Kazakhstan With the V's

The Last Post

2011-09-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks for visiting our blog. It has acted as an e-photo album of the 2008-2011 school years.

We stopped in England for a few days on our way home in July: Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Dover, where we could see France in the distance.

We're back in BC--a very small town called Fraser Lake, population 1,500; exactly 1,000 times smaller than Almaty, Kazakhstan, where we have been living and studying. Dover, England, below--if you look closely, you can see Edna and the kids wandering along the paths on a beautiful day at the beach.

We originally started this blog in order to document our lives overseas and to keep our families updated on our activities and whereabouts. When we left for Almaty, Kazakhstan, 3 years ago, there was very little 'street-level' information regarding outdoor sports, prices, customs, religious etiquette, etc.

E.g., prior to leaving, Wikipedia asserted that the country was 93% Islamic. We can report, with confidence, that Allah is not impressed with mosque attendance, of late. Our modest little blog became a sort of visitor's guide for people moving to the area who were also challenged by the lack of current, accurate, information.

However, Kyla and Cody made seamless transitions into their new schools: Grade 5 and Grade 3; Edna picked up a part-time job at the Health Clinic; Dave continues to teach at the local highschool; and we have a very nice home on quiet acreage 10 minutes from town. Come visit.

3 years
11 countries

160 flights

7,860 blog hits

10, 649 memories

Good-bye Almaty.

2011-06-28T09:12:00.001-07:00

9:44pm, Tuesday night. Kyla and Cody are upstairs having a nap because we are heading for the airport in a few hours. Our 3 year adventure in Central Asia is nearly over. Frankfurt then London for a few days, then Smithers, BC. Thanks for following our blog. We'll post the last pictures and stories soon.

Kyla: Then and Now

2011-06-07T22:50:00.001-07:00

This is Kyla (aka Loop)--7.4 years old, and then, receiving flowers from a friend in London, on her 10th Birthday.

Cody--Then and Now

2011-06-07T22:37:00.001-07:00

This is Cody on his 5th Birthday in Almaty, and then, 40% of his life later, in Athens, Greece.

Kazakh Mosque Builders

2011-06-07T01:40:00.001-07:00

When the Soviets left in 1993, there were 68 operational mosques in Kazkahstan. In 2011, there are more than 2,200. Simple math: they open a new mosque every 3 days.

Saying Goodbye to my Niva

2011-06-06T22:36:00.001-07:00

We've been through some things together
With trunks of memories still to come
We found things to do in stormy weather
Long may you run

Long may you run, Long may you run
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining
In the sun
Long may you run

Neil Young (1976)

Sheep and Yurts

2011-06-05T23:33:00.001-07:00

These sheep and sheperds are attached to the entry below. This is 2 hours outside of the city but it could be 100 or a 1,000 years ago. They were very friendly and welcoming, unfazed perhaps, in the same way that we were bemused their lifestyle.

Yurt--2011

2011-06-05T23:22:00.001-07:00

This is a very rare site in Kazakhstan, today. We've been here for three years and this is the first time we've seen such an authentic use of a yurt. They're tents, obviously, but they have a rigid frame and their covering is made of felt. The family that lives in this one moves across the steppe with their sheep, pictured above, for weeks and months at a time. No electricity, no running water, cook outside on a fire, and enjoy the solitude of the steppe.

Colgate's Miles for Smiles Run

2011-06-05T23:12:00.001-07:00

This is a gang of our friends in the 2nd Annual Colgate 5km Run. It's a fundraiser for orphanages in Almaty. Quite successful and lots of fun, if only a little disorganised.

Kyla and Cody--Summer 2011

2011-06-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

The Poppy Fields

2011-05-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

We drove 2 hours onto the steppe this past weekend in search of a legendary and ethereal poppy field. Poppies are quite a fragile flower and they have a bad repuation in this part of the world, but we had a great afternoon wandering around in a few acres of wild red-ness: if you want to draw attention, use red..it is often where the eye looks first. Red is the color of energy. It's associated with movement and excitement. People surrounded by red find their heart beating a little faster and often report feeling a bit out of breath.

Red is the ultimate cure for sadness. - Bill Blass

Painters use red like spice. - Derek Jarman

Red means go. V'

Red is the color most chosen by extroverts. -an introvert.

In the former U.S.S.R. (Kazakhstan), red means beautiful. The Bolsheviks used a red flag as their symbol when they overthrew the tsar in 1917. That is how red became the color of communism.

The Last Poet, by Juan A. Beigh

2011-05-16T22:09:00.001-07:00

On news-stands now, across Canada. Hurry, before they're all sold! Ed Janzen (editor-publisher) of Canadian Stories based in Fergus, Ontario, risked his professional reputation by publishing a short story I wrote. No money, no fame, but if I inflate it a bit, it'll make my obituary a little less mundane. Special thanks to Jack Hodgins for 10 years of encouragement.

May "Longweekend."

2011-05-15T08:52:00.001-07:00

No: I didn't take these amazing pictures. Our good friend from Kamloops did--Judy Gray. We camped with Peter and Judy last weekend. It's good to hang out with Canadians.

The Kazakh Steppe

2011-05-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

No trees, no traffic, no problem.

Kazakh Images

2011-05-15T08:24:00.001-07:00

Summer is here.

2011-05-15T08:09:00.001-07:00

It's May, so that means we're having trouble making posts again. We went camping last week, and, in keeping with BC's May 24th weekend, it rained. But it was fun.

Poros and Ageana

2011-04-09T04:15:00.000-07:00

We rented a car and some bikes while in the islands.

Why hasn't anyone written a movie script about the places you can (and should) take a rental car? The guy didn't even ask for a damage deposit.

A Loop Silhouette.

