Last Thoughts from Kazakhstan

Currently listening to: Tokio Hotel, “Monsoon”

Tomorrow is my last day in Kazakhstan. Actually, I leave early in the morning on Sunday, but my last day to do anything is tomorrow. Right now, I’m sitting on the couch watching Heroes with my parents and my brother. I can’t imagine leaving. It’s weird, you know? I feel like I’ve never left my life in Kazakhstan. I just slipped right back into life here with perfect ease, and it seems weird to think that I have this separate life from my family in MO. It’s completely bizarre.

Today, my parents, Grace, and I went to the Green Bazaar. There’s a mosque near there. Today was Friday so the mosque was crowded with tons of people. It was interesting to see so many people, especially the women with their heads covered—no one was wearing a burqa or anything like that, just a head scarf—mingling with the non-muslims that were in the area as well.

After that we went to Panfilov Park which is close by. There’s a Russian Orthodox church there that is open to the public. I love going there. Its very peaceful and the incense makes it smell wonderful.

Got to see some friends from here that I haven’t gotten to see yet. They have 3 kids, one that is only 3 months old and absolutely beautiful. Only the younger 2 children came. Daniel has gotten so big since I’ve seen him last, and so adorable. We all went to Mega because Colin was getting off work soon, and Daniel rode in our car. Grace and I spent the entire time tickling him. The littlest, Sonya, is beautiful. I think I’ve decided that if I ever have a daughter I’m going to name her Sonya.

Tonight a girl is coming to work here for about a year, and Dad is going to pick her up from the airport. The funny thing is that she is a graduate from CBC and we tried to meet before classes ended for the semester but never got to. Now we get to meet halfway around the world from Springfield. Crazy, huh?

There isn’t much to write. I really don’t want to leave, although I am ready for classes to start. Well, not really. I still feel like a kid and am dreading “school,” but I am ready to be a senior. A senior!

I just don’t want to leave here.

We're not living in America but we're not sorry...

Currently Listening to: The Sounds, "Living in America"

Geez, I have not written in a long time.

Recap:

Tuesday, August 7, and Wednesday, August 8—Just chilled with my family and worked some for Dad.

Thursday, August 9—First, my mom and I went to the Barholka, which is this massive bazaar here in Almaty. Lots of cheap, wonderful knockoffs to buy. We spent probably a good three hours in there. I think the only thing that could be compared to the Baraholka would be the medinas in Morocco, except at those people sell things out of stalls whereas here everything is sold from small stores made out of storage containers. You know, like the ones that you see on cargo ships and trains.

I will be a total girl now and tell what I bought:

• An awesome sweatshirt that’s from United Colors of Benetton,
• This super sweet purse that is so Asian, it is hilarious. Mom would not let me buy it until she was certain that there was not anything “inappropriate” on it, (i.e. nude cartoon women, lol).

• Jewelry for myself and a couple of friends,
• An amazing gift for my roommate. Do not know if you will use it, Laura, but you are definitely going to laugh when you see it!
• Some more gifts for family, and
• A Louis Vuitton wallet—very nice, but of course a complete knockoff.

That is something I really miss about Kazakhstan: piracy. I know that sounds so horrible, and yes, I know it is wrong and that it is stealing, (I have seen the commercials they show right before the DVD starts), but I miss how you could find a knockoff of absolutely everything. Its weird coming back to Kaz now because it is becoming harder and harder to find things like that. I mean, 5 years ago if you bought a movie you were practically guaranteed that it was pirated. I can remember seeing movies that had been pirated by someone who had snuck into a theater with a video camera. People coughing, laughing, and reciting lines along with the actors. Now, every movie and CD are covered in stickers loudly proclaiming that they are being legally distributed, and if you want anything pirated you have to go over the border and into China to find it. It’s a good thing, and I’m glad to see that in some areas Kazakhstan is actually doing something about corruption, but it still makes me feel just a little nostalgic.

Enough about my rebellious tendencies, and back to the recap:

Later, we had dinner with a family from church and the food was amazing! The wife is Mexican and had made the most wonderful food I have ever had. (So much better than El Chapala.)

Anyways, we were there for a couple of hours and then we left to meet Vitya for coffee and desert because it was my dad’s 44^th birthday! We, (Mom, me, Grace, Colin, and Vitya), all pooled our money together and got Dad a new cell phone. After desert, we went to Panfilov Park but it was so hot and crowded that we did not stay long.

Friday, August 10—Pretty much did nothing all day. Worked for Dad. Jenna came over later that night and we just chilled and watched a lot of TV. In fact, I finished Alias Season 4.

Saturday, August 11—Went over to another friends’ home, Hyayan and Susanna, with whom Grace, Colin, and I had led worship with a couple weeks ago, for lunch. They are Korean, and I have to say, Koreans have the best food in the world. Yes, it is even better than Mexican and Italian. We stayed for a good few hours. The girls are younger than me, closer to Colin’s age, but they and their brother, John, are incredibly sweet and fun to hang out with. We mostly sat in their room while the adults talked, (I enjoyed being seated at the “kid’s table” again. Have not sat there in awhile), and played with their two kittens, Crispy and Tiger.

Sunday, August 12—Church at ICF again. A friend of ours, John, (he actually dated my sister last summer), is leaving to go back to South Africa now that he has graduated high school, so we said goodbye to him. I think he leaves either tomorrow or Thursday.

