Out and About

17 Nov 07, Saturday, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Day 53. Major events of the day: Another long walk, Connected!, and Another Dinner Milestone

Morning Weather Report:
Almaty weather: 30, feels like 30, with a projected high of 47. Sunny, with a good view of the mountains to the south.
Meanwhile back in Memphis: Overnight low of 46, but heading back to 68. That’s a little nicer than the first week of October when we met the kids!

This morning started out cold and crystal clear. Although sunrise is earlier here and it does get light earlier than Petropavlovsk, the sun doesn’t peek over the mountains until about an hour after official sunrise. Once the sun’s rays reached us, temperatures quickly warmed up and it felt much warmer with the sunshine, so we headed out on our day’s adventure a little after 10 am. There was still a little ice in some puddles, but it didn’t last long.

Since the kids were “just the right amount tired” last night at bed time, I want to keep up the walking routine the next few days to keep everyone’s activity level up. At first, Kate was keeping up, but wasn’t happy with our adventure since she didn’t understand we were just sight seeing. After the second or third “neat thing,” she brightened up and started asking, “Where next?” knowing the promise of a coveted visit to the Ramstore would be our last stop before going back to the apartment. Reviewing our trek on Google Earth, we covered at least 4 miles along the way. It’s a good thing they don’t know it’s exercise!

As we were starting out, I took a picture of our apartment building (our 2nd floor apartment is barely visible over the construction barricade) to catch the evolution of the city. In front of and to the right is a much older two story apartment building. Behind us is an ultra modern high rise, and several more buildings under construction. I don’t think our apartment building will be here much longer before being replaced.

My intended mission today was to find where the gondolas “land” so we can go up to the city overlook. We had seen one of the towers and a gondola car from the SOS Clinic window, so I had a rough idea where we needed to look. Along our path we saw a lot of road construction. In fact, the road close to us doesn’t even show up on Google Earth. The main road (the non-existent one) bypasses major intersections by going under them. Traffic congestion here is on par with New York, and there is a lot of gridlock. It’s very understandable to see why our driver took a long way around to avoid some of the intersections which we have seen on our walking adventures. In addition, we saw one of the local gas station chains called SINOOIL (at first glance I thought the sign said, Sin Oil), where regular is priced at 85 kzt/liter, which works out to about $2.70/gallon.

Continuing on, we found the local Боулинг (bowling) center. From the sign, I would guess that they also cater to children with the “Cosmic Bowling” sessions. Given the building activity around the center, I don’t think it will be there much longer before being re-zoned. It’s in a prime location, near the financial and up-scale fashion district.

Finally, after actually walking completely around it, we found the Funicular station. We could see a few vehicles out front, but the gondola and cables didn’t appear to be working. Sad, because I would have really liked to have taken the kids up to the overlook. A bit of fog and haze had moved in since we began our walk, so I suppose it was ok after all because we wouldn’t have had a good view. We’ll keep that on our “Things to Do” list since we have three more days to fill with activities before we leave (including the day we’ll visit the US Consulate to get entry visas!).

On continuing trek toward the much anticipated visit to the Ramstore we walked through the gardens outside the performing arts center, ok, the now empty flower beds where things will be planted again in the Spring, and saw another camel statue. Photo opportunity!

Hilton and Suzanne, new adoptive parents and now our new friends from Virginia, have a friend who has a Hummer back home. While in Petropavlovsk, I saw a few and got a few great shots of a brand new H3 in front of the Black Jack Café. Today we saw a wedding procession comprised of a Hummer Limo and not less than a dozen Land Rovers, all decorated with flowers and ribbons, waiting to turn onto the road leading to Republic Square where we had seen a procession of limos yesterday. Since Cathe and I didn’t get many pictures from our wedding, maybe we’ll do something similar for one of our milestone anniversaries!

Finally, we made our way to the much anticipated Ramstore. I’m not sure who was hoping more for a good internet connection, me or the kids. Both crowded close as I pulled the laptop out of my bag and hit the power switch. Despite all the activity around us, it was as quiet as Get Smart’s “Cone of Silence” around our table. As soon as David saw the “connected” icon in the system tray he immediately launched into his rendition of the Happy Dance. Even though we had trekked well over three miles by this point, both were eager to hit the ice for an hour, and I was happy to have a connection! (I did buy a Nursat iCard today, so I have 7.5 hours of dial-up time to use from the apartment at 175 kzt/hr (~$1.50/hr)). Plopping down at a rinkside take I went to work, and they went to skating.

After I was done synchronizing my e-mail and updating yesterday’s blog entry, and the kids were further worn out from skating, we headed to the store to pick up a few groceries. Both kids are really getting into the shopping routine and are paying more careful attention to what we select since they know it will end up on the table as THE choice of the day. Side note: both Cathe and I agreed that we will make one menu selection for the particular meal, like it, love it, hate it, whatever. We also know that tastes, both ours and the kids’, will take a little adjusting as they venture into the unknown realm of perhaps too many choices. Anyway, we selected some more tomatoes and cucumbers to make a salad, as well as a sack of potatoes, and headed back to the apartment (Cathe: Slug bug silver, parked in front of the store).

As I prepared dinner, I knew that some of the kids’ favorite food items were on today’s menu. My suspicions were confirmed when we were clearing the table and most of the four pieces of bread were still on the plate. That has been our most visible sign of what they do or do not like since they are pretty good about not complaining about things they helped pick out. One of our family ground rules is that the kids need to tell us when there is something they do not like. Another ground rule is that they need to at least eat a small portion of anything we prepare since they may end up liking it anyway. For example, Kate indicated that she didn’t like cheese. But, as it turns out, she really didn’t like a particular type of cheese which was often cut thicker than she likes. Kate devours the type Masha helped us pick out, which is a softer and milder variety. The tomato and cucumber salad also goes quickly. It’s nothing more than sliced cukes and diced tomatoes with some Lowery’s Seasoning Salt (there was a jar in the cupboard) and mayonnaise stirred up together. We will be making that dish often at home!

Thus ends today’s journal entry. It’s nice to be able to know there are only a few more days until our flight home!

A view toward the southwest. I count at least 10 construction cranes in my limited view, and it was a nice sunset.