Igor, Losha and Katya joined up for another New Year celebration. http://twitpic.com/whgro
Jan 03 2010
Igor, Losha and Katya joined u…
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Jan 01 2010
Dr. Natalya, Sveta, Balzhan, E…
Dr. Natalya, Sveta, Balzhan, Edward & Ildar have all come over for the traditional New Year’s day meal.
Luckily I skipped breakfast.
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Dec 31 2009
At John And Inessa’s In November
I can’t honestly remember right now if we took photos when we went over on Christmas Day, but these shots were taken on the 6th of November, when we were kindly invited round for a meal. Nicole did a great job of looking after Anna whilst we were eating, and baby Sophie behaved very well. It was really good to catch up, and was a taste of things to come as they kindly had us all over again on Christmas Day.
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- Nicole, Anna And A Big Black Cat
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- Chris And Sophie
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Dec 25 2009
Happy Christmas to anyone read…
Happy Christmas to anyone reading this. Saw the transition of Xmas Eve to Day in with Walton and Irina.
http://twitpic.com/uzlw1
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Dec 14 2009
Eating To Help Others
A little over a week ago (6th December), a charity event was held at the Radisson Hotel here in Astana. The Annual Winter Charity Bazaar was setup by the international community to raise money for local charities, including an orphanage I think. Stalls were in place for each country that had people willing to attend and sell their home made cakes, souvenirs and in some cases, drinks. We weren’t around for the bazaar this time last year (when it was first put in place), as we’d already returned to Britain, so it was interesting to see which countries were attending, what lovely dishes had been prepared, and just how much could be raised.
Irina baked the Death By Chocolate cakes I seem to be mentioning a lot, and they seemed to sell well. The event eventually raised just over 5.3 million Tenge, of which the UK stall sold 176,000 Tenge worth of goods. The hot dogs from a stall that was set up by a local company went down well, as did the most authentic lasagne I’ve tasted in this country. Although Irina and I just attended to buy and eat (well deliver the cakes as well), some of our friends (both Embassy staff & their families and “normal” ex-pats) were actually manning the stall, and DanD even managed to virtually chop half his arm off cut his hand a little.
Dec 14 2009
No Travel, A Lot Of Food And Drink
So Christmas is drawing near, and this will be the first year we won’t be back in Britain for the celebrations. Although I have mixed feelings on the subject, our finances meant that a trip home to Anna’s Nana, Dad (Welsh word) Kav, Grandad, Nick and Roz etc. will have to wait for a few more months. On the plus side, we’re hoping to meet up with some friends over here, both at the crossover point of Christmas Eve into Christmas Day, and also for Christmas Day itself, where Anna can play with (or at least alongside 🙂 ) some other children.
Irina is planning to bake a couple more Death By Chocolate cakes, so we have no need to try importing some Mr Kipling treats. There are apparently some vodka bottles in the freezer that need finishing off, I’ve recently managed to convince myself that beer isn’t so bad after all, and Inessa seems to have a lovely meal planned. Despite the fact that three families with children will be combining forces for Christmas Day dinner, I think we’re all relaxed enough to fit in with each other’s plans and/or traditions, and as one of the men already put it, “relax, get drunk and eat too much” seems to be the order of the day anyway 🙂
Dec 10 2009
Foreign Tastes In A Foreign Land
OK, as promised, I’m going to try and catch up with posting some of the Lucky videos before he leaves.
This one is on an American ex-pat tastes in Almaty – from beer to instant coffee, and vitamins to the gym. No vodka or brandy mentioned though? I’ve not been to a gym or done any serious circuit/endurance training in a long time (wow, 1/2 a life time TBH!), and my appetite for good food and long movies has meant that my days of a 28″ waist line are well and truly gone…
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Dec 10 2009
Sadly It Is Official
Yes, Lucky is leaving Kazakhstan, returning to America (along with his wife), and you can see his farewell video below…
We’re still hoping they’ll be able to make it to Astana before they go, as it would be great to actually meet in real life and down a few drinks with the guy.
Hmm, I should probably get around to publishing the drafted posts that feature some of his older videos, and in case I haven’t already mentioned it, he also has another channel setup, The District of Lucky, so if you already found his Lucky21842 channel, and liked it, consider subscribing to the new one as well. Unless you’re easily offended, as I hear the topics/language may be a little more relaxed than the Kazakh-themed Lucky channel. In which case you should subscribe anyway, as it does no harm to a YouTuber’s ego to have a large following (and Lucky is a nice guy), just don’t watch any of the videos. Or turn the volume down first. Or maybe just ask a less easily insulted person to watch it first and report back whether it is safe or not 🙂
OK, I’ve now watched the video (slow internet, so you’re best waiting for it to play through once with muted volume, and then re-playing, when on Kazakh internet connections). Few thoughts I had whilst watching it…
Hat/gloves? Dude, no idea what the temperature was in Almaty when you recorded it, but I went out with no scarf the other day and got frostbite. My wife would have beat you black and blue for such silly behaviour 🙂
We had similar reasons for originally moving to Kazakhstan – we both wanted to find out a little bit, first hand, what life was like for our partners. Obviously a lot of things have changed since they were little, but it is still good to get a handle on the basics.
VERY good advice for ex-pats in Kazakhstan ref. getting to know local people if you want to enjoy your time here. Meeting a Kazakh/Russian on the street does not always leave a happy feeling in your mind, but the majority are SO much warmer and friendlier when you properly meet them in a social setting. Even if you can’t get even a basic grasp of the language, it is worth spending some time with locals, not just fellow ex-pats.
Dec 02 2009
John, Mum, Anna And Seb In Clydach
This was recorded on the 22nd of March in Clydach, with Anna reacting to John’s funny noises. Can’t quite decide if she was tired or just busy filling her nappy.
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Dec 01 2009
Hitting The Beach With Anna
Skipping forward a little, this camcorder video was shot on the 22nd of March, meaning Anna was now one month and a day old. Seb had come over ( 🙂 ), and we decided to have a walk along Port Talbot beach, so he, I, Irina, Anna and Gwen all piled into the car, and drove down a few junctions on the motorway. It was a pretty good day weather wise, considering it was a) Britain, b) Wales specifically and c) Only March!
Seb found some driftwood to take home (the Mondeo obviously wasn’t full enough yet!) for Mum and John, and we all managed to get some fresh air and I think we even squeezed in a quick fish’n’chips shop visit.
Oh the ‘depends if there are any dogs around’ was a reference to letting Gwen off her lead. She is only a little dog, and wants to make friends with everyone/any dogs. Some dogs get a bit aggressive and she doesn’t defend herself very well.
Also, please excuse the wind on the microphone, didn’t have a sponge to stick on it sadly.
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