I'm a very happy individual because although I am currently in a country that doesn't even celebrate Halloween, I still had a Halloween party to go to!! Yayyyyyy! I thought I would be missing Halloween, and therefore planned ahead by having a Halloween party in July, yet instead I have 2 Halloweens!! :DD Good deal!
SO anyway I haven't updated in awhile, but what is really new...? Well, some boring things: my kitchen sink leak is fixed (or so it seems), I might be getting a large lock on my door sometime this week so there is no longer a fairly large hole in it/only one crappy lock combined with a door handle that is nearly falling off, and I now work over 40 hours a week, not including the tons of time spent planning lessons. And yes I am complaining, excuse me. Saturdays are generally the only day I go out, and I would say I've been to a fair amount of the bars here now. Also the weekend is the only time I get to be the real Amanda, the 22 year old Anthropology major who loves learning Russian, as opposed to the 24 year old English Education major who has 2 years of experience and has lived in Kaz for 2 whole months almost and knows 0 Russian. I didn't realize how hard it would be and how much it would frustrate me to be in class and pretend I don't know any Russian and not answer or change the subject when my students try to figure out how I get around 'with out any Russian'. So pretty much I treasure my weekends. And have been using them to get in Russian practice!! :D But the weekend is also the time I do my tons of laundry/clean my house/sweep up the dead bugs. I guess since it's getting colder more bugs try to sneak in (and are successful), cuz I have noticed an increase in the number of spiders/little cockroach creatures. Strangely the cockroach creatures always seem to already be on their back, mid-death. I think it's all the Raid I spray in my house, it just floats around and is making them sick or something ha. Sorry this is really gross I just realized, I'm just used to it now.
What else...obviously the fact that I have more hours means I have more students, some of which are SAT students and IELTS students, so that has been interesting. I also have another Foundation class twice a week of 3 students; so far that has been ok, although I was very stressed about it initially. Oh and I started private Russian lessons twice a week (as of last week, so hopefully it will continue this way) with one of the ladies from the office. It's very exciting to me, but we'll see how long I have enough energy/time for these. I don't think I've ever had private lessons of anything before, so it's just cool to have someone talking to me and seeing what I don't know, and only working on that until I get it and then moving on. Idk I just think this will be extremely helpful and I'm excited!
And it has already snowed here! It was snowing for about 2 days, but then quickly became hotter and stayed warmish over this past week. Suuuuuch strange weather here, it cracks me up. I thought it was very nice of Almaty though, because I'm not quite ready to be in a blizzard for many months on end yet. It's slowly acclimating me I think, or trying to. Oh and before it snowed, it was randomly like flood rains, with water in the streets coming up to almost my knees at certain parts...pretty insane. I have quickly learned which of my boots are rain proof and which aren't. Also canvas Vans kinda fail. Still haven't bought legit fur-lined winter boots yet, I have no idea what I'm waiting for.
So...I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but meh.
and HOW THE HECK IS IT ALREADY NOVEMBER?!?!
That is all. Пока!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Real World Russian
It is quite funny to me how different using Russian in the real world is as opposed to using it in class. In class, you learn many many vocab words relating to all the 'useful' things: food, clothes, places, restaurant words, general conversation situations. Which of course is very helpful; I mean if you can't read anything off of a menu or ask where the bathroom is, it can be a bit difficult to get by. But while actually LIVING somewhere where everyone speaks Russian, my vocabulary has expanded rapidly in directions never even mentioned in my language classes. Such that now I can describe a situation in which a pipe under a sink has a leak in it. Even if it is just a strange half piece of pipe with a bunch of plastic bags shoved in it. Yup, I have described that exact situation multiple times, because that is indeed what is currently happening under the sink in my kitchen. I know 'plumber service' and 'water canalization service' and even talked my neighbor in to coming over to look at it and advise me what to do (shove more plastic bags in and call the owner to call the plumber). Not to mention I quickly learned 'soviet style [plug]outlets' and 'delivery service' thanks to my washing machine issues at the beginning. See, here all problems are just a lovely learning experience teehaa)))
For now, I have alerted my boss and will let my sink leak its heart out into the plastic bags and get it fixed tomorrow because I'm meeting some friends to hang out at a house owned by a suspiciously American/British sounding pair of guys. To make shashlik! (like legit kebabs) and enjoy a few beverages. I don't know how much fun I'll have though..I mean it will probably be lacking in the sleazy Italians department :P
For now, I have alerted my boss and will let my sink leak its heart out into the plastic bags and get it fixed tomorrow because I'm meeting some friends to hang out at a house owned by a suspiciously American/British sounding pair of guys. To make shashlik! (like legit kebabs) and enjoy a few beverages. I don't know how much fun I'll have though..I mean it will probably be lacking in the sleazy Italians department :P
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Cold feet, sleazy Italians, and Pizza Hut
Well hello there and sorry it's been a bit...I wouldn't be surprised if anyone even checks this anymore. So where to begin... cold feet.
