Working at the orphanage

For the last month I have had the opportunity of spending some time at a couple of the local orphanages.
Each Tuesday we have been taking a team in to play some games with the kids and spending time talking to them.

Going in there for the first time was a bit daunting. It was my first time in an orphanage and I really didn't know what to expect. The children were really happy to see us and all of the boys made a point of coming up and shaking my hand. This is a common greeting for males in Kazakhstan, more so than in Australia. The young girls were very affectionate to the females on our team. The children that we have been spending time with are generally from about 7-11 years old.
I was very sad to see a group of about 16 children who looked to be between 2 and 3 years old. They looked so similar to our kids (in size) but it was as if somebody had taken their joy. So far we haven't had the opportunity to run activities with the little ones but hopefully in the future we will be able to.

We're coming home

On July 17th we will leave Shymkent and head back to Australia. The overnight train will take us from Shymkent to Almaty and after spending the day at Almaty we'll board a 20 hour flight and arrive at Sydney airport around 6.30pm on July 19th.

We've decided that July is a good time for us to head back and try and settle back into life in Australia.

Getting out of the city and heading to the mountains

By far the highlight of our trip so far was Good Friday. They Aussie's in our team headed out of town and went to check out the mountains. We live in a small city and things aren't usually too busy, but it was so nice to get away and see some beautiful scenery and breathe some fresh air.
We hired a mashootka (16 seater) for $80. For our money we got our transport, petrol and driver. What a bargain.
The scenery was stunning. Beautiful green hills, snow covered mountains, a rocky stream, low cloud cover and a little bit of rain. We got to have a picnic and went for a walk into the mountains. There were sheep grazing and everybody got a chance to run around. Sammy spent most of the day running at an embankment and by the end of the day succeeded in falling down it!
On the way back I got to try some fermented horse milk. It wasn't too bad, but not something I'd want to drink every day.

Hopefully we can head back to the mountains some time soon

Celebrating Easter

In Kazakhstan Easter is not celebrated the way that it is in Australia. It's surprising to realise how much Australian society is influenced by Christianity and Christian celebrations (even if they are celebrated by most as a time for presents and chocolate). Over here there are no Easter Eggs in the shops. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are just another day. I found a shop that had an assortment of Kinder Surprise type eggs and they became our Easter Eggs this year. Jack and Sammy had lots of fun and loved eating their chocolate.

Making play dough

One of that hard things about living in Kazakhstan is that it's hard to buy things that are easy to buy in Australia. One of the things we haven't been able to buy is cream of tartar. Why do I care??? Because this is one of the important ingredients used to make play dough. There really isn't a whole lot for our kids to do here, so having play dough is quite special.
Some of our dear friends sent us a package with stuff from Aus in it. It was so nice receiving the package and we really felt cared for. Inside the package was cream of tartar so the day after receiving the package we did some cooking and made play dough. It was lots of fun and continues to provide enjoyment!

Our fish

Every kid needs a pet but living in an apartment makes it hard to own one. A few weeks ago Jack and Sammy and I were at the Bazar (market) and we saw a lady selling fish. For $25 we ended up with a small tank, 8 fish, a filter, fish food and some weed for the tank. It's nice having little fish living at our house and for the first few days Jack and Sammy couldn't get close enough!

Narus part 3

The highlight of Narus for Jack and Sammy was getting a balloon. I've never seen balloons shaped like elephants before and was happy to buy them for $1.50 each. They gave the kids something fun to do for a few hours.

More Narus

Close to our apartment is an area called 'The Square'. It is a road which they close off during big events and when it's closed off it looks a bit like a big square.
During Narus celebrations there was singing and dancing and lots of stuff for sale. We got to see some traditional Kazakh nomadic houses and a massive cake that was free for everyone to grab a piece of (picture).

Narus (Kazakh New Year)

On the 22nd March we observed some Kazakh New Year Celebrations.
I am really not sure why they choose this date to celebrate New Year but I have a feeling that it has something to do with the change in the weather. Before the end of March things are cold and icy and not much happens. As soon as spring arrives things start to warm up and people seem to warm up a little as well.

