as "a"s. She concedes, but then states that that's the only exception, whereas English has a gazillion variations. I agree, and explain to her that they have 30-something letters for 30-something sounds, but we have only 26 letters for 44 sounds (according to the textbook). Despite denigrating one another's languages and struggling with crazy grammatical/useage principals, it's really quite enjoyable.

Other nights, I go to her house and they feed me before we study. Now that Roma's parents are back from Moscow we are a gaggle: It's Roman and Anara, their son Svyatik, their dog Don, Roman's parents Tamara and Anatolyi, Tamara's mom "Babushka," and Tamara's dog Tyapa. Oh, and Svyatik's pet rat with some funky glorious name I've forgotten. They live in apartments next door to one another, and whether I'm in one place or the other, family members are constantly going in and out, stopping to say hello, have dinner, a cup of tea, chit-chat, ask a question, etc. Last night we were talking American movies with Roma's father, and I found out that the title of the old Marilyn Monroe/Tony Curtis film, "Some Like It Hot, " was translated to "Jazz is Only for Women" or something along those lines. We recommended films we should see, and discussed having a mini film festival.

So goes my routine. Not too different from every-day life in America, no? You get up, you go to work, you eat, you sleep, and in-between you hope for happiness, good health, and that the good times outweigh the bad.

old man winter

We went from having temps in the 70s last week to the 50s this week. My radiators have been turned on (ura! [ura=hooray]), and I've started wearing layers to work. Great walking weather, nice and crisp and brisk.

I've been eyeing all of the Chimbulak information, I am itching to hit the slopes! Fortunately next week my boss is off, which means I just might head up there on a weekday next week.

Thursday is independence day here, so I'll get to make up my Fourth of July after all! We have Thursday and Friday off, but have to work Sunday to make up for having Friday off. Does that make sense to you? It didn't to me, either. But at the office we've decided to go out and party Wednesday night after work to celebrate the holiday. I'm looking forward to a little shashleek, a little dancing, and a lot of vodka. ;> I will definitely take my camera. Stay tuned for the debrief of Independence Day, Kazakh-style.

random observations

Last night on my way home from work, I rounded the corner of my building and ran into a woman who was all decked out. Gold sequins top and metallic gold boots to match. Women here have the wackiest sense of fashion. Many of them think they're glam and western, but a lot of them end up looking like color-blind pole dancers. Less is not more here. More is definitely more. I bet they think I'm really plain and bland here. Believe you me, I can live with it.

It's nice to work in a place where you can open a window. I always hated being hermetically sealed into the Candler building, freezing my butt off in the summer with the AC blowing full blast. The only negative is flies (and the occasional bee) flying in. Some days the dogs barking (our office is on a residential street, a few blocks from the main drag) are pleasant, other days they get on my nerves. Today I'm enjoying them.

I love hacks, otherwise known as gypsy cabs. Stick your hand out, and any old person who wants to make a few extra tenge will pull over. In Baltimore, sometimes I'd have to wait up to 10 minutes for a cab. Here, I rarely wait more than 60 seconds before someone pulls over. Nice, convenient, and dirt cheap. Especially nice on those mornings when I've stayed up too late watching Boston Legal (damn you, Star World with your US programming!) and overslept. I'm at the office in 4 minutes, thanks to random men driving me to work for US $1.67. (Don't worry, mom, it's much safer than I'm making it sound.)

They've been building a metro for years here, but the locals don't actually believe it will ever be completed. In addition to the streets being filled with cars, the buses and trams are PACKED. Even during off-peak hours. Last night at around 10pm there was a bus that had every seat full and tons of people were standing throughout. Then it stopped at a stop, and about another 10-12 people got on. My space bubble sensibilities are easily offended in such situations, and I've actually not gotten onto a bus if it's been too full. But I've also ridden the totally packed, rush hour ones. We literally were jammed in there like sardines, and every time someone got on/off it was bodies smooshing into one another left and right. Not fun, totally germy, but what can you do, other than rotate your body so that it's a woman rubbing up against your butt instead of a guy? Yeah, I know: walk or stop a car.