Biking around the islands was great; we plan to do the same in BC's Gulf Islands when we get back.

2011-04-09T03:32:00.000-07:00

We booked ferries and hotels on Santorini, but, at 6:30am, we were told that a big storm out on the Aegean prevented ships from leaving port in Athens. So we jumped on a small ferry and went island hopping near the coast where the weather didn't affect travel.

Poros is only a few hours from downtown Athens, but it seems a lot further.

And it was so quiet on these islands, we could behave however we wanted.

We stayed in this suite for a few days. Great view of the harbour, but you can't point that out to Cody when he's using his alloted 30 minutes a day of PSP time.

You know what Greek Salad is called in Greece? Salad. We had salad, olives, feta cheese, cucumbers, and bread, EVERY day. It was so good, I nearly set my alarm for 3am so I could get up and eat some more. The image above is the view from our restaraunt.

A Birthday Card for Russ

2011-04-09T03:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Russ! Here's an e-card for you. (Russ has race horses and property in Aldergrove, BC, where he lets old horses retire with him.) This bronze horse and rider are in the Central Museum in Athens. They spent nearly 2,000 years at the bottom of the Mediterranean until they were found in the 1970's. Click on this image for detail; it's quite amazing. Happy Birthday, Russ!

Athens: March 2011

2011-04-09T02:55:00.000-07:00

Spring Break: 2011. We booked flights to Cairo via Istanbul but there was a little bit of rock throwin' going on so we had breakfast at the Istanbul airport and went to Athens instead. The Acropolis was great but very cold and windy which meant very few tourists.

We spent the first day on foot, walking all around the city eating fresh bread and olives.

But it was windy; we nearly got blown off the top of the Acropolis.

A late (but great) Winter

2011-03-07T08:47:00.000-08:00

It has been cold, but we've been enjoying it. Here we are skiing with our American peers.

Almaty at Altitude

2011-03-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

There is a park on the city limits called Kok-Tobe. Rather like Vancouver's Cypress Bowl, it offers a unique view of the city below. We hiked it last Friday evening. It's been unusualy cold here for the past few weeks: -10 to -15. But this is what the city looks like at 6pm on a Friday at the end of February.

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass Beatle

2011-03-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

We dropped Kyla off at a birthday party and we decided to go for a small hike while we waited for her. It was -15. Not bad by BC standards, but for Almaty, it was quite an ordeal. We've been here for three years, and we can't find the explanation for why they play Beatles music 24 hours a day at this little display of solid brass Beatles in a park above the city.

Vietnam: A Random Sampling

2011-02-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Power to the People

2011-02-14T06:45:00.001-08:00

We've mentioned before that this blog acts as our journal and photo album of the past 3 years. We plan to get it professionally printed and bound when we get back and then add it to the kids' photo album collection. This entry is for Kyla and Cody; let's jump ahead 10 years, when you are both in college. December, 2008: hundreds of thousands of people protested in Bangkok, Thailand, demanding the resignation of their Prime Minister because of government corruption and human rights issues. We arrived in the city less than a week after the people forced the ruling party to resign. We saw some of the remnants of the (mostly) peaceful, but vehement, protest.

April, 2010: hundreds of thousands of people protested in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (less than 200km's from our home) demanding the resignation of their Prime Minister because of government corruption and human rights issues. Countless people died and thousands evacuated, including two Americans and their baby who stayed with us for a few days until order was restored after the PM was forced to resign. We stood in the square above one year earlier.

February, 2011: hundreds of thousands of people protested in Cairo, Egypt, demanding the resignation of...well, you get the idea. Details in this case are not required, except to say that we cancelled our tickets for the pyramids this Spring Break. In all these cases, the people were forced to throw rocks, endanger their lives, and ruin the economy in order to prepare a better future for their kids.

Kyla and Cody: to be Canadian is an under-appreciated matter for some Westerners but it is, paradoxically, highly envied by other people in the world. I hope I never have to throw rocks at my government, but I would for you.

February 15th, Flag Day in Canada.

Janury 2011

2011-02-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

This is +28 celcius, December 26th: Mui Nhe, Vietnam. This is -10 in the sun, -20 in the shade, five days later.

We arrived at the Almaty airport at midnight, experiencing a 50 degree temperature spread after a 6 hour flight.

You can spot this solitary stone on Google Earth at 43' 15.576 North and 76'01.095 East.

It's called the "Energy Rock." Not sure if it is an meteorite or an ancient tombstone or a radio-active remnant of an[other] failed Soviet experiement, but the locals revere it. We had a great day walking around in the sun, trying to feed the horses.

This One is for Kendra and Owen!

2011-02-08T06:57:00.000-08:00

First of all--Congratulations Kendra on all your visits from the tooth fairy. You have a beautiful smile!! Cody has decided to join you with an impressive smile too!!

But, once again--he ate the tooth. The first one fell out while eating a camca--pastry with meat and onions inside. The next one came out while eating potatoes for lunch--he noticed something a little hard both times but just kept swallowing!!

Hil, you mentioned how Owen doesn't like to cooperate for his photo op's--well, Cody isn't too much better. I just asked that he show his teeth so that I could take a picture to send to Kendra and these are only 3 of the 7 shots. The last one was by far the best and I had to use a very serious "mom" voice to get that one. So, here's to you Owen.

This last picture is of some friends, Kyla and Cody hanging out on the stairs after having a good supper. These girls are the daughters from the "Chef" at school. Their mom is from Kazakhstan and dad is from Finland. Beautiful people!! A little intimidating cooking for a Chef--thank goodness he was gracious and he likes beer! Couldn't screw up on that one.