Yet another thing I had forgotten (that is past perfect tense by the way :D) about ex sov countries is the horror having cold feet can cause. I don't mean cold feet like I am too afraid to do anything, I mean like the possibility that my toesies are chilly. Such as when I was wearing flip flips BUT ALSO jeans and a jacket, this random guy getting into his car yelled to me with genuine concern, 'aren't you cold??'. I just stared at him, shocked. It wasn't even very cold honestly. But either way I don't understand how my being cold affects him. Also a girl in closed toe high heels, a skirt, and long sleeved shirt walked by, but ya know, she's ok...her toes are covered. I was stared at by many people that day, as in staring at my feet and then looking up at me in bewilderment. I wanted to yell 'Didn't you just see like every girl walking around here?!? At least I wear pants and a jacket!!'. But no. I was then scolded by a few teachers at my school, on of which was wearing a dress.... yup I don't get it.
So then last week or so I hear my doorbell, as I had recently learned what it sounded like out of my own curiosity- which was probably a good thing since it is like a soft tweeting bird noise... (I have this thing called a Domofone, which is the phone for the building, like a code you call the house and I can push a button and it unlocks the building door. I hear this all the time. Then people usually knock on your apartment door), and it is a woman whom I'm assuming is my neighbor, asking me to pay her 300tenge to clean the shared floor hallway thing near the stairs. Corridor? I don't know what to call it. I asked her to repeat herself, and she again says I need to pay her. I kinda don't care if it is clean, I mean it didn't look bad anyway, and would rather not pay for it using my prized 200 tenge bill and 100 tenge coins I never have (which are necessary for taxis who never have change), so I try stalling. 'You are cleaning it??' Bad idea. She starts angrily ranting, waving her arms around, getting in my face, and then muttering to herself 'it's only 300 tenge' before turning around to go back to her apartment. Not wanting my neighbor breaking in through my ghetto door and killing me in my sleep, I say 'ok ok one minute!' and go to my wallet, wondering if I'm getting scammed, but realizing if I am it's only 2 dollars. I take one step outside of my apartment (barefoot of course) and she stops me, and says 'ah! get inside your apartment!!' while wildly pointing at my feet. This coming from a woman who 2 minutes before looked ready to strangle me for not immediately handing over money to someone I don't even know. NOW she cares about my health!
Enough of that. I'm sure I'm skipping something, but this is far too long already. Maybe quick sum. Friday I get out of work at 930pm, and Danielle and I stopped by this bakery to be fat and get some little bite sized cakes to take home. I go home and am then called by girls who are the friends of Jessica, the girl who lived in Kaz before, and say they are going to this party and then to a club. Long story short, I end up befriending a few more cab guys and teaching them English phrases, getting deals on my cab ride fare, and meeting with these girls at the club. It was a pretty nice place, with enough people dancing and many people around the bar, so we get some drinks and dance and are quickly joined by a 50ish Italian man. We later discover there is a herd of them, with one probably 40ish British guy and one like 25 year oldish Italian guy. 25 year old Italian guy was fairly cute, but then he comes up to me and starts dancing. Oh my gosh. It was like ...I don't even know. Night at the Roxbury-ish dancing, but much sleazier. I made an observation that no one, including many girls, could really dance there actually..it was all quite awkward and sim-like with too large of motions. Anyway I start laughing and kinda scoot back over to my friend. Doesn't stop him from trying a few more times throughout the night, but sheesh. So he gives up on me and is kinda all over this other girl, and she is appreciating the attention. So I talk to the other Italians for a bit, they are still a little sleazy but not so bad, but I spend most of my time talking to the British guy who was possibly not even on the sleaze meter, and was just mostly interesting. Of course after my beer count started getting kinda high up there, I couldn't really understand him without concentrating really hard so then I figured it was probably time to go. I then realize I had been there a bit over 4 hours and it was approaching 4am! So I left with 2 of the girls and got home and was on a 'I want pizza delivered' rampage..but of course no one is open at 5am. I end up eating a large portion of my loaf of bread.
I wake up the next day and go on a (not kidding) 7 hour trek to find boots. At like 1pm though ha :D. I get home and shower and not having eaten was starving, so I decide to fix this pizza craving from yesterday. So I order Pizza Hut. Yeah, hush, I'm such an American I know. That other pizza was crap though! I order a medium stuffed crust Hawaiian pizza (ahhh sounds so good again) and am told (in English)it will be here in "1 to 1.2 hours!" 1.2 hours.. really? Hahah. I decided he probably meant 1 and a half. Anyway I am watching tv and whatever and realize it has been over an hour and a half, so I call and ask what's going on cuz I'm about to make some other food if it's not coming. So they say they only had one driver and he was in a car accident (this guy speaks English too) and the other driver will be at my house in 20 mins. So I wait, and half an hour later I get a call from the driver saying he can't find my house. I try to explain to him, but really how do you describe 'the tall dark apartment building behind the tall dark apartment building next to the tall dark apartment building...' jk I was a little more useful than that but not much, and he says he will call again if he can't find it by asking around. So 30 minutes later my domofone rings and it's him. He gets to my door looking exasperated, although it may have been from the 5 flights of stairs too, and apologizing about the other driver. I ask if the crash was bad, tell him it's ok I don't mind, and open my pizza. It looks beautiful, but is fairly cold. LOVELY almost 2 hours late and cold,and I have no microwave or working oven! I ate like 2 pieces and just put it in the fridge to make it proper cold pizza to have for breakfast the next day. I could tell though, if it was warm that pizza would have been god.
