Central Eurasian Mission - Week 34 - Nov 6 - Nov 12, 2017

I will start this week's message with a lunch picture!!  Isn't it exciting??  Lunch in our kitchen consisting of hard boiled eggs, fruit, delicous homemade bread, and everyone's favorite - Coke Zero.



We looked at this luncheon offering and.........yes, we decided to bag it and go to a little Korean restaurant we often pass while riding the bus.  Let's check it out!



All this time we had been thinking it was a Korean Barbecue.  Wherever we got that idea, I don't know because the sign clearly says Korean Asia and something in Kazakh, and 'cafe' in Russian - but nothing about a barbecue.  Inside, I did my classic question in PERFECT Russian, "What do you advise us to order".  (Honestly, it is from one of the dialogs in my Russian textbook).  She looked at me in a funny way (my pronunciation must not have been right, I guess) and proceeded to point at the items on the menu and, in Russian, say, this is beef, this is chicken, this is fish - well, I knew that!  I then asked which was her favorite entree, and she pointed to the most expensive steak!  So much for that line of inquiry.  Dad pointed to something on the Korean side of the menu and got a VERY HOT, TO THE TOUCH, spicy soup.  Oh, also he ordered free (that's how you say french fries).  Since I am on a quest to find the tastiest plate of lagman noodles in Astana , I pointed to the Tashket Lagman, which was all right, but as I chewed, I contemplated how much dental floss I would need before bedtime.  So, in the end, we had satisfied our curiosity about the Korean Barbecue (not) and realized we would probably have been better off to settle for the eggs, fruit, bread and Coke Zero.



I took this photo early one morning after my walk.  The light on the building is right above and between our two bedroom windows.  It is a nighttime nuisance because it makes our room so bright at night.  When the weather is cold, like it is now, it isn't too bad because we can snuggle our heads under the covers, and the light coming through the window doesn't bother us too much.  What was annoying was the black car, wth the two parking lights glowing, which was right under our bedroom window.  About 3:30 AM the car alarm went on and NEVER turned off until about 10:am - for about seven hours.  It totally ruined my night's sleep.  Usually when alarms turn on they automatically turn off in a bit.  But this one kept going.  When I came in from my walk, I could see that the parking lights, as they flicked on and then off, were getting dimmer.  I think everyone was hoping (not me, of course) that the battery would be dead when the owner finally came out to drive away to somewhere.  These are the joys of apartment life in a big city.....I've just never had to experience this close apartment living before.



We "Closed" a project this week!!! This means that our active involvement in a project is 'officially' over.  We went to visit the group to whom we (not us, really, but LDS Charities) donated musical performance equipment.  If you don't remember, it was a synthesizer, microphones, speakers, a mixer, laptop for programming , and mutiple cables and other jacks and stuff.  Well, the equipment had all finally arrived, everything was out of the boxes and set up, and we were invited to come over for a demo of their singing and the equipment.





 It was really fun!!!!  We've been to visit them several times and know them and enjoy them.  They were so happy to have their own equipment.  They reitterated that previously they just sat around in a circle and practiced, but now they can have rehearsals with the sound equipment they will use during performances.  They sang for us and you could really feel their appreciation and happiness.





















We took the YVs to translate for us and, of course, there were snacks for the celebration.



And, the final photo with everyone.  Definitely a satistying experience.




Some really good news!  We have started a new project - this time with the Kazakhstan Society for the Blind.  We got a call late one evening from our translator who said, "Do you want to meet with a blind choir who wants some equipment similar to that which was supplied to the folks in wheelchairs?"  Well,....why, yes, we would !  News can travel fast in Astana.

So we had an appointment for 10 am the next morning, which is really early for Astana citizens.  And it was snowing, and mushy, and windy - generally miserable.  We took a taxi, and the windows were so fogged up that we couldn't see anything, so we were  basically clueless as to where we were.  The taxi dropped us off.  Okay, now.....which is building No. 8.  Each  building is numbered, but not every building has a number painted on to it or a numbered sign attached to it.  And usually, if there is a number, it is on just one corner.  So we started to walk around the building.  Going in one direction took us to a fence-nope wrong way. So back the other way, all the way around, and yes, it was No.8.  So back to the other side where the stairs were - - it had to be the right!  We realized it had to be the place, because on the edge of each step was a special rubber edge which is used so that blind people can feel for the edge of the step with the toe of their shoe.  There was also a sign attached to the wall which looked 'government' official.





Into the lobby we went - nothing.  Hmm?  Standing there for a bit, we heard sounds from a door at the end of the lobby.  We opened it, walked in, and were met by of group of people standing in a circle....and they were singing!



The have repititions (yeah, we call them rehearsals) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which was why they invited us to come on a Thursday.  They are really good singers!!  Imagine watching an old movie with Kasakh villagers gathering to sing at some community event - the music sounded a bit wistful. Or imagine watching a Rick Steves documentary and a bunch of old people were at a pub and began to spontaneously sing a folk song which sounded a bit (for lack of a better word) wistful.

