New Bikes and a House

What more could we ask for when we live in a house in Kazakhstan and have happy kids--at least most of the time. We moved out of the apartment to a house in a gated community. We do realize that we live in a bubble and this isn't the reality of Kazakhstan,but it is so great for Kyla and Cody. They may go outside freely and there are places for them to bike. This gated community is right next to the school so we all walk and bike there and it takes less than 5 minutes.

The house is a great size--3 bedrooms and an office. The crazy thing is that there are 3 bathrooms in this pretty average house. It is either feast or famine here.

A Happy Birthday

I just celebrated a b-day and I celebrated it Russian Style. Russian Style means you bring your own cake and snacks to work and share them with all your colleagues. Because we have had so much trouble with buying a chocolate cake, I thought I would go for something that looked very chocolate and not worry about the price and go a little more top end and pray that it tasted good. Well, once again I got skunked on the cake. Right after Olga read the Russian label on the box I had a good laugh. I thought the flowers on the top of the cake were made from chocolate but they are prunes. The label on the cake said Prune Cream Cake. No one complained and the whole cake was eaten and no one saw the humour in it except the nurse and me.


This is our office--Olga and I work in here doing the books, registering all the new students, collectioning tuition and giving the guys money for all the errands they do for the school and the teachers. The other girls are Irena, Ludmilla, Olga, Assem, Gulmira and another Olga. It is like a pre-requisite to get a job here--have the name Olga.

On Sunday night, some friends stopped by kind of unexpectantly--I just happened to have made a pretty large--very kid friendly dinner--pizza and macaroni and cheese. They brought cake, beer, a present and flowers. The day was complete--lots of good conversation and lots of humour and laughing. Brock is from Wisconsin--he is new this year, Kyle is from Texas and he hangs out in White Rock every summer so he is now a Canadian Texan, Wendy is from New Zealand and Malu is from the Phillipines--she teaches at another International School in Almaty. A bit of a motley crew but always a good time had by all.

It`s true: Apples are from...

A highly recommended read. You`ll laugh, you`ll cry, you`ll learn something. We did. Everytime I eat an apple, I`m reminded of where I currently live and how much priviledge there is in the western hemisphere of this planet. Read, eat, remember and believe.

Apples are from Kazakhstan: Part 1

This is Edna, Kyla, and C.B., sometimes refered to by her first name, Wendy. Originally from New Zealand, C.B. is part of our regular weekend mountaineering group. Several weeks ago, our hiking group crossed a ridge, at altitude, and descended into this apple orchard. A common site in and around Almaty are huge, seemingly abandoned orchards. Not sure how this phenomenom came about, but I suspect it has something to do with the profound failures of the Soviet experiment. This lady and her grandkids were hauling out a 50lb sack of apples. She told us they were the infamous Aports and she gestured that there were plenty more up the hill. Hundreds of trees, no discernable property owner, but plenty of pickers, including 5 incredulous westerners. We climbed the trees or shook them and Cody did an admirable job of chasing the big ones as they rolled down the hill, halfway back to town.

Apples really are from Kazakhstan.

Apples: Part 2

These are Aports, and there is no shortage of them. Streets and shopping malls are named after them. They're either delicious or sour, depending on when you pick them. The free-range cows, goats, and horses that roam around within 10 minutes of the city limits feast on them. Locals, and us, can just walk into any unattended orchard and stock up for the week. Many enterprising youth will lug out a 50lb sack and then set up a fruit stand on the curb. Driving out to this area, we passed 10 or 20 such stands.

Fall colours in the apple orchard. Hundreds of trees, several varieties. Most of them were quite sour, but some were fantastic and they smelled great too.

And this is "the apple of my eye." The saying originally refered to the central aperture of the eye, presumably because apples were the most common sphere-shaped objects around. The apple and the apple tree were also sacred symbols for the early British people. Today, this phrase is usually figurative, applied to someone who is cherished--Kyla Vanwerkhoven, aka., "Loop."

Hike: Part 1

A few weeks ago we were tripping around in the mountains here: The Tian Shan. At the end of the day we spotted a huge peak that was shaped like a pyramid, without snow on it. We came back to work and told a bunch of our fellow hikers and then organized a loose group of them to go back and climb it. We call ourselves A.I.C.H. Almaty International Club of Hikers (pronounced, fittingly, ache).

We began our hike at about 5,000 feet. Unlike B.C., there's very few trees above 5-6,000 feet. It was a nice sunny day. We found some early 'September' snow, but that didn't stop us. At about 8,000, there was a neo-yurt. They were selling tea, bread, coke, and, of course, vodka. So we had some--tea, that is. This is Kyle, Malu, Streeter, Brock, and the Gaines gang, enjoying a little break. The locals were a little concerned that we were just sitting around in our T-shirts soaking up some sun. Anything to do with "the cold" horrifies them, including ice-cubes in their drinks. Most of them are 100% certain that you can get a cold if you eat too much ice-cream (I'm not making fun of them; they really do believe it).

Hike: Part 2

This is Josh Gaines. He's pointing to the top of a peak that we have planned to climb. He's from Idaho. His wife, Tara, and a bunch of our friends here are going to climb up to the Everest Base Camp (18,000 feet), during our Christmas holidays. So this should be easy for him.

My new GPS indicates 10, 042 feet. Getting close.

I don't want to use the name of the guy that has been in hiding since that 'incident' in New York eight years ago (the bastards at the CIA are electronically tracking every thing I write), but when you see landscapes like this, you begin to realize how big the world is and how many hidey-holes there really are. We're only two countries away from Afghanistan, but he's probably living in Okeefenokee Swamp, Florida.

This is the very top. 10,682 feet. We were tired and hungry but quite happy to reach the peak. The views were spectacular in every direction except to the north--Almaty was shrouded in smog.