A little later than originally intended, here are the videos shot the day Ildar (Balzhan’s son) had his first day at school. Over here in Kazakhstan, they start going to school a little later than back in Britain – around seven years old seemed to be the average age there.
Not only is this day special for those just starting school, the last two years also attend this event, as they will soon be leaving the establishment.
First we have Ildar with his last little boy type display of the day. From this point on, he assumed the persona of a serious child – intent on learning, making his mum proud, and looking very smart. Apart from pulling faces to show off his missing milk teeth at the front 🙂 It was obviously an emotional day for Balzhan, though I believe there may have been a small amount of melodramatic acting. (She is the sports news achorwoman on the Astana TV channel, so maybe she picked up some hints from colleagues in the business?) It was quite strange seeing all the little children in their suits and Sunday-best dresses, a little different to the rag-a-muffin appearance of UK school kids at least…
Now all the children are neatly lined up in their classes, with their form tutor in front, the school decided it would be a great idea to get them to… do nothing for a long time. Again I was impressed, as the behaviour at this point seemed a lot better than I would expect from a bunch of British kids being told to stand still and be quiet. The people at the beginning of the video are Ilar’s Dad (Tima) and paternal (patriarchal?) grandparents, who came for Ildar’s special day.
We then had some motivational type speeches from kids who would soon be leaving the school – work hard, it is worth it, do as you are told etc. etc. Some of the message was conveyed by means of a little play.
At the beginning we have the school flag on display, and the children slowly wound their way into the building.
Right, that is it, no more videos are left on my hard drive to be uploaded, nor in YouTube waiting to be embedded on this blog. That said, I do need to record a new vid later on to promote one of the paid blogging companies I use… watch this space 🙂