My office buys my toilet paper for me. As well as cleaning supplies, detergent, and stuff for the apartment (which is theirs) like light bulbs, batteries, etc. It's a little embarassing to come home to a 10-pack of TP that the driver dropped off while you were at work.

Leaf Peeping

With all of the trees in Almaty changing color, it's truly a spectacular fall. We had weather in the 50s last week, but this week it's mid-60s with the sun shining brightly through the golden leaves. It makes for a marvelous walk to work in the mornings. And a lovely view out of the windows/balcony facing the courtyard full of trees.

This weekend promises to be just as nice, so I'll have to find an opportunity to do some hiking somwhere. I can't spend such weather indoors. Maybe I'll go to Medeo again? Or maybe I'll walk along the little Almaty river? We shall see what transpires. I think I'll end up at Cafe Delia one of those days, sitting outside and enjoying the wi-fi and people watching.

What is Medeo, you may ask? One of Almaty's sources of pride. It's in the Guiness Book of World Records as the world's highest-elevation skating rink, built up in the mountains. It's near the ski resort Chimbulak. It's a stop for all tourists and all wedding parties. While we were there no less than three wedding parties pulled up (including one in a limo) and they danced, drank, and celebrated at Medeo. It's a tradition. Since I live on the main drag that takes you to Medeo, I'm always seeing decorated cars honking and whizzing their way uphill.

There's also a bunch of stairs (841, to be exact) to the top. Which Steve and I took. The engineers were clever, indeed, when they put this together. You look up and see the end of the steps and think to yourself, "well, that ain't so bad" and you hike up them. Then you look up and there are more. Each set of 150+ steps is inset from the other (it's probably more the shape of the mountain than engineers, right?) so you can't tell how much more you have to go---each time, you think you're almost there. That's how they get you to the top.

Or, you can pay someone to drive you up there.

They're constructing a lift with gondolas that will take you from Medeo to the skiiing in Chimbulak, which is awesome. Bus to Medeo (40 tenge), lift to Chimbulak, and you are hitting the slopes, baybee! Too bad they're still constructing. We watched them use a helicopter with moving wet concrete from the mixing site at the bottom of Medeo to places where they were installing the towers that are going to hold the lines for the gondolas. According to Steve's practiced engineering eye, it was way more cost-effective to fly the concrete and equipment around than try to build roads in the mountains. Very cool to watch. I'm glad he was there to figure out what they were doing, because I had no clue. I've never poured concrete in my life! Though I've always admired cement mixers on the highway...

I will upload pics of Medeo for your viewing pleasure this weekend.

earthshaking!

Last night at 10 PM, I felt the couch shaking. It was like I was in a bumper car and cars were bumping into my back end constantly, but lightly. I wasn't imagining it, it was my first earthquake!

My first reaction was a slightly disconcerted "What the hell?" Then, remembering I was in an earthquake zone, I was like "Oooh, this might be an earthquake." Then, remembering my cousin Ani describing small earthquakes in Macedonia, I looked at the chandelier to see if it was swinging. (He has said that sometime it's so slight you wonder if you imagined it or stood up too quickly, so he checks the chandeliers. He takes swinging as confirmation of an earthquake.)

The chandelier was completely still, and the mild bumping had stopped, so I dismissed it. Had I known I had experienced such a momentous first, I would have poured a shot of something and had a little toast.

Top 10 Ways to ID Americans in Almaty

Here is my Top 10 list for the ways I can spot an American tourist around here. American tourists:

10. Walk around reading the "Central Asia" Fodor's Guide book.

9. Carry a backpack.

8. (For woman under 65) Wear comfortable walking shoes.