Well I think that is enough, I need to shower since I went running again. Yup that's right, I made a pact with myself to start running 3 times a week (just to start anyway). Who knows why. I fear for how long this will last once it starts snowing, which some days seems like a nearby possibility. Anyway see ya!
Yet another thing I had forgotten (that is past perfect tense by the way :D) about ex sov countries is the horror having cold feet can cause. I don't mean cold feet like I am too afraid to do anything, I mean like the possibility that my toesies are chilly. Such as when I was wearing flip flips BUT ALSO jeans and a jacket, this random guy getting into his car yelled to me with genuine concern, 'aren't you cold??'. I just stared at him, shocked. It wasn't even very cold honestly. But either way I don't understand how my being cold affects him. Also a girl in closed toe high heels, a skirt, and long sleeved shirt walked by, but ya know, she's ok...her toes are covered. I was stared at by many people that day, as in staring at my feet and then looking up at me in bewilderment. I wanted to yell 'Didn't you just see like every girl walking around here?!? At least I wear pants and a jacket!!'. But no. I was then scolded by a few teachers at my school, on of which was wearing a dress.... yup I don't get it.
So then last week or so I hear my doorbell, as I had recently learned what it sounded like out of my own curiosity- which was probably a good thing since it is like a soft tweeting bird noise... (I have this thing called a Domofone, which is the phone for the building, like a code you call the house and I can push a button and it unlocks the building door. I hear this all the time. Then people usually knock on your apartment door), and it is a woman whom I'm assuming is my neighbor, asking me to pay her 300tenge to clean the shared floor hallway thing near the stairs. Corridor? I don't know what to call it. I asked her to repeat herself, and she again says I need to pay her. I kinda don't care if it is clean, I mean it didn't look bad anyway, and would rather not pay for it using my prized 200 tenge bill and 100 tenge coins I never have (which are necessary for taxis who never have change), so I try stalling. 'You are cleaning it??' Bad idea. She starts angrily ranting, waving her arms around, getting in my face, and then muttering to herself 'it's only 300 tenge' before turning around to go back to her apartment. Not wanting my neighbor breaking in through my ghetto door and killing me in my sleep, I say 'ok ok one minute!' and go to my wallet, wondering if I'm getting scammed, but realizing if I am it's only 2 dollars. I take one step outside of my apartment (barefoot of course) and she stops me, and says 'ah! get inside your apartment!!' while wildly pointing at my feet. This coming from a woman who 2 minutes before looked ready to strangle me for not immediately handing over money to someone I don't even know. NOW she cares about my health!
Enough of that. I'm sure I'm skipping something, but this is far too long already. Maybe quick sum. Friday I get out of work at 930pm, and Danielle and I stopped by this bakery to be fat and get some little bite sized cakes to take home. I go home and am then called by girls who are the friends of Jessica, the girl who lived in Kaz before, and say they are going to this party and then to a club. Long story short, I end up befriending a few more cab guys and teaching them English phrases, getting deals on my cab ride fare, and meeting with these girls at the club. It was a pretty nice place, with enough people dancing and many people around the bar, so we get some drinks and dance and are quickly joined by a 50ish Italian man. We later discover there is a herd of them, with one probably 40ish British guy and one like 25 year oldish Italian guy. 25 year old Italian guy was fairly cute, but then he comes up to me and starts dancing. Oh my gosh. It was like ...I don't even know. Night at the Roxbury-ish dancing, but much sleazier. I made an observation that no one, including many girls, could really dance there actually..it was all quite awkward and sim-like with too large of motions. Anyway I start laughing and kinda scoot back over to my friend. Doesn't stop him from trying a few more times throughout the night, but sheesh. So he gives up on me and is kinda all over this other girl, and she is appreciating the attention. So I talk to the other Italians for a bit, they are still a little sleazy but not so bad, but I spend most of my time talking to the British guy who was possibly not even on the sleaze meter, and was just mostly interesting. Of course after my beer count started getting kinda high up there, I couldn't really understand him without concentrating really hard so then I figured it was probably time to go. I then realize I had been there a bit over 4 hours and it was approaching 4am! So I left with 2 of the girls and got home and was on a 'I want pizza delivered' rampage..but of course no one is open at 5am. I end up eating a large portion of my loaf of bread.
