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.

Transformers

So, I just finally managed to get on the internet today, but I had already written my blogs for here. Hope this isn't too confusing!

From Thursday July 26, 2007

Currently watching: Transformers

Transformers is an okay movie, but it was about 45 minutes too long. Maybe it would have been better if I had seen it in English instead of Russian.

It was good to hang out with Colin, Ayanda, and the Dimas, though.

I thought I had conquered my jet lag, but I was mistaken. Grr.

2nd Day

From Wednesday July 25, 2007

I think I have kicked jet lag’s butt. I managed to stay up most of the day yesterday and went to bed sometime after midnight. I had the deepest, dreamless sleep in the longest time, never once waking up until 8:30 this morning.

Grace had to go to school for worship practice. She and 2 other girls will be leading worship at the International Christian Fellowship (ICF) this Sunday. I think I have somehow been recruited as well, so I apologize in advance to everyone that has to hear me sing.

While Grace practiced, Mom and I went shopping and then had lagman which was amazing! I mean, I hate pasta but I love lagman, and I’ve been craving it for a long time. It was so good. Here is a pic of the deliciousness:

Had mostly a lazy day today. Just hanging out downtown, and then watching a couple episodes of Alias: Season 4. Around 7, we went to Mega for coffee and to hang out with Jenna, Brandy, and Grace’s boyfriend, Vitya, who is just awesome.

I still can’t believe I am here. It’s crazy. I just wish more of my friends were as well. It would have been nice to see them.

Sorry this isn’t so interesting. Dad’s already started to put me to work, but there isn’t much to tell there. Yet.

Going to see Transformers tomorrow. In Russian. How cool is that?

The Stale Taste of Recycled Air

( From Tuesday, July 24)

Currently listening to: The Postal Service, "Recycled Air"

I’ve been in Almaty, Kazakhstan, for about 15 hours. The trip was uneventful; just long flights, layovers, and bad food. Here are a few thoughts I had over the 36 hours of traveling:

• Even if you get lucky and have an empty seat next to you, there is no way you can sleep comfortably on a plane in economy class.
• In the Land of Women tries much too hard to be like Garden State. Having said that, it was an okay movie, thanks mostly to Meg Ryan and Adam Brody (the only actor that ever made The O.C worth watching).
• When the flight attendant asks you, “chicken or vegetarian?” realize that “vegetarian” is really just another term for “Indian,” something you really don’t want to put in your body at the beginning of a trip around the world.
• Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service can help sing you to semi-sleep.
• If you are a Rocky virgin, you probably shouldn’t enter into the relationship with Rocky Balboa.
• Don’t drink too much tomato juice. Also, go to the bathroom at the beginning of the flight when the bathrooms are still clean.
• Remember to eat the Fig Newtons you packed in your carry-on before they make their way to the bottom of your bag and are crushed.
• Bring more than one book.
• It’s okay to cry in the airport over Harry Potter. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
• Bring toothpaste and/or mouthwash. It helps both you and the people around you.
• If your hair is long, bring something to tie it up. Otherwise, you’re going to look like the lovechild of Professor Snape and D.J. Tanner.
• I don’t know why but it’s so easy to recognize people from the former Soviet Union. I think it has something to do with their clothes and with the way they carry themselves. You arrive at the gate, ready to get on the flight to Kaz, and everyone waiting with you looks completely different from those walking past your gate. It’s like when you compare matte printed pictures to glossy ones: When you look at one picture, it looks fine, but when you compare it to the other there is a difference. Its slight, but its there. Has anyone else noticed this?
• When you finally arrive in Kazakhstan, keep your mouth shut so you don’t embarrass yourself in front of your sister’s boyfriend by constant chattering stemming from sleep deprivation.

I made it through customs, met my sister’s boyfriend and his friend, drove home, unpacked my suitcases so that my sister could have her presents, ate breakfast, took a shower, and then promptly fell asleep on the couch for five hours. I woke up to Channel V and Fall Out Boy’s music video of "This Ain’t a Scene,” and my mother musing over just how ugly Patrick Stump is. I’ve also already had one fight with my sister! Ah, it’s good to be home.

My dad and brother are away at soccer camp until tomorrow afternoon (apparently, my dad’s the new coach), so it’s just us girls and Alias. My brother did come home for about 4 hours to see me (and get his presents; that’s just how much he loves me).

Well that’s enough for this update.

Limbo

Today I realized that when I leave next Sunday, I will be stuck in that strange limbo of planes and airports for approximately 28 hours and 37 minutes. And that's only if we leave on time and arrive on time. No delays, which is just wishful thinking.

Now, think of this: that's just my time spent on 3 different airplanes and 2 layovers in 2 different countries. Factor in that it will take me about 2 hours to get to Richmond from home, and I will need to arrive at the Richmond airport at least an hour beforehand. This means I have an additional 3 hours of "travel time." Next, take into account that once I arrive in Richmond I will be having lunch with my grandparents (and hopefully some friends) before leaving for the airport. That's, what? at least another hour and a half?

I'll probably be getting up around 8:00 AM that morning, so by the time I arrive in Kazakhstan I will have been somewhat conscious, (I don't sleep well on planes at all), for about 36 hours.

36 hours. And the sad thing is, I'll be arriving in Kazakhstan around sunrise. Rule of thumb: Don't sleep your first day away when traveling. It will take forever to get your body on local time if you do. I mean, I'm sure I'll go to bed when I get there, but not for long.

As much as I am looking forward to this trip, getting there is going to suck.

1 week until I leave.

Trial Run

Currently listening to: Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

8 Days, 9 hours, and 57 minutes.

This morning I did a "trial run" and tried to pack my suitcase:

See all those things in bags and packaging? Yeah, that's all the stuff I'm taking over for my family and friends. I took these pictures before I even packed my own personal belongings! I think I'll be okay, though.

Good News!

My passport arrived today complete with my brand new Kazakhstan VISA. I am officially going!

A Good Day

Currently listening to: Hillsong United, "United We Stand"

18 days, 3 hours, and 45 minutes

Today has been a good day. A great day. I've been communicating with my family via email about what I can do in Kz., and I am so excited about the possibilities.

I am so thankful that I will get to see my family, but I'm even more grateful for the opportunities that will be heading my way.

Still waiting on my VISA. According to the TDS, the VISA process takes approx. 5 business days. I'll start worrying next Friday if it's still not here.

Ciao.

Monday, July 02, 2007

In 19 days, 3 hours, and 10 minutes I will be leaving the United States and spending a month in the country of Kazakhstan.

I hope to use this blog as a way to keep track of my travels and adventures.

One of the things I hope to do while there is work with an English club. This idea both thrills and terrifies me. I am a very shy person, and the idea of trying to find ways to teach and entertain a group of people that could be from anywhere between the ages of 10 and 40 overwhelms me.

If not that, well I hope I can do something. I won't be getting paid for any of this, but that's okay. I'll pay for school somehow.

So now I'm just waiting for my passport to return from Washington, DC, with my brand-spankin' new VISA.

More to come soon.