End of week three
As week three comes to a close, we have officially passed the half-way mark of the program. Midterm impressions: I am feeling a lot more comfortable in my host city environment, I can get to any place that I to and I am able to orient myself. If I see the mountains and I am walking "higher," then I am going south. On the other hand, if I am walking "lower," that means that I am faced north. East and West follow in suite.
One of my largest bothers is that I have yet to find a cafe that is perfect for studying. My bare minimum requirements for such a place are as follows:
For all of the cafes I have been to, there is at least one of these requirements that are not met. For the most part, the internet in cafes is spotty at best and I have trouble doing the things that I need to do for studying. Even at starbucks internet is not a guarantee! However, I am still looking and have a couple of cafes that my friends have recommended for me. These cafes are not located nearby the university or my house, so they are not feasible for a weekday after-class kind of study sesh, but maybe during the weekends I can check them out and see what's poppin.
And now for the events that happened throughout the week! *drumroll*
Saturday:
Saturday was pretty chill, I wanted to just focus on homework and catch some Z's. I did, however, plan on meeting up with a local with whom I had been acquainted through the Hello Talk app. Me and some other friends planned to meet up with him and some of his friends at a cafe inside of a shopping plaza that is really far away from my house. Well, just about everything is far away from my house, but this plaza was closer to my friends' homes and we know the area pretty well, so it was a good choice for all of us.
We all met together and talked about Kazakhstan and America for a bit and I got to try the legendary cake by the name of "Молочная девочка" (molochnaya devochka, milk girl) and it was just as good at this cafe as my friends had been claiming! Prior to leaving and going home, we all went over to a Sulpak (technology store) in the mall and Justin played some excerpts from his repertoire of piano pieces that he knows. We jammed it up in the store for a bit and then headed home.
By the time we parted ways, it was already quite late, to the extent that buses were not running and I would have to find a different means of returning home. Janna was in the same boat as I, so I used my questionable 3-G mobile internet connection to order a Yandex taxi for my friend to get home safely. We secured Janna a taxi and I tried to order myself an uber to get home. However, Uber was not complying tonight, so I had to rely on Yandex taxi. However, the way that Yandex taxi works is that you have to wait for the previous trip to end before ordering the next taxi. Here's the catch: my phone was at 16% and there was still three minutes until Janna's trip back home would end.
Fortunately, everything worked out well and my phone was a 14% by the time that I ordered my taxi. The driver called me to ask for my location and I was able to provide a sufficient answer because I had just happened to help a babushka find the nearest intersection from the bus stop. On the way back home the driver was pumping some house music and I just silently jammed until we got to my neighborhood. Because my internet sucks, I was not able to provide my exact address for my house and just had the driver leave me at a restaurant that is ~3 minute walking distance from my apartment. Ura!
Sunday:
On Sunday I planned to really focus on my homework. Did this actually happen? No, because I couldn't find a place that was conducive to my productivity. Instead, I sat at home with my homework in front of me and struggled to not doze off while watching some vine compilations. When my parents returned home from some shopping, they talked about how hot it was outside and invited me to go to the beach with them to swim and cool off. What an unexpected turn of events!
I had finished all of my homework that needed to be written in our notebooks and just needed to prepare for some assignments orally, so I gladly accepted the invitation. We drove to Adilbek's sister's house and enjoyed some cake along with tea before heading off to the beach. Noah was being hosted at this house and he decided to come along with us to the beach.
The ride to the beach was ~2 hours to the south and I tried to do some homework along the way. We stopped by a supercenter to get some snacks for when we actually arrived at the beach and continued along our way to the beach. The sand at the beach was very dark and there were no hermit crabs or sea shells or any type of living creature other than some small fishes. However, we were at a place not frequented by tourists, so it was not littered with trash.
