We had some really successful humanitarian experiences this week, but first I want to share our personal experiences of the week - - - we actually got new bedroom furniture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We'd told our landlord that we needed a new mattress and that some bedroom furniture that did not look as though it'd be shipped south from a soviet era Krushevsko apartment, would be nice. He came over and looked and agreed that a new mattress would be possible but that he'd have to see what kind of furniture he could find. Well - he had his chance and blew it! We asked Renat, a guy who lives upstairs (he went to school in Texas for five years and speaks nearly perfect English) if he would take us to a furniture store. When he finally had a morning with some time, he took us to a nearby showroom. I figured we had an hour to look and find something - which we did. Then to the cashier....................who spent an awful long time on the computer and printer before finally giving us the official quotes which would be good for three days (to keep special deal prices) That would be fine because it would take that much time to get the money on our card.
Three days later with the proper amount of tenge on our card, we headed (alone) back to the store. What could be hard about this? Quote in hand-check? Money on card-check? Piece of cake! The cashier swiped the card numerous times before Dad noticed that the card was being inserted not only backward but also upside down! But nothing worked = "no, card no work". A customer standing nearby took pity on us - luckily for us, she had gone to university in New York and spoke perfect English. The result of a lot of discussion was that we needed to withdraw the money from ATM machines and the return with the cash...............
At this point, our out of town guests from Moscow had arrived, and we needed to show them around town. Our party attitude ended when we realized we couldn't withdraw all the money on the same day. We went home, called the USA to talk to the bank, and found out that there is a $1000.00 per day limit. What????? Who can buy bedroom furniture for less that $1000?? So we had to get our other card and use it to get the balance. And off we went with our pockets full of tenge bills.
We had success at the store because hard cash usually works wonders. This was Wednesday, and delivery would be on Friday. I asked, "when on Friday?" The cashier told us she'd send a text to let us know. Thursday we spent a large part of the day dismantling the standing closet and moving it into the second room. Friday was spent dismantling the bed......and waiting for delivery. Finally the delivery guys came and here we go-everything was stacked in the room.
When the guys were leaving, they asked for 3000 tenge for delivery. I balked because I thought delivery was included in the price. A quick call to a friend from English Club revealed that delivery is free from the store to the door to your apartment building. But.......if you want the packages carried up the stairs to your apartment, it costs 1000 tenge per floor. We should have known! The funny thing was that we didn't have any cash, so Dad had to run to the ATM to get some. Then the assembly guys came to put all the pieces together. Fortunately, we knew (kinda knew) that they would come. Here are before and after photos.
Afterwards we had a stack of long empty boxes in our entry way that we needed to take down to the dumpster. The next morning I went down to the street/sidewalk below our balconyish window, and Dad threw the boxes out the third floor window to me. I quickly gathered them up and started stacking them by the trash bins. In just a few minutes there was a guy picking them up from my pile and moving them into his metal storage shed = thus proving the adage that one man's garbage is another man's treasure.
All in all, we are very happy with the new bedroom - it is definitely a more pleasant place to sleep in.
So our colleagues from Moscow--I started last week describing their visit. First off we went to visit
the greenhouse project that we first described way back in April. Work is progressing nicely. Land has been leveled, trash picked up. A fence is being built around the property and a storage shed has been moved to the site for a live-in caretaker.
A concrete floor has been poured inside the greenhouse and electrical wiring is being installed. We are now, honestly, hopeful that crops will be grown at this facility.
Then we went to visit Balamy - the people to whom we provided physical therapy equipment for children. This time we went to their facility for young people from 18-35 who are being taught life skills. It was a great visit. We went inside.
and ended up in this room where they sang us a song. Their leader on the right was very animated
.
Some of the young men have no place to go at night, so they stay at this facility. Here is their dorm room.
And there is a kitchen where they learn to cook.
They also have a project where they are teaching the young people to take care of quail and to collect the eggs and sell them.
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And other young people are taught how to plant seeds and grow herbs. They might be able to sell the herbs in a market, or they might just feed the little plants to the quail. Notice that they are all wearing matching hats and aprons which were made by another NGO which we helped set up a sewing shop.
To top the visit off, they took us to their "social cafe". Who knew? - a social cafe is one whose purpose is not to make money but to provide training and employment for the disabled. At this cafe you can get a two course meal for about $1.80. There is no menu, and each day different dishes are served. This cafe and kitchen also prepared meals which are then taken to the three different locations where Balamy operates their facilities. The food was really good - we had fried chicken, rice, beet soup, and other dishes.
The next day was a great one because we went to the "mushroom place". The shelves have been built and there are bags of mushrooms growing in what, just two months ago, was a sewing shop.
The Taylors, the humanitarian missionaries from Almaty, came to Astana for the weekend. He came up to work with Dad and do the financial audit for the Astana Branch. He is also a counselor in the Mission Presidency, and so had some interviews, etc. We took them to EXPO on Saturday morning. I only took one picture of the Latvia Pavillion - for Olga....and if she reads this blog, she needs to write to me.
Primary this morning was interesting. My only teacher and my music person are gone until mid September, so it was just me. But I asked a twelve year old, bilingual young woman, who is now the only young woman in the Branch, to teach the lesson. We were doing great until, unexpectedly, two Russian speaking Kazakh boys showed up. Suddenly I needed a more experienced translator. I ended up asking a young Kazakh woman who is not a member to translate for us. She is being taught by the missionaries and so knows only a little about the church. The lesson was on the Three Degrees of Glory = our translator was introduced to a lot of new doctrine today.
This evening the two YV brought over a couple of friends who they are teaching - they played cards, ate food, laughed, and all the while I was writing this blog.
Here is a nice picture of me and my friend - again.
Those poor quail need more space!!!! :)
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