This week has been the "Learn About the Train Stations" week. When Jessica, Bev, and Natalie come for a visit in August, we want to take a train trip to Pavlodar....so ....better know a bit about the stations. The old station in Astana is in the old part of town. Pretty cool looking, isn't it...just like a Soviet train station.
Astana has an interesting history. Located on the right bank of the Ishim River, the city of Akmoly was founded in 1830 as a fortification for the Siberian Cossacks (right.....they were Cossacks, not Russians, who lived in Siberia. In 1832 the settlement was granted a town status and renamed Akmolinsk. In 1961 it was renamed Tselinograd to mark the city's evolution as the cultural and administrative center of the Virgin Lands Campaign---this was the soviet campaign to increase agricultural production in the USSR but which eventually was a failure.... after relocating thousands and thousands of people and destroying the environment. Then in 1992 it was renamed Akmola which means "white grave" - don't know why. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan became an independent nation with its capital in Almaty. On May 6 1998, the capital was moved north from Almaty to this city which was renamed Astana, which in Kazakh means "capital city". Modern Astana is a planned city like Brasilia or Washington, DC. The master plan of Astana was designed by a Japanese architect who made the city home to many futuristic buildings, hotels, and skyscrapers. All of the fancy new buildings and all of the government buildings were built on the "new" side of the river---or on the left.
This big sign (similar ones are everywhere in the city) commemorates the twenty years since Astana became the capital city of Kazakhstan - "The Capital of the Great Steppe"
That was a long introduction to the railway station episode of this week. This original train station is on the right bank and is in the old part of town. It was fun to visit because it looks 'soviet'. We rode Bus #14 and it took us about an hour to get to the station.
Security, train on the platform, and waiting room. Cool old train station.
There were several cafeterias - typical Kazakh type - lunch was one of our goals for this trip.
I got fish and Dad got a cutlet (think hamburger patty). I've gotten fish several times in Kaz, and the meal has always been tasty.
We walked around and explored (it was raining outside, so we were waiting out the rain)
Saw a sign that said "old building"...and found a bunch of offices, ticket booths more waiting rooms, a hotel, and the toilet room.
yep - a squater
Then we took the bus back to our apartment. We saw an American woman waiting for the bus and Kazak women on the bus.
Two days later we checked out the NEW train station...........and it does not look like an old Soviet landmark.
It is about 5 or 6 stories high. The tracks come in from one end and are on the second floor, and the tracks -and the railroad cars- are completely under cover....no rain or wind or snow or ice will encumber passengers as they get on a coach.
Really long escalators take you to the different floors.
Six tracks make up the platform. I was impressed!
The waiting room. Check out the Kazakh motif on the floor.
Of course, lunch was on our minds. But this is a new modern building, and there will be no Kazakh cafeterias here! There was a food court - just like in the shopping centers. We could have chosen this one.....but, no, not at all interesting.
Instead we went to Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Stand which - who knew- began as a nickel hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916. I'd never heard of this restaurant, but the other missionaries had told us about it.
Unfortunately I was so excited about ordering that I forgot to take a photo of the place. Dad got some sort of famous hot dog, and I requested something, from the picture menu, that resembled a KFC chef burger
I should have gotten a hot dog too.
So far this station was indeed destined for the future. But we needed a final comparison....which confirmed that this new station is more modern that the other one. Yep!
We actually did Humanitarian Work this week too :-) This is kinda hard to explain... but...here goes. We get almost all our our documents from our partners via email and our HP printer. And then via email, we submit these documents to our leaders in Moscow. When a project is approved, we email certain documents to our accountant (who is Kazakh and lives somewhere in Kazakhstan), and then she sends the right amount of money to the different vendors who then supply the equipment tor our partners. Sometime during the winter, our accountant told us that she needs the original documents? Originals??????!!!!!!!!!!! That was annoying to find out because no one - I mean..no one - had ever told us that we had to mail originals to the accountant. What a nuisance....... So we made the month of June be the time that we would revisit all of our partners from 2017 and get originals.
First we went to the Kazakh Society of the Blind to whom we had supplied musical production equipment. We gave the address to the taxi driver, and he took us to that exact address, BUT it wasn't the place we'd gone to three times previously. It was classic.....we were there but we didn't know where we were and we didn't know what was going to happen next.
There's Dad, standing in the shade calling our translator to see when she was going to arrive.
And here's the door we went through to see if it was the right place.