We swam a bit in the cold water and enjoyed the nice weather while eating some chicken and juice. The juice was either tomato or strawberry and the tomato juice was just cold tomato soup ( :C ). After eating, me and Noah searched for a type of outhouse or toilet and found a pyramid shaped building with a grated hole in the center of the floor. The stench emanating from this filthy bung hole was unbearable and became worse the longer I stayed in there. I quickly did my business, returned to our little picnic area and drew some figures: FU, spongebob, and that superman S that everyone seems to have drawn during elementary school.
Along the way back home, we got some watermelon and cantalope and ate it at Noah's house. My host father was very iffy about buying these melons because it was not the season for them yet, but I was happy to eat some of my favorite fruit (berry?). We returned home and, exhausted from our endeavors, went right to bed. What a productive day! ))
Monday:
Ah, another day back in class. Mondays, gotta love them!
- I planned to try out this Indian restaurant close to the school that me and Janna found while looking for cafes, but group six had our meetings with Harry, so I couldn't join the group and instead waited at the school until my meeting with Harry. During the meeting we discussed my thoughts about my host family, academics, expeditions, and language partners.
After this, I went over to the Mega park mall to the north of the campus, which was approximately a 20 minute walk, and decided to try some American fast food there. I got a chicken burger that was overpriced (in Kazakhstan standards of food) and went to the Starbucks at this mall to study. The Starbucks menu at this location was pitiful and I just went with a classic caramel macchiato. It was very disappointing, but it was the only kind of iced coffee I could find. Having some kind of iced coffee is better than nothing, so I'm not complaining!
- Upon returning home, I went to the gym near my house to check out the Karate they had. Unfortunately, it was only for small children and I, shockingly, am not a small child. The trainer, however, helped me to find a different course, боевое самбо (boyevoye samba), in which participated people more of my age. This course would be happening tomorrow on Tuesday, so I could check it out after classes. Neat!
Tuesday:
- During class, out teacher talked about music and influences of Russian and American pop culture on Kazakh pop culture. It was very interesting and I learned that Kazakh is a very rich language, where for one word there may be a plethora of synonyms. For this reason, Kazkah pop culture was not poppin for a while, but is making its way with the rise of technology of and wide-spread globalization.
- Today, the group decided to get some Indian food again. I happily went with them and ate a crapton of Indian food for a cheap price ($3 for a buffet) and felt filled to the brim by the time I left. First impressions on Indian food: DELICIOUS.
- Janna and I planned to go to the Starbucks to study for tests tomorrow, but we somehow ended up going West instead of North and ended up far away from the mall, so we decided to walk around a bit and try out a random cafe nearby our current location. We went to this cafe and it. was. fancy. However, the lighting was very poor and the seats too comfortable, so I really really wanted to sleep. I got a very small part of my homework done and we called it a day.
- My aunt came over and made some food, but I didn't have enough time to stay and eat because course at the gym would start soon. We talked a bit about classes and I told her about a classmate who had an encounter with the police because of a problem with her bus ticket. It turns out that she didn't have sufficient funds to ride the bus, but she didn't notice that the card reader rejected her card. As her luck would have it, an Onay (the bus company) official came to check everybody's cards. When the official got to check her card and found that she had not paid, the official fined her and called the police. The fine was only about $15 dollars, but was nevertheless a nerve-wracking experience. I made sure to fill my card up before going to the gym course!
- Before I headed over to check out the fighting samba, I went to the internet to checkout what it was exactly. My guesses: a fighting style that used dancing techniques, or an aggressive dancing style. I was wrong. Samba does not not mean the dancing style samba, but was rather an abbreviation for "самозащита без оружия" (samozashita bez aruzhiya; self-defense without weapons). I watched the course and was very intrigued with it, so I decided to try coming again on Thursday and trying my hand at fighting samba!
Wednesday:
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! I have a grammar test today.
- After my grammar test, I was feeling horrible about my Russian level and fought back tears during class. I fought well and pushed my self harder in class to be able to at least answer questions in class. I'm horrible at doing this. After class, my teachers talked with me and tried to encourage me. Group six is definitely a challenge for me and, while it is always difficult, it is better to struggle and make huge progress rather than to feel comfortable and not learn anything new. My teachers are correct: I am way too hard on myself and need to make language learning fun, even if things are hard. I will really try to encourage myself and be active in class, even if I feel like and idiot.
