New Blog Address

Just to let you know that our new blog address is working and I've managed to get some overdue posts and pictures up on it. It seems the Kazakhstan government had a disagreement with Blogger.com, so we couldn't access our old blog anymore. The new one is at: http://persson5.wordpress.com

Enjoy and feel free to pass the address along to other interested parties!

Family Photo

Karla wanted us to do a family photo but we keep forgetting to do it. But today was a nice day and we didn't have anything else scheduled, so we finally got it done. For those who haven't seen us recently, you'll probably notice a difference in the kids but not much of a difference in us. Aside from my burnt ear...which you can't see.

New Year's Eve

We were once again very happy to be invited to our friends' (Mike and Chasely's) house for New Year's Eve. December 31st also happens to be the birthday of their oldest daughter Hannah. They had borrowed a Nintendo Wii from some friends for the evening which proved to be a big hit, although the kids seem to take as much time creating themselves as characters on the Wii as playing games. After playing video games and some balloon games (one involving all the kids laying on the floor), the kids all went downstairs to design and make their own pizzas. But I think they were too full from eating two bags of nacho cheese balls and other snacks before supper to eat much of their pizzas because there were a lot of leftovers.

Then we moved outdoors for the fireworks show. Mike had outdone himself with the amount of fireworks he had gathered for us this year. Some of them worked well, some not so impressive but the big bangers at the end worked great. But the one with the biggest impact on me was a little cylinder-type firework that exploded and shot some burning ash straight into my left ear. But don't worry: no serious injury, just lost a couple of layers of skin off my ear. It's all good. Just don't try this at home; leave it to the professionals.

A Hike in the Mountains

My friend Pete had his dad and brother here for a visit and wanted to go for a hike in the mountains. So on Tuesday we drove southeast of the city to a small park called Butakofka. We managed to drive up the road a fair distance before it got too steep for our car and then we began our ascent. Supposedly there is a waterfall up somewhere in this park (we never found it) but the sky was bright blue, the air was crisp and clear, and the temperature was just below zero. For the first half-kilometer, the snow was fairly solid but then we started breaking through the top layer and sinking knee- or thigh-deep into the snow. As the ground got steeper, we were forced to slow down, rest frequently, and take turns being the leader. When we reached the ridge we had made our destination, we stopped for lunch and discussed our next move. This first picture shows Pete walking out one side of the ridge to check out one of our options.

The other direction led up quite steeply into a bunch of trees, but we decided to give it a go to see if we could reach the top before having to turn around and start heading home. Here the snow was softer and waist deep, so our progress was slow. We had to zigzag our way up the mountainside with Pete and Andy taking turns wading through the snow. We didn't really find the top (there were too many trees in the way) but we were all satisfied with how high we had been able to climb. Pete, who had carried his snowboard all the way up, was now excited about the descent. There was so much snow up near the top and the slope was so steep that the rest of us tucked our jackets into our pants and slid down on our backsides for about 300 meters. The remainder of the descent was quite comfortable too, although the ice that become encrusted around my ankles began to melt and settle down inside my boots. A great day in the mountains!

Sledding with Friends

On Monday morning, we travelled with some friends to some hills west of the city. We were the only ones their when we arrived at 11:30, but by the time we left at 3:00 the hill was getting pretty crowded. There were even vendors that had driven in to sell inner tubes and fireworks (for New Year's Eve) to the sledders. This first picture is taken from the top of the steepest hill. The kids all wanted to start on it at first, but it was a little too steep and after a few faceplants in the snow, the kids switched over to the hill shown in the picture. It was long enough to have a good run without crashing and not too bad to walk up again.

It was a beautiful day and the kids soon took off their jackets and toques. (We still get laughed at or stared at whenever we use the word toque.) We managed to borrow an assortment of sleds, including a plastic molded sled as well as a three-skied GT racer-type sled, but we ended up using pieces of linoleum and plastic just as much because they could fit more people. Of course, we parents got extra exercise pulling the littlest ones back up the hill. But we all had a great time and no injuries!

