Out for dinner in Almaty

We went out for dinner on Saturday with some new friends/teachers from the school. It was great--pretty serious meat meal. Skewers of meat--chicken and lamb and one skewer of liver. There were two local girls and both of them enjoy liver--Dave and Ronnie tried the liver and both said that it was good. We had a couple of salads too but really the meat was the highlight. The restaurant was great. There was seating inside but weather here is so warm that sitting inside would of been a shame. The kids had a great time b/c the restaurant was enclosed and there was a whole playground just beside the gazebo that we were sitting under.

On the way to the school--about a kilometre--we met this wagon being pulled by a burro. Right in the middle of the major traffic--just going at his own pace and everyone honks at him and then passes him. No one is too upset--just the way things are.

First Day of School

School started this past Thursday!! Pretty excited, Kyla and Cody were. They both did extremely well--we were pretty relieved about that. Cody's teacher is Mr. Cobbs from San Diego, California and Kyla's teacher is Ms. Cole-Baker--Ms. CB--from New Zealand. Kyla's class has so many different nationalities--Korean, Russian, Papau New Guinea, France, Turkey and of course, Canada.

Some days I walk home from work--this man is always on the side of the road--on his burro with a little whip keeping his sheep off of this 4 lane highway that is moving very quickly.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this cow--for my family. Right in the middle of the city--eating what little "grass" it can find.

It grows Wild

Well, a whole field of illegal substances growing wild right beside the school. It grows everywhere. No one thinks too much about it but they say harvesting it is quite illegal and could lead to criminal charges but yet we smell it on the street--alot. What an interesting country.

Cody Turns 5 and Almaty Int'l School

Cody turned 5 on August 19, we did have a party before we left Smithers but we did have to celebrate again in Kazakhstan. He was quite excited about picking out his cake. They really do a great job of decorating here, and so everytime he went to the grocery store he would check them out so he would be ready for his b-day. We tried our best to find a chocolate one but we failed. We took our dictionary, lingo translator and then we even found someone that spoke a little English and still we came home with this kind of wafer cake--all layers of wafers with icing between each layer--no sign of chocolate except some of the icing on top. It was still a great b-day.

A couple pictures of the school. It is pretty hard to see the security and the fence that goes around it but it is quite the compound. No need to lock your doors or the close windows--they don't even lock the school on the weekend b/c security is always there. It is so great to walk around the school and enjoy the green grass--that is not seen very often around the city everything is just dirt and dust. If there is grass--no one has a lawn mover--I think I have seen two in the last three weeks and that was a big event. Just like trucks--no sign of those either. I think that we have seen about 6 of those and Cody using spots those and gets very excited.

I think I have sent out enough pictures for the night--a little overload for me and anyone that is reading this but this is the first time in three weeks that this is actually working. Now the battery is running low. Hope this finds everyone doing well.

More Scenes in Almaty

A few more things in the city. I know one scene is our living room but I just wanted you to see how huge it is--especially after living in a trailer for the past year. The picture of the mountains--Dave is leaning out of our kitchen window to take that picture. There was fresh snow that morning. It has melted again but that was a little scary b/c those mountains are pretty close and we are not ready for snow yet. It is very warm here--we have worn shorts every day and at night it doesn't cool down very much.

We went on a tour of the city with teachers last weekend and this is a Russian Orthodox church. It is one of the only wood structures in all of Almaty. We did step inside and most of the women had on head coverings and the priests were dressed very much like you would expect of Russian Catholics with the full head dress and robes.

The last picture here--camera didn't go off on time--but the usual way of getting produce to the market--load up your Lada. It is crazy what they will put in and on top of their vehicles. They drive like they have no fear. When you see an accident here--it is bad but surprisingly for how fast they drive here there are not that many accidents. We just bought a car on Friday so we have been taking the city bus--now that is an experience. It costs about .40 and the kids go for free. The bus drivers are nuts and pray that you get a seat or at least something to hold on to b/c this is going to be the fastest you have ever gone on a city bus that doesn't look very safe and is quite often seen broken down on the side of the road. There are no set times for when the bus will show up--it will stop where ever you would like it if you can get the driver's attention and sometimes if he doesn't feel like stopping--he won't. I always left for work at the same time and I don't think I ever made it to work at the same time.

Playground Fun!!

Kyla and her 3 new friends. Had lots of fun playing with them but not one of them could speak a word of English. They did a little sign language and they had lots of fun playing together.

These little boys were quite happy to pose for the picture and not a minute after that was done there were about 7 more of them all posing and when we quit taking pictures they started doing their most dangerous stunts on the playground hoping that we would take more pictures. One of these boys knows a couple of lines in English--he is pretty proud. Hi, How are you and My Name is . It is pretty funny.

There are lots of traditional grandmothers but it is a little rude to take pictures of them but I used the zoom and she didn't notice. Quite often they are selling something on the side of the road--from bread to pots. They aren't always so fond of foreigners --we always have to pay full price and then some.

Going to London

Going backwards a little. This is on our way to Almaty. We had a 24 hour lay-over in London. We made good use of our time. We found our hotel pretty quickly and then got on a city bus and headed to see London Bridge. We wanted to see the Queen's house but it was too far. At this point we were pretty sleep deprived but the sight seeing was great. When we got to our hotel room we were expecting a double bed and a hideway couch for the kids. Instead we got two hide-away chairs. They were great and the kids loved them and obviously slept very well.

The flight went very well from Vancouver to London. Everyone had their own t.v. Cody and Kyla thought this was great. Cody, tuned into the McQueen movie immediately. About half way into it he looks up at me and says, "I am being really good, eh Mom" and yes, while he was watching t.v. he was an angel and after that he slept the rest of the way. Kyla was so excited about the little traveller package she received. She had on her new socks, eye cover for sleeping, the blanket over her lap and then wanted to try her new toothbrush. Fun for everyone!!!