I wake up the next day and go on a (not kidding) 7 hour trek to find boots. At like 1pm though ha :D. I get home and shower and not having eaten was starving, so I decide to fix this pizza craving from yesterday. So I order Pizza Hut. Yeah, hush, I'm such an American I know. That other pizza was crap though! I order a medium stuffed crust Hawaiian pizza (ahhh sounds so good again) and am told (in English)it will be here in "1 to 1.2 hours!" 1.2 hours.. really? Hahah. I decided he probably meant 1 and a half. Anyway I am watching tv and whatever and realize it has been over an hour and a half, so I call and ask what's going on cuz I'm about to make some other food if it's not coming. So they say they only had one driver and he was in a car accident (this guy speaks English too) and the other driver will be at my house in 20 mins. So I wait, and half an hour later I get a call from the driver saying he can't find my house. I try to explain to him, but really how do you describe 'the tall dark apartment building behind the tall dark apartment building next to the tall dark apartment building...' jk I was a little more useful than that but not much, and he says he will call again if he can't find it by asking around. So 30 minutes later my domofone rings and it's him. He gets to my door looking exasperated, although it may have been from the 5 flights of stairs too, and apologizing about the other driver. I ask if the crash was bad, tell him it's ok I don't mind, and open my pizza. It looks beautiful, but is fairly cold. LOVELY almost 2 hours late and cold,and I have no microwave or working oven! I ate like 2 pieces and just put it in the fridge to make it proper cold pizza to have for breakfast the next day. I could tell though, if it was warm that pizza would have been god.
Well I think that is enough, I need to shower since I went running again. Yup that's right, I made a pact with myself to start running 3 times a week (just to start anyway). Who knows why. I fear for how long this will last once it starts snowing, which some days seems like a nearby possibility. Anyway see ya!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
One month!!!
I have officially been an ex pat for 1 month now!!! Man time sure flies...when you have no idea what you're doing?
So pretty much a quick sum up, Thursday of last week may have resulted in me getting extraordinarily pissed upon discovering that on Friday 1) a parent of one of my students would be spying on me because her daughter is not showing 'progress' 2) I will be getting a new 8 year old boy student of an unknown level of English, and my only direction was 'find some fun lessons and games, but it will be a hard lesson for you'.
As you might have noticed, I survived Friday perfectly fine- I have no idea what the parent thought of me, but I have only had her daughter like 5 times and I just help her with her hw, a different teacher is the one working on raising her English level. I did what I normally do and tried to not think about it (as I was instructed to do by everyone, thanks by the way :D ) and my boss wasn't mad so I figure it must have been fine. My 8 year old boy thankfully understands English amazingly, and I had a few colored flash card game things I had made before-hand, which I had to make a bit more complicated because he is pro. An adorable little mullet child. Hopefully he wasn't just really tired that day or something and is always fairly calm and nice (fingers crossed!!!)
SOOO Sunday, ah today, is Teacher's Day which is a pretty legit holiday in the ex sovs area. So since we don't work on Sunday anyway, Intellect took us out Friday to this restaurant that had to be crazy expensive (like 20 of us too, the teachers and the office girls) and we ate these bell pepper salad, spicy beef and pepper salad stuff, and chicken salad and bread to start (like on a table of 4 girls, you just grab what you want). Then there is this Mongolian grill-type deal outside, where you fill up a bowl full of veggies and meat and rice or noods and they grill it up for you and bring it to you!! And we could have as many as we wanted! And we were drinking wine, and we had coffee with this apple struedal and strawberry ice cream dessert! Seriously had to be so expensive. Oh and we got gift bags of tea and chocolate :D BUT the most important part of all of this: I ATE HORSE!!! It was one of the meat choices. For those of you who don't know, horse is a traditional Kaz dish and everyone said you have to try it while here. Apparently horse sausages are really popular too, but generally horse is pretty expensive. So yup...I ate horse. I can't believe it hah. It was actually good too, better than the lamb in my opinion. SAD!
So we left that place reallllly late, we sat around forever just talking (and everyone was forcing me to speak Russian, yeeeea :D ) and then we were singing Elvis and Whitney Houston songs very loudly haha, and then Danielle, TV (boss) and I walked home since we were overly full and we live in the same general area. Well, I had to take a taxi from their houses, but still. Oh and the taxi guy informed me that I should find a husband here in Kaz so I don't have to get a taxi at night, my husband would just drive me. A great reason to get married!!
So Saturday I woke up, eh not early ha who am I kidding. Well I think it was around 11 and I was still full from eating so much yesterday, so I decided I would just go trekking. I had been wanting to go to Panfilov park (memorial to these 28 guardsmen who died in WW2 defending Moscow, and also a memorial in general to the civil war) and see the eternal flame and to this cathedral, Zenkov, which was built entirely of wood, even the nails. I guess there was an earthquake (a 10 on the richter scale!) in 1911 and it survived! Oh yeah side note, apparently every 100 years or so a 10 earthquake happens. And the last one was 1911...
