Sep 13 2007

What I Will Miss…

Category: Amsterdam,Dasha&Kittens,Eating Out,Friends,Kazakh Driving,Kazakhstan,Personal — ChrisM @ 9:26 am

Although I’m obviously hyped up over going back to Amsterdam and Britain next Friday, my mind can not help dwelling on just how much I am going to miss some things over here in Kazakhstan

Obviously my wife, Ira, comes first. I will be away for just under a month, which will be the longest we have been apart, at least since we got married, possibly since we met. (I can’t remember the longest she ever returned to Kazakhstan without me before).

Our friends and family in this country. Although my communication with Ira’s family is still at a pretty basic level, I feel as though they have got to know me a little better at least. Not spending Saturday evenings with Walton and Asel will be strange, though I hope to make up for lost time (and steak, chips and vodka 😉 ) when I return.

Our kittens. As I work from home, Karra and Muska have someone in the flat with them nearly all day everyday, apart from Sunday’s when we visit the in laws. I recently mentioned just how much I’ve changed when it comes to cats – before moving to Kazakhstan, cats were something to look at from a distance – past a certain comfort zone, I always felt like they were liable to claw me without warning. Since we have our own cats, I have learned how to read them a little better, and when they mis-behave, I feel comfortable telling them off – not something I felt able to do with other people’s cats.

Taxis – or rather the fact that almost any ‘normal’ (read not rich) driver would consider stopping to pick up a pedestrian to earn a little extra cash. In Britain, walking everywhere is a lot cheaper than the taxis there, and other than long distance hitch hiking, your options are limited.

Irina – I know I’ve mentioned her already, but I’m not sure what life will be like without her being next to me…

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Sep 13 2007

Amsterdam Hotels

Category: Amsterdam — ChrisM @ 8:18 am

I have been looking at the accommodation available in Amsterdam recently. Although ChrisD, Alex and I already have an apartment booked, I am hoping to save up enough money by my birthday next April to visit the city again with Irina. If Ira is reading this, let me know if any of the hotels listed grab your fancy 🙂
Anyway EasyToBook lists Hotel Atlanta which is on Rembrandtplein, which is just behind where I am staying in a little over a weeks time. With a wide selection of hotels, and a useful guide to most cities, visitors should find all they