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.
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.
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.
Camel!!!!!!! Thanks Beth! Glad to see you're settling in well. Still miss you, though!
ReplyDeleteLOL!!!! I think of you everytime I see almost any animal, but especially camels. Hey...Sunday's post has a picture where I remember thinking "if only they were camels for Steph!!!!! Miss you tons.
ReplyDelete