Almaty - Turgen Gorge

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.