Off to the Circus

On Sunday evening, we went to the circus with some friends. In Almaty, the circus has a permanent home in a building constructed specifically for it. It seems rather small compared to the big arenas where we watched circuses at home in Canada, but it allows us to get much closer to the action. There's only one ring in this circus and the seating is fairly steep so that every seat has a good view. If you look closely at the poster on the side of the building, you will see that Kazakh shows tend to integrate Western cartoon characters (Spongebob Squarepants, Shrek, and Kung Fu Panda were a few of the stars this time ). Shortly after this photo was taken, as we were all jostling to get through the one open door into the building, Karla's wallet was stolen from her purse! Needless to say, Karla's enjoyment of the circus was significantly soured.

The circus was made up of a series of smaller acts, including some things that we would expect in a circus at home: gymnasts, a trapeze artist, firestick jugglers, trained poodles jumping through hoops. The stereotypical Russian act, the dancing bear, was also there, although his trainer and his assistants were also quite entertaining. Unlike circuses at home, there were a lot of dance numbers in between the acts and the dancers were mostly wearing costumes that revealed a lot more than what we'd expect at home. But all in all an interesting night. By the end of the story, the Santa Claus figure arrived on the scene and put everything to rights.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas is a difficult time to be away from home but we had a good Christmas.  We had 24 for supper again this year.  We didn't have any repeats from last year (hopefully that is not a commentary on our food). Turkey is not a popular meal here so getting one is a bit of a challenge.  My past (North American) experience would suggest the best place to buy a turkey would be a grocery store.  Unfortunately, grocery stores here do not sell turkeys.  Our turkey was purchased in a candy store/tailor shop.  As you enter the store/shop, on the left there is a wall of glass bins displaying dozens of locally made chocolates and candies.  Straight ahead there are a couple of sewing machines and a curtained-off change room.  To the right is a deep freezer full of slightly freezer-burnt turkeys.  Although that is strange enough, it gets stranger: the woman who works in the shop doesn't even sell the turkeys.  If you want to buy a turkey, you have to go next door to the pharmacy and the pharmacist will come back with you to the candy store and sell you the turkey.  Unfortunately, this year the pharmacist only had very large turkeys, even bigger than the one that barely fit in the oven last year.  I was not going to host a Christmas supper without turkey so I bought the smallest one which was 23 pounds.  Derek's eyes bugged out slightly when I lifted the turkey out of the back of the car but he said nothing.  He didn't even question my poultry purchase on Christmas morning when he was bent over the edge of the tub sawing the legs off the turkey so it would fit into the oven.  (The turkey wouldn't fit in the sink so the washing and sawing had to happen in the tub).

Christmas Morning

The kids were up early and found the treats in their stockings, but waited until 7:30 to wake us up. Will and Thomas were most excited about the Nerf guns they received, while Kate liked the little set of drawers that she had spotted several weeks before at a local market. What Karla and I liked most of all was when Will said, "We didn't need any more toys, but we sure liked the ones we got!"

Christmas Eve

With our busy school schedule we haven't updated our blog for a while, but now we've started taking pictures again. School ended on December 23rd, so we had to make the final preparations for Christmas fairly quickly. On Christmas Eve, the kids were involved in a reenactment of the Christmas story at our church service. To keep it simple, a narrator read out the story while the kids acted it out on stage. Thomas was an angel, Kate was a sheep, and Will, under much coercion, finally agreed to be Joseph. I made Kate's mask out of a cornflakes box and Karla was lucky enough to find a package of cotton batting. I think it turned out rather well!

At the big Central Asian craft fair in early December, Karla found these lovely stockings for the kids. She also bought little ornamental stockings for each of the kids so that they could differentiate between the stockings. (She's very organized.) We hung them in front of our radiator. The little felt yurt on the window sill is a nativity set, including Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, a donkey, cow, and camel, an angel and three wise men (which some people believe came from Samarqand in Uzbekistan).