So I trekked there, passing the Astana/ Old square, and taking tons of pictures of course. I was asked directions by random women passing by like 3 times, and I was actually able to answer because I am learning the streets now! It was really cool. I found the park without even using my map or anything; Almaty is just easy to understand or something. The park was huge and really pretty and very green, and the cathedral was amazing too. I forgot how nice the insides are, all gold and with tons of icons and candles. I also forgot that women cover their heads and hair inside them, so after sneaking a few pictures I got outta there quick! There were a million brides running around with their giant wedding parties in tow, photographers and food everywhere. I had somehow also forgotten brides take pictures at all the famous historical sites...there was literally a line of brides waiting to pose putting flowers near the eternal flame. Hilarious. Then walking around I accidentally found the Green Market and ЦУМ (yup, one here too), which were the last 2 main things I was supposed to get shown the location of, and then I stopped at supposedly the best pizza place in Almaty since I hadn't eaten all day. I wasn't very impressed, I think I'll still give Il Patio a shot.
Anyway so then I got home hours later (it was a very far walk!) and I was going to take a shower but the water was scalding hot and the color of rust, so I decided to wait. While waiting, I was talking to my friend who lived here before and she was telling me I should go to these pubs, and that she used to go by herself all the time. I was asking if I would look like I'm trying to pick up guys or something going alone by myself at like 10pm, but she said nothing bad ever happened to her and that it's really fun and you can meet people easier. So I decided to do it. I showered in normal-colored water and got ready, and then got a taxi to this street where 2 bars are. The first one, I walked in and it was a lot of people at tables with one guy at the bar, and a band playing a barely-passable version of a Maroon 5 song. People were swaying/dancing around, but Idk...it didn't appeal to me. So no to the Guinness Pub. I pretended like I went to the wrong place and asked if there was another bar nearby (which I of course knew there was, my back-up plan) and she pointed me in the direction, no harm done.
So bar number 2, Guns n Roses bar...haha. I walk in and it's very lively and there is a band playing that is actually really good, there are a lot of people dancing or sitting at tables with hookah or drinking and a lot of people at the bar. Much better! So at first the bar was crowded and I sat at this really small table by the bar, and was immediately approached by a (most likely drunk) guy asking if I speak English, gave me a thumbs up when I said I'm American, said he was from Turkey and 'I like you!', while pulling my hair back from my ear to whisper that to me. I said 'Ok....I need a drink.' And got up and sat at the bar and just left him at the table. I sat by these 2 Kazakh girls and they started talking to me, one in English and one in Russian. The only semi attractive my age-type guys were the bartenders- the place was mostly foreign guys who were like 35 or older, and girls that looked my age to around 40 that were Russian/ Kazakh. And some reeeaaallly funny guys dancing around to the band drunk and Idk the whole thing was hilarious. And the second band that came on was a crazy American man with huge hair as a singer, and he played things like James Brown, it was pretty much great. Oh and also ghost busters...like what the heck?? I was cracking up. I talked with a few other people, one asking if I was from the Peace Corp saying he knows people here in the Peace Corp, but mostly I just talked to the girls and we danced a bit. Then the second band was done, and these very scantily clad sparkly girls climbed on the bar and started dancing like right in my face, so I started to get up just to back up a bit as to not be staring up their skirts and Turkish guy was back, saying 'Oh don't leave, don't you like me?'. 'I don't know you.' 'Oh, because I like you. Stay! Sunday is tomorrow, a holiday.' 'I'll be back next weekend probably, I'll talk to you then.' 'I'm going to the UK tomorrow for business, please, I am staying in the hotel near here, you can stay too'. I just laughed in his face and left. I wasn't even planning on leaving at that point, but that was enough hah.
So I go outside to get a taxi, and this car of 2 Kazakh guys pulls over. As we are driving back, I realize they missed my turn and I started to get worried they were going to like, go kill me in an alley way or something. So I ask where we are going. They then inform me they don't know where one of the crossroads I live on is. So I am directing them where to drive!! It was freakin hilarious, and I felt awesome knowing my streets well enough and directing them in Russian hah! Then they of course started the whole where are you from, you are beautiful, are you married convo and I was just talking my head off. That is one thing I like about taxis, lots of speaking practice! Especially when what should have been a 10 minute drive turns out to be like 25 hah. So I get out after telling them I don't have a cell phone so they can't call me, and I go up stairs, elated that I survived a night at the bars alone, and even more than that, actually had a really good time! :D
So pretty much a quick sum up, Thursday of last week may have resulted in me getting extraordinarily pissed upon discovering that on Friday 1) a parent of one of my students would be spying on me because her daughter is not showing 'progress' 2) I will be getting a new 8 year old boy student of an unknown level of English, and my only direction was 'find some fun lessons and games, but it will be a hard lesson for you'.