We went to the hipodrome (not sure of the spelling), which was a paddock with grand stand seating on one side. This is where some of the traditional activities take place. What we watched was kind of like a game of polo (the horse back variety) but they had no mallets. The ball they used was the body of a sheep. Its head had been removed and its legs had been removed. Rumor has it that the body had been filled with sand. The object of the game was to get the dead sheep and carry it on horse back to your goal at one end of the paddock. Most of the time the riders smashed their horses into the opposition player's horses to try and prevent their opponent from getting the sheep. It made me feel somewhat sorry for the animals!

We left after an hour but got the general idea of the game. Later on in the day they had a couple of other games. One involved a man and a woman on seperate horses. The man's objective was to catch the woman and kiss her. If he failed she got to whip him all the way back to the other end. Another game involved a rabbit being let loose and an eagle being let loose to catch its dinner. The final game involved a pigeon and a hawk. In this one the pigeon flew free to live another day.

A long time between drinks

Life in good old Kazakhstan can be hard sometimes. The last month hasn't been the funnest time of my life and I guess the blog reflects it. Heaps has happened though and I'll do my best to get more regular with posts and updates.

If at first you don't succeed

This is Sammy jumping again. The first attempt is not so good but the second attempt is much better. I particularly like (if you listen carefully) how Sammy says 'Oh dear' after she falls off. I think she may have said 'fall' also, but that could just be creative listening on my part.

Sammy the little jumper

Sammy has a new favourite passtime. Jumping! She will be 2 in July and she is a little more adventurous than we thought she'd be at this age. Fortunately she has a brother who is more than happy to encourage her new found ability.

Living in Kazakhstan: Things I like - Making Pizza

Jack is my special helper when we cook and he asked whether he could put on the salami and pineapple on our pizza. I felt a little sick eating it and thinking of how he coughed, wiped his nose and licked his fingers while making it!

Living in Kazakhstan: Things I like - Shashlik and Plov

Eating out is very cheap here and at times we wonder why we would bother to cook. The meal pictured cost us $8 and it was enough food and drink for all of us.

Shashlik is like a meat kebab on a stick. So far we have only eaten lamb shashlik. It is cooked on an outdoor bbq, often in the street and it smells and tastes great. I particularly like it with some bread and raw onion. Depending on where you get it you can pay anywhere from about 90c per kebab stick to $1.20. Over here they love their fat, so half of it is meat and half fat. The more you pay the better quality the meat. We have a shashlik restaurant downstairs from our apartment and there is another one around the corner.

Plov is Sammy's favourite food. It is rice and carrot cooked in oil (healthy as!) with roast lamb added at the end. For $5 we can feed our family at lunch time. Sammy loves eating it with her hands (the traditional way to eat it) and generally eats 1/3 and drops 2/3 on the floor.

On Saturday we also found a kebab shop across the road and the kebabs were great. They are quite similar to the kebabs you can buy in Aus but the extras they add are quite different. I had my choice of lamb or chicken, gerkins, grated carrot, corn, chips (fries), raw onion and tomato. There was no cheese or tabouleh in sight. The sauce choices were mayonaise and ketchup. For $7.50 we had lunch.

Living in Kazakhstan: Things I like - Public Transport

(Photo taken by Jack from his bedroom window)

Even though there is no time table and chaos generally reigns, the public transport in Shymkent makes Newcastle look like a bit of a joke. The buses start at about 6.30 am and go until maybe 9pm. It costs you 35c to get on a regular bus and 40c to catch a Mashootka (pictured). We have a bus stop across the road and one around the corner. There are 3 buses we can catch from our bus stop, which take us from just around the corner to our work. The Mashootka is fast and has about 10 seats. You don't need to be at a bus stop for it to pick you up, but there's no guarantee it will stop for you. If the seats are full they continue to pick up passengers and often it gets very cozy. The most I've seen in the back is about 18 people.

Living in Kazakhstan: Things I like - Bread

(Photo taken by Jack - our 3 year old boy)

One of the best things about living in Kazakhstan is the bread. I'm not sure why we don't have this stuff in Australia. It would be such a hit. It is available everywhere, it is baked fresh daily and it costs 30c a loaf.
(The bread pictured is actually the larger loaf, which sells for 50c.)