The Asian Winter Games: 2011

2011-01-23T22:12:00.001-08:00

The 7th Asian Winter Games will start in 5 days. All the locals are quite excited about this. There are rumours of schools and markets and certain streets being completely closed for 7 days in order to accomodate the games. Like most things Kazakh, we won't know until the very last minute. Seriously. This is one of the purpose built venues. It's really quite impressive. But Almaty was built (unknowingly) on a very active earthquake fault line. It makes me nervous every time I look at.

A unique view of the city.

It's only snowed twice this year; a month ago and today, finally. So hopefully all the events will be well attended. Watch CNN or BBC for medal results.

Confluence 12 Degrees North, 108 East

2011-01-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

Cody and I got up at 6:30am one day, jumped on a moped, and headed for the hills in search of Confluence 12N and 108E. Check out www.confluence.org for more info. It took us about 5 hours to ride 110 km's. Along the way, we met some coffee growers. At 3000 feet above sea level, it was quite cool in the shade, but it was perfect for harvesting and drying beans.

The image above depicts coffee beans at varying stages of being sun dried.

Almost every house, like the one above, had beans sun drying in the front yard.

Cody really doesn't like his picture being taken. We got back to the beach after riding through the jungle for 8 hours. We didn't make the confluence. It was still 60km's from the furthest point we got to. That might not sound very far, but at an average speed of 30km's an hour (fast for Vietnam), we would have added another 4 hours to our 8 hours already vested, bringing us back in the dark (and that would have been too much of an adventure, even for me).

Cuisine in Vietnam

2011-01-16T01:07:00.000-08:00

Another enjoyable part of holidays--no cooking and lots of great food. The food was so good in Vietnam and the price was unbelievable. We didn't eat a lot of food on the street from vendors--we tended to stick to restaurants that looked reputable or road side cafes that had lots of people in them.

Cody has not eaten crab since we went to the Queen Charlottes but he remembered that he really enjoyed it so he put in a request for this one dinner. Well, he really likes it and he can eat it alot faster than his dad can open it up.

This was the view from this restaurant!!--right out to the ocean.

Breakfast at our hotel--always included with your stay!! and so far it has always been great.

Fishing Boats

2011-01-15T04:21:00.001-08:00

This is another small fishing village near Nha Trang, Vietnam.

Almost all boats, from ferries to freighters, have a set of 'eyes' painted on the bow so that the boat can see where it is going.

But not fishing boats. Because if fishing boats had eyes, the fish would see them and swim away, scared.

Canoe-ists would really admire these fisherman. They have these cool 'dinghys' that they use to check their nets and get to shore with. They're perfectly round and handmade. If you're a canoe-ist, you're familiar with the "j" stroke. The Vietnamese "j" stroke is accomplished by attaching the paddle to the gunwale with rope, at the back, and then, by paddling and undulating, incredible speed and direction is possible.

Sleeping Bhudda

2011-01-15T04:05:00.000-08:00

Of all of the likenesses of Buddha that we've seen in the past few years (which is too many according to Cody), this was one of the biggest. Reclining at the top of a mountain, this 161 foot sleeping Buddha was solid stone/concrete.

With a peaceful, smiling face, this Buddha lies on his right side with his head resting in the palm of his right hand. The reclining Buddha represents the historical Buddha at his death. It is said that the Buddha knew death was approaching, so he asked his disciples to prepare a couch for him in a grove.

The White Sands

2011-01-15T03:28:00.000-08:00

For some mysterious geo-morphological reason, the sand in this beach community didn't have much of a relationship with the water. Note how the beach-front homes and the road are between the surf and the sand. We rented toboggans from some local kids and proceeded to ingest, inhale, and saturate ourselves in sand.

A Chinese jeep we rented. At first we wanted the roof to come off, but after a few minutes of +35 degrees at 80km an hour, we were thankful for the protection.

The weight of the sand forced fresh water up to the surface; this is not salt water.

Mui Ne, Vietnam

2011-01-15T03:06:00.000-08:00

Mui Ne is a small fishing village in Vietnam. We stayed there for about a week. Great food, sunny and hot, and we swam in the ocean everyday.

Vietnam Fashion

2011-01-05T07:49:00.001-08:00

Vietnam--Cu Chi Tunnels

2011-01-03T22:05:00.000-08:00

We went on a tour of the Viet Cong stronghold in southern Vietnam. I thought I understood the Vietnam conflict, but it is/was quite complicated. Example: when you meet people, and you want to have more than a surface level conversation, you first have to establish (a) are they pro-American, or not (b) do they prefer to call the city Saigon or the (forced upon) name Ho Chi Minh City (after the 1970's "liberator"), (c) and, are they OK with the communist government, or not?

The guy that took us on a tour of this site was a diplomatic blend of all of the above (there were a lot of Americans in our group).
This little hatch on the jungle floor was/is an opening of a 220km network of tunnels that the Viet Cong used to hide in from the Americans and the Communists.

Kyla, showing more courage than me.

These passages led to multi-floor hospitals, bedrooms, ammo stores, kitchens, and living quarters.

Wikipedia asserts that "the role of the tunnel systems should not be underestimated in its importance to the Viet Cong in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually culminating in an American withdrawal."

I had a serious anxiety attack going in this tunnel, but Edna and the kids thought it was fun (the lights weren't on).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2010-12-15T08:37:00.001-08:00

We are heading out in a day to Vietnam. Everyone is excited that school is done and we are going for another adventure. How lucky are we!! I just had a root canal, Dave got food poisoning and Kyla is getting a cold but we will be ready by Friday morning. Now they are predicting snow and the fog here has grounded a lot of planes but we hope and pray all goes well and we will celebrate Christmas and New Year's in Vietnam. Wishing you all a Great Christmas and a Happy New Year. Missing you all and looking forward to seeing everyone in the summer.

