Aug 19 2007

‘Mini Dasha’ Has A Name!

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Pictures — ChrisM @ 11:29 pm

Assuming the kitten is male, it looks like he will be called Tima. He has gained grammes in three days, which sounds quite healthy to me. (I’m not an expert, but Irina and the in-laws seem happy with his progress at least.)
So first shot is the (now) traditional weighing process…
Tima Dasha Kitten Cat Astana Kazakhstan August 2007

Next we have a shot of Dasha and Tima posing very nicely for a photo in the box that has seen quite a few kitten litters…
Tima Dasha Box Kitten Cat Astana Kazakhstan August 2007

Finally we have a cute shot of Dasha protecting and warming her baby. It really is quite unusual to see Dasha with just one kitten; as she is more than ten years old now, the vet thinks that her body only produced a single kitten to ensure both mother and son would be healthy. Mind you, that vet will not be getting any more business from this family – she appeared to not be too clued up about animals, nor very professional in her communications.
Dasha Warming And Protecting Tima Box Kitten Cat Astana Kazakhstan August 2007

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Aug 19 2007

Pure Personality Politics

Category: In The Media,Kazakhstan — ChrisM @ 11:04 pm

Now the voting process has been completed, I feel a little more comfortable linking to a story the BBC ran on Friday. For those too tired to click on it, Natalia Antelava describes how she sees Kazakhstan’s president (Nursultan Nazarbayev) as a man in complete control of a stable country. The nation’s oil reserves have secured Kazakhstan’s income, where other countries in this region are still struggling. Whilst the middle class find their lifestyle improving, they is little urgency felt to changes the political landscape into a more democratized one. When people look across the border to the last (late) president of Turkmenistan, they see how much worse things could be; this country’s president, or his advisers, have been wise enough to see that excessive hero worship and cult status can run the risk of severely back firing. In terms of confidence in a nation, following the Soviet collapse in the 90s, this country is stable and although some people may wonder what a different president would be like after all these years, many fear that a new president, and his associated cronies would only lead to a new power base being established, with more resources being creamed off, and so an even longer wait for a fairer system.

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Aug 18 2007

Election Day Today

Category: Kazakhstan — ChrisM @ 8:38 pm

As I am not sure on the exact laws in this country, I will refrain from passing any sort of comment on the current political situation here in Kazakhstan. Anyway, Irina went and voted today, there were two votes to be cast, one for the Majilis (one of the sections of the parliament here), the other for Maslihat, a more local level of administration. The process went smoothly, and an exit poll was apparently in place.
Obviously I am not about to post who she voted for, but I look forward to hearing the results for both votes, and whether any international bodies approve of the elections this time.

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Aug 18 2007

Last Ali BaBa Of The Summer?

Category: Eating Out,Personal — ChrisM @ 2:10 am

We went out for a nice meal this evening. We took a stroll through the park, over the river Ishim, and then through to the area near the main square. Ali BaBa is an out door restaurant, with cover from any rain or wind that is blighting the evening. Tonight’s service was pretty excellent – the waitress was really attentive, to the point of asking if we needed anything when she noticed us looking around the restaurant. Compare this to the attitude you find in some places in Astana, where a snooty waitress will make that she is doing you a favour by wasting any time at your table at all, and you can probably understand why we were impressed. Perhaps the camera caught her attention, and she wanted to leave a good impression?
Anyway, onto the photos…

Irina had Besbarmak (a horse meat and pasta dish)
Besbarmak Ali BaBa Astana Kazakhstan August 2007

Click the link below to see the other photos
Continue reading “Last Ali BaBa Of The Summer?”

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Aug 17 2007

Karra’s Doppelgänger

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Pictures — ChrisM @ 8:12 pm

Ira sent me a link today to some cute kitten pictures. I’ve included one below, as it really does look a lot like our Karra, when she was young.
Not Karra

Now, we have the real Karra, back in November 2006, practising her best innocent look…
Karra Hiding
She still tries it now, when you discover her climbing a curtain, removing wall paper or being generally mischievous, but we tend to fall for it a little less.
We should be going to see the in-laws over the weekend, and so be able to check in on the new kitten (called mini-Dasha for now 🙂 ). I still haven’t got around to transferring, resizing and uploading the video from earlier on in the week, I’ll try to get it done soon.

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Aug 16 2007

Photos Of The New Kitten

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Pictures — ChrisM @ 2:24 am

OK, as promised, here we have the very first photos of Dasha’s kitten. She actually weighs in at 110 grams, not the 107 I quoted earlier. The video is going to have to wait for another day, as I am feeling too tired to start mucking about and would probably start getting things wrong.