Their accompanist is an accordianist who used a chromatic button  accordian.
 He is very accomplished!  He started playing an introduction, and everybody was standing and casually chatting with their neighbor, but at the absolutely perfect moment, they all began to sing!  All the music is memorized because they can't see the music.  Here is a link to a button accordian.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/15faaacfee88aa0c?projector=1



The woman in the pink is blind , and she is the "manager of sponsors."  She gave quite a formal preentation to us explaining that they've been in existence for years and sing everywhere, and everything is donated to them, and so forth.  She was quite exhuberant.




This is their musical director; she has a university degree in music, and has been working with this group for 29 years.   She also does musical 'stuff' elsewhere in Astana.



I like these four ladies.  Aren't they perfect?



We don't like to discuss "business" with a lot an audience in attendance, so we thanked them and said we'd like to come back to further discuss their needs.  They said, "how about tomorrow?" We agreed, and they said they'd send their driver to come and get us.

The next day it was kinda funny,  for, at the agreed time, there was no driver waiting for us....and there we were not knowing what was the polite thing to do.  Miraculously, we had a phone number and had one of the YVs call her.  Apparently one of the driver's relatives had died, and the driver had gone to the funeral, but, "no worries, we'll send another driver to come and get you."

So we finally got to the rehearsal room again and met with the two directors and their secretary and discussed their needs.

An interesteing side note - at least to me - is that as we went to sit down at the table, the woman in blue asked me, "How old are you?'  It is just so weird to be asked how old we are.  I mean, we Americans always wonder how old someone may be, but we certainly don't ask point blank right after saying, Good Morning.  We may wait several months, after we have gotten to know them quite well, or we ask the Ward Clerk how old a person may be.  I almost told her I was 85, but....didn't.  When I did tell her, she laughed and told me she was a half year older I am!  We are often asked at English Club how old we are----are they thinking, "they are  soooooo ancient" or "they are in such good shape", or maybe "I don't want to look like that when I'm old."  Eventually, I always tell them, but I explain first, that Americans think it is kind of rude to ask an older person how old she or he is....it's liking asking someone how much money they make.



They told us they wanted an.......'Operator'. We looked at the YVs with eyes that queried, what is an OPERATOR?  None of us knew, and the two ladies could not expalin it in a way that our YVs could translate it to us.  Fortunately the ladies had a Commercial Offer (a piece of paper from a store with prices) upon which it was listed, along with two other items.  I knew that once we got back to the apartment, I would be able, with my laptop translation app, to decode the Russian into English.  And sure enough, back at the apartment we discovered they wanted to request two wireless microphones, two big speakers, and ........a Mixing Console (the Operator)!

On the way out we got a mini tour of the facility.

Here is part of their braille library.



I don't know what these people were doing on their computers.



And this woman, in a classroom of sorts, gave us a nice presentation about all they activities they do with children.  The woman with the white scarf, behind her, asked us if we have braille libraries in the Unitd States.  Uhhhhhhhhh....I have never been in a braille library......but I said, "Oh, yes, we do!"



The way back to the apartment was a double adventure.  It turned out that the driver, a really nice, kind man, is Russian Orthodox (or some kind of Orthodox, as there are different kinds).  On the way, he asked the YV who was sitting in the front with him, how our church is different from other Christian churches.  Missionaries absolutely pray for opportunites like this!  So he gave him a nice presentation, invited him to come to church on Sunday, and got his name and phone number.

So - we were sitting in the parking lot while YV Bullock was talking to the guy - - we were not going to get out and prematurely end the conversation.  As we were waiting, an older woman walked up to the window - oh, it was sad......older, kinda crummy coat,  just a thin scarf on her head.  The driver rolled down his window, and she started crying and telling him her story: she needed $15.00 to get a car part and was asking for money.  He gave her some, Dad gave her some, and the YV's gave her some.  Then the driver said that he knew where she could get the part at a good price and that he'd take her to the store.  So we got out, said good-bye, and she got in, and off they went.  There are good, kind people everywhere.

We were going to have the missionaries over for dinner on Sunday.  It is really nice to all get together - when they come, it is like having family for dinner - 4 boys and 2 girls.  They (and we) like to just relax and be fun loving and goofy - not refined missionaries in Kazakhstan.  On Saturday, I made creamy, herbal, fried hamburger and then cooked frozen verenniki (like pelmini but veggies stuffed with mashed potatoes) to serve with them.  And we bought a Tiramesu cheescake from the grocery store - the one on the left. Pumpkin is on the right.




But plans got changed.  Two of the YVs had made an appointment to eat dnner at the Branch President's home along with a family from church.  But then that appointment was broken, and now there were two dinners prepared to feed the missionaries.  To make a somewhat confusing predicament much easier, we all decided to go to the Branch President's home rather than come to ours.  So it became a big potluck and a great success.







And for your enjoyment - some more snow art.






Mom and Dad