Kristin's Visit

We are all very sad here after saying goodbye to Karla's sister Kristin who came to visit us for a little over 2 weeks. She arrived just before our Fall break started so that we would have a whole week off to spend with her. We took her to some of the "traditional" tourist spots (the parks and bazaars) but also showed her off to some of the friends we have met here. Although she struggled a bit with jetlag, the kids were very excited to have their "Nona" with them and regularly woke her up in the morning by climbing into bed with her.

Although Kristin isn't quite the avid shopper that Karla is, she was dragged off to at least three different bazaars, including a great bus ride to one of them where Kristin was given a new Kazakh name by a fellow passenger and got up close and personal with a whole lot of others. We also showed her our "city of contrasts" by taking her to the expensive and posh Mega center where we took the kids to a games and amusements place called Babylon (complete with bumper cars and the like). Most things are geared towards kids, but the Dance Dance Revolution was too much of a temptation for Karla and Kristin.

I think Kristin's highlight was going on hike with me and my friend Pete. On a beautiful Saturday morning, we drove up into the mountains, parked the car, and started what proved to be a pretty tasking 4-kilometer march up to the ski resort Chymbulak. We stopped for a snack and then took three chair lifts up to the top of a ridge where we started our second, much more vertical, challenge. Pete was eager to climb to the highest peak, but we decided to try for the top of a closer ridge. It was a tough climb! And then we had to walk all the way back down again! But a great day and it finished off with our good friend Meiram cooking us shashlik (lamb and chicken kebabs) for supper. Thanks again Kristin for the great visit and the goodies you brought us from home!

New Family Portrait

I had to include this photo. Normally we find it a bit of a struggle to dress up for one of the many "spirit days" at our school. But dressing up for "Nerd Day" was fairly easy for us -- what does that tell you?

Honks and Horse Meat

First: Driving is so different here and one of the major differences is the amount of honking. A good portion of the drivers here are very impatient, which is clearly evident by their continual honking. Last month I was waiting at a red light and the driver behind me honked 5 times to get me moving before the light even turned green. Even more annoying is the practice of some drivers of zooming up behind us honking and flashing their brights. We were told early on that, loosely translated, this means "Get out of my lane! Can't you see I'm driving a Mercedes!" Although it is really frustrating, it is best to move out of the way because if you don't, more often than not the driver will pass you and then cut you off or slam on their brakes. We rarely go out without being honked at for something. My friend Gail told us this summer that her and her family started counting the number of times they got honked at and when they reach 100 they go out for a special family treat. So after only three months, we went out today for Chinese food to celebrate our first one hundred honks. It is amazing how linking honks with special treat changes our perspective.

Second: Before we even came to Kazakhstan we had read that, unlike in Canada, people here eat horse meat. Eating horse did not at all appeal to me but we were told that horse meat is more expensive than beef so I was confident I would not eat it "by accident". Before I learned how to read the word beef, to ensure I wasn't buying horse meat I would get the attention of the butcher, point at the meat, and "moo" -- just to be sure. Slightly embarrassing, but I really didn't want to eat horse if I could help it. But last week, the grade 12 students at our school chose to raise money for a class trip by making and selling corn dogs (hot dogs dipped in a corn bread batter and deep fried). They were quite expensive but I assumed that this was because it was a fundraising thing. NEVER ASSUME!! Unfortunately I learned too late that the "best tasting hot dogs" here in Kazakhstan are, in fact, horse dogs. To be honest, they were quite tasty but I don't think I'll be able to eat any of the ones left in the freezer. Live and learn. Maybe I should start "mooing" again.

Karla

First Day of School

It's back to school for all of us now, although none of us feel quite ready to get back into our busy schedule. We're happy to see all the familiar faces of friends again, but the prep (for us) and the homework (for the kids) is not so invigorating. Kate is in a split class of 23 kids this year (grades 1 and 2) since the school was unable to find a grade 2 teacher. We're still praying that a teacher will come at some point in the year to relieve some of the pressure. Kate already has a new friend in her class that she met at baseball games.