Celebrating Australia Day

On Australia Day we did what all good Aussies in Kazakhstan would do. We went to the local supermarket and bought a pile of meat and some Kazakh local beer and had a good old fashioned Aussie BBQ. Our BBQ may have looked a little different to what it would look like in Australia. We stayed indoors and cooked the meat in a fry pan, but for all intents and purposes it was an Aussie BBQ.
It was a great time as we indulged in fine food, great company and watched the very Australian "Danny Deckchair" together while eating some home made lamingtons. Go Aussie!

My Shopkeeper

After checking out all of the local general stores we have chosen our favourite. It's easy to find what you're looking for and our shop keeper is really patient with us and our lack of the local language. A fortnight ago I was rebuked by our friendly shop keeper for buying bread from somebody else, and a few days ago I noticed her wrathful gaze as I walked past her shop with products from another shop. It kind of made me feel like I was in an episode of Seinfeld.
She knows we still love her though.

Note: The accessory under my right arm is not a sign of my insecurity living here. It belongs to my little boy Jack and I was holding it for him. I promise!!!

A change of temperature

While people in Australia have been sweltering in the +40 degree temperatures, we have been enjoying a little bit of show. The winter has been very mild so far and most days we get up to about 6 degrees C.
Over the last week we were fortunate enough to have a couple of days of snow. It meant that we were able to go outside and enjoy playing. Before coming to Kazakhstan neither of our kids had seen or touched snow. Playing in the snow is definitely something they enjoy. After a bit of rain on the weekend all of the snow has gone. Hopefully it's not the last snow we get this winter.

Something a little bit gross

As you'd expect when you're overseas, here in Kazakhstan toileting is done a little differently.
Apparently their sewerage system isn't as capable as ours in Australia and it is not customary for people to flush their toilet paper down the toilet. What do they do? They wipe and then put it in the bin. Yuck!
Usually this doesn't affect us. We're a bit naughty and insist on the conventional flush after you use rule. Where our plan begins to fall apart is when people come to our house and go by the Kazakh rule instead of the Cameron rule. We had a heap of people over last night and this morning when I went to put something in the bin I was greeted by evidence that I did not really want to see. Gross!

An 'interesting' afternoon

On Monday 12th January I was on my way home from my first Russian language lesson. This involved catching a bus and then walking a short distance. As I walked from the bus stop I had a stack of stuff on my mind and was in a bit of a daze. Just as I approached our building I heard somebody asking me to stop. Being in a place where very few people speak any English at all I was sure that they were not calling me so I continued to walk. I heard the voice again and looked back and saw 2 men signalling for me to stop.  Then they asked for my passport.
That was a problem!
I didn’t have my passport as we had just completed our paper work to register our stay with the Immigration Police. One of our friends had picked up our passports from the Immigration Police that afternoon but we had not yet received them from him. Due to the fact that I only speak 3 Russian words (please, hello, internet) all I could do was stand there stating that I only speak English and I didn’t have my passport. They continued to ask for my documents and I continued to say that I only speak English and I don't have my passport.  One of the men motioned for me to follow him and I saw the open door of his unmarked car with other men inside. He told me to get in. There was no way I was getting in his car and I told him that I wasn’t getting in. He told me to get in again and once again I refused. One of the men had a badge on his sleeve which looked like it may have been a police badge, but I wasn’t certain that they were who they said they were.  After a brief stand off I was able to point to my building and communicated that I lived close by.  I really didn't want to bring these guys home to meet my family but I was left with very little choice.  They came with me to the front door and came inside our apartment. I still didn't feel safe but I was able to call our friend who speaks Russian and who had our passports and she was able to sort things out.  20 minutes after our conversation on the street began they were ready to head off.  As they left one of them attempted to joke with me and said that next time they would lock me up. I didn’t find his humour very funny at all.
Now my passport comes with me wherever I go.

It’s all Russian to me!