7. Use the recycling bins on the street for actual recycling materials instead of ordinary garbage.

6. Are polite: Use the words "please" and "thank you," hold doors open for people, don't cut in line, don't stare, observe personal space boundaries, etc.

5. Smile way more than the locals do.

4. Are nice to waitstaff.

3. Use a garbage receptacle instead of just dropping their ice cream wrappers, beer bottles, and other assorted trash in the middle of the sidewalk (see photo below).

2. Have good teeth.

And the number one way to ID Americans in Almaty....

1. Are the only ones not hocking loogies/spitting/doing the farmer's blow while walking down the street.

I took the picture below while hiking around Medeo, up in the mountains. If it wasn't plastic bags, it was beer or vodka bottles, cigarette packages, and even the occasional Durex box. Sad, sad, sad.

To be perfectly fair, however, I have seen more trash lying around some Baltimore bus stops than I have in Almaty. For a city of 1.3 million people, and for a former Soviet country, it could be a whole helluva lot worse. But when Steve and I walked along the canal, I wanted to cry at how much garbage people had pitched into it. :*( Thinking green is pretty much unheard of here. *sigh* Maybe I should embark on a new career??? Or at least set up a local Greenpeace chapter?

kept in the dark

My power was out again yesterday when I got home. I have learned to tell by (a) the total darkness enveloping that area, and (b) the traffic lights not working.

Now, traffic is bad in Almaty and the drivers are even worse. When you couple aggressive drivers with neither working traffic lights nor a policeman to control flow of traffic, it's even more dangerous than usual. I won't discuss what it was like crossing the street last night, 'cause I know mom and dad read this blog. I felt like George Costanza in that Seinfeld episode when he was trying to move the Frogger machine across the street.

Fortunately the previous resident left one candle so I wasn't completely in the dark. One's cell phone can emit quite a bit of light in a dark stairwell, which makes unlocking your door easier than feeling your way through the pitch blackness. I also have a gas stove, so was able to heat up my dinner and boil water for some tea.

I also had brought my laptop home from the office so I could watch the DVD my friends got me. It's got all three seasons' episodes (pirated, of course) of the Russian Sex and the City Show that I've fallen in love with, Balzakovskiy Vozrast. I've finally figured out why I love it so much: The main character is a kindly, intellectual woman named Vera, whose love interest is a man that very much reminds me of Steve. I'm essentially re-living the beginnings of my relationship through watching them, which is fun. (Though Steve was never married to a woman to help her retain a Moscow work permit, nor did he sleep with said on-paper-only wife, knocking her up while also professing to love me. Storylines such as this are why the show is subtitled "Or, All Men Are Bastards".) So I watched 5 episodes last night, 2 of which were in the dark. Then the power came on for about an hour and a half. Then it went off again. Laptops emit a surprising amount of light from them. Thank goodness I have a good battery. And a warm, fuzzy blanket that I can wrap myself in.

The heat doesn't get turned on until October 15th. But after playing with my AC units, I discovered that they are also heating units. The one in the living room works, but emits screeching noises that vary from barely noticeable to annoying enough to make your ears bleed. That's when it gets turned off. I'd rather be cold than deaf. The one in the bedroom refuses to work, but I've got warm covers, so it's really not needed. We'll see what it's like once the radiators get turned on....hopefully I won't be running the AC or opening windows to keep it to a tolerable temp. Interesting how most places here don't have individual climate control, no?

Friday night I went out for a drink after work with a fellow American girl, and we got some unwanted attention at one point. Three old dudes who had obviously been partying came up to us and asked us in English if we were Americans. We immediately switched to Russian (we're far more likely to convey to them that we have a clue about their culture and aren't going to be messed with/swindled/naive if we're speaking in their tongue) and when one of the guys asked what our names were, I responded "Vera Petrovna." Name + patronymic, which is the female derivative of your father's name. Between my name (it's terribly schoolmarmish), face, and lack of American accent at this point, this dude was having none of it. He was convinced I was Russian and was just faking being American. I'm sure the booze that he had consumed previously also had something to do with it. Unfortunately, I'm only "passing" as a Russian about 50% of the time. Cab drivers generally can smell my American-ness a mile a way when I'm bartering fares with them. Fortunately, most can also tell I've been here long enough to know what reasonable fares are, so I'm not getting ripped off. The rest, I just tell 'em to drive off....for some reason it's always young dudes in a BMW that want to rip you off. Like it's not enough that daddy bought you a Beemer?? Sheesh.

