To celebrate Dr Natalya’s birthday, we went to the ‘barrel’ restaurant yesterday. I have forgotten the official name of the place, but due to the use of huge barrels outside as dining areas (at least in the summer months), that barrel place is easier to remember 🙂
As well as Dr Natalya, her husband Sasha (when in doubt, if a guy is Russian, Sasha is normally a safe bet 😉 ), their daughter Sveta and Masha, we also had Balzhan and her son Ildar. We finally had a chance to pass on a couple of little presents for the kids (some toys and a British comic each) who seemed to enjoy them. Anyway, we had some salad (OK, I admit I just munched on the bread), a few plates of pork sashliq and I ordered some chips. Topped off with some ice cream, and a good time was had by all. Sadly Balzhan and Ildar can not make it this Christmas to Mum’s wedding, so it was good to see them again before New Year, which is a much bigger holiday/celebration over here, than Xmas.
Dec 03 2007
Barrels Of Fun
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Sep 13 2007
Ildar’s Birthday Celebration
Last Sunday we went over to Balzhan’s, to celebrate Ildar’s birthday, along with Dr Natalya, Sasha and Sveta. We bought him a board game that appeared to have a lot of instructions, as it had several different boards and rules as you progressed through the game. It will hopefully provide an alternative when his Gameboy’s batteries run out 🙂
Anyway, the adults had a nice meal, with a little vodka for some, and wine for others. I think. I remember having some nice vodka at least. Sasha is still on the offensive in terms of getting me to go fishing, though he didn’t seem to believe I really didn’t eat any fish. Combine that with my hatred of mushrooms and nuts, and I do occasionally get strange looks from fellow diners. I just hope my enthusiasm and capacity for vodka goes some way to balance it out 🙂
We have in the photos below Balzhan, Dr Natalya, her husband Sasha with Ildar and Sveta, and finally Ira.
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Sep 11 2007
Ildar’s First Day At School Videos
A little later than originally intended, here are the videos shot the day Ildar (Balzhan’s son) had his first day at school. Over here in Kazakhstan, they start going to school a little later than back in Britain – around seven years old seemed to be the average age there.
Not only is this day special for those just starting school, the last two years also attend this event, as they will soon be leaving the establishment.
First we have Ildar with his last little boy type display of the day. From this point on, he assumed the persona of a serious child – intent on learning, making his mum proud, and looking very smart. Apart from pulling faces to show off his missing milk teeth at the front 🙂 It was obviously an emotional day for Balzhan, though I believe there may have been a small amount of melodramatic acting. (She is the sports news achorwoman on the Astana TV channel, so maybe she picked up some hints from colleagues in the business?) It was quite strange seeing all the little children in their suits and Sunday-best dresses, a little different to the rag-a-muffin appearance of UK school kids at least…
Now all the children are neatly lined up in their classes, with their form tutor in front, the school decided it would be a great idea to get them to… do nothing for a long time. Again I was impressed, as the behaviour at this point seemed a lot better than I would expect from a bunch of British kids being told to stand still and be quiet. The people at the beginning of the video are Ilar’s Dad (Tima) and paternal (patriarchal?) grandparents, who came for Ildar’s special day.
We then had some motivational type speeches from kids who would soon be leaving the school – work hard, it is worth it, do as you are told etc. etc. Some of the message was conveyed by means of a little play.
At the beginning we have the school flag on display, and the children slowly wound their way into the building.
Right, that is it, no more videos are left on my hard drive to be uploaded, nor in YouTube waiting to be embedded on this blog. That said, I do need to record a new vid later on to promote one of the paid blogging companies I use… watch this space 🙂
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Aug 11 2007
Happy Birthday Ira’s Mum
Today was, as you may have guessed from this post’s title, Jenya’s (my mother-in-law) birthday. Aunty Sveta and her grand daughter Sasha came last night to celebrate with the family. We spent the morning grabbing cake, flowers and a few other bits and bobs. Then we went home to congratulate Jenya on the happy occasion. We and Ira’s dad got a new mobile phone for her (Nokia N76), which is now mostly working 🙂 I was not a great deal of help as I have (purposefully) only ever owned one Nokia, many years ago, and so was not too familiar with their approach to the user interface.
We all had a nice couple of meals, with a little to drink, and were also joined by Dr. Natalya, her husband Sasha §, daughter, as well as Balzhan and her son Ildar. I built a fire in the living room fireplace, and it did not start the carpet ablaze, so all went well there 😉
§ – When in doubt over a Russian’s name, Sasha is normally a safe bet 🙂
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