Tuesday, December 25, 2012

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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





Sunday, December 23, 2012

The Difference between -20 and -40

-20º C is cold.  -40º C is painful.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Sometimes it's just so cold!

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

But some days it just feels much colder!

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

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

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

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

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

We waited for half an hour.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday, December 6, 2012

They pay you how much?!


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

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


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Poor Advertising


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How awful!

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

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

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

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

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

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