- After class, I went to Starbucks to study at the Mega park mall. The internet did not work and I was very sad, but I continued to study. The baristas who work at this Starbucks are very friendly and make the 20 minute trip worth it!
Thursday:
- Ahhh, Thursday. The last day of the school week for RLASP students! What a wonderful day! Today group six had an essay to write about the following quote "Our generation has to do the impossible, or else what awaits us is meaningless" in regards to ecological problems. In contrast to the essay from the previous week, I was able to finish this essay and read it over before turning it in! In these essays I am prone to making simple grammar mistakes, so one of my goals for this summer is to focus on my grammatical accuracy and lessening the amount of simple grammar mistakes that I make when writing in Russian.
- During our history of Central Asia class, our teacher, Fatima, wished us a happy belated Fourth of July. She spent the first 10-15 minutes of class speaking about her love of America and the work she has done to develop soft connections (social connections) between Kazakhstan and America. This woman really loves America!
- After school, the group went to get some Georgian food. I got to try khachapuri for the first time, which is basically this bowl made out of bread filled with butter, cheese, and topped with an uncooked egg that, when incorporated with the rest of the dish, cooks. It was unbelievably delicious and tasted like a pizza, but even better! The bread bowl is made with handles, so you can easily eat the dish by first mixing the middle, and then holding onto the handles with both hands and then taking a bite.
- I went over to check out the fighting samba later in the evening. On the way home, I was feeling full from the rich lunch I had. About halfway back home, the conductor of the trollybus I was taking said something and that we would all have to exit the bus and take the next one. We all left the bus and waited on the side of the road for the next bus. When the next bus came, it was already looking to be a bit full, so we make it look definitely full by shoving our bodies into the bus. I happened to end up wedged in the front of the bus, right next to the driver cage. It was so hot and uncomfortable, and by the time I got home, I didn't really want to go to the fighting samba. Nevertheless, I pushed myself to check it out. If it was something I really wanted to do and worth the ~$70 for a month of classes, then I would feel invigorated after the class. If I didn't feel invigorated and excited to return, then I would not return. Today, the group was doing sparring and I guess I misunderstood what the trainer told me from last class. I felt very confused and just decided to go back home and not return - after all, it was a steep price for only one month of class, and it would be taking away from time I could spend hanging out with friends or -better yet- recharging my batteries from a long week of school!
On the return home, I stopped by a nearby pharmacy and bought some sunscreen with aloe for the excursion on Friday and some lemonade. I did not want to have a repeat of the sunburn from the first excursion! At home, I was lethargic and happy to rest. Oh yeah - the lemonade (Holiday brand) was NOT what Americans would consider as lemonade and I do NOT recommend Americans to try it! It tastes like medicine made into a soda, and I have trouble downing a glass of it! My host family, on the other hand, loves it.
Friday:
- Today is another day of excursion! The destination for this week: Талгарский перевал (talgarskiy pereval; Talgar pass). Today is also the 20 year anniversary of the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. Fun fact: today is also the birthday of the president, Nursultan Nazarbaev. This means that Adilbek and Assel did not have work and were able to rest. I took the bus over to the nearest bus stop from where our rendezvous point was for the excursion, and on my walk over, I passed through many construction sites (I didn't know how to properly pass through them?!) and spotted a small bridge that had "TEXAS" written on the side of it for some reason. It's a home away from home!
At the bus stop, we waited for everybody to gather up and, just as we did last time, split up into two groups so as to not clog a single bus up with Americans. I went on the second bus and the bus was jam packed. I'm sensing a theme here. I was smooshed between the window and human bodies and it was VERY hot and VERY uncomfortable. I was so relieved to exit the bus because I was getting ready to vomit from this mixture, along with the fact that I had some tvorok (a milk product) for breakfast.