As you might have noticed, I survived Friday perfectly fine- I have no idea what the parent thought of me, but I have only had her daughter like 5 times and I just help her with her hw, a different teacher is the one working on raising her English level. I did what I normally do and tried to not think about it (as I was instructed to do by everyone, thanks by the way :D ) and my boss wasn't mad so I figure it must have been fine. My 8 year old boy thankfully understands English amazingly, and I had a few colored flash card game things I had made before-hand, which I had to make a bit more complicated because he is pro. An adorable little mullet child. Hopefully he wasn't just really tired that day or something and is always fairly calm and nice (fingers crossed!!!)
SOOO Sunday, ah today, is Teacher's Day which is a pretty legit holiday in the ex sovs area. So since we don't work on Sunday anyway, Intellect took us out Friday to this restaurant that had to be crazy expensive (like 20 of us too, the teachers and the office girls) and we ate these bell pepper salad, spicy beef and pepper salad stuff, and chicken salad and bread to start (like on a table of 4 girls, you just grab what you want). Then there is this Mongolian grill-type deal outside, where you fill up a bowl full of veggies and meat and rice or noods and they grill it up for you and bring it to you!! And we could have as many as we wanted! And we were drinking wine, and we had coffee with this apple struedal and strawberry ice cream dessert! Seriously had to be so expensive. Oh and we got gift bags of tea and chocolate :D BUT the most important part of all of this: I ATE HORSE!!! It was one of the meat choices. For those of you who don't know, horse is a traditional Kaz dish and everyone said you have to try it while here. Apparently horse sausages are really popular too, but generally horse is pretty expensive. So yup...I ate horse. I can't believe it hah. It was actually good too, better than the lamb in my opinion. SAD!
So we left that place reallllly late, we sat around forever just talking (and everyone was forcing me to speak Russian, yeeeea :D ) and then we were singing Elvis and Whitney Houston songs very loudly haha, and then Danielle, TV (boss) and I walked home since we were overly full and we live in the same general area. Well, I had to take a taxi from their houses, but still. Oh and the taxi guy informed me that I should find a husband here in Kaz so I don't have to get a taxi at night, my husband would just drive me. A great reason to get married!!
So Saturday I woke up, eh not early ha who am I kidding. Well I think it was around 11 and I was still full from eating so much yesterday, so I decided I would just go trekking. I had been wanting to go to Panfilov park (memorial to these 28 guardsmen who died in WW2 defending Moscow, and also a memorial in general to the civil war) and see the eternal flame and to this cathedral, Zenkov, which was built entirely of wood, even the nails. I guess there was an earthquake (a 10 on the richter scale!) in 1911 and it survived! Oh yeah side note, apparently every 100 years or so a 10 earthquake happens. And the last one was 1911...
So I trekked there, passing the Astana/ Old square, and taking tons of pictures of course. I was asked directions by random women passing by like 3 times, and I was actually able to answer because I am learning the streets now! It was really cool. I found the park without even using my map or anything; Almaty is just easy to understand or something. The park was huge and really pretty and very green, and the cathedral was amazing too. I forgot how nice the insides are, all gold and with tons of icons and candles. I also forgot that women cover their heads and hair inside them, so after sneaking a few pictures I got outta there quick! There were a million brides running around with their giant wedding parties in tow, photographers and food everywhere. I had somehow also forgotten brides take pictures at all the famous historical sites...there was literally a line of brides waiting to pose putting flowers near the eternal flame. Hilarious. Then walking around I accidentally found the Green Market and ЦУМ (yup, one here too), which were the last 2 main things I was supposed to get shown the location of, and then I stopped at supposedly the best pizza place in Almaty since I hadn't eaten all day. I wasn't very impressed, I think I'll still give Il Patio a shot.
Anyway so then I got home hours later (it was a very far walk!) and I was going to take a shower but the water was scalding hot and the color of rust, so I decided to wait. While waiting, I was talking to my friend who lived here before and she was telling me I should go to these pubs, and that she used to go by herself all the time. I was asking if I would look like I'm trying to pick up guys or something going alone by myself at like 10pm, but she said nothing bad ever happened to her and that it's really fun and you can meet people easier. So I decided to do it. I showered in normal-colored water and got ready, and then got a taxi to this street where 2 bars are. The first one, I walked in and it was a lot of people at tables with one guy at the bar, and a band playing a barely-passable version of a Maroon 5 song. People were swaying/dancing around, but Idk...it didn't appeal to me. So no to the Guinness Pub. I pretended like I went to the wrong place and asked if there was another bar nearby (which I of course knew there was, my back-up plan) and she pointed me in the direction, no harm done.
