Central Eurasian Mission - Week 51 - March 4 - 11, 2018

The final picture I posted last week turned out to be a hoax, a fantasy, fake news, and far from the truth.



Yes, it looked like spring had come....but only for one day!  That was on Monday, and by Tuesday it had begun to rain and continued all day.   Now, imagine what happens to rain when it falls on layers of snow and on streets that have no gutters or drainage.....and then the temps drop to below zero.











All the puddles froze and all the previously somewhat soft snow became solid.  It was a city wide outdoor skating rink!  It really is amazing that people don't fall down all the time.  You do change your walking gait and style when you walk on ice - flat footed and straight legged and different muscles become sore.

On Friday it began to snow - kinda like the snow king had put the snow into a humongous flour sifter.  The snow came down in the tiniest of tiny flakes and when layered very gently on the icy sidewalks, the surface became as slick as ________________.  Truly awful!  The missionaries had brought us some popcorn that they'd found in a market, and they warned us of the slipperiest of conditions.

When we walked to English Club we were very careful.......Approaching a car that was parked on the sidewalk (yes, I know it was on the sidewalk) I went to the left and Dad went to the right, but when I got to the front of the car, Dad was not there.  He was down!!!  He hurt his thumb and there was blood on a finger.  The next day Dad, boldly, casting fate to the wind, returned to the exact spot of his sprawl on the ice.....just so you could see it.



Coming home, in the dark, after English Club, I was walking along, minding my own business, not doing anything erratic or stupid, and I went down!.  I landed on my bum and my right elbow.  I took a picture of the spot the next day.  You can see the bricks of the sidewalk through the ice.



Saturday we went to the Branch Game night and we put on our boots and cleats to make the walk.  It was a great decision!



Here is my injured elbow on the left (ignore the dry red elbow...the air here is really dry).



One day while working on paperwork, we got a call from the missionaries saying they were at Eurasia Mall getting donuts and did we want to join them.  Do birds fly?  A twenty minute walk later we were satisfying our American longing for real doughnuts.



They are good, but...................not as good as  Krispy Kreme or Winco at 7am





There's a big meat market in the basement, where we went because we'd heard they sometimes have bacon.  The area, in the meat section, where pork is sold is separated from the rest of the meat by glass windows....because pork is taboo in Islamic countries.  We didn't get any because it was only seasoned fat with no meat at all.



I spent some time packing up our souvenirs.  Now I have a suitcase full of Nativity Sets.





Thursday Mach 8 was International Women's Day.  Who knew....but it is a national holiday here in Kaz.  In fact, it was a two day holiday because Friday was also a declared holiday (this Friday holiday was a little bittersweet because, in order to have the holiday, people had to work the previous Saturday.  So, actually, there was really no free day...work days were simply shifted, but on the weekend with IWD, they at least got a four-day holiday weekend.  Many Kazakhs ask us what we do in America for IWD..........well........nothing - but we do have a stupendous Mother's Day.  Here it is a big deal - there were gift baskets for sale, and flower stands selling flowers, mostly tulips.  Friends from English Club say they go to visit their moms and give them gifts and have traditional food (sounds like New Year's to me).

Walking home from EC one guy asked me if I knew about Vladimir Lenin................ahhh, yes.....I know Lenin was one of the founders of the Russian Revolution - I mean, everyone knows that.  So, this guy, Illacs, tells me that Lenin was the one who started IWD.  That made me wonder, so when I got home, I asked Mr Google.  Here is a link to International Women's Day with more information than you'd ever really want, but I liked reading about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day

If you don't want to read the whole thing, read this

Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai and Vladimir Lenin made it an official holiday in the Soviet Union, but it was a working day until 1965. On May 8, 1965 by the decree of the USSR Presidium of the Supreme SovietInternational Women's Day was declared a non-working day in the USSR "in commemoration of the outstanding merits of Soviet women in communistic construction, in the defense of their Fatherland during the Great Patriotic War, in their heroism and selflessness at the front and in the rear, and also marking the great contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples, and the struggle for peace. But still, women's day must be celebrated as are other holidays."

When I went into the kitchen, first thing in the morning, I discovered this card which Dad brought from home and which is his 'all occasion' card for me.





Later in the morning we had an appointment downtown at the Keruen Mall.  Our translator is going to be gone for our BIG BIG meeting with the wheelchair project people.  So we'd arranged a meeting to meet her friend, Mariya, who will be her substitute.  We're sitting intthe Food Court when we see some young people gathering.  They put on Kazakh blue windbreakers and look like they are receiving instructions.  Holding tulips in a cellophane sleeve, they approach our table!!!



and give us flowers!!!  We felt special....like celebrities until we saw them go to all the tables.

Mariya is on the left.  She is a Masters student, and her thesis is how bilingual families handle both Kazakh and Russian in the home (the Kazakhstan govt really really wants people to learn and speak Kazakh...to strengthen the Kazakh identity.)  Sagida, on the right, is a Masters student, and her thesis is how Kazakh pop music is teaching the public to learn and speak Kazakh.  The person in the middle did a MS thesis on the bulbs of Easter Lilies....fascinating.





Keruen Mall is a huge mall and may be able to boast having the largest glass covered food court in the world--or at least in Kazakhstan.

Check out these decorations hanging from the ceiling.



And in the walkways between escalator landings there was an exhibit of photographs of modern Kazakh women.





There is a children's store in the mall, and this is their 'outside' display.






Saturday night was our Twig Game Night.  We try to do this to build Twig unity, but this night there were only seven Twig members, and the rest were guests invited from EC.

I got to play Rummy Cube with Sister Willardson who is a competitive as I am.  Dad played on his smart phone.



More pictures from Game Night - so Dad and I can remember the people.
















Refreshment table--makes your mouth water, doesn't it.



We had Sunday dinner with the five Young Volunteers serving here in Astana.  It was nice - a good way to spend a Sunday evening.  We watched a Mormon video called An Ensign to the Nations.  It was produced in 1997 BYU as par of the celebration commemorating 150 years since Brigham Young entered the Salt Lake Valley.  Here is the link.  It's an hour long and documents missionary work since the 1830's through 1997.  Sorry, but there was no mention of the Saints in Kazakhstan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIAO01iRHjM&t=346s



Next Sunday night, we'll be in Almaty.