The expedition group gathered back together and waited to get onto the cable cars to our appointed hike destination.
It turns out that the cable cars do not work today! Hooray!
Harry and Tanya (expedition expert) made some quick decisions on the spot and called some taxis to take us faar faar away from to a different hiking location, the big Almaty lake! The drive to this location was long and down a winding road that snaked through various mountains. We all agreed that we were sold to the locals (joke). On the way over, we made a pit stop and were treated to a bird show, where a very charismatic and comedic bird handler presented a bird show for us. It was a great and memorable show, and he started with a small, scared owl, to the "black kite" guardian birds that were securing the premises in the event that a bird (the scared owl in this case) tried to fly away. Then he showed us a bald eagle (in Kazakhstan, these eagles had brown heads rather than white heads) and ended with a scavenger bird. This scavenger bird was named "deepthroat" (the bird handler claimed to not know English very well) and had a love for bones. What a sight!
When we got to the lake, it was a beautiful sight! The lake was a bright turquoise from the minerals in the rocks and was surrounded by towering, green mountains. The air was fresh and chilly, which felt refreshing under the scorching sun. We took a bunch of pictures and made sure to keep our distance from the lake: closer than 10 km to the water would result in a fine. We hiked up a bit more and got a better view of the lake and rested for half an hour before returning home.
The taxi drivers dropped us off at a shopping center (the same one in which we met with the guy from Hello Talk on Saturday) and decided to hang out a bit before calling it a day. Because we all were expecting a short, light trip to the tiger pass, nobody packed lunch and we were all starving. Naturally, we went to get lunch at a nearby restaurant. For lunch, we had burgers, lemonade, and fries. It was pretty overpriced in Kazakh standards ($7.20 for a burger) but it was so delicious! We were given black gloves to eat our burgers with and I got this red cherry burger with horse meat. It was so tasty and definitely, in my opinion, worth the price!
After lunch, we walked through the mall and bought some tickets for the movie Ты, водишь (ti, vodish; tag, you're it) and spent the time waiting for the movie to start by... going to a kid arcade neighboring the movie theater and playing bumper cars. Yep. A group of American adults (and one Canadian!) demolishing the bumper cart scene with two Kazakh children accompanied by parents peacefully riding around the perimeter. It was fun and worth the 600 tenge (~$1.80)! The group separated for the next half hour before the movie started to do various things. Me and Justin went over to the sulpak and jammed out on the keyboard again. I noticed a small green insect crawling on the music sheet stand of the piano, just chilling out and having a good time, ya know!
The movie was strange: it was an American comedy dubbed in Russian. I don't really like American comedies, so I personally didn't find it to be a knee slapper, but the girls next to me and behind me apparently through it was the best thing in the world since sliced bread! After the movie ended, we all went our separate ways and returned home. I had a great time!
When I returned home, Assel called me and said that we would go out for dinner tonight. We went to an Uzbek-style restaurant, where we had sit down on these mats to eat, similar to the traditional Korean and Japanese way of dining. Tonight, we had some white cold soup (my aunt made it before and said it was great for the summer) and some lagman (basically spaghetti pasta). I had a 'spicy' version of the lagman and it was delicious! While dining, a grasshopper decided that it wanted to jump right into Adilbek's food and just sort of chill there. How nice.
When we returned home, we were are feeling drained. Adilbek and Assel had been going to and fro all day, meeting with friends and family non-stop and got only 4 hours of sleep, so they were toast. I was ready to go to bed from an eventful day. We said goodnight and went to sleep.