So bar number 2, Guns n Roses bar...haha. I walk in and it's very lively and there is a band playing that is actually really good, there are a lot of people dancing or sitting at tables with hookah or drinking and a lot of people at the bar. Much better! So at first the bar was crowded and I sat at this really small table by the bar, and was immediately approached by a (most likely drunk) guy asking if I speak English, gave me a thumbs up when I said I'm American, said he was from Turkey and 'I like you!', while pulling my hair back from my ear to whisper that to me. I said 'Ok....I need a drink.' And got up and sat at the bar and just left him at the table. I sat by these 2 Kazakh girls and they started talking to me, one in English and one in Russian. The only semi attractive my age-type guys were the bartenders- the place was mostly foreign guys who were like 35 or older, and girls that looked my age to around 40 that were Russian/ Kazakh. And some reeeaaallly funny guys dancing around to the band drunk and Idk the whole thing was hilarious. And the second band that came on was a crazy American man with huge hair as a singer, and he played things like James Brown, it was pretty much great. Oh and also ghost busters...like what the heck?? I was cracking up. I talked with a few other people, one asking if I was from the Peace Corp saying he knows people here in the Peace Corp, but mostly I just talked to the girls and we danced a bit. Then the second band was done, and these very scantily clad sparkly girls climbed on the bar and started dancing like right in my face, so I started to get up just to back up a bit as to not be staring up their skirts and Turkish guy was back, saying 'Oh don't leave, don't you like me?'. 'I don't know you.' 'Oh, because I like you. Stay! Sunday is tomorrow, a holiday.' 'I'll be back next weekend probably, I'll talk to you then.' 'I'm going to the UK tomorrow for business, please, I am staying in the hotel near here, you can stay too'. I just laughed in his face and left. I wasn't even planning on leaving at that point, but that was enough hah.
So I go outside to get a taxi, and this car of 2 Kazakh guys pulls over. As we are driving back, I realize they missed my turn and I started to get worried they were going to like, go kill me in an alley way or something. So I ask where we are going. They then inform me they don't know where one of the crossroads I live on is. So I am directing them where to drive!! It was freakin hilarious, and I felt awesome knowing my streets well enough and directing them in Russian hah! Then they of course started the whole where are you from, you are beautiful, are you married convo and I was just talking my head off. That is one thing I like about taxis, lots of speaking practice! Especially when what should have been a 10 minute drive turns out to be like 25 hah. So I get out after telling them I don't have a cell phone so they can't call me, and I go up stairs, elated that I survived a night at the bars alone, and even more than that, actually had a really good time! :D
Thursday, September 30, 2010
I often wonder
what my quiet older neighbors think when they hear someone singing at the top of their lungs in English nearly every day. Or shouting out various phrases daily after doing things like dumping my entire new box of cereal on the floor, or dropping my blush all over myself and my couch. Hmmmmmm?
Now please excuse me while I boil water in a pot to make myself some instant coffee. khkehkah
Now please excuse me while I boil water in a pot to make myself some instant coffee. khkehkah
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Just a quick one
Hello all! Just a few things.
1st- after all the issues with getting a washing machine, then actually getting someone to come install it and get it out of my hallway, getting a new outlet (my apartment only has soviet style outlets, which don't work with many more modern
things...such as a tea kettle. or washing machine) after the installation guy jammed the old one, etc. , and then ALSO my landlord repeatedly saying he would get me an iron (leaving clothes out to dry makes them so wrinkly even I want an iron) so my boss kept telling me not to get one, THEN me realizing I never received my utility bill (and Danielle said she paid hers awhile ago, and that if you don't pay at the end of the month they turn all your utilities off), so then I discover that even though half of the mailboxes are busted open and broken off, mine is still in working order and my bill is in there. BUT I don't have the key to unlock it. So my boss yells at the landlord a million more times and I finally get a key and an iron! And now my tea kettle doesn't work...which was kind of my key to life. Oi vey!! I told my boss she was never going to believe what happened now, and she was like 'Your apartment is a nightmare!' hah. Also my fridge leaked one day, but I think that is done...I hope so, because I feel really bad complaining about everything, but they told me it's not my fault and that I should be mad at my landlord. Meh. Also I just deal with the high pitched noise that comes out of my tv after 15 minutes of watching also. If I turn it off and then back on it normally goes away...kheha.
2nd- Danielle got proposed to by her neighbor because he wants a visa to America..I guess he straight out said that. She came over and hid at my apartment for a few hours, and we ordered food from this Italian place right by my house. I am officially afraid, considering the amount of encounters I've already had after not even a month of being here, and now I know people will straight up propose even!! So don't feel hurt if you discover I'm married and you weren't invited to the wedding, it would just be to help out a fruit vendor guy with getting into America khehkh ;) Kind of like when I bought bananas yesterday, this old guy hears my accents and asks where I'm from, and then says in English 'I love you!'. It was pretty funny actually. If you ever get desperate for a husband, you have plenty of options here if you just speak English hah :D
Woah k this is not short. Sheesh. Anyway main point was here are some of my pictures from recently, the link to my album on facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=266396&id=538760148&l=c34d6433e8
It should work even for those of you who I'm not friends with on there.
Well I need to quick eat something before my foundation class, talk to ya later!
