Jun 23 2009

family and friends around the …

Category: Friends,Pictures,TweetsChrisM @ 8:21 pm

family and friends around the table celebrating ira’s dad’s birthday

http://twitpic.com/86sgg

Ira's Mum Irina Losha Ira's Dad Igor

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Jun 23 2009

Amsterdam 2007 Photos #2

Category: Amsterdam,Friends,Personal,PicturesChrisM @ 1:08 am

So, continuing the series of Amsterdam 2007 photos, here is the next batch…

We took a few snapshots of the apartment itself. Not exactly in tip top condition – fridge door disconnected from the cupboard door, broken slats on the camp beds, TV not working properly, but it was cheap, relatively clean, and central to the coffeeshops we were interested in.

This is Alex and me at the dining table
Amsterdam Chris Merriman AlexC ChrisD 2007

Next we have the bathroom
Amsterdam Chris Merriman AlexC ChrisD 2007

Alex on the apartment’s balcony
Amsterdam Chris Merriman AlexC ChrisD 2007

Finally, click below to see the rest of this post – a Google map embed of where the apartment is, roughly.
Continue reading “Amsterdam 2007 Photos #2”

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Jun 20 2009

Dan&Lara came over,we all had …

Category: Friends,Pictures,TweetsChrisM @ 6:36 pm

Dan&Lara came over,we all had lunch together at inlaws.No lake trip today.Anna doing fine. http://twitpic.com/7w3r9

Table With Food

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Jun 20 2009

Salt Water, Yurts & Peggle

Category: Friends,Kazakhstan,PersonalChrisM @ 1:54 am

Friday night draws to a close, and we still don’t know whether we are just at Irina’s parents this weekend, as normal, or if we are going on a day trip that was cancelled a couple of weeks ago. The possible destination is a salt water lake a little bit outside of Astana, with a beach on it! In a virtually land locked country like Kazakhstan, any sort of natural sandy beach is a plus. If we are going, I’m hoping someone is sorting a yurt again. No, I’m not missing half the keys and hoping someone is bringing yoghurts, but instead referring to a big tent like structure that the nomadic people used to use in this country. Now we have Anna, the ability to get in from the hot sun, have somewhere for her to lie down on the ground that is clean, and be able to change her clothes/nappy without exposing her body to the elements too much would be great.

Yurt

OK, that is actually a yurt in Mongolia, but it is the closest I could find in terms of a visual reference to the one we used last time.

Anyway, I’ll post/tweet when I know what we are doing tomorrow, but as we only heard about the possibility from a friend a couple of days ago, and the in-laws haven’t mentioned anything, I’m assuming it is another weekend in Chubari. Hopefully DanD is popping over anyway, and I recently installed Peggle on Ira’s Mum’s PC, so whatever happens, I should have something to do 😉

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Jun 20 2009

Amsterdam 2007 Photos – Finally

Category: Amsterdam,Friends,Personal,PicturesChrisM @ 12:58 am

OK, the 2008 Amsterdam picture series was started back on 10th February this year, just 11 days before Anna was born. Here, finally are the 2007 photos, from my previous trip to Amsterdam. This time Irina did not come, but AlexC and ChrisD met up with me there, and we shared an apartment for four days (21/9/2007 – 24/9/2007).

I’ve checked Lemming was fine with his mug up in public in the 2008 series of pictures, and I’ve blurred anyone else who looked like they might want it. Though in these 2007 pictures, I’m only aware of one person from the forums being involved.

21st April

Stix near our apartment. 1st visit I think of the trip. We have our friend Chris on the left, AlexC on the right, me hiding behind, and a random local behind:) I’ve checked, and any photos presented on the front page, as opposed to behind a ‘click here to read more’ type link, will not be displaying any Dutch herbs, as I don’t want to put off advertisers.

Amsterdam Chris Merriman AlexC ChrisD 2007

The two below are the scene outside the entrance to our apartment. It belonged to Hotel Amstelzicht, just down the road. Yes, I got a bit distracted in Photoshop when I returned, and had a go at making these two shots a little different to the normal point’n’click affairs presented on this blog.
Amsterdam Chris Merriman AlexC ChrisD 2007
Amsterdam Chris Merriman AlexC ChrisD 2007

Right, thats your lot for now, I’ve no idea whether these posts will total a series of 13 again, I need to try and keep load times down on the front page for this blog, as Bluehost seem to be having another go-slow on my server 🙁

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Jun 14 2009

just realised con’s site conjo…

Category: Friends,TweetsChrisM @ 2:27 pm

just realised con’s site conjoinery.com is on my server as well. apologies dude, will sort asap

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Jun 12 2009

scratch the no fish’n’chips re…

Category: Friends,TweetsChrisM @ 8:19 pm

scratch the no fish’n’chips reference.supplys abound.DanD,DrK located,john & inessa here somewhere.

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Jun 03 2009

Hey Google, Follow Me Please

Category: Friends,PersonalChrisM @ 9:40 pm

A friend here in Astana has created a web site for the Zhuldyz Centre (a centre for child development, based on the Montessori method). Currently, none of the major search engines have indexed the site, despite there being no apparent major issues preventing them from doing so. Knowing very little about the methods involved with this style of education/development, I took a while to read some of the pages, and also checked out Wiki’s entry on the Montessori method.
I would be interested to find out how progressive the methods used at the Zhuldyz centre are, as in whether they adhere to strictly earlier ‘pure’ Montessori, or whether they have followed other practitioners and modified the theories and approaches to take into account reviews and criticism. I could be wrong, but I think the last time I came across this method of teaching was a Newsround report, a good 20-odd years ago. (Newsround is (was?) a children’s news programme on BBC1, in case American readers have no idea what I’m on about.)

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May 29 2009

All arrived fine. onto north w…

Category: Eating Out,Friends,Pictures,TweetsChrisM @ 11:54 pm

All arrived fine. onto north wind to check out miss lily’s replacement… john not in photo http://twitpic.com/66zb5

Dans Walton Oasis Astana

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May 29 2009

Arrived at ‘Oasis’, closely fo…

Category: Eating Out,Friends,Pictures,TweetsChrisM @ 9:13 pm

Arrived at ‘Oasis’, closely followed by Walton.DanC&DanD&John still to arrive.Poss friend of absent Dave as well. http://twitpic.com/66occ

Walon Oasis Astana Kazakhstan

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