One of my largest bothers is that I have yet to find a cafe that is perfect for studying. My bare minimum requirements for such a place are as follows:
- The cafe MUST have some kind of iced cold drink, preferably cafinated (and not some kind of blended frappuccino style drink, because I drink those too quickly)
- A decent or even EXISTING internet connection
- A nice atmosphere; windows and air conditioning are pluses
- Sufficient lighting
- Location / convenience is a huge plus
For all of the cafes I have been to, there is at least one of these requirements that are not met. For the most part, the internet in cafes is spotty at best and I have trouble doing the things that I need to do for studying. Even at starbucks internet is not a guarantee! However, I am still looking and have a couple of cafes that my friends have recommended for me. These cafes are not located nearby the university or my house, so they are not feasible for a weekday after-class kind of study sesh, but maybe during the weekends I can check them out and see what's poppin.
And now for the events that happened throughout the week! *drumroll*
Saturday:
Saturday was pretty chill, I wanted to just focus on homework and catch some Z's. I did, however, plan on meeting up with a local with whom I had been acquainted through the Hello Talk app. Me and some other friends planned to meet up with him and some of his friends at a cafe inside of a shopping plaza that is really far away from my house. Well, just about everything is far away from my house, but this plaza was closer to my friends' homes and we know the area pretty well, so it was a good choice for all of us.
We all met together and talked about Kazakhstan and America for a bit and I got to try the legendary cake by the name of "Молочная девочка" (molochnaya devochka, milk girl) and it was just as good at this cafe as my friends had been claiming! Prior to leaving and going home, we all went over to a Sulpak (technology store) in the mall and Justin played some excerpts from his repertoire of piano pieces that he knows. We jammed it up in the store for a bit and then headed home.
By the time we parted ways, it was already quite late, to the extent that buses were not running and I would have to find a different means of returning home. Janna was in the same boat as I, so I used my questionable 3-G mobile internet connection to order a Yandex taxi for my friend to get home safely. We secured Janna a taxi and I tried to order myself an uber to get home. However, Uber was not complying tonight, so I had to rely on Yandex taxi. However, the way that Yandex taxi works is that you have to wait for the previous trip to end before ordering the next taxi. Here's the catch: my phone was at 16% and there was still three minutes until Janna's trip back home would end.
Fortunately, everything worked out well and my phone was a 14% by the time that I ordered my taxi. The driver called me to ask for my location and I was able to provide a sufficient answer because I had just happened to help a babushka find the nearest intersection from the bus stop. On the way back home the driver was pumping some house music and I just silently jammed until we got to my neighborhood. Because my internet sucks, I was not able to provide my exact address for my house and just had the driver leave me at a restaurant that is ~3 minute walking distance from my apartment. Ura!
Sunday:
On Sunday I planned to really focus on my homework. Did this actually happen? No, because I couldn't find a place that was conducive to my productivity. Instead, I sat at home with my homework in front of me and struggled to not doze off while watching some vine compilations. When my parents returned home from some shopping, they talked about how hot it was outside and invited me to go to the beach with them to swim and cool off. What an unexpected turn of events!
I had finished all of my homework that needed to be written in our notebooks and just needed to prepare for some assignments orally, so I gladly accepted the invitation. We drove to Adilbek's sister's house and enjoyed some cake along with tea before heading off to the beach. Noah was being hosted at this house and he decided to come along with us to the beach.
The ride to the beach was ~2 hours to the south and I tried to do some homework along the way. We stopped by a supercenter to get some snacks for when we actually arrived at the beach and continued along our way to the beach. The sand at the beach was very dark and there were no hermit crabs or sea shells or any type of living creature other than some small fishes. However, we were at a place not frequented by tourists, so it was not littered with trash.
We swam a bit in the cold water and enjoyed the nice weather while eating some chicken and juice. The juice was either tomato or strawberry and the tomato juice was just cold tomato soup ( :C ). After eating, me and Noah searched for a type of outhouse or toilet and found a pyramid shaped building with a grated hole in the center of the floor. The stench emanating from this filthy bung hole was unbearable and became worse the longer I stayed in there. I quickly did my business, returned to our little picnic area and drew some figures: FU, spongebob, and that superman S that everyone seems to have drawn during elementary school.