Will's teacher (grade 4) is new to the school but has been in the country for about ten years. He is very excited to be back playing with his friends in the schoolyard and always wants to stay "a little bit longer" after school to maximize playing time. Hopefully Karla and I pick up some of our kids' enthusiasm.

Baseball Champions!

Will's baseball team ended the season on a high note, winning two games in a row in the best-of-three championship series. Although we hadn't won a game against the first-place team all summer, their superstar player was out of the country allowing us to snatch the victory away. (Actually, we won both games by a large margin so those missing players obviously had made a lot of difference!)

The boys showed a lot of improvement over the two months (no doubt due to exceptional coaching) and had a lot of fun too. Although I was very thankful for the rest when the season finally ended, I was glad that we had made the commitment as a family. Just the connections we made with other families made it worth it.

Waterslides!!

To celebrate our first year of surviving Kazakhstan, we went to a waterpark for the day with two other families. It was a little expensive but this may be the only time that we go since we're back to school on Thursday. The weather was nice and warm, although we were interrupted in the afternoon by some rain. But it turned out to be a great day -- I think the chance of rain kept some people away so that it wasn't too busy.

The 'aquapark' was really quite impressive: there was a small slide for toddlers, four medium slides for young kids, four big slides for bigger kids and adults, plus two slides that use inflatable inner-tubes. One of these inner-tube slides was black and completely enclosed so that it was almost completely dark inside. I think this was everyone's favourite. Even Thomas liked it!

Road Trip

This weekend we took a road trip with some friends out to a village called Shelek. On Friday, on the way out, we drove into one of the nearby mountain valleys and took a small hike up to a waterfall. The path followed alongside the stream so the kids were able to play in the water all the way up and down -- which makes for a long hike! The waterfall was quite nice -- I stuck my head in it to 'freshen up', while my buddy stripped down to his undies and got entirely 'fresh'.

After getting back to the cars, we drove to a place along the road where, for a small fee, we are able to eat our lunch in a traditional yurt (well, almost traditional -- the inner frame was metal, not wood). The kids didn't sit still for long, though, and were soon running outside along the stream again. Across the stream a horse was laying on its side, hardly moving except for a kick of its legs every few minutes. Now I don't know a lot about horses, but I know that they don't usually lie on their sides for any length of time. So we were a little saddened at watching this horse in its last hour. But twenty minutes later, we looked again and the dying horse was gone. But a few yards away stood a fully-alive camel! I guess it wasn't a horse! And I guess camels don't mind laying down on their sides! After lunch, we made our way on to Shelek where we were able to have supper and sleep at the house of our friends' friends.

On Saturday morning, we drove further away from the city to a hot springs that our friends had heard about. The first stretch of highway we drove on was quite bumpy with a lot of large potholes, but the next stretch made the first one seem great. There was some rough gravel but where the gravel had got too rough, cars had made alternative routes around the gravel in the dirt. These alternates were not as rough but had huge ruts that (in my opinion) were even more hazardous. Not a great road for the old Volkswagen! I bottomed out a few times! And not great for attracting more tourists!

When we finally arrived, the hot springs were not quite what I had imagined. There was a free pool and a pay pool. The free pool was basically a small pond, almost black with mud (although some visitors seemed to like the stinky mud because they were covering themselves with it). The bottom of the pond was mud and rocks (some sharp), but the water was really warm and the kids liked catching the little minnows. So we soon decided to try out the pay pool. This was an actual man-made pool -- actual two pools: the first one was smaller and shallower but hotter, the second one bigger and deeper and a little cooler. But they were both too hot to stay in for long, especially on a day that was already 30 degrees. Maybe we'll go back in the wintertime...oh well.