1st- after all the issues with getting a washing machine, then actually getting someone to come install it and get it out of my hallway, getting a new outlet (my apartment only has soviet style outlets, which don't work with many more modern
things...such as a tea kettle. or washing machine) after the installation guy jammed the old one, etc. , and then ALSO my landlord repeatedly saying he would get me an iron (leaving clothes out to dry makes them so wrinkly even I want an iron) so my boss kept telling me not to get one, THEN me realizing I never received my utility bill (and Danielle said she paid hers awhile ago, and that if you don't pay at the end of the month they turn all your utilities off), so then I discover that even though half of the mailboxes are busted open and broken off, mine is still in working order and my bill is in there. BUT I don't have the key to unlock it. So my boss yells at the landlord a million more times and I finally get a key and an iron! And now my tea kettle doesn't work...which was kind of my key to life. Oi vey!! I told my boss she was never going to believe what happened now, and she was like 'Your apartment is a nightmare!' hah. Also my fridge leaked one day, but I think that is done...I hope so, because I feel really bad complaining about everything, but they told me it's not my fault and that I should be mad at my landlord. Meh. Also I just deal with the high pitched noise that comes out of my tv after 15 minutes of watching also. If I turn it off and then back on it normally goes away...kheha.
2nd- Danielle got proposed to by her neighbor because he wants a visa to America..I guess he straight out said that. She came over and hid at my apartment for a few hours, and we ordered food from this Italian place right by my house. I am officially afraid, considering the amount of encounters I've already had after not even a month of being here, and now I know people will straight up propose even!! So don't feel hurt if you discover I'm married and you weren't invited to the wedding, it would just be to help out a fruit vendor guy with getting into America khehkh ;) Kind of like when I bought bananas yesterday, this old guy hears my accents and asks where I'm from, and then says in English 'I love you!'. It was pretty funny actually. If you ever get desperate for a husband, you have plenty of options here if you just speak English hah :D
Woah k this is not short. Sheesh. Anyway main point was here are some of my pictures from recently, the link to my album on facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=266396&id=538760148&l=c34d6433e8
It should work even for those of you who I'm not friends with on there.
Well I need to quick eat something before my foundation class, talk to ya later!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
As I continue to ignore my home phone and wish I had caller ID...
I will update! So Friday I got out of work at like 10pm because I have a new student that starts at 8pm. So I went home and called Danielle to see if I could get her to go to this Irish pub with supposedly lovely Mexican food...(strange combo...I know). She had just ordered a pizza and it was going to come in an hour, so she was busy. And we ended up talking for like 3 hours on the phone.
Saturday though, I went to this hilarious urban festival thing with Liz after waiting for my laundry to finish for 3 hours... yah. Quick side rant: no one has dryers here, so the washing machines have this super long setting that make your clothes fairly dry when you take the clothes out, but you still have to hang clothes all over your house- makes me feel like my Nina!
So this urban festival was in the Astana square, which is basically this huge gathering area (just like Red Square, for the Russia people). There were 4 huge stages set up, a large area with ramps and stuff for skateboarding and bmx, and TONS of people. It kind of looked like warped tour or something. So there are guys break dancing on stages, guys dancing like synchronized boy band style, quite a few rappers, and a ton of skateboarders and bmx people- of which they later had Russia vs. Kaz competitions. I of course recorded the boy band style dancing, and got a lovely mullet picture I was nearly crying when I took since I was right behind him (I don't think Liz noticed hah, or if she did she didn't make me explain). Pretty much the whole thing was hilarious. I think Liz wants to go to this dance club dj battle thing on Oct 2, I feel like that will be hilarious too. Oh but this place was pretty far from my apartment, so I was taking a taxi. I asked for a 200 tenge ride, and the guy said 300. I was like whatever (it's like 2 dollars ha) and got in. The guy asks where I'm from and starts talking to me and stuff, and speaks English. We talked like the whole ride, and at the end I was getting out my money to give him, and he said no it's ok. I pulled over to help a beautiful girl, and you were very friendly, it was a pleasure to meet you. And I got a free ride!!! What the heck?! That doesn't really happen unless it's somewhere suuuper close. I was just like score! And they tell us to hide that we are Americans cuz they know we have money. I know I just got lucky but still that was exciting. Also because I only had a 500 tenge bill, and these people aren't really taxi drivers they are just regular people driving to work or home or something that pick people up for some money =gypsy cab, so there was a good chance he wouldn't have had change.
And after that festival, at like 830pm Danielle met me and we walked to the Mad Murphy's place. Was very expensive, had no live music like it claimed, and it's choices of Mexican food: nachos and chicken quesadillas...yup. I got a chicken quesadilla, which was ok. Basically, probs won't be going back there haha.
And Sunday I went on a long walk around everywhere, discovered this really pretty park near me (which I can't wait to see in the snow!) with a statue of Ghandi in it, and found some stores with boots that will be useful soon. I cleaned my apartment and went grocery shopping also, and did some class planning before the week starts again...mlehh. Let me see if I can upload these pictures/video on here. Nope. Pictures and videos will have to be on facebook
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