Along the way back home, we got some watermelon and cantalope and ate it at Noah's house. My host father was very iffy about buying these melons because it was not the season for them yet, but I was happy to eat some of my favorite fruit (berry?). We returned home and, exhausted from our endeavors, went right to bed. What a productive day! ))
Monday:
Ah, another day back in class. Mondays, gotta love them!
- I planned to try out this Indian restaurant close to the school that me and Janna found while looking for cafes, but group six had our meetings with Harry, so I couldn't join the group and instead waited at the school until my meeting with Harry. During the meeting we discussed my thoughts about my host family, academics, expeditions, and language partners.
After this, I went over to the Mega park mall to the north of the campus, which was approximately a 20 minute walk, and decided to try some American fast food there. I got a chicken burger that was overpriced (in Kazakhstan standards of food) and went to the Starbucks at this mall to study. The Starbucks menu at this location was pitiful and I just went with a classic caramel macchiato. It was very disappointing, but it was the only kind of iced coffee I could find. Having some kind of iced coffee is better than nothing, so I'm not complaining!
- Upon returning home, I went to the gym near my house to check out the Karate they had. Unfortunately, it was only for small children and I, shockingly, am not a small child. The trainer, however, helped me to find a different course, боевое самбо (boyevoye samba), in which participated people more of my age. This course would be happening tomorrow on Tuesday, so I could check it out after classes. Neat!
Tuesday:
- During class, out teacher talked about music and influences of Russian and American pop culture on Kazakh pop culture. It was very interesting and I learned that Kazakh is a very rich language, where for one word there may be a plethora of synonyms. For this reason, Kazkah pop culture was not poppin for a while, but is making its way with the rise of technology of and wide-spread globalization.
- Today, the group decided to get some Indian food again. I happily went with them and ate a crapton of Indian food for a cheap price ($3 for a buffet) and felt filled to the brim by the time I left. First impressions on Indian food: DELICIOUS.
- Janna and I planned to go to the Starbucks to study for tests tomorrow, but we somehow ended up going West instead of North and ended up far away from the mall, so we decided to walk around a bit and try out a random cafe nearby our current location. We went to this cafe and it. was. fancy. However, the lighting was very poor and the seats too comfortable, so I really really wanted to sleep. I got a very small part of my homework done and we called it a day.
- My aunt came over and made some food, but I didn't have enough time to stay and eat because course at the gym would start soon. We talked a bit about classes and I told her about a classmate who had an encounter with the police because of a problem with her bus ticket. It turns out that she didn't have sufficient funds to ride the bus, but she didn't notice that the card reader rejected her card. As her luck would have it, an Onay (the bus company) official came to check everybody's cards. When the official got to check her card and found that she had not paid, the official fined her and called the police. The fine was only about $15 dollars, but was nevertheless a nerve-wracking experience. I made sure to fill my card up before going to the gym course!
- Before I headed over to check out the fighting samba, I went to the internet to checkout what it was exactly. My guesses: a fighting style that used dancing techniques, or an aggressive dancing style. I was wrong. Samba does not not mean the dancing style samba, but was rather an abbreviation for "самозащита без оружия" (samozashita bez aruzhiya; self-defense without weapons). I watched the course and was very intrigued with it, so I decided to try coming again on Thursday and trying my hand at fighting samba!
Wednesday:
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! I have a grammar test today.
- After my grammar test, I was feeling horrible about my Russian level and fought back tears during class. I fought well and pushed my self harder in class to be able to at least answer questions in class. I'm horrible at doing this. After class, my teachers talked with me and tried to encourage me. Group six is definitely a challenge for me and, while it is always difficult, it is better to struggle and make huge progress rather than to feel comfortable and not learn anything new. My teachers are correct: I am way too hard on myself and need to make language learning fun, even if things are hard. I will really try to encourage myself and be active in class, even if I feel like and idiot.
- After class, I went to Starbucks to study at the Mega park mall. The internet did not work and I was very sad, but I continued to study. The baristas who work at this Starbucks are very friendly and make the 20 minute trip worth it!