After church, Colin and I went with Sander to Mega for lunch where I finally got to meet Suzy. It was so good to see her. She came earlier this summer with a Chi Alpha team, but stayed longer to be with her family. It was great to catch up on 5 years with her, and after lunch, I went home with her for an hour or two.

Dad picked me up from Suzy’s way too soon because we had to meet someone else at Mega, a local friend that I have known ever since I moved here. It is sad, I have been here for 3 weeks, but people are only now trying to see me since it is my last week.

Colin had to work until midnight, so it was just the four of us and Vitya for dinner.

To the Zoo!

Currently listening to: Jack’s Mannequin, “Bruised”

Sunday:

Yesterday after church, we, (my family, Vitya, and Ayanda), drove into the mountains up to the Big Almaty Lake. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was there. It might have been before 2000.

The trip up was hectic because everyone and their mother decided to visit the mountains and there was literally bumper-to-bumper traffic going up the mountain. The car was acting up and starting to overheat which, of course, stressed out Dad and thus everyone else as well.

We finally made it to the lake and managed to find a nice semi-secluded spot on the concrete “shore” where we had a picnic lunch. We were there for hours, just relaxing and taking it easy. Colin and Ayanda decided to have a contest to see who could keep their feet in the water the longest. I tried to join in but wussed out after a few seconds. The water was ice cold! Colin and Ayanda managed to keep their feet in for about 30 minutes, (Colin claims it was an hour at least).

Today:

Today, Colin, Grace, Ayanda, Sarah, Jenna, and I went to the zoo at Gorky Park. I swear, three minutes in that place and I’m ready to join PETA. I love animals. Danae would be proud of me. I would post pictures but my internet connection is from the stone age and I've been trying for the past 5 minutes. It will have to wait until I get back to America.

3 Days

From Saturday August 4, 2007

Thursday:

Lunch with Oksana, an old friend that I haven’t seen since high school. She was leaving for 2 weeks in China. It was good to see her, although I wish I could have had more time with her.

Rachel and I spent the afternoon together. We were going to go see a movie but nothing good was playing so we ended up sitting on a park bench outside of Mega and talked for a few hours.

After that, Dad picked me up and we went to a Bible study that meets in one of the church member’s apartment.

Friday:

Both Rachel and Joy left early in the morning. I had wanted to go to the airport early enough to at least see Joy off but it didn’t work out because my body likes to sleep late whenever I want to get up early.

Did some editing work for Dad.

Friday night was another prayer meeting at Grace and Colin’s church, then hanging out with Vitya (who my father has now started to call “V” after watching V for Vendetta).

Saturday:

I was supposed to go to a Kazakh wedding this evening with my Dad, but since I didn’t know anyone Dad said I could skip it if I wanted to. I opted to go with Grace and V to the movies, but once we got there we decided not to and the rest of my evening was passed very boringly at Mega once more. Oh well.

Sick day.

Currently listening to: Incubus, "Dig"

Sick, sick, sick, all day. Have done pretty much nothing except sleep, feel sick, and watch Alias and Russian MTV.

Slow Day

From Monday July 30, 2007

My brother, who I’ve taken to calling “William Beckett” since he has developed a taste for “girl pants,” interviewed for a job today. I really hope he gets it. I’ll keep ya’ll posted.

Haven’t been feeling so well today.

I was watching TV with “Beckett” and Jenna today, and we were just flipping the channels and watching mostly music videos (which is all Becket ever wants to watch) when we came to this one channel that was showing this French music video for the TV show Heroes. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen. I love being here in Kazakhstan.

Of Churches and Nightclubs

From Sunday July 29, 2007

Currently listening to: Fergie, “Clumsy”

This weekend has been great. Friday night, I went to a prayer meeting and got to see Grace’s boyfriend, Vitya (Victor), and his friends lead worship. They were awesome.

Afterwards we went to Mega to hang out and have some good coffee, (I think I’ve been to Mega everyday this week since I got here. Crazy!).

Saturday, my dad and I went to visit a friend of his who was leaving to go back to America. While we were there we discovered a couple golf clubs and decided to “play.” Basically, all we did was try to see if we could drive the balls past the pool and into the field below the house. Once we went home, Dad and I decided to play what Dad christened “Apple Golf.” Our backyard is filled with apple trees, and so our yard is littered with rotting apples almost all the time, so Dad and I had some fun. Silly, but fun.

Today, however, has been long and eventful.

Grace, Colin, me, and then two sisters named Susanna and Hayan led worship at ICF. ICF meets in this nightclub, which is perhaps the most random place I have ever heard of for a church to meet. So I can now say that I’ve been to a club before. Anyways, we practiced before church started and I was a nervous wreck because there were two songs that I wasn’t sure about, (I swear I have never sang one of them before, no matter what Grace says). According to my parents, (J), we did pretty well.

After church, some of the church members went on a prayer walk, myself included. I enjoyed that, mostly because I walked around places that I used to go a lot when I live here. Good memories.

After all of that, a few of us went to meet Grace, Colin, Ayanda, Vitya, Yura, and Nurlan at Mega (again) for lunch. It was so much fun. One of my classmates, Rachel, is here and she came with us. It was so great to see her. It’s been about 3 years since we’ve seen each other, and we spent pretty much the whole day together.

After lunch we came back home and watched Little Miss Sunshine, which is awesome. Why did it take so long for me to see this?

Its now sometime after 9 and everyone has gone home. Rachel leaves for America on Friday, but we’re going to try and do something before she goes. It was so great to be with her and to hang out. We reminisced about high school and I am now completely nostalgic. I’m also exhausted.

G’night.