Happy Holidays, everyone

2010-12-15T02:59:00.001-08:00

Greetings. We've been having trouble making posts lately, so here's a short one from Kyla. We'll be off the grid for the next few weeks, enjoying the sun and surf in Vietnam. Have a great holiday season, everyone; we'll "talk" again in 2010!

Here's a rendition of Jingle Bells corrupted by Kyla and her friends:

Dashing through the snow
On a pair of broken skis

Over the hills we go
Crashing into trees

The snow is turning red
I think I'm almost dead

I woke in the hospital
With stitches in my head

Ohhh...Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

(You'd expect that from Cody, but Kyla?)

Mukhtar Auezov

2010-11-28T06:56:00.000-08:00

Myxtap (Moo-gh-tar) Ah-(upside-down ‘e’)-way-(ye)zov-(3OB).

Edna and the kids are posing with Auezov, considered the father of Kazakh playwriting. He is also credited with preserving and translating local histories and stories. He was the first writer to translate and introduce Shakespeare to Central Asia in the 1920’s. Why mention him on our blog? We live on Auezov Street, Almaty, Kazakhstan.

An Imbalanced World

2010-11-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

The map above is one year old, but the data below represents 2010. The Corruption Perception Index can be found at http://www.transparency.org/ It's worth a glance if you have the time; if not, consider the following highly abbreviated report:

The least corrupt country in the world is Denmark. Unfortunately for Somalians, Afghanis, Burmese, and Iraqi's, their governments are at the bottom of the list: #175-178

#6 Canada

#22 USA

#105 Kazakhstan

#154 Russia

#154 Tajikistan (where we have a school)

#164 Kyrgyzstan (next door to us)

#172 Turkmenistan (6th from the bottom) A co-worker here in Almaty recenly transferred from Turkmenistan. He corroborates this report. His friend was pulled over by the police for having a dirty car. If he didn't pay the standard $50, he would have lost his licence for a year.

Kazakh police are angelic compared to at least 70 other police forces.

Another Random Sampling

2010-11-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

We went for a drive out on the steppe and this is what we saw:
-these ladies are Turkish and Uzbek; they set up a fruit stand on the side of the road in the-middle-of-nowhere. They sleep in blue tarp tents for a few months at a time.

-this guy was trying out a new toy at an abandoned airport. It's a good place for training; check out the horizon--no obstacles!

-socks and potatoes for sale on the side of the road.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-19T08:32:00.000-08:00

Edna and her co-worker organized Halloween in our gated community this year. Trick-or-treating is unknown in this country except in enclave "villages" like ours. So we had a "compound party." Families from Poland, France, Russia, Canada, The Ukraine, The States, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tunisia and Korea attended. We had a barbeque in the parking lot. The food was exotic and extremely ethnic; ironically (or not) the hot dogs and the s'mores were very popular. That's Cody in the Spiderman costume.

Gorky Park

2010-11-13T07:41:00.000-08:00

There's a Gorky Park in nearly every former Soviet capital city. These are our friends on the ferris wheel in Almaty's version of Gorky.

Here's Cody trying the 'drawbridge rope' in the park.

Stalin and Lenin's statues have been replaced.

Cotton candy: ubiquitous fair 'food.'

Cody's friends at school have begun calling him 'fanta.' He's rarely seen not wearing something orange, and the soft drink "Fanta" is his favourite.

Tamgaly Tas Petroglyphs

2010-11-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

These petroglyphs are a 2 hour drive north of the city. They are 1200 years old, Bhuddist in origin, but otherwise misunderstood--Kazakh historians don’t have time or resources to study or preserve them.

Here's a faint outline of Bhudda.

If I was optimistic and more sensitive to political correctness, I would describe Kazakhstan as a "developing country" or an "emerging economy." There are so many things about living here that we really enjoy, things that we will actually miss. Tragically, the ill effects of the Soviet-era are far reaching. Colonized people around the world typically first lose their religion, then their language, then their ancient history followed by their recent history--it's inevitable that morale, values, pride, and purpose also dwindle.

Hence, this image:

This is the entry to the petroglyph site--you might call it a park, complete with a park bench. But, for a completely mystical explanation that escapes most non-Kazakhs, the amount of garbage and the profane neglect for mother nature that exists at these settings goes unseen by the locals. Soviet oppressors: bad.

Let's put the "fun" back in dysfunctional!

2010-10-31T02:59:00.000-07:00

Only the Soviets could have conjured up this display--implements of war and destruction proudly exhibited at the "Almaty Family Fun Park."We're always a bit creeped out when we see this sort of thing amidst the balloons, popcorn vendors, and merry-go-rounds--maybe we're too Canadian.

Hey, Jerry: I think the helicopter is a Mil Mig Mi-8. Have you ever jumped out of one?

And this one, below, is either a Sukhoi S-221 or a Mikoyan Mig 195.

The image above is what aircraft should be used for: making love, not war. And they shouldn't drop bombs; they should only drop my friends at the Abbotsford Parachute Centre. Hi, Debbie.

Ili River/Kazakh Steppe

2010-10-25T09:17:00.001-07:00

We went out for a drive onto the steppe, in pursuit of 1200 year old petroglyphs. Above Cody's head, on the other side of the Ili River (eal-ee), is an "old" nomad fortress/movie set used for the movie "Nomads" or "Mongol." The picture below is a great example of the physiography here. Flat and barren, punctuated with the occasional river canyon, or ruggedly mountainous, similar to the Rockies.

Edna and Kyla, just before we descend into the canyon, 1000 feet below.

Potatoes anyone?

2010-10-25T07:10:00.001-07:00

We counted 30 bags of spuds in/on this car. If each bag weighs 50lbs, then at 1500lbs, I'm pretty sure the spuds weigh more than the car.