Thursday:
- Ahhh, Thursday. The last day of the school week for RLASP students! What a wonderful day! Today group six had an essay to write about the following quote "Our generation has to do the impossible, or else what awaits us is meaningless" in regards to ecological problems. In contrast to the essay from the previous week, I was able to finish this essay and read it over before turning it in! In these essays I am prone to making simple grammar mistakes, so one of my goals for this summer is to focus on my grammatical accuracy and lessening the amount of simple grammar mistakes that I make when writing in Russian.
- During our history of Central Asia class, our teacher, Fatima, wished us a happy belated Fourth of July. She spent the first 10-15 minutes of class speaking about her love of America and the work she has done to develop soft connections (social connections) between Kazakhstan and America. This woman really loves America!
- After school, the group went to get some Georgian food. I got to try khachapuri for the first time, which is basically this bowl made out of bread filled with butter, cheese, and topped with an uncooked egg that, when incorporated with the rest of the dish, cooks. It was unbelievably delicious and tasted like a pizza, but even better! The bread bowl is made with handles, so you can easily eat the dish by first mixing the middle, and then holding onto the handles with both hands and then taking a bite.
- I went over to check out the fighting samba later in the evening. On the way home, I was feeling full from the rich lunch I had. About halfway back home, the conductor of the trollybus I was taking said something and that we would all have to exit the bus and take the next one. We all left the bus and waited on the side of the road for the next bus. When the next bus came, it was already looking to be a bit full, so we make it look definitely full by shoving our bodies into the bus. I happened to end up wedged in the front of the bus, right next to the driver cage. It was so hot and uncomfortable, and by the time I got home, I didn't really want to go to the fighting samba. Nevertheless, I pushed myself to check it out. If it was something I really wanted to do and worth the ~$70 for a month of classes, then I would feel invigorated after the class. If I didn't feel invigorated and excited to return, then I would not return. Today, the group was doing sparring and I guess I misunderstood what the trainer told me from last class. I felt very confused and just decided to go back home and not return - after all, it was a steep price for only one month of class, and it would be taking away from time I could spend hanging out with friends or -better yet- recharging my batteries from a long week of school!
On the return home, I stopped by a nearby pharmacy and bought some sunscreen with aloe for the excursion on Friday and some lemonade. I did not want to have a repeat of the sunburn from the first excursion! At home, I was lethargic and happy to rest. Oh yeah - the lemonade (Holiday brand) was NOT what Americans would consider as lemonade and I do NOT recommend Americans to try it! It tastes like medicine made into a soda, and I have trouble downing a glass of it! My host family, on the other hand, loves it.
Friday:
- Today is another day of excursion! The destination for this week: Талгарский перевал (talgarskiy pereval; Talgar pass). Today is also the 20 year anniversary of the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. Fun fact: today is also the birthday of the president, Nursultan Nazarbaev. This means that Adilbek and Assel did not have work and were able to rest. I took the bus over to the nearest bus stop from where our rendezvous point was for the excursion, and on my walk over, I passed through many construction sites (I didn't know how to properly pass through them?!) and spotted a small bridge that had "TEXAS" written on the side of it for some reason. It's a home away from home!
At the bus stop, we waited for everybody to gather up and, just as we did last time, split up into two groups so as to not clog a single bus up with Americans. I went on the second bus and the bus was jam packed. I'm sensing a theme here. I was smooshed between the window and human bodies and it was VERY hot and VERY uncomfortable. I was so relieved to exit the bus because I was getting ready to vomit from this mixture, along with the fact that I had some tvorok (a milk product) for breakfast.
The expedition group gathered back together and waited to get onto the cable cars to our appointed hike destination.
It turns out that the cable cars do not work today! Hooray!