Miraculously, even though we didn't think it was the right place, everyone we needed had come to this address. The secretary found the correct documents, and the Director signed the correct documents, and we were good to go!!!
Next was to go to the Inclusive Classroom which had been our very second project. Kamila is finally settled in her classroom with her pupils - most of whom are autistic.. While we were there we met with an American woman who was presenting a film she'd produced and directed which is about a group of autistic boys who join a swim tram. Here the pupils are watching the trailer. The name of the film is "Swim Team" and is, supposedly, available on NetFlix. Try to see if you can find it.
I've been walking every morning at the Triathlon Park - all week long I could see big things happening. I'll walk you through.
In the distance, you can see new buildings - or at least outdoor stuff and canvas pavilions.
This looks like flooring
And these must be metal rafters
The pavilion is erected
And these large concrete blocks (tastefully covered by the white fabric (canvas-plastic?) which keep the walls from falling down.
Then I saw buoys in the river.
And the clincher
Approaching the victory arch with the white pavilion in the background
I am going to finish first!
There was another 'finish' arch which was for the children's Iron Kid's
Sponsored by Mimioriki which is a Kazakh children's clothing company - had never heard of it before.
More flags flying on each side of the finish
"Always Prepared"
A bunch of yurts were erected too - there are always yurts at a Kazakh event
There were lots of numbered hooks on this rack for the transition bags, and the two soccer pitches in the background were entirely filled with bike stands.
Day of the race - the racks were full of bags.
Race Day - the racks were full of bikes.
The race is on Sunday, but the Kids Race was on Saturday. So, we went on Saturday, specifically to buy some souvenir t-shirts - you know the 'cheap' ones piled on tables where you can get them for ten dollars.
The place was buzzing with activity by 10:00 am. For starters, there were two rows of volunteers lined up in front of the white pavilion - which we learned is where you sign in, get your backpack and t-shirt. The young people were whooping it up, and as people walked the gauntlet, the volunteers cheered and whistled. Most of the people who were walking to the entrance (like us) were just people, not competitors. It was kinda weird. Dad and I slipped to the side so we could observe rather than give high fives to the volunteers. But some competitors, who were wearing just street clothes, jogged through the parallel lines, and one group even had a videographer running with them and capturing each moment.
We went in to some of the yurts. This one had a propane heater in the middle, national clothing displayed on the walls, and a carpeted floor....and a tv. It was an advertisement for the heater which you can see on the left.
There were so many 'fit' men and women walking around - they looked so strong, and fast, and all had great heart and lung capacities.
The little kids had received their yellow t-shirts and were gathering to get ready to go to their event.
Inside the pavilion, it was a frenzied merchandising mecca with everything incredibly overpriced. The stuff was good quality and being sold in Kazakhstan at US prices. I wanted simple t-shirts that said "Astana Iron Man' written on them. Well, you could only get those if you'd registered for the race at $250 an entry. A nice black and gray t-shirt was $54 - nope, and a really cool long sleeve zip up sweat shirt with hood was $133.00. Nope, again. So, sorry sons and sons-in-law, no Iron Man
t-shirts for you. Very cool, Kazakh blue, sweat suits at $169.00..I...'ll wait for Target.
Did you forget your bike - here's a Specialized
Exercise equipment?
On our way back to our apartment we passed one of these ubiquitous signs.
On Sunday, Race Day, there was a frenzy of activity when I walked very early in the morning.
Workers putting out caution cones
A set of sensors embedded in the track with batteries alongside to power it.
I like this sign painted on the track - it is not for the Iron Man, however. It says "Finish"
Heading back to the apartment at 6:30 am, there were hoards of Iron Men and Women heading to the event.
"
At home was our "Iron Man" for whom I made a delicious Father's Day Breakfast.
Today, at church, was the last day the Holmgren family will be in Astana as they will be moving to Tbilisi, Georgia. Here are photos of them and the young volunteers.
Here are some random photos from this week.
Cottonwood trees dropping their seeds.
A stairway at the Triathlon Park from one level to a lower level.
A chimney connected to a basement area
A tower telescope recently installed at the triathlon park. I think it was installed to be part of the nature area which is being made---remember the animal posters from last week's blog.
Lots of dead saplings that didn't survive the winter.
Like this one which has some suckers growing up from the trunk. Eventually workers will cut the trunk right above these sprouts, and the tree will grow up from the bottom.
This woman is dressed beautifully, and she likely is just out for a walk in the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment