All good things come to an end.......Warren's and Whitney's and Holland's last day was on Monday. To commemorate the day we had a traditional Kazakh dinner with friends.
Yeah...the meat.... is horse meat. The meat here is a mixture of sausage slices and meat pieces.
Really, I am just joshing you about the celebratory dinner. This dinner was on Monday evening, the day WWH left, but it was for Ali, a young man we know from English Club. He was leaving the next day to go to Province Town, MA to participate in the Work and Travel program. On this program, young Kazakhs with good English skills go to the US for four months (June-Sept) where they work in the tourist industry (usually food service). They work for three months and then travel for one month. It is a very desirable program and not all applicants get in.
Ali's mom came from Shumkent (a southern city) and prepared this incredible Kazakh meal for him and his room mates, his siblings....and us. It was an honor to be invited.
What we did during the day was to go on a "River Walk', as I describe it. We walked on the pedestrian path/ bike path that borders the Ishim River. The weather was perfect - blue sky, mild temps, and no wind. It was a relaxing way to spend our last day together.
To go up and over the bridge on the previous photo, we had to negotiate two sets of impressive stairwells. Holland was a real trooper.
At a park we all tried our 'marksman' skills and had an ice cream bar. Warren was a great instructor.
The Astana Triathlon Park, where I walk every day, is in the same area as where we were walking. I was surprised to find "new" displays along the track. It must be Nature Month, or something, as these six signs were posted periodically along the way. Actually, I enjoyed seeing these signs. I didn't see any of this wildlife, but....I'm sure I saw (really, I'm being truthful) a grayish colored owl. It was smallish and flapped its wings like an owl. It was in a tree when I tried to take its picture and then flew silently away just as I took the photo. I will keep looking!
Common Pheasant
Young Siberian Roe Deer
European Hare (my favorite of the six!). Русак is also a colloquial word for "a Russian".
Partridge
Goose
Wild Duck
We had some interesting meetings this week with partners.
The Blood Cancer Hospital - This partner , Miriam, works in the Blood Cancer Hospital and helps the adult patients in any way that she can. She requested two fancy water filters to be used in the hospital rooms (so families don't have to bring their own bottled water for the patient's use) and aluminium widow coverings so the light sensitive cancer patients don't have to lie in their beds in the sunshine. She was hosting a presentation of her NGO to potential donors and volunteers and asked us to come. She asked Dad to say something about LDS Charities (which he was excited to do) and then there was the usual photo opportunities.
After that event we went to The Bank of Astana where WAQYP (one of the wheelchair partners) has their office. It was a great meeting where we were able to clarify a few important details regarding the Pre-Shipment Invoice - we'd been waiting for a reply from them for a week....thus the need for a meeting. After we found out what they needed, we sent that request to LDS Charities in SLC, and we had a reply in about 12 hours - Go Team LDS Charities! The result---the 300-320 wheelchairs have been ordered!
The next day we had a meeting with CIL (Center for Independent Living) who is the other wheelchair partner. It was a great quick meeting with dedicated people who know what they are doing. We discussed responsibilities and fielded their questions.
We went to the above meeting on Friday which turned out to be difficult because Friday is the Muslim sabbath, and this is also Ramadan right now The traffic was like a big cork (side note - in Russian, one translation for a traffic jam is "cork'). There is a mosque across from our destination, and the taxi couldn't even turn onto the street. We ended up getting our of the taxi - mid intersection - and walking. We wanted to go to a little favorite restaurant but found out it was closed....duhhh it is Ramadan...and looked across the street and found this doner place!
This little cubbyhole is where the guy makes the doner. When he had finished making ours, he handed it though the open window, a bit to the left, saying, "prepared".
'We think this was the best doner we've eaten in Astana (the one we ate in Antalya, Turkey was better).
Then on Saturday evening we went to a play at the theater on Nazerbayev University. It was "Jungle Book". The actors in this play were all children who have various disabilities. It was great fun. All in Russian, of course - but we'd googled the summary of the book/play/movie ahead of time. But it didn't really matter, because most of the kids can barely speak anyway. We have two partners involved in this Inclusive Theater - Education for All which works mostly with children with autism, and Sunny World which mostly works with children with Down Syndrome. The kids and the volunteers had worked for weeks and weeks on this play - - just getting the children to stand on and walk around the stage, and to sing, and to speak into a microphone, and to wave ones arms and spin around, was a triumph.
The backdrop of the stage was great PR for LDS Charities.
This is Sabina of Sunny World
Up close
The children were giddy with excitement. The curtain call was the best as some of the boys did magnificent bows, and one girl did a perfect curtsy. Afterwards the parents were really proud of their kids - one of our partners told us that a few of the parents didn't think that their child would be able to do anything - anything, and here they were on stage!
Happy actors and parents afterwards
And concert-goers!
Sunday evening we were invited out to dinner. We went to Yerkin's home who we know him from English Club. He's an interesting guy - 46 - a businessman. He owns two restaurants and is also a wholesale vegetable oil distributor.
He told Dad about his early life when he graduated from high school. This was before the collapse of the Soviet Union. There were no jobs in Astana. Store shelves were empty. He started making fur hats. He and a friend would go hunting on a motorcycle. Yerkin would drive, and the friend would be the passenger with the rifle. They'd stop in front of a marmot hole, and the 'hunter' would quietly slike off the bike. Then Yerkin would drive away, the marmot would emerge, and 'bang'. The two guys would then use the skin and make hats. It was illegal for private individuals (probably without a permit) to sell anything, so Yerkin would go to an outdoor bazaar wearing the hat. And he'd wait for someone to comment on it, and his potential 'customer' would like it, and Yerkin would sell it. Eventually he started going north to Yekaterinburg where there were more things to buy and sell. He'd buy as much stuff as he could and then return to Astana. As soon as he'd sold that, he'd buy whatever he could in Astana and take it north to Yekat. He started by riding the train, moved to a car, to a small truck, to a big truck, to a bigger truck, and then to that truck with a trailer. He's quite the trader-businessman. He has three kids - one who learned really good English in college and now works for GE in Hungary (and she has no plans to return to Kaz), one who just graduated from college but didn't get into a grad school in Hungary, and a son still in high school. We've never met his wife, but the children have occasionally come to English Club.
Here we are at his house.
Turns out that we weren't the only people invited - the Stice family who were visiting Astana (and our church Branch) for the last two weeks were also there.
Before we sat down to eat, Yerkin showed us his basement room - which is his sport room and storage room, and the back yard.
They had a beautiful dining room
An incredible spread of food.
Here is the Beshbarmak - wow - the fanciest we've seen
Tradition says that you display the platter of Beshbarmak first. Then the host cuts up all the meat - using just his hands and a knife.
Then the biggest piece of meat - one that has a joint of the spine - is cut, and the portion with the vertebrae joint is served to the most respected person (which is the oldest person). And...you're expected to take it home with you.
Really, if you clean off your plate, you will be served more food...I just put my hands over the plate and said no thank you
After the main dinner, Yerkin played him Dombra some. The Dombra is the Kazakh national instrument, and it is THE MAIN NATIONAL INSTRUMENT. It has two strings and, when played, is very rhythmic with a strain of melody. It's kind of interesting, but I rather learn to play the guitar.
And then, Yerkin's wife brought in plate after plate of desserts - cookies, cheesy pies, biscuits, all sorts of things. We were stuffed.
It was quite a dinner! A great experience! And---two Kazakh national dinners in one week!
So did you take that big hunk of meat home?
ReplyDeleteyes-there was no way to refuse. It was an honor to be given it.
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