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.

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.

Yesterday we went to meet up with Ildar and Mum (Balzhan) to attend his first day at school. Dr Natalya and her daughter Sveta also came. Sveta is still a few years away from going to school, but it looks like she was interested in everything going on at least.
One of the things that really stood out (apart from the fact that Kazakh children appear to start school a year or two later than in Britain) is just how seriously they take the first day at school. There were boys in suits and girls in their Sunday best. (As Kazakhstan is, at least nominally, a Muslim state, perhaps that should be Friday best??). The ceremony lasted a little over an hour, with flags, music blasted out of speakers, the national anthem, lots of kids with flowers, speeches by those about to leave the same school, and plenty of proud relations milling about.
Anyway, on to the photos (I hope to finish editting the videos later and if I get time will post them on here this evening)…

First we have mother and son

This is the better quality of the two group photos…

However, I could not miss this one out, primarily because it has Ildar showing off his milk teeth missing - truly growing up now

Here we have the children ready lined up to be bored to sleep by the speeches. (I was really impressed how well they all behaved - I got fidgetty enough to sneak off for a cigarette half way through.)

Perhaps their good behaviour was attributable to the formidable presence of the headmistress?

The school flag was wheeled out…

Finally a quick shot of the school building itself. In times past, it would probably have at least received a quick lick of paint before a ceremony like this, but the sculptures were still pretty impressive.

These are the photos we took of Dasha and Tima last weekend, when Balzhan, Ildar, Sasha, Dr. Natalya, Sveta, Losha, Igor & his wife, as well as Asen’s mum all came round randomly on one day!

First we have the traditional weigh in, which shows he has almost doubled in one week!

Next we have a couple of close up shots of mother and son

Now we have Dasha investigating what exactly is going on with the grey plastic box these weird humans keep putting in her box…

Finally we have Ira holding Tima, to try and give an idea of scale

PS Sorry for any blog readers who don’t find kittens cute. Tough. I do

As I mentioned in the previous post, we (Ira, Me, Balzhan, Ildar, Masha, Dr. Natalya, Sasha & Sveta) went out to celebrate Dr. Natalya & Sasha’s new car. In the same way as you ‘wet’ a baby’s head, major accomplishments are celebrated with a drink over here; if you have something to drink, you should have a meal with it. So, we went to the restaurant that uses huge barrels as outdoor dining areas. We all had pork sashliq (kebabs) a little to drink, and generally nattered a little. Before hand, we went and inspected the VW Golf, which is a definite improvement over their old soviet-style car (could have been an old-style Lada?). After that, Sasha dropped the car back at the flat and walked to the restaurant, so he could drink as well.
Anyway, enough of the text, onto the photos…

So first we have a few shots of the car

Now we have the food, starting with the lovely, straight from the oven, lepioshka bread, followed by the potato sausage thingies, some (apparently) delicious salad and the main course - the sashliq
Oh, and the leftovers

Finally we have the attendants of the evening’s festivities…

Lastly, Balzhan’s nails, of which she was very proud. We had been waiting a while for our food by this time, so Dr. Natalya was threatening to start nibbling on Balzhan’s hands…

This evening we went out and washed our friend’s car. However, no sponges, wax or buckets were involved. Instead it refers the tradition of having a drink or four when is time to celebrate somthing. In this case Dr. Natalya and her husband bought a ‘new’ old car, so we went out to celebrate the occasion. Anyway, more on that later…
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As per normal, Ira and I went over to her parent’s house on Sunday, where we catch up on the week’s news, have some lunch, potter around the garden. OK, honesty time, I tend to skip the gardening section. Don’t get me wrong, if there is heavy lifting to do, or something that involves manual labour, I’ll not complain too much, but plants have never liked me; I can try and look after them, but they normally end up in a mess, and wilting; combine my hay fever in, and you can (hopefully) see why I tend to avoid the garden, at least in the hot summer months. Later on, they have a sauna, whilst I appreciate being in a room with normal humidity, and can breathe easily. However, before they got to the sauna stage, Lorsha and his Mum & Dad popped over. The two males had just arrived back from Germany, and wanted to pop in and say hello to the family. It was good to see them again, and then a little while later, Dr. Natalya, Sasha, Balzhan and their respective offsprings popped over, as they had been to the Duman (the big fish place and entertainment centre) for the first time. Yep, they live in Astana, but had never been to the aquarium. I guess it may be a little like the London Eye, or Empire State Building over in NYC - if you live in the city, and don’t have any visiting friends to take to the attractions, you never get round to it. Anyway, as they were in the area, they popped over, as did Asen’s mum, who dropped off a plant for Ira’s mum. It was good to see everyone, though it appears the vodka shots effected me, as I dozed off for a while.

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

We (Me, Irina, Balzhan, Ildar (Balzhan’s son), Dr. Natalya, Sveta (Dr. Natalya’s daughter)) all went out Saturday evening to celebrate Balzhan’s birthday, and also because we had not all been out together for a long time. (Sidenote: it was also Sasha’s (Dr. Natalya’s husband - nice man) Birthday… his present was to be allowed the night of from social duties and to go fishing )
We decided to go to the barrel restaurant again. I don’t know the real name for the place, but if you are lucky, you can sit outside inside one of their huge barrels. Anyway, I had Mexican steak apparently - meat, tomatoes, Pringles and cheese, along with chips, some coke & apple juice and a little vodka. The food was delicious, and the company was great.