I'll post about the overprivileged youth of the oligarchy/businessmen/politicians/schemers some other time. That's a whole other discussion unto itself.

Kok-Tobe

This is a shot of Almaty from up on Kok-Tobe. Those are the mountains on the eastern side of the country, near the China border.

Kok-Tobe is somewhat of a tourist trap. But, it was close to my house, offered us an easy, leisurely afternoon, and we could walk down the hill and straight to my friends' flat for dinner. So off we went. Kok-Tobe, by the by, means blue hill in Kazkah (what would I do without google?).



You hop on a gondola downtown and get transported aerially to the top of the Hill (see those cables in that photo? It's like being on a ski lift, but you're floating over people's homes and a junkyard).

In addition to building a television tower on Kok-Tobe, there are also overpriced cafes ($8 for a Guiness), a small animal exhibit, and some crazy luge-cum-roller-buggy ride, some loudspeakers that some people may find annoying, the obligatory discotech, and even a yurt (see next photo).


It was a great view of the sprawling Almaty city, but we couldn't get any good photos because of the smog. So you'll have to take my word for it.

They also had a bronze statue of the Beatles, circa early 1960s. I've read that some Beatle's fan here had a dream to get a Beatles statue in his city. So he worked tirelessly to raise money and get permission to get the statue up on Kok-Tobe. And now it's in the Guiness Book of World Records as the world's highest elevation Beatles statue. Sorry, we didn't feel like taking a picture of it. It was slightly disturbing, and there were swarms of young Kazakh students around it that we didn't feel like waiting for.

Chimbulak (or, Gary Busey almost smushed me)

Chimbulak is the local ski resort. It's about a half-hour drive from Almaty city center. You can get within 3.5 km of the resort on a bus for 40 tenge, or about 33 cents US. Drivers hang out at the bus stop across from Hotel Kakakhstan and offer to drive you up there, for anywhere from $8-20 US, depending on how large your group is, where you're from, how long you've been here--all of the things that factor into whether or not you get ripped off. We went in a BMW on the way up (the guy working us was like "you'll be riding in an all-leather interior"), and then walked downhill the 3.5 km to where we could catch the bus home. I'm far more comfortable living the proletariat lifestyle than the bourgeoise one.

We went there on September 28. The pics aren't that hot because it was snowing, which obscured what I believe is a breathtaking view. The slopes look great, and I am definitely looking forward to some snowboarding. I'm so used to having to fly to good skiing back in Baltimore that I'm very, very excited at the prospect of being able to call in sick and be shredding up there an hour later. :) Please don't tell my boss I said that.

They have thick jackets for rent for 400 tenge (about $3.30 US), and I'm glad we sprung for it. We would have frozen our tootsies off otherwise--it was about 20 degrees F up there. And we didn't go all the way up to the highest slopes, either. In the city, it was probably 55 degrees. And the week before, it was hitting 75.

I know you're waiting for the Gary Busey part, so I shall end the suspense. After riding around on a couple of lifts in the stillness that accompanies snowstorms, we hit a little building with a cafe on the first floor and a disco on the second floor. I stopped in the bathroom, and on the way out, this 6-foot-something blonde guy with wild hair, weaving very unsteadily on his feet starts teetering, practically into me. I looked at him and started---I could have sworn it was Gary Busey. But I figured I was just too startled from almost getting crushed by this towering hulk of a man.

