Sep 14 2012

Del Papa

Category: Anna's Photos,Eating Out,Personal,PicturesChrisM @ 10:54 am

Right, before I forget to include it, here is a map showing the location of Del Papa, assuming I have embedded it correctly (thats Respublika Ave on the far left, to give you some sense of where it is)…


View Larger Map

We had already visited the restaurant when Irina and I took Tim (Anna was at playgroup) to have some ID photos taken (Irina went to Almaty in the week to apply for her and his visas). This time around it was all four of us, having a nice Sunday lunch (again this post has combined a few tweets to improve the flow of this site). As we weren’t in a rush this time, we could properly sample their food, drink & not have to zoom off afterwards!

Anna, A My Little Pony & Irina At Del Papa

Anna, A My Little Pony & Irina At Del Papa

Anna had a cheese and meat pizza (we helped her to finish it off, is there any better an indicator of your love for a child πŸ˜‰ ), we will pretend that the chocolate milkshake was hers as well (!), and I had a Long Island Iced Tea (once we had ascertained how many millilitres of spirits were included, it worked out to be cheaper than beer or vodka (Tenge per ml using a standardized formula to allow for different ABV %ages)), as Irina had volunteered to drive us back. The pizza was one of the best I’ve had in Astana so far! I had a spaghetti carbonara with some garlic bread (not bad, Ira liked it, I thought it was too dry).

Sunday Lunch

Sunday Lunch

The carbonara was delicious and the Long Island Iced Tea just right, except the Coke was flat. Atmosphere wise, it was very chilled in there, and I’d happily revisit or recommend to friends and this site’s readers!

Carbonara, Garlic Bread, Anna's Pizza

Carbonara, Garlic Bread, Anna’s Pizza

In conclusion… Del Papa – a very strong 8.5/10

Del Papa's Sign

Del Papa’s Sign


Aug 22 2012

Muzak changes to live singing …

Category: Eating Out,Tweets,VideosChrisM @ 8:24 pm

Muzak changes to live singing at tre korana πŸ™‚ http://t.co/h5Hv7nyZ

Muzak changes to live singing at tre korana  :-) on Twitpic

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Aug 22 2012

Last minute decision (no1 fanc…

Category: Anna's Photos,Eating Out,Pictures,Tim's Photos,TweetsChrisM @ 7:30 pm

Last minute decision (no1 fancied cooking) 2try out tre kanor again, not been4years, since Walton&Assel were still here http://t.co/7DKsW2vR

Tre Kanor Outdoor Seating Panorama

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Aug 11 2012

Saturday Yurt Pictures

Category: Eating Out,Friends,Personal,Pictures,VideosChrisM @ 10:48 pm

On Saturday, Irina’s Mum had her birthday celebration at a yurt near the Kaz Munai Gas building, on top of a restaurant. I’ve compiled the tweets into one post to tidy up the blog once more. I tried out the panorama mode on my phone’s camera, and shot a quick test video as well (I wanted to compare it to the old Touch Pro2’s videos. Igor, Natalya, Losha, Balzhan, Ildar, Dr Natalya, Sveta, Aunty Sasha and the Petropavlovsk side of Irina’s family all attended, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The service was good, and as each party has a yurt to themselves, we were able to keep the air con on for a while to prevent anyone from passing out in the heat πŸ™‚

After a few toasts, those who aren’t playing outside are in this video…

After a few toasts, those who aren't playing outside are... on Twitpic


Aug 11 2012

Astana – Soviet era block of f…

Category: Kazakhstan,Pictures,TweetsChrisM @ 11:57 am

Astana – Soviet era block of flats http://t.co/c8WIcYI3

Block Of Flats In The Background

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Aug 10 2012

At Brioche with Irina & Ti…

Category: Eating Out,Personal,Pictures,TweetsChrisM @ 11:33 am

At Brioche with Irina & Tim (Anna at playgroup), celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary. http://t.co/TiPeJ5x4

Brioche Omelette And Milkshake

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Aug 09 2012

Only 4 or so years late, our a…

Category: Kazakhstan,Pictures,TweetsChrisM @ 3:10 pm

Only 4 or so years late, our area is finally going to be connected to Astana’s city wide heating system! Cheaper bills. http://t.co/bXg6RnGE

Big Crane And Pipes, Astana

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Aug 01 2012

Astana Based English Teachers Take Note

Category: Friends,Kazakhstan,PersonalChrisM @ 7:40 pm

A friend (who is temporarily back in Britain, watching some Olympic events, having coached the Kazakh team for one particular discipline) passed on a request (” hi Chris I have been asked about the job below and thought you might know someone? How are you? They are looking for an EFL/ESL teacher, who is a native speaker and has experience working with little (pre- school) children for a private kindergarten (here in Astana) with a salary of $4000″) for someone (a native English speaker) based in Astana, who is available to teach English to children. Although I have experience teaching kids around the age British children would be taking their GCSE exams, I think my youngest ever pupil was a very talented 9 year old whose linguistic skills made teaching English very, very easy.
This reminded me that someone else (via the Expat Blog social network) had recently sent a related message (“Hey SilentlyScreaming! (My online nickname in many locations) I was wondering if you, or someone you know would be interested in teaching English at a language center in Astana starting September 2012. I would really appreciate any help. Thank you, (name withheld) “), asking if I would be interested in teaching more lessons.

British Library

See my previous “Seb Married And Other Australia-Related Info” post for more details, but I can not currently commit to more teaching work (unlike many primary school teachers back in the UK, who predict problems with Grammer school tests (see this article)) starting before the beginning of 2013. So, for any of the lurking blog readers who frequent this site, reading posts, but rarely if ever leaving a comment, if you want to earn some money, have experience teaching English, especially to pre-school age children, please leave a comment, send me an e-mail, or wave violently at me should you see me on the street!


Jul 31 2012

A storm in Astana

Category: Kazakhstan,WeatherChrisM @ 4:00 pm

This was an experiment with the WordPress Android app. The video is stored on my server, and it appears the 7.5Mb MP4 file is automatically cached when you load the front page. Neither is totally ideal, so I’ll probably stick to YouTube and manually creating the post. If you want to see the video, click the link below.
Continue reading “A storm in Astana”


Jul 30 2012

I see this VIP sign everyday. …

Category: Kazakh Driving,Pictures,TweetsChrisM @ 7:19 pm

I see this VIP sign everyday. Still makes me laugh… http://t.co/EwGvElHF

Spray Painted "VIP" Sign In Our Garage

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