So first we have Mini Dasha wondering where mum has gone. (Dasha had in fact gone to grab some food and a drink, but was only 50cm away).
Mini Dasha Wheres Mum Gone

Now we see the box she was born in, the very same box used each year, with the birthdays written on the side. A cardboard box with some heritage 😉
Birthing box - same box used every year

This one came out reasonably well, which was surprising – I didn’t want to disturb the kitten too much, so turned off the flash, and left her in the box. This meant using the macro mode on the camera, and not actually seeing the LCD screen when taking the picture.
Kitten Flash Off Macro Mode

Here we have Ira holding Mini Dasha, followed by me holding the kitten. He/She§ looks very cute there.
Ira holding Mini Dasha Chris Holding Mini Dasha

The weighing procedure. (Mr Owen, if you’re reading this, NO ONE will want me to call it massing!)
Weighing In At 110 Grammes

A little picture to show the scale – Dasha’s Paw vs. Kitten.
Kitten Dasha Scale

Finally, dinner time.
Dinner Time For Kitten

§ – Until we know for sure which gender the kitten is, you will probably encounter a fair amount of confusion on my part. Apologies.

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Aug 16 2007

Aunty Sveta, Sasha And A Golden Roundabout

Category: Kazakhstan,Pictures — ChrisM @ 1:06 am

Last weekend Ira’s Aunt Sveta and her grand daughter Sasha came over to celebrate Ira’s Mum’s birthday. On the Saturday morning, as we were all in the car sorting out flowers, presents and food, Ira’s Dad took us over to a monument his company built. When the sun is shining, it is truly spectacular. The whole structure is covered in gold leaf, and really does sparkle when clouds do not dominate the sky. Anyway, enough of the text, onto the photos…

Aunty Sveta Sasha Irina’s Dad And A Golden Roundabout Aunty Sveta Sasha Irina’s Dad And A Golden Roundabout 2 Chris And A Golden Roundabout

Ira, Walton, Alex and I all originally saw this statue/monument object just prior to going to the horse event around Astana Day. I’m glad to say no one seems to have tried to chip off the gold since then 🙂

I meant to add this earlier, if you want to see an interesting, (in)famous roundabout, check out this Google Maps satellite photo of the Magic Roundabout in Swindon, UK. You end up going the wrong way around the central roundabout!

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Aug 15 2007

Mini Dasha

Category: Dasha&Kittens — ChrisM @ 11:44 pm

We have just got back from the in laws, and apart from a nice meal and some time with Ira’s parents, we got to see Dasha’s kitten. Not sure yet, but Irina thinks it is a boy. His fur colour is most definitely inherited from Dasha, and not the father, and he currently weighs 107g. That is just under 4 ounces, according to my Amsterdam research. We are not certain yet, there may be more kittens to come, but without an ultrasound, and because Dasha has become quite large the last few years, we will just have to wait and see. The kitten looks so cute, and you could probably fit two or three in the palm of your hand. Coming back to the flat and seeing Karra and Muska made us realise just how much they had grown in 11 months.
Anyway, I hope to post some pictures and/or a video later on, once I have caught up with a few other things.

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Aug 15 2007

Dasha Is A Mum Again!

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Personal — ChrisM @ 4:16 pm

We will be popping round to the in laws to check up on mother and kitten this evening, but apparently Dasha has given birth to a kitten today 🙂
I am not sure if there are any other kittens still on their way, but I will hopefully have some photos to post later on this evening/early morning tomorrow.
So, Karra and Muska now have a little brother or sister. I do not know any other details right now, and would be interested to see what colour and patterns the new kitten’s fur holds, but I just need to be patient for 3 hours, then we will know.
Up until a year ago, I loved cats, but ONLY at a distance… anything less than a metre away from me, and I was convinced he or she would try and shred my skin with their claws, or just bite me. (Don’t ask, Siamese cats are psychotic little things, that is all I’ll say). However, since we had our own kittens, I have grown used to them, to the point that I can happily fall asleep with Karra snoozing on my chest! I think part of the issue was authority – when the cat in question is someone else’s I did not feel right shouting at him/her if they dug their claws in, nor giving them a smack if they were wilfully destroying curtains etc. (Before any hardcore animal lovers chime in, I am not talking about beating up a small defenceless kitten, merely smacking its bum if it continuously destroys curtains/furniture after weeks of stern “NO”s. However, our kittens are mostly behaving themselves now, apart from our wallpaper…. I don’t think they will be happy, or change their behaviour, until we choose a different style/texture.

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Aug 15 2007

Why Use YouTube For My Videos?

Category: Kazakhstan,Personal,Videos — ChrisM @ 1:38 pm

I noticed my latest upload to YouTube (see here) received a comment – “why did? u post this?”

I tried to answer within YouTube’s comment system, but my response was more than the maximum 500 characters allowed. So, I’ve pointed ‘snipermant’ in the direction of the post instead.

“I’m assuming that is a genuine question?

The reason for that video being uploaded is as follows :-

I was born in Britain and lived there for 27 years.
I now live in Kazakhstan. My blog (the clue is in my user name ;] ChrisMerriman.com is on life in Kazakhstan.)
When I find a reference to Kazakhstan in the media, especially one that ISN’T connected to the Borat character, I post it on my blog.
Rather than upload the video to my server directly, I upload them to YouTube, and then embed the video in a post. For example, if you click the Links: 2 just below the video at YouTube, you can see it is embedded in post 1441 .
I hope that answers your question.

If however you simply asked because you expected to find a funny clip, and want to complain (I’ve checked your previous comments on other videos, and I’m starting to think this is perhaps the more likely situation), please ignore the polite explanation above, and substitute it for this version :-
Because I wanted to…”

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