Germans and Mountains and Gluhwein

Guten Tag,

More than you know, it has become a blooming spring in Almaty. It is no longer a pale soviet gray with angry babuskas shoving children to the ground at supermarkets in order to get the last pound of beef tongue. Now, with the warm weather tempering their otherwise spiteful spirits, the babushkas are wearing short shorts and Rolling Stones tanktops much to everyone's chagrin. Mostly mine. I took a cable car to some foothills above the city with Andreas- a German landscape architect temporarily living in our building. Here is the view.



There was a yurt there.


Inside the yurt.





Another view.


And a carnival for the kids. And adults. And monkeys.

While we were there dombra music was playing on speakers cleverly hidden throughout the foliage.

Andreas says "Tschuss mein schatz". Till next time.

Video Killed the Super Duper Pancake Batter

This week is full of surprises. Like BIG font. And secret links. We made a professional video that shows the glimmering lights on the Almaty new square and also me providing commentary. And a scary face at the end. IT was cold then. It is warm now. Enjoy the video.

Fatty Fatty Fat Fat

This is me in MY office. Mine. Me. At MY desk. Mine. It's ugly. And that big fat calculator over there? Mine. Mein.

We witnessed a wedding party prancing by. Actually it was more like 5 wedding parties. Everyone in the city has their wedding photos at the exact same three locations.
This is Igor. He is waving to you.

Welcome to Almaty's Green Bazzarrrrrr. Its the place to come for all of your produce, spice, meat, cheese, clothing, electronics and other needs. Your need is currently for Central Asian Salads. Here you be:

Red, yellow and green. and orange too.

Meet your meat:

A video is forthcoming. Details, like angry elves, shall be posted later.

Nauryz

This week marks the symbolic Kazakh new year called Nauryz. It's a non-religious Kazakh folk celebration of the vernal (spring) equinox and of the symbolic renewal of nature. So here is a picture of a shiny camel with tinsel-y flowers surrounding it which has something to do with the aforementioned holiday.

We do our grocery shopping in a mega superstore called Ramstore. Its mascot is a Kangaroo because there were probably once carnivorous kangaroos who roamed the steppe hungry for the taste of human flesh. And then the villagers got scared and formed an angry mob intent on wiping out the 'roos and they suceeded. I mean have you ever heard of a carnivorous Kazakh Kangaroo?

Here is a yurt. Its like yogurt without the "o" and the "g". We went to a craft fair and saw one set up. We didn't go inside for fear that they had those kangaroos in there.

Even though we didn't go in the yurt, we did buy this fine wall-hanging.

This is the Almaty Opera house interior. We took it the night we went to see Turandot.

That is all for now. If you want more, you'll have to send us a package. Then you shall have more than you can stomach.

Black Cats and Turandot

Greetings party people in the place to be. I am called Brooke. Please hand over your monies in a paper or plastic bag or I'll sick Crispy on you so fast it will make our head spin.
We took a walk today to see some of the older parts of the city and the Almaty Ballet and Opera Theatre. We are going to see my favorite opera, Turandot, this Thursday at the said location. Christina tried to keep it a secret, but I am simply too wily for her. I am also too wily for that homeless guy who tried to get me to buy him Vodka-snap!
Here's me with Fatty-D.

One of the mostly walking streets in Almaty

The Almaty Theatre

O Solo Mio

In other news...you'll have to wait.

Do the Hustle. Do it now.

Huh? What? Yeah, you heard me.
Last weekend we went downtown for a day of consumering. Christina got a brand new dress coat, and Brooke was so zen that he didn't buy a single thing. But rather wrote a haiku about how buying things is akin to hatred and suffering.
Oh wait, that's not true. We spent tens of thousands of Tenge on shiny new cellphones and backpacks and slippers. What you don't know is that the slippers are enchanted, and every time Christina puts them on she is forced to dance while humming "Do the Hustle."
Many of you have asked to have a window into our lives, yea, our very souls, and ye shall have it. In the form of a video. A somewhat grainy video of crappy quality, designed to take you where most locals fear to go. To see more, click here.
We have a dinner date looming, so here's some pictures of us on a walking street right downtown, not too far from the Bazaar, where we got some of our stuff:




And below, behold the enchanted slippers:

New Squared

I got sick this week and had to leave work early. Some say it was the "24-hour flu." I say it was rancid ham and mayonnaise left in the sun. But hey, I'm no doctor. We began our Russian classes this week, and it was painfully obvious that Christina's a linguistic genius and I am a grunting dolt. Rather than using language to express myself, I've taken to pounding on the desk and pointing at things with a stick to get my point across.
Christina has started doing some English tutoring/teaching, both privately and at KIMEP. This'll help bring in the prodigious supply of Kinder chocolate that the Shiffler home demands on a weekly basis. Oh Bueno, Oh Country.
Yesterday we had our first appointment with our cleaning lady, Mira. She speaks about as much English as we do Russian, so conversation was a bit strained. She's very very friendly, and kept trying to talk to us even though we were doing the Dumb Expat Smile (tmBrookStinaInternational) and hardly understood anything she said. I tried banging on things and pointing with a stick, but I guess people here are too sophisticated to understand the American way of communication.
On to the pictures, which is really why you came here in the first place.

These are both pictures of the New Square, which is only about a block (albeit a giant Almaty block) from our apartment.

We are holding a contest here at BrookstinaInternational for the best caption for this last photo. The kind people at SmilingHill have agreed to provide a "mystery prize" for the winner. Good luck, and post away!