Temperature Change

2010-10-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Oct 18th, it was 26 degrees celsius here in the city. Today, Oct 22, we woke up to a little bit of winter.

Autumn in Almaty

2010-10-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

This is Almaty after 24 hours of rain and an 80km/hour wind, i.e., no smog. This is our new hiking club on top of the ridge of the photo above.

A paradigm shift in citizenship dynamics on our staff: 6/7 of the above are Canadian.

Cathy: Ottawa; the V's: BC; Peter and Judy Grey: Kamloops; Brock: Wisconsin.

The snow line is dropping here too.

Little Mosque under construction

2010-10-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

There's a new mosque being built in our neighbourhood. Cody and I walked over to admire their craftsmanship. All brick and mortar; no wood, no steel. There was an aged, robed gentlemen at the main entry selling prayer mats and texts from the Koran. Cody and I really wanted to get into the site and meet the workers who were quite freindly and welcoming from behind the construction fencing.

I asked the gate guy "Moshe-nah? (Permission?)
He said, in Russian, "Do you speak Russian?"

I said "Nyet."

"Parlez vous Francais?"

I said "Petit," but I should have just said "non" in order to save time.

"Deutsche?"

"Nein"

"Urdu?" (the Hindustani language of the Muslim world)

"Nyet." (Holy macaroni: who is this guy? Four languages and counting.)

Patiently, as if to test me, he asked "Allah u Akbar?" (God is great?)

Finally! We could communicate! "Allah u Akbar!" I replied.

"Moshe-nah," he replied, smiling. ("Permission," and he gestured for us to enter.)

We took exactly 20 steps and then the mullah saw us (the mosque's main teacher). He stopped us and started giving the gate guy trouble. We've visited several mosques in 3-4 different countries and there are usually places within them that are clearly innapropriate for us to enter. But in Almaty, we weren't even allowed in the entry way. Maybe next time.

An entry for Grace Z'

2010-09-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Grace Z'...how are you? (Grace is an 8 year old friend of ours in Grassy Plains, BC). You would really like it here. If you drive out of the city for 20 minutes, you can find "wild" horses. We went for a hike last weekend and we found 38 "stray" horses. We don't know who they belong to. Want one? The problem is, we'd have to pay for 3-4 seats on the plane just for one horse. And what if it got motion sick? Gross!

And besides, you'd probably want to get dressed up like these girls and take over the Southside.

Hike--That made us all CRY!!!

2010-09-10T09:29:00.001-07:00

What a hike!! It started out so well, we first went up to this sign a month ago and thought that it was telling us not to go through the gate. So, we took this picture and had it translated--it says that we should watch out for falling rock! Not a big deal--have you seen the stairs.

The morning started out great, we did stairs for an hour and 15 but we were prepared for that and then we knew that we had a slow downhill walk for about 2 hours. After that we were going to cross the creek--up to our knees and then catch a gypsy taxi back to our vehicle. All went well and then....

The view from the top of the stairs--nice smog, eh!! The coal burners haven't even started--this is clean air!!!
The river is down there between us and that road and the ride back to our car!!!

We got to the bottom, a litte tired and very warm--it was about 30 degrees. A big problem though, the city decided to open up the dam and the creek turned into a small river and there was no way that we could cross it. We tried for about 45 minutes and there was no way. We finally had to make the decision to walk back soon before it got too late. We left just before 4:00 pm and we got back to our vehicle just before 7:00. It was not enjoyable and we were so tired. Kyla and Cody were such troopers--did I tell you that we were really low on water too. What a day but the next couple of days were not too enjoyable either. We were so stiff from doing the stairs for atleast 3 days--I am not bragging about that!!

Cody's B-day and More Hikes!!

2010-09-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

The blog is working--so quickly down loaded a few pictures. They don't really fit together but who knows when we get the chance again.

Cody had his b-day w/in the first week of returning to Kazakhstan. It wasn't so easy to find friends that were back from the holiday but these guys made for a very fun afternoon. They wanted a tatoo and so while they waited for the water to make the tatto stick, they had to count to twenty in their native language. We heard Korean, Dutch, Kazkh, Russian and of course English.

Hike number 1--out to the apple orchards and then to the water dam which looks down upon a woman doing her laundry by hand in her front yard and you can see their outdoor shower too. The luxeries of Almaty.

Hike number 2--we drove up to Big Almaty Lake--the water supply for the city. On the way down we stopped by these statues. After a summer in Smithers with the surplus of bears--this is quite a change--this will be the closest thing we have here for wildlife!!

Summer in Canada

2010-09-10T01:05:00.001-07:00

Return to K-stan: 2010

2010-08-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

Frankfurt, Germany--The Zoo

On our trip to Canada, we had a lay-over in Frankfurt. We checked out a few sites in the city. The zoo was pretty fun and we had a great time getting over the jet lag by eating french fries with mayonaise and sausage with mustard--it was a real treat!!

Soccer spirit was in the air--they were painting their eggs in the flag colours!!

The old city square downtown Frankfurt!!

We were so tired that right after this we found a nice piece of grass and we all laid down for about an half of an hour.

Summer Holidays are here.

2010-06-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

Edna closed the June books in her office today so summer break has officially started! We are heading for the airport in 2 hours--back in BC in 48 hours. In that regard, we probably won't post many blogs in the next six weeks. Here's a closing shot--we'll 'see you' soon.

Birthday Balloons

2010-06-27T09:20:00.001-07:00

When I was a kid (this is Dave typing), I heard about kids who had ponies at their birthday parties (and other urban-legend related tall tales). These photos were taken directly across from our house. Kyla's friend Sacha had a birthday party, complete with two rented clowns, lunch at a fairly posh restaurant, and a ride in a hot air balloon. Just another day in Kazakhstan, the land of contrasts.