On Sunday, we headed back to the city but first stopped off at an ostrich farm. I think the owners are hoping to sell the meat and eggs to some upscale clients: the meat was $70 a kilo and the eggs $50 each. Plus they sell the feathers and the leather. But it was interesting to see these big birds up close. The kids were able to feed them, although their beaks made us all a little nervous. Then we all packed up again and headed into the city. By the time we got through the city and the traffic and found our way home, everyone was exhausted...and I was ready to get off the roads. But we all had a great time! A weekend to remember forever!

To the Zoo

We finally found a time to visit the zoo and went with our friend Meiram and his daughter Ayolim. We went in the morning to take advantage of the cool weather, but it's been so hot here that it was still pretty warm. Most of the animals were still trying to find some relief from the sun. However, the lion was one of the first animals we saw and was quite active. He even charged at us (which was a little scary, despite the fence and the big trench between us) and then turned and shot some urine at us. There were quite a few kinds of big cats: tigers, leopards, black jaguars, cheetahs, ocelots, as well as lots of other big animals such as rhinos, elephants, crocodiles, zebras, giraffes. The enclosures aren't quite as nice as the ones back home, but there was a bigger variety of animals.

The kids really liked the monkeys, especially the baby ones. Will was a little concerned with the size of the enclosures (the polar bear pen was quite small) and how often the pens were cleaned, but the animals seemed in good health (although I don't think I saw any zoo staff except for food vendors). Meiram, as usual, was quick to buy treats for the kids and even bought a $5 picture of Kate holding a rabbit that a vendor snapped as we passed by. I tried to convince him we didn't need it but he loves buying things for the kids. My favourite part was watching Thomas walk hand-in-hand with Ayolim down the paths!

Weekly Sports

For a while now I've been meaning to take a picture of the field where I've been playing soccer and rugby with "the guys". The photo isn't great but it gives some sense of the beautiful mountains in the background. (The field is at AIS - Almaty International School.) I'm often amazed at the simple fact that I'm playing soccer or rugby on the opposite side of the world. There's a great mix of guys who come to play: Kazakhs, Americans, Brits, South Africans, Australians, Koreans. I think professional sports league have given many of us a sour view of sports, but it's great to see how sports can still bring people together even when the language or culture is different. And we're always in need of more players, so feel free to drop by anytime!

Lazy Summer Days

We are sure enjoying some down time on our summer holidays, although Karla and I need to start thinking about school again one of these days. But we have had more time for getting together with friends, sleeping in (as much as the kids let us) and having afternoon naps, setting up sleepovers and playdates for the kids, and getting some errands done in between. The school library is open for a few hours every Wednesday so that we can get new books throughout the summer and enjoy them in our new hammock (bought with anniversary money sent from my parents!), although it took us all a little bit to learn how to get into it!

But (no surprise) the kids have also been spending more time watching movies and playing video games. It's always a bit of a challenge getting them to do a variety of things, especially when it's 35 degrees outside and so nice and cool in the house (on the main floor, anyways), although Kate is still very good at coming up with crafts to keep herself entertained. Lego is still a periodic pasttime and we bought some jigsaw puzzles at the market as well (one of Thomas' favourite things). Hope all you who are reading this are having a relaxing and enjoyable summer as well!

The Boys of Summer

Baseball has kept us busy this summer and given us a bit of a routine with practices on Monday morning and games on Thursday evening and Saturday morning. This is Will's first time playing on a team and he is doing very well. In the very first game, he hit a homerun! Most runs occur because of errors, but the kids are improving. There are only three teams in Will's age category. His team is all foreigners (mostly Americans), another team is all Kazakh kids, and the third team is half foreigners and half Kazakhs. Will's team (the Pirates) doesn't have much experience, but so far we are consistent in beating one team and losing to the other.

I am helping coach (I seem to get hooked into coaching every time) and the rest of the family comes to watch. The field is a bit rough and the games are hot and dusty, but we are having fun. We managed to find a couple of Korean-made gloves at the big market (what an adventure that was!) and practicing in the lane has drawn quite a crowd from the neighbourhood kids. Everyone wants to try out the bat! Hopefully we can meet more of our neighbours through baseball!