For the first time in my life I feel like a foreigner. Hardly anybody speaks English and only a few signs are written in English. It is like I am 3 years old and beginning to experience reading for the first time. Most signs are written in both Russian and Kazakh and it takes me ages to work out what they say (if I am able to at all) and I have very little idea what the signs mean. So far I’ve worked out the sign for Café’s, Pharmacies and Butchers.
On my first attempt to do some shopping on my own I bought butter milk instead of milk (it tastes like natural yoghurt and not at all like milk). I only made that mistake once. The kids hated it and I have been the only one willing to drink it. As the week has unfolded I have grown in confidence and I’m getting better with shopping. Usually I point to the product and nod my head when they pick it up. I have absolutely no idea about the numbers yet so the shop keepers show me the price of my shopping on a calculator. The shops closest to us are general stores and there are a number of people who sell their goods on the footpath. You can get a loaf of Kazakh bread for about 30c and a BBQ chicken (which they cook in their oven on the footpath) is about $8. My favourite is called Shashlik and we’ve eaten it once. It’s like Lamb kebab sticks and they cook it on the footpath on their makeshift BBQ’s. Definitely worth a try if you’re ever in Kazakhstan.
The road system here is crazy and cars are forever merging and beeping their horns at other vehicles. We have been catching buses everywhere we need to go and usually that is ok. We’ve only had one bad bus trip and it was bad enough to do us for the rest of our time here. We had a stack of trouble getting the pram on the bus, we got knocked off our feet when the driver suddenly stopped and the bus started to take off while we were half off. It costs 35c per adult for a bus trip and the kids ride free, so it’s pretty convenient and inexpensive.

We've arrived in Kazakhstan

After 36 hours travelling (including sitting around air ports and waiting for transport connections) we are finally in Shymkent.

Our trip:

We left Hong Kong at 5pm Sunday afternoon and caught a flight to Beijing, arriving at 8.30pm. The kids did pretty well on the flight and it was almost enjoyable this time. After arriving in Beijing we had to make our way through Customs, to the next International Terminal and sat around until 12:30am. By this time both kids were asleep and things were going smoothly. I had feared that neither child would sleep but we were fortunate enough to be able to take our pram as far as the gate at the airport and Sammy found it pretty easy to sleep in the pram. One of the biggest frustrations was going through Customs in Beijing where they made us take our sleeping little girl out of the pram so they could put it through the xray machine. I wasn't very happy about this (knowing that there was no guarantee that she'd go to sleep again) and frustrated when they also tried to get me to take the wheels off the pram to fit it into the machine.

Our flight from Beijing to Almaty (Kazakhstan) went pretty well also. I found it pretty humourous when at 2am they asked me whether I wanted the chicken or the fish. At that time of the morning I'm not really used to eating at all so decided to decline her kind offer. Both kids had a sleep during that flight and probably ended up getting 4 hours sleep that night. Considering how little sleep they got on the way from Sydney to Hong Kong I was happy with that effort.

We spent our first day in Kazakhstan at the airport hotel and wandering around Almaty. We all headed off to catch the bus but Sammy hated the freezing cold (maybe -10?) and refused to wear her gloves and screamed all the way to the bus stop. Allison took her home and Jack and I headed into town with our friends. We had such an awesome time. The scenes in the park reminded me of something out of 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe'. I took a stack of photos but none of them really do justice to how beautiful it was. Jack got to play in a park on play equipment covered in snow. He thought this was pretty special.

After hanging around Almaty for 12 hours we headed off to catch the overnight train to Shymkent.  This was a pretty strange but pretty cool experience.  We were in a sleeping cabin which had 4 bunk beds with a small walking space between.  We had to fit all of our luggage and us in the cabin for a 14 hour journey.  We made the most of it and had a good night eating snacks and sleeping.  Jack said this was his best night ever.  Al slept with Sammy and I slept with Jack to make sure neither of them fell off their bunks during the night.  We hit the sack pretty early and with the motion of the train managed to sleep quite well.  

At 7.30am we arrived at the train station in Shymkent.  The biggest shock was that it was still pitch black at this time of the day.  It could have been 3am for all we knew.  From there we took a couple of cabs and dumped our stuff at our new place.  After a massive journey we had finally arrived.