Proxy Post

2010-06-24T22:19:00.001-07:00

Little mosque on the prairie. This is a test to determine if I can post images via a proxy; thanks Michael.

Enter for a chance to get your town photo on Bing.ca! Submit a Photo Now!

New Post

2010-06-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

Greetings. China occasionaly blocks people's access to Facebook, Myspace, and Craig's list, while here in Kaz, Blogspot gets locked down for months at a time.

So we haven't been able to post updates, regularly.

However, we will be back in BC in early July and we hope to see as many people as possible before we come back in August.

Thanks for following our blog; hope to see you soon.

44 Degrees North, 79 Degrees East

2010-06-09T08:57:00.001-07:00

Check out http://www.confluence.org/ if you have some spare time. Its an e-project designed to visit and photograph every confluence (where a line of longitude and latitude metaphorically cross) on the planet. The image above is our bee-u-tiful Lada Niva. It drove Streeter, Brock, Mims and myself 4 hours north of Almaty and 100km's across the Kazak steppe (prairie/desert), in order to claim a never-before-visited confluence.

The image below is my not-so-bee-u-tiful friend Streeter, waking up in the morning (5:30am) on the steppe, after sleeping under the stars.
We started driving again at 6:00am arriving at the confluence a few hours later. All zeros on the GPS equals success. Check out the horizon below. Past the hazy drumlin in the distance, there is NOTHING, in any direction, for 1,000 km's.
This is the gang: (left to right) Streeter, Brock, Mims.

To get a better sense of the project, visit the site. While you're there, visit 55N and 127W. Brad and Lauri: in ten years, we should do another one with your kids (who weren't even on the radar screen when we did the first one). Cheers!

Another Caption Contest

2010-05-30T23:25:00.001-07:00

Add a suitable caption for this image. Points for originality and outrageousness. Enter often (Waldo).

A Soviet Vestige

2010-05-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Meet Alexander Dimitry Pavlovich and his 25 year building project. Every morning, he wakes up, lights a smoke, and steps outside to get some sand and stones so he can mix up a batch of concrete for his castle. No electricity. No gas powered machinery. Just a shovel, a trowel, and a pair of rubber boots.

He still has his Communist Party Registration Red Book, below. In my life, I've seen an authentic copy of Mao Zedong's Red Book (in a library) but I never thought I'd ever see a real 'red card' in the hands of an enthusiastic member.

These are his hand-drawn blueprints. He built this by hand, and you might think he's nuts (he actually presented as quite stable and rational) but when you look closely at the first image, above, and consider how much he has accomplished, I think he might actually get it down.

He lives in it during the summer. Not clear on the financing, but the work ethic is fairly plain to see.

Zhanna Pachina's Dacha

2010-05-30T07:35:00.001-07:00

This is Zhanna's dacha. A dacha is a very common second 'home' for many city dwelling people in the former Soviet Union. We work with Zhanna at our school. Her husband died last year and together they owned nearly 2 acres of apples, plums, apricots, cherries and pears.

It's a bit much for her to manage by herself now, so several of us who actually miss doing yard work converge at her dacha once in a while and attack the yard.

More of a cabin than a house, it's perched on the side of the mountains that fence in the city of Almaty. There are thousands of dachas with a 45 minute drive of the city and no two of them are alike. Outdoor toilets, running (mountain cold) water, and a goat-track for a road.

The first dachas in Russia began to appear during the reign of Peter the Great (1725). Initially they were small estates in the country, which were given to loyal vassals by the Tsar. In archaic Russian, the word dacha means something given.

Charyn Canyon

2010-05-04T01:39:00.000-07:00

We drove 200km's yesterday, one way, to get to Charyn Canyon. It's often referred to as Kazakhstan's mini 'Grand Canyon.'

The drive was so rough that we all have at least one loose dental filling, but it was worth it.

The deepest part of the canyon is 300m below the parking lot. In some places it is 3km's wide, and the river that flows through the bottom is 154km's long. We only hiked about 3km's. It is not recommended to visit in July and August because it is too hot.

1,000 Words

2010-05-03T23:02:00.000-07:00

No Comment

2010-05-03T22:33:00.001-07:00

2010-05-02T04:03:00.000-07:00

When we first said we were moving to Kazakhstan, most people said "where's that?" Initially, we didn't really know where it was either. The image above is a yurt; traditional nomadic steppe (prairie) housing. No: we don't live in a yurt.

This is our house. It's about a 3 minute walk from school to our gated community. Because it is so close, we host "Fridays at 4" de-briefs for anyone who is interested, every Friday at 4pm.

But we got a bit carried away this past Friday. Actually, our boss paid for this little get together. Our school has recently been accredited and accepted by the Kazakh government as a fully licensed International School. So we celebrated.

Kazakh plov

2010-04-29T02:20:00.000-07:00

Pronounced pluff, plov is another meal that we eat once or twice a month. It's prepared in bulk with these 'portable' cookers. A wood fire beneath the pot slow cooks rice, beef, veggies, oil, and an assortment of closely-kept-secret spices, according to each families' recipe. This was cooked at our school a few weekends ago.

Wikipedia asserts that is is a staple in at least 52 countries ranging from Tajikistan, below, to Sweden, where it is called pilaff.

In Afghanistan it is called pilau, below. Out of more than 50 languages, it always begins with the p' sound.

In most Western diets, it is simply called rice pilaf, but it's origins are Mesoptamian and Persian (1,000 years ago) thence Central Asian and Turkik.

Kazakh/Uyghur Food

2010-04-29T01:59:00.000-07:00

This is laghman. It's a delicious pasta dish that is very common in this part of the world. The noodles are made from 'scratch' and it is very time consuming.

