Friday Photo: Almaty Fountain No. 4...I think...I seem to have lost count

Hey, cut me some slack I am a musician and rarely have to count higher than four.

This set of fountains has to be one of my favorites.  You will find them in the small park just east of the Opera and Ballet house behind the statue of Auezov.

 

Soon to come:  A post about moats 

Movie Monday: Yesterday's trip to Medeo

I know I have posted about Medeo before (and you know I will post again when there is ice in the rink), but here is a short movie made on my trip up the mountain yesterday and some random facts to keep you entertained.

Random Facts:
The Medeo Dam was built to protect Almaty from mud slides.
The Ice Rink was the site for more than 100 world records in skating.
The rink is open 8 months out of the year.
The rink sits at 1700 meters elevation (that is close to 5000 feet).

There are almost 800 steps to reach the top of the dam (yes I counted them).
I definitely plan to go skating there this fall.
If you want more facts This website seems to be pretty good.

P.S.  Happy, Quiet and Safe Revolution day Yemen.

Sunday Story: an evening at the opera

The balcony level lobby

Last night I took my first trip to see an event at the Abay State Opera and Ballet theater.  A colleague and I went down to see Rigoletto since her former roommate at the conservatory was singing Gilda.  We arrived early so we purchased our tickets 400 Tenge each (about three dollars) for the cheap seats and then spent our remaining time talking on a bench in the park across the street.


The theater is spectacular both inside and out.   The details are done in traditional Kazakh design employing different Kazakh symbols.

Each week they run a different opera, and once a work is rehearsed and performed it can return in that form up to three times a year for several years.  While the show seemed stiff and some of the singers seemed to have a difficult time projecting over the orchestra, the singers who played Rigoletto and Gilda, were quite amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

This fixture represents the opening at the top of a yurt

When the performance was over my colleague and I went back stage to meet the woman who played Gilda.  We found her still on stage talking with her cast-mates and director.  I have to say, it was super exciting to be on that stage as it is about 3 times larger than you get to see as an audience. We hung out in Gilda's dressing room for a while and then went out for coffee.  It was a fantastic evening that I hope to repeat in a couple of weeks with La Traviata.

Friday Photo: We could all use a little change

One of the most perplexing aspects of everyday existence in Almaty is the constant need for change.  No, not the need for something new and different, but rather the need for money in denominations smaller than 500 Tenge.  In Almaty, change is almost a commodity in it's own right notes and coins under 200 Tenge are both extremely useful, and in high demand.   

Allow me to explain:  to get to work, I usually ride the bus. The bus costs 50 Tenge.  If I take a bus with a ticket machine, I must have the fare in change.  If I take a bus with a conductor, it is unlikely that this person will have the change to break anything over a 200 note.  So, if I do not have any denomination smaller than 200 but greater than 50kt, then I must be sure to stop at the grocery store on my way home to buy a bottle of water for 125 tenge with a 5,000 kt note.  The teller at the grocery store will glare, then ask if I have 5 kt to make the change even, and which point I shove my hands in my pockets to at least appear to look for the change, shake my head mournfully and accept the next day's bus fair with a friendly "thank you."

Many places require exact change: vendors at the Bazaar, Gypsy cabs, buses, the neighborhood veggie stand guy, restaurants.  Everyone will ask you for change knowing perfectly well that you need it as much as they do.  

Tidbit Tuesday: The power to change convention

I intend to do two posts about change, and today's post is about the power of nature to change something in a way that defies logic, convention, and training.

There is little in this world that cannot be changed given the presence of a source powerful enough to change it.  I present as evidence the Tien Shan mountains of which you have already seen numerous pictures.  These mountains lie to the south of Almaty.  If you were to ask me (or anyone else in the city to point south, we would all point at the mountains.  One can see them from almost every corner and landmark in the city.  When we wake up, we see the mountains, as we go to work, we see the mountains.  In fact, the only time you don't see these mountains is if you are facing due north.  They are the basis for all directions (go up, or go down), and they are the backdrop against which we all frame our internal maps.

 This natural focal point only becomes a problem when it is pitted against the conventions of map making.  When I think of the streets and landmarks of Almaty, in my mind I am looking towards the mountains.  I cannot even imagine the city without the mountains.  If you hand me a map with south at the bottom, however, you demand that I attempt to picture the city with my back to the mountains.  If you saw these mountains you would understand why this is so difficult to imagine your back to them.   The result is that most standard maps are almost incomprehensible.   So how to read a map?  Some of us resort to turning the map upside down.  but recently I have spotted several maps printed with the mountains (actual pictures of the range) at the top.  Some are at bus stops and one was even in a store.

So while defying the convention of placing North at the top of a map may seem silly to those who have not experienced this geographic phenomena.  It makes perfect sense to those of us whose perspectives have been changed by the power of the Tien Shan.

Photo Friday: Another Almaty Fountain

...Just kidding, but I will post more of those.

