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.