Our friend Nadira has been making this dish since she was a kid. It takes most of the afternoon.

It's Cody's favourite dish: meat, vegetables, noodles, and spices, served in soup bowls.

Top secret technique, below.

East meets West

2010-04-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit with George and Tina. This is the Bosphorus Strait, Istanbul; March, 2010

The Korean Contingent

2010-04-19T08:30:00.001-07:00

This is Hyun-jin, Hyun-suk (twins), and Hyun-cody. Classmates and neighbourhood kids; and we just found out another Hyun-jin moved into the neighbourhood. Our neighbourhood.

Co-la (Co-dy & Ky-la)

2010-04-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

Bosphorus Strait

2010-04-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

This is called the First Bosphorus Bridge. Completed in 1973, it connected Asia and Europe for the first time. But Herodotus, the father of written history, reported that Emperor Darius built a 4,954 foot floating pontoon bridge in 510BC. Big boats...

Little boats...

...and every morning, these little fishing boats go out and catch their limit.

Hidden Meaning

2010-04-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

This is Greek and it is probably legible to some people even though it is close to 2,000 years old. Any interpreter/translators out there?

Davinci Code?

Crusader icons? Knights Templar? They were all here in Ephesus at one time.

Secret handshake kind of stuff.

Caption Contest

2010-04-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

Submit a one sentence caption for this image of Edna and the headless statue. Prizes for originality and outrageousness. Enter often. Click to enlarge.

Almaty: Spring 2010

2010-04-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

We finally took down our Christmas Tree last weekend. We haven't actually had one in the house for the past two years so our neighbours think we are a bit odd; kind of like the time they watched us carve pumpkins (instead of eat them).
10 days ago, we had 3 inches of snow. Today it was over 15 degrees celsius and things are starting to green up.

Turkish Turtles

2010-04-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

Ephesus, Turkey

2010-04-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

Statues near the entry to the site. Cody. Moments later, a teenager tried the same stunt and got into a little trouble.

The Library of Celsus. 1,900 years old, it once contained 15,000 scrolls. Celsus is actually buried here in a lead container inside a marble tomb. Rumour has it, he didn't pay his overdue fines.

The Little Odeon Theatre. Seating for 1,450 people. George, Tina, Edna, Kyla, and Cody are in the upper right hand corner.

Basilica Cistern: Istanbul

2010-04-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

Built sometime before 530AD, this water reservoir served the city for a thousand years. Our hotel was directly above these pillars; this is below street level. It has survived countless earthquakes and civil unrest.

It's been open to the public since 1987. A highly recommended visit when in Istanbul.

We're Moving!

2010-04-01T01:28:00.000-07:00

Exciting news! We've accepted jobs at an International School in Rodarap (pronounced ro-dare-up), Parador, for the 2010-2011 school year. Edna: business office; Dave: teaching. We still plan to be in BC for 5-6 weeks this summer, but then we're moving directly to Parador. We get a six bedroom house, so you are all welcome to come and visit. Pictures coming soon.

The Colours of Istanbul

2010-03-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

Coppers... ceramic kaleidoscopes...

silks...

and orange.

Dinner and Coffee

2010-03-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

The food in Istanbul was fantastic. Kebabs, doners, and fresh seafood every evening. Turkish food kept our meat-a-saurus kids very happy.

And the seafood was straight off the boat.

Coffee shops with views of the Bosporus Strait.

And, of course, Turkish coffee. I describe it as jet fuel mixed with sawdust. Coffee was introduced to Turkey 450 years ago. It became an instant success. The Ottomans introduced it to Paris and London 100 years after they became hooked on it. But in their haste, their almost immediate addiction, they overlooked filtering it; your last mouthful is always an unusual blend of slime, grit, and charcoal.

The Great Theatre

2010-03-29T03:36:00.000-07:00

We spent a few days near Ephesus. 2100 years ago, the population was 250,000. The Great Theatre, below, was built around 280BC. It can seat 25,000 people and is still used today for culture and art festivals.
The short video clip, below, was taken during a few quiet moments when the 6 of us were in the theatre completely by ourselves.

The Grand Fortess

2010-03-29T03:08:00.000-07:00

This is my brother-in-law George, standing at the base of Ayasoluk Hill in Selcuk, Turkey. The Grand Fortess is perched at the very top. I'm not completely sure who started building it or when, but the Ottomans used it as a lookout and stronghold for several centuries. It's been closed for 10 years because of "renovations." But we met a local who kept insisting that if we snuck in with him, in the evening, we wouldn't get in trouble. This is Edna making sure no one is watching us.

This is the view from the top.

This is Ali, our free-agent tour guide.

And here we are perched at the very top of the minaret that the muezzins used to call the faithful to prayer.

Turkey(s): 2010

2010-03-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

Turkey: 2010

2010-03-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

We just got back from Turkey. Another excellent trip. This is the Blue Mosque, downtown Istanbul.

Galata Tower: built in 528AD, it is one of the oldest structures in the world that still allows visitors.

The Bosporous Strait, viewed from the Galata Tower. Europe in the foreground, Asia in the background.

George and Tina came out to visit us for a week.

More pictures coming soon.

2010-03-11T18:58:00.001-08:00

Canada-stan Wins: Almaty News Report.

2010-03-09T22:12:00.000-08:00

My "World Geography" students and I created an interactive scoreboard for the two weeks of the Olympics. We have about 46 different nationalities attending our school here in Almaty. All but Indonesia, Ecuador, Palestine, Venezuala, Turkmenistan, and Parador were represented.

We updated the medal rankings every morning. I was getting a little nervous until the last 4 days when we (Canada) surged ahead.

Most of my students couldn't comprehend that I actually knew three of the torch bearers. But then I explained how few people live on Highway 16. That was even more puzzling for them.

