KZBlog

Tag archive for ‘праздники’

• You know it’s Nauryz in Astana

  …When it only snows twice in one day and the temperature gets all the way up to freezing! Everyone knows that Nauryz in Astana is always cold and rainy. For the past five years I’ve been here, it’s the same thing. This year, it was cold and snowy. Everyday this week it has snowed, and […]

  3/23/10 • (Comments Off on You know it’s Nauryz in Astana)

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  Nauryz! Nauryz!

  Happy Nauryz!! Nauryz meriam kuti bolsyn!

  3/21/10 • (Comments Off on Nauryz! Nauryz!)

• If You Make 70 Gifts for 70 Years, I’ll Fire You

  In another part of the President’s speech yesterday he noted that gift-giving is something that has to stop. Nursultan Nazarbayev noted that there is no budget item for gifts for fellow civil servants and threatened to report people who give too many gifts:
  Gazeta.kz quotes the President, “Accounts Committee, regularly reports to me about the most serious violations. People buy expensive cars, expensive electronic devices and begin to furnish their offices, buying expensive furniture. It’s a waste of everything.”

  3/13/10 • (1)

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  Happy Valentine’s Day: You’re Under Arrest!

  Missed this cute little story: On Valentine’s Day, policewomen handed out flowers and cards instead of tickets [RU] to traffic law violators in Kostanai province. On the back of the Valentine’s Day cards were explainations of the traffic laws. The head of the traffic police section in Kostanai was quoted by zakon.kz as saying, “Today, […]

  3/06/10 • (2)

• Ded Moroz!

  Happy New Year! As many readers may know, New Year’s Eve in the former Soviet Union (and much of the Eastern world) is celebrated much like Westerners celebrate Christmas. Families gather together for a big meal and put up a fir tree with lots of decorations. Presents are given–not by Santa Claus but by Дед […]

  1/01/10 • (Comments Off on Ded Moroz!)

• Twas the Night Before Rozdestvo

  Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the land/Not a single soul cared, for this was Kazakhstan/No stockings were hung by the fire at all/For fear they would burn if they would fall.
  Great parody of A Visit by Saint Nick by a Peace Corps Volunteer, K-Chuck

  12/26/09 • (Comments Off on Twas the Night Before Rozdestvo)

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  Happy Kurban Ait

  Happy Kurban Ait! This is the day that Ibraghim (or Abraham) was commanded by Allah to kill his son Ismael (Ishamel) as a sacrifice. When Ibraghim was about to bring down the knife, Allah sent a goat to be killed in Ismael’s place as a reward for Ibraghim’s total obedience to God. This is where […]

  11/27/09 • (3)

• Turkey Day: Better Late Than Never

  Happy Thanksgiving! Of course it was a working day here in Kazakhstan, so a chicken was the best I could do for dinner, but I did make homemade stuffing. And I am thankful that this year Kurban Ait falls on the day after Thanksgiving, so that at least is a day off! In honor of […]

  11/27/09 • (2)

• New Years Decorations Are Up!

  Just a quick note. While in the US we now have an unofficial rule that Christmas decorations don’t go up until after Thanksgiving and that stores don’t sell Christmasy things–trees, ornaments, Santa Claus hats–in Kazakhstan, the New Years decorations are already going up and the stores are full of ornaments and wreaths and costumes. And […]

  11/24/09 • (Comments Off on New Years Decorations Are Up!)

• Everyday is not Halloween in Kazakhstan

  But at least one intrepid Peace Corps Volunteer working as an English teacher in Zhezkazgan got his English club students to dress up. Check out the pictures especially and the description of how things went: Halloween in Kazakhstan. Some of the teachers I worked with wanted to do something similar but they were afraid the […]

  11/17/09 • (Comments Off on Everyday is not Halloween in Kazakhstan)

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