Steve was waiting for me about 5 feet from where all of that happened, and the first words out of his mouth were "What the hell is Gary Busey doing here????"

Relaying this to my friends last night, they immediately put it together: There was an international film festival in Almaty last week. They did a little googling, and lo and behold, Gary Busey was indeed in Almaty for it, according to the local newspaper. As was Gerard Depardieu (sp?) and some others. So we weren't imagining things, after all.

Unfortunately, I don't think it was jet lag that made him that unsteady on his feet.

Here's a great shot of Steve next to a "Caution: Cliff" sign. Yes, I asked him to pretend he was falling off the cliff. I bet there's a lot more snow on the ground now--we had rain here yesterday, which had to have been snow up there. I bet there will be great skiiing in about two weeks' time. Yeah!

look out, Pookie....

...you just might get a sibling. This is a Kazakh dog, similar to a Saluki. The breed is called "Tazi." We had a work excursion to celebrate a colleague's 50th birthday, and there were a number of these hunting dogs at the eagle sanctuary we visited. I was way more interested in the dogs than the birds. They were just lovely, and the adolescents couldn't get enough of the petting.

So Pookie, you may have to mentally prepare yourself for a sibling. ;> I wonder if you'll look this happy having to share your humans with another dog?!?!

Out of everything I left behind back in the States, I miss this little one-eyed furball most of all.

time flies

I can't believe the two weeks (OK, 12 days) that Steve was here flew by so quickly. We did all the things we're supposed to do in Almaty: Kok-Tobe, Medeo, Chimbulak, the parks, fountains, monuments, museums, lots of restaurants/cafes, and even the opera. I will post a place a day this week to try and catch you all up on the lovely time we had.

We also caught up on sleep, which was verrrrrrrry nice. That's what vacation is for, right? :)

Today I'll post about Almaty city proper. It's a lovely walking city: lots and lots of trees, lots of "shossays" or small green walking streets with benches placed between condo buildings. It cushions you physically and acoustically from the crazy traffic here (and the drivers are VERY aggressive), and provides young couples places to make out at night, partially shrouded by the trees and bushes. Do I wish cities in America could become as pedestrian friendly. I'd be a lot happier, and I think people might actually become more physically fit.

It also has a lot of parks, big and small, with many fountains and a monument or two. Like the Pushkin monument in front of a literary school. Or the Abai monument on his street, etc. We focused more on the fountains than on the busts, so here are a few:

This lovely fountain is across the street from my flat. If it wasn't for a huge billboard, I would be able to see this from my living room window. The fountain changes color, from white to yellow to blue to purple, and Steve had the patience to get the shot while it was purple, my favorite color. (Yes, I really am a 5-year old on the inside.)

The building behind the fountain is Hotel Kazakhstan. In real life at night, the top of the building looks like a tsarina's crown. It's lacy and light and sparkly and lovely. And a great landmark--if I ever lose my sense of direction, all I have to do is look up and look for the crown, and that's where I live.

Here's a shot of me in front of the National Museum of Kazakhstan, with one of the camels you can find througout the city.

And also a shot of the wide wide boulevard nearby. This traffic shot is precisely why I love the quite green strips and side streets so much.

This is a great fountain of the chinese zodiac. It's about 1.5 blocks from my flat. Isn't that nice? You know you'd get your butt off the couch much more often and go for a walk if you had one of these nearby.

This park is called "The Park of Rest" and has amusement park rides, a movie theatre, cafes, lots of stray dogs, loudspeakers with music, and they're even building a water park and little island there. Some of the amusement park rides were very Soviet-esque, and others were like the dead ride ghost park in Bishkek (see http://almatyvera.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html). But in general, a lovely place to walk. Next time I'll bring a bunch of meat so I can feed the puppies I ran into something more than bread from the market.

Lunch break over.....got lots of catching up to do so back to work I go. Stay tuned for more Almaty pics tomorrow.