Seeing as I am not adding too much to my apartment anytime soon, I guess I should post pics:

Living room looking toward my front door 

Bedroom: 

(like the hats?) oh and that door where the curtains are open leads to the balcony.

 

Kitchen: 

Sorry, no pics of the big red bathroom...maybe as a part of the bathroom series I'll run (lol).

Tidbit Tuesday: The Hike

Saturday I went on a really fun hike with a small group of teachers.  We were planning to go to Big Almaty Lake, but the road was closed so we went hiking in a nearby gorge instead:

 

 If you ever want to take this hike yourself, simply catch the 28 bus near roundabout at the presidential park.  You will need to pay 60 tenge as the fare includes admission to the national park.   Ride the bus until the bus turnaround (the end of the route) and then walk up the right branch of the fork in the road until you come to the trail head:

 

 Most of the trail follows the river.  You will often have to scramble over boulders, rocks and stepping stones in shallow places of the river, so wear good shoes.

 

 The trail crosses the river in two places on small bridges constructed of steel pipe.  There are several rungs missing in these ladder like bridges and the metal can get a little slippery so be careful!

 At one point on the trail there is a staircase that is missing most of the steps (as you can see).  Don't turn back, simply hold on to the railings and use the braces that used to support the steps to climb the staircase (This was my favorite part of the trail).

If you take the trail to the left at the top of the staircase, you will climb to a small pagoda which is an excellent place for a breather and a snack.

If you wish to hike deeper into the canyon from the pagoda, go back to the top of the staircase and continue on the higher trail into the canyon.  You will come across several extremely steep climbs...

 

 but the view from the trail high above the river is definitely worth it.

The trail goes on and on into the canyon.  Simple turn around when you are ready to head back to the city.

Sunday Story: Couch surfing and mistaken intent

Unfortunately this story has no pictures.   So as a little incentive, if you actually manage to read to the end I have a bonus pic for you that I took on a little trip yesterday.

Part I - Couchsurfing 

I have had an eventful weekend.  It began Friday evening when a colleague and I jumped in a gypsy taxi after work to attend a couch surfing event.  couchsurfing.org is an online community that hooks up travelers with hosts and couches to sleep on.  Different cities have different 'chapters' and members sometimes meet up to go on hikes or to throw a party for a departing (or arriving) surfer.  We were attending a party for a young woman from San Fransisco who has been traveling and couch surfing for just under a year.  My colleague said she has never attended one of these events so neither of us were really sure what to expect.

We were among the first to arrive at the 11th floor flat in old town Almaty.  To get to the flat we squeezed into a very small elevator with four other people who were also going to the couch surfers event.  On entering we all introduced ourselves, removed shoes, presented gifts of food and drink to the host, and then began to make small talk.  The flat quickly filled up with people from all over the world.  There was an Australian, an Egyptian, a young Kazakh man who has lived in Canada, the US and London, and many locals who had visited almost every continent.  I was not even close to being the most well traveled person in the room and I often found myself searching into my memory for names of countries I knew I visited briefly as a child to pad my list a little.

Over the course of the evening I debated the merits the Flyers vs. the merits of the Maple Leafs with a Maple Leafs fan.  I learned about environmental activism in Kazakhstan from a man from Astana who happens to be an environmental activist.  At one point, a young man from Turkey spent ten minutes trying to convince my colleague of the miracle bracelet that increased your strength.  Needless to say, there was plenty of hilarity involved.

Part II - mistaken intent 

Around midnight (as the party games were just beginning) my colleague and I decided that perhaps we should begin making our way home.  We spent a few minutes exchanging pleasantries with the hostess before finding our shoes and descending to the street in the tiny elevator.  Most buses here stop running shortly before midnight so we stood on the street to try and get a gypsy taxi.

The first couple of cars to pull over were not interested (whether it was the price or the location, I'm not sure), but finally a white Niva pulled over and we crawled in.  I sat in the front on a bucket seat that bounced wildly at every dip in the road.

The driver was of Russian descent and remarkably friendly.  We spoke (with my colleague translating) for a few minutes when the driver suddenly said in English "what is your name?"  My colleague and I lauged briefly before I told him that my name was "Leeza"  (the name bestowed on me at the party).
Apparently confused by our laughter, he then asked "what is the polite way to ask your name in English?" I was confused for a moment but realized that he was referring to the formal and informal pronouns present in so many languages (including Russian).  I replied (again with my colleague translating) that in English all are equal - there are no ti's and vi's.  The driver then proceeded to tell this story:

He owns a coal delivery business and one day he was delivering coal to a woman in the country.  When  he arrived at her house, only her daughter was home.  His efforts to communicate with the daughter in a formal manner went wrong when he attempted to ask "What is your mother's name?"  Unfortunately that same combination of sounds can also mean something quite rude (which my translator did not share with me).  Unfortunately even the best intentions of civility can go awry.

As promised, here is your random picture reward for actually reading all of this.  Next time:  "the hike" (and it will be filled with pictures).

