Nov 01 2009

One Kitten Still Needing A Good Home

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Personal,Pictures — ChrisM @ 6:55 pm

Taken towards the end of September, these photos were taken of the three remaining kittens that hadn’t yet found a new family to live with. Since then, only one hasn’t yet been re-homed. The two in the second picture have already been taken away. So if you know of anyone here in Astana who would like the kitten in the first picture, please do let them know about this site/specific post. We think the kitten is female, which seems to be a problem for Kazakhs – the thought of more kittens in the future put a lot of people off. Spay the kitten when she is old enough, we know of a good vet here in Kazakhstan (Astana specifically) who took care of our two cats). Male cats tend to spray to mark their territory, so as long as have the kitten treated, a female one would be better for most homes!

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Nov 01 2009

Eight Pence To Cross The Road?

Category: Kazakhstan,Pictures — ChrisM @ 6:26 pm

Once again the gallery function in WordPress decided that I didn’t really want to choose this post for the uploaded pictures. You’ll just have to survive reading this text with the photos thrown in at the end. A difficult task, I appreciate…
Anyway, these pictures were took back in September, Irina noticed that the button you press to cross the road was broken, and had (eventually) been fixed with a 20 Tenge coin. (Roughly eight British pence). For a while, if you wished to cross the road in one direction, you either had to wait for someone from the other side to press the button from their side, or shout at someone passing to do so. If passing pedestrian traffic on that side of the road was too light, and you had a wife and baby waiting to cross with you, run across (imagine a game of frogger, with different lanes of traffic moving at different speeds, and no extra lives – hit one Kamaz and it is ‘Game Over’ immediately.
Anyway, someone came along and fixed the faulty button by wedging the aforementioned coin in. This didn’t last that long, however policemen have been noticed trying to fix it again with the coin trick. One even offered 50 Tenge to anyone who could give him a 20 Tenge coin! Good to know that some of the force are genuinely concerned about the safety of Astana’s residents – you often feel as though if you aren’t driving a car, the authorities concern about your well being is somewhat diminished.

Pedestrian Crossing In Astana With Coin

Pedestrian Crossing In Astana With Coin

Sharper Zoom Of Pedestrian Crossing In Astana With Coin

Sharper Zoom Of Pedestrian Crossing In Astana With Coin

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Oct 31 2009

Arrrrrrrrrrrgh. Oh, you’re not dressed for Halloween?

Category: Eating Out,Friends — ChrisM @ 10:22 pm

So we have just returned from a tasty meal at Sligo, with Walton and Assel. We realised that the last time we had visited the Irish-pub themed location here in Astana, Kazakhstan was just over a year ago, which was another Halloween themed event. Today the fire steak (yes, that was indeed a steak that arrived at the table on fire), chocolate dessert (currently only displayed on their Russian language menu) and vodka were all lovely. Anyway, when we arrived the male waiters had already changed into their themed costumes – scars/pirate paraphernalia were abound. For some reason the female waitress’s costume changes didn’t occur until later on, and were comparatively weak – a ‘bloodied’ bandage around one neck, and a witch’s hat on top of the other lady’s head. I then spotted a woman who caught my eye. I spent a few seconds trying to discern the inspiration for her costume, before realising there was none – she was just a (slightly older than) middle aged woman in tight jeans and a top. Given that I gave the ‘pub’ a plug in my recent guide to Astana, I don’t feel too guilty in calling out her dubious choice of fashion (she is thought to have been the owner), I just wish she’d dressed either more conservatively, or gone the whole hog and added some accessories to her otherwise scary outfit! Anyway, this time there were no signs in the bathroom warning people not to fish in the toilet bowl, which is good, as I’d forgotten our proper camera, and despite the band being worthy of a few shots, as I’d forgotten our real camera (the camera phone couldn’t handle the low lighting), I wasn’t overly upset at the lack of humorous text in the washroom.

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Oct 29 2009

Hanging Around Almaty

Category: Kazakhstan,Videos — ChrisM @ 1:14 am

Hang gliding in the mountains around Kazakhstan’s former capital city, Almaty. One of Lucky‘s older videos, but well worth a watch if you have some how missed clicking on my previous links to his channel etc.

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Oct 29 2009

I’m Not Alone…

Category: Kazakhstan,Videos — ChrisM @ 12:15 am

In my contempt/distrust for KazPost (the post office/delivery system over here in Kazakhstan) to deliver packages on time…

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Oct 28 2009

Nobody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt!

Category: Kazakhstan,Videos — ChrisM @ 11:47 pm

Kazakh (specifically Almaty) police get jumpy when stopping a foreigner. With his wicked backhand badminton swing, and his constant spam-ban-baiting hip hop talk, who can blame them. (See his twitter account if that makes no sense, and I don’t really mind that much if you don’t use backhand swings (or call them that) in badminton. It is a silly game that involves staring at (shuttle) cocks anyway.) Let’s see if that gets a reaction 😉

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Oct 28 2009

Smoking Hookas In The Mountain

Category: Kazakhstan,Videos — ChrisM @ 11:21 pm

Beer in the river, kebab (kebob if you’re American?) on the fire, friends all around. Another trip into Almaty’s surrounding natural beauty. If only he’d be in Astana, he could have done so in the desert instead. lmao.

Seriously, we do have some pretty lakes and stuff around Astana, it isn’t all steppe.

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Oct 24 2009

Whistling Your Life Away

Category: Kazakhstan,Videos — ChrisM @ 9:09 pm

Thought I’d posted this one a while back, but guess I maybe just tweeted about it? Anyway, these are some rules that should be observed if you are in Kazakhstan, and want to stay lucky.
Do you see what I did there? Pure genius.
OK, I’ll, err, get my coat…

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Oct 24 2009

SEC SaryArka

Category: In The Media,Kazakhstan,Personal,Videos — ChrisM @ 1:25 am

Someone has apparently uploaded the video (unreleased, as they later changed the script when I was no longer around to re-record) I did a voice over for last year. I’m still trying to find the other film (on transport policies) that they did publish, but for now, have a listen to my dulcet tones explaining all about Social Entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan. Don’t laugh too hard, and don’t blame me for the occasional lack of sync between my words and the images on screen – I had never seen the film to which I’m applying my voice at the time of recording!

I’m also hoping to find an online copy of the voiceover work I did with DanD a month back, on Religious Tolerance in Kazakhstan.

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Oct 23 2009

Tipped Over Driving

Category: Kazakh Driving,Videos — ChrisM @ 2:25 am

Almaty sees some Rally drivers showing off a little. When I say a little, I really do mean it – most of those moves seem to be pulled during the times when the roads aren’t closed off. OK, perhaps not the driving on two wheels, but other than Mel’s description of Vietnamese driving, I’ve not seen more scary than here in Kazakhstan!

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