We hadn’t originally planned to have a lot of friends over for Irina’s birthday this year, but quite a few turned up whilst we were at the in-laws’ house. Anyway, here we have a short clip of Anna and friends taken on the 31st of January. Anna behaved very well considering all the faces around her, and the attention she was given. We just hope she behaves as well back in Britain. Speaking of which, we’ll be in Istanbul in less than 24 hours now!
Feb 11 2010
Unfair Wimp Labelling
Despite me originally thinking that Lucky (of The District of Lucky and Lucky21842 fame) was simply a light weight former Almaty resident, who wouldn’t recognise a real snow storm if it held a sign up, after watching the following video, I concede that America did seem to get pretty hard, pretty quickly with its recent snow storm. I’m hoping that the renewed possibility of fresh snow in Britain quickly melts away – whilst pretty, it is a pain in the arse to drive around on, without winter tyres/snow chains…
Feb 11 2010
Grumpy Young Man
Just a quick embedded video from LuckyInDC here – he outlines one of the differences between America and Kazakhstan – strangers talking to you, or rather the lack of them in Kazakhstan. Some might argue that complete strangers talking is a good way to make friends outside of your normal circle of associates, but I suppose that insincerity from all around you could be just as bad?
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Feb 09 2010
Synchronous IO
Circular breathing is something I was never able to pick up. To be honest I can’t even remember why I tried, though I’m guessing it was related to a musical instrument? Anyway, came across a friend’s video featuring his didgeridoo playing. Well, not exactly playing as he has only had it a week. More learning the basics of rhythm, circular breathing and the basic drone required. It turns our Karra isn’t a huge fan of the noise, as she jumped off the PC and hid when I played the video!
For anyone with a good memory, this is indeed the same Rich as was featured on this site a couple of years back with his graffiti videos.
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Feb 05 2010
All round at Dan and Lara’s fo…
All round at Dan and Lara’s for delayed joint birthday celebrations http://twitpic.com/11htpq
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Feb 03 2010
Masha Returns
We hadn’t seen Masha in quite a long time, so on the 15th of January she popped around for a brief visit, to catch up on all the news, see Anna and tell us about her life.
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- Irina, Anna And Masha In Our Kitchen
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- The Same Three Smiling In The Living Room
She had to pop off again quite quickly, but I managed to recover an old photo from her camera’s memory card that disappeared more than a year ago, and it was good to see that she seemed to be doing well. Hopefully next time Anna will get a chance to meet Masha’s son again.
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Jan 20 2010
Nayelsa, Nayelsa!
As promised, this post marks the first 2010 photos of Anna. The 3rd of January saw us still at Irina’s parents’ house, with Igor, Losha and Katya popping round to continue the New Years celebrations.
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- The One Hello Kitty Item Of Clothing That Irina Likes
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- Tall Anna!
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- Igor And Anna
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- Katya And Losha
Oh, and “nayelsa” is a Russian informal word for “I’m full”. (Please no more food. Yes it is delicious, yes I love it, but seriously, my belt doesn’t have any more holes to make it bigger). Or something like that 🙂
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Jan 19 2010
Soothing Singing
Only a brief glimpse of Anna in these videos, the main stars are Lara and DanD’s kids who were singing for their supper. Actually I think it may have been a dress rehearsal for a performance they were due to give in their school for a New Year celebration, but it was appreciated anyway. Another fleeting shot of the Dombra Hero t-shirt again. It was designed and is sold by a friend of ours, and I’ve not written a post on it still, which is quite shameful. If you know anyone who is into their Guitar Hero games, or wants a slightly more intellectual chuckle than your run of the mill unoriginal Borat themed Kazakhstan clothing, check out the link. They deliver globally, with some even making their way to Afghanistan!
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Jan 18 2010
Christmas Day Meal
After saying goodbye to Walton we relaxed for a few hours at home with Anna, and then travelled over to JohnA’s for a delicious Christmas Day meal. This was the first year I wasn’t at home in Britain for Christmas with Mum et al, so I was really glad to be in a friendly and happy atmosphere with Anna and Irina. DanD and his family were there, as well as Innessa’s parents, which meant I wasn’t alone in toasting the day with vodka and beer, rather than wine 🙂 The food was great, and we even had some entertainment laid on – you’ll need to wait for the video to catch a clip of that…
Anna, DanD and a Dombra T-Shirt Model
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Jan 18 2010
Christmas Day Morning With Anna
So, these photos of Anna were taken on the 25th of December… Something about that date rings a bell…
Oh well, sure it’ll come back to me. Walton had seen in the transition of 24th/25th with us, and wasn’t driving home straight away for once, meaning we could all have a few drinks together properly, for the first time in ages.
This was obviously Anna’s first Christmas, and although it isn’t really noticed/celebrated by locals over here, we had a great day, though it was sad Assel had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – we’re hoping we’ll manage to meet up with them once they return from their trip to America, before we head over to Britain.
Later on in the day we went to another friend who was hosting a proper Christmas Day dinner, but these photos are just from the morning, where we ate, drank a little and Anna opened her presents…
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- A Present For Anna
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- Jigsaw? Yeah, sure… nice. Can I eat this card though?
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- Its Christmas! (Screamed à la Noddy)
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- Walton At Breakfast Time
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- 10:20am And STILL Sober!
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- Anna Was Allowed More Than Crumbs For Her 1st Xmas Breakfast, We Promise!
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