Harry and Tanya (expedition expert) made some quick decisions on the spot and called some taxis to take us faar faar away from to a different hiking location, the big Almaty lake! The drive to this location was long and down a winding road that snaked through various mountains. We all agreed that we were sold to the locals (joke). On the way over, we made a pit stop and were treated to a bird show, where a very charismatic and comedic bird handler presented a bird show for us. It was a great and memorable show, and he started with a small, scared owl, to the "black kite" guardian birds that were securing the premises in the event that a bird (the scared owl in this case) tried to fly away. Then he showed us a bald eagle (in Kazakhstan, these eagles had brown heads rather than white heads) and ended with a scavenger bird. This scavenger bird was named "deepthroat" (the bird handler claimed to not know English very well) and had a love for bones. What a sight!
When we got to the lake, it was a beautiful sight! The lake was a bright turquoise from the minerals in the rocks and was surrounded by towering, green mountains. The air was fresh and chilly, which felt refreshing under the scorching sun. We took a bunch of pictures and made sure to keep our distance from the lake: closer than 10 km to the water would result in a fine. We hiked up a bit more and got a better view of the lake and rested for half an hour before returning home.
The taxi drivers dropped us off at a shopping center (the same one in which we met with the guy from Hello Talk on Saturday) and decided to hang out a bit before calling it a day. Because we all were expecting a short, light trip to the tiger pass, nobody packed lunch and we were all starving. Naturally, we went to get lunch at a nearby restaurant. For lunch, we had burgers, lemonade, and fries. It was pretty overpriced in Kazakh standards ($7.20 for a burger) but it was so delicious! We were given black gloves to eat our burgers with and I got this red cherry burger with horse meat. It was so tasty and definitely, in my opinion, worth the price!
After lunch, we walked through the mall and bought some tickets for the movie Ты, водишь (ti, vodish; tag, you're it) and spent the time waiting for the movie to start by... going to a kid arcade neighboring the movie theater and playing bumper cars. Yep. A group of American adults (and one Canadian!) demolishing the bumper cart scene with two Kazakh children accompanied by parents peacefully riding around the perimeter. It was fun and worth the 600 tenge (~$1.80)! The group separated for the next half hour before the movie started to do various things. Me and Justin went over to the sulpak and jammed out on the keyboard again. I noticed a small green insect crawling on the music sheet stand of the piano, just chilling out and having a good time, ya know!
The movie was strange: it was an American comedy dubbed in Russian. I don't really like American comedies, so I personally didn't find it to be a knee slapper, but the girls next to me and behind me apparently through it was the best thing in the world since sliced bread! After the movie ended, we all went our separate ways and returned home. I had a great time!
When I returned home, Assel called me and said that we would go out for dinner tonight. We went to an Uzbek-style restaurant, where we had sit down on these mats to eat, similar to the traditional Korean and Japanese way of dining. Tonight, we had some white cold soup (my aunt made it before and said it was great for the summer) and some lagman (basically spaghetti pasta). I had a 'spicy' version of the lagman and it was delicious! While dining, a grasshopper decided that it wanted to jump right into Adilbek's food and just sort of chill there. How nice.
When we returned home, we were are feeling drained. Adilbek and Assel had been going to and fro all day, meeting with friends and family non-stop and got only 4 hours of sleep, so they were toast. I was ready to go to bed from an eventful day. We said goodnight and went to sleep.
Aloha my son. Again, thank you for sharing your daily activities. It's quite an experience you have there. I didn't understand why they have to call the police over a bus ticket, you know that bus staff could settle that thing without authority involves with it. I find that so interesting "samba" martial arts. Yes, I thought it was coordinated with Samba steps .. hee hee. Oh did you check out that fanky town karaoke and bar? Now, that lake is really beautiful but I am so confused why they won't let anybody to be closer or be at the lake? I guess, for your eyes only!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of your academic struggle, but pretty sure - challenge is your strength for success! You can do it, just believe in yourself. You could develop a "growth mindset" with your GRIT AND RESILIENCE! I know you ... you're all of that. It's gratifying when you reach that long term goal. Good luck!
Love and missing you,
Mom xoxo (Moi - virtual hug)
The water from the lake runs down to the city and is filter for drinking use, so they don't want anybody contaminating it.
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