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.