 Yes, they are loose, just meandering down the road. 

Friday Photo: Three guesses

You got it!!!!!  From the Almaty fountain collection, I give you fountain number 3.  This fountain is on zhibek-zholi street in the section by Tsoom that has been blocked off for pedestrians.  I have passed it a number of times and seem to always stop to admire, so I thought I would share.

 

Next time on khaki-sandy girl:  an evening couch-surfing, and a gypsy taxi driver's story of mistaken intent.  I think you will enjoy. 

Movie Monday (is finally back): Stopping Traffic

 The most courageous people I have met in Almaty are the traffic police.  I am not referring to the ones who zip around in their little cars pulling people over for crossing the double white line or for failing to stop for a pedestrian - yes, drivers here frequently destroy their tires as they screech to a halt at a "zebra cross" (named that because of the stripes, not because any zebras actually cross the street there), but to the guys who stand in the middle of a rush hour intersection with a whistle and a red flashing stick and try to restore flow to the gridlock.

The intersection my apartment building is on is one of the craziest in the city.  It is odd, because in daylight it seems only moderately busy, but during the evening rush hours (between 5pm and 9pm) it turns into a complete zoo.  Most evenings there is a traffic policeman with his radio and his flashing neon night stick directing traffic.  As he works to restore flow to a given street, the cars on the cross street become increasingly, well...cross.  A chorus of horn honking crescendos until the traffic cop finally screeches on his whistle and holds the blinking stick high above his head much like a warrior with a gleaming sword signaling the start of some epic battle.  All traffic comes to a stop and with an expert twirl of the nightstick, he restarts a new line of cars through the intersection.

And so for "Movie Monday"  I bring you two minutes of horn honking and whistle blowing captured from my balcony.  Enjoy.

Sunday Story: The photo scavenger hunt

Tuesday was Constitution day in Kazakhstan.  As you can imagine (with a name like constitution day) it was a national holiday that we had off from school.  Everyone else had both Monday and Tuesday off because late last week the president announced that Saturday would be a work day and the holiday would extend from Sunday through Tuesday.  Yay for presidential decrees!  At any rate, the school I work for usually does not observe those sorts of last minute changes, so we had school Monday and took only Tuesday off.

One of the 2nd year teachers organized a photo scavenger hunt for constitution day.  We all met at Mars (Mapc), a little restaurant a couple of K (about a mile) up the hill from me.  Formed into teams, and used public transit to get to various landmarks around the city to collect twenty three pictures.

My team, Team Croûtons (Diane, Naomi, Anne, and I), began by catching the 32 bus down town and walking through Panfilov park where we got pictures of the Cathedral of the Holy Ascension and the War Heroes Monument. 

After that, we headed down a couple of blocks to the Green Bazaar where we goofed off with sunglasses, and bought bananas, tea, and umbrellas (even though there was no chance of rain that day).









Then we headed over to Tsoom (zoom if you're American) which is this crazy three story "everything" store that is really a collection of vendors...like a three story Bazaar.  It may be hard to tell from the picture, but that is a store behind us under that giant billboard.










We took an afternoon coffee break around the corner at the "American coffee shop" where, when you walk in, they remind you that this is an "American coffee shop" and then headed east to Almaty Central Park (formerly, and still called, Gorky Park).







Gorky Park is home to nice walking paths, a small amusement park, a pretty impressive water park, and the Almaty Zoo. We wandered through the park collecting pictures on the Ferris wheel (outstanding view from the top, by the way), by the octopus, and of various zoo creatures.























The day ended with a trip through Interfoods (a magical German Supermarket near the green bazaar) and a Gypsy cab ride back to Mapc were we had dinner.  The day was good fun with good company.


Oh, I almost forgot:  Here is a picture of a camel at the zoo for Stephanie.  It is the first camel I've seen here.

Friday Photo: Fountain No. 2

Since my last fountain post I have collected two or three other fountain photos (I told you it would become a theme).  It was difficult to choose a photo to post this week, but I settled for one that has a small story to go with it.

Last Sunday I attended a small Lutheran Service in the old part of the city (not too far from the Green Bazaar).  The service was conducted entirely in Russian (contrary to the promise of an at least partially English service).  In spite of the gaping language barrier, the casual and friendly manner of the pastor was so endearing that I will almost certainly go back there this Sunday.  I digress: that isn't really what I am writing about this week.  As I was a full forty minutes early for the service I decided to take a little walk before church and on my walk I came across the following fountain:

For those of you who have added the Almaty fountains to your list of things to do before you die, this one is on the corner of Ablay Khan and Kazibek Bi (accross form the Kazakh-British Technical University).  From across the street the fountain gives the illusion of perpetual rain.

 OK, so maybe this isn't the most fascinating picture in my collection, but it was a good morning and the sunshine made everything beautiful and I really wanted to share that beauty...

To make it up to you (for managing to read through this whole random ramble, I'll post apartment pics (even though I haven't really decorated yet) tomorrow.