Little Freshlia

It is mostly official that we are having a baby according to the Sun. So here is a little taste of tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, goodness that will shine a blinding ray of sunshine into your cubicle. or workstation. or "home".

You'll hafta crane your neck a bit to get a good look at her. Yep-you heard. Her. Girl. Female. In the picture on the right you can see her profile and arms and bumpy spine. She kind-of seems to be looking at her arms. Nothing much is recognizable in the picture on the left. This here is a picture of the picture of the ultrasound. That's because the nurse at the hospital didn't put our pictures on our CD correctly. Ironically her name is Кущкшгвкл.

This is me and some girl at the clinic for embarrassed couples. At least I don't look embarrassed. .........Possums...........

Petrov's Panned Pizza

Welcome to our home. We have been feeding Dagny new catfood that claimed to give her XRay vision on the back of the box. Christina laughed. Now who's laughing?

Christina's obvious weight gain. She can't lay off the Magnum bars here. Obviously neither can Dagny.


This is our new piano named Petrov. He is brown and instead of feet, has two cute wittle gold pedals. He enjoys Radiohead, improvisation, quiet walks through the Almaty streets, milkshakes, and jumping rope.
Dislikes:
Alicia Keys, comments about his weight, bungee jumping.

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.