Tubing at Ak Bulak!!

2010-03-09T19:21:00.000-08:00

After 4 hours of skiing last Saturday, the kids still had some energy and they wanted to go Tubing! We watched a couple of times but today we tried it.
The attendant tried to stop Dave and tell him that we could not go on the tubes wearing ski boots but Dave said, "Come on kids; just walk past him." The funny part is that there was a mom going on the tube with her son, and this is not an exaggeration, she had 3 inch tapered heels--that would be more of a weapon than the kids' ski boots. So past the attendent they went. He finally gave up--thank goodness; it was a long way down to the car to get their regular boots. Cody is at the top of the hill and then this man and his kid are right behind Kyla--they just about hit each other a couple of times. Kyla was laughing so hard, we thought she might fall out.

They had to pull the tubes up from the bottom of the hill but there was a tow-rope at the top. It was a rough day at the hill! Dave helped them pull up the tubes.

Dave's Birthday Celebrations!

2010-03-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

The player I am, the smoker I get. No, wait. The more immature I am, the better I understand. Maybe...the more I know, the less I undersatnd. No, really; this time I got it: the older I get, the more I refuse to mature.

The Mongol's Fort

2010-03-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

Take a VERY close look at these images. This fort is located on the Ili River, about an hour and a half out of the city.

Believe 85% of what you hear, 75% of what you read, and 50% of what you see. This entire site is made of plastic and compressed cardboard. It's an abandoned movie set, out on the steppe. In 2004, one of my students' father built this set for the movie "Nomads." Filmed between here and Outer Mongolia, it's one of the first Kazakh films accepted by the industry.

С Днем Рождения' to me

2010-02-23T22:28:00.000-08:00

"С Днем Рождения to me," means Happy Birthday in Russian.

My second favourite gift, after being woken up by my kids this morning, has been receiving the news that our leave-of-absence from School District #91 (Burns Lake) has been extended for another year! Thanks, Rick! We have a few more countries to visit, so we'll only be home for the summer, then back to Almaty for 2010-2011.
Oops!

Vancouver 2010

2010-02-14T06:28:00.000-08:00

We watched the opening ceremony live on TV here at 8am, Saturday morning. It was a great show. I'm a little worried about facing my colleagues and students tomorrow and having to explain Ashley McIsaac's performance. What the heck was that? It was like Mad Max in 'The Road Warrior' meets River-dance! Last weekend we went looking for a hill to go sliding on. It's been -15 here for about ten days. Remember the Jamaican Bob-sledders in Calgary in 88? These Kazakhs probably didn't see the movie 'Cool Runnings,' but they could have starred in it. They're sitting on an inner tube wrapped in a shower curtain.

It was an extremely gray day. Overcast, foggy, and cold. But gravity compensated for the lack of colour.

Cody pulled his touque right down over his face, leaned back, and tried his own Olympic version of downhill. He should have been wearing a helmet. Seems like I say that a lot.

Return to the Desert

2010-01-31T04:07:00.000-08:00

This area of south-central Kazakhstan is called The Red and White Mountains. We drove through a desert-steppe landscape for hours without seeing anyone. We clogged up our Niva, above, with sand and silt so badly, that it has been in the school garage for 3 months.

Something like the Grand Canyon...

...except with beautiful people.

North Atlantic Salmon in Central Asia

2010-01-30T17:51:00.000-08:00

Fresh (frozen) Norwegian salmon. We split an 80kg case with our staff. BBQ at the V's next weekend!

Akbulak Ski Hill

2010-01-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

The skiing in Almaty is quite a bit better than we expected. But we prefer Akbulak; an hour and a half outside of the city. Good snow, a brand new gondola, it's always sunny, and it's a great place for the kids to learn.

Almost as good as B.C.

Chip the glasses and crack the plates...

2010-01-26T06:51:00.000-08:00

...that's what Bilbo Baggins hates! But I think old Bilbo would have enjoyed this temple on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Built in the early 1800's, it is completely decorated in ceramic dishes and bits of pottery.

The dishes and fragments were thrown overboard by Chinese traders who used it as ballast in their sailing ships when they came up the river beginning in the 1600's.

We were allowed to climb all over it.

Good place for a picnic.

Swarm the Canadians, 2009

2010-01-24T00:30:00.000-08:00

One more swarming for the year. It produces mixed feelings of concern (check your pockets, after), and humour (their laughter and smiles are infectious). Kyla and Cody are in the middle somewhere.

A cold morning in Almaty

2010-01-23T19:20:00.000-08:00

I'm quite proud of a telephone conversation I had with a Kazakh repairman this morning. Our furnace broke down. So, with some trepidation, I called the maintenance office. After a year and a half, I still can't speak Russian:

Dave: Dobra oo-trah (Good morning)
Repairman: Dobra oo-trah
Dave: Mya doma holudna (my house cold)
Rm: Nyet arasho (not good)
Dave: Nyet. (no) (laughing)
Rm: gydah (where?)
Dave: pah-dees-yat, pyat (#55)
Rm: dee-set minota (10 minutes)
Dave: Okay
Rm: Okay (laughing)
Dave: Spaseba (thank you)

Russian is extraordinarily difficult to learn and we just don't have the time to study it. Plus, we live in a 'bubble.' It's all English at school and on weekends we hangout with our Western friends. I was extremely reluctant to phone the maintenence office, but the kids were starting to get cold. It's -5 this morning. All last week it was -20.

Tumbledown. 1

2010-01-23T18:49:00.000-08:00

A thousand years of tremors, hurricanes, and erosion has had a negative effect on Angkor Wat. Some of the temples were left in this state because there isn't enough money to restore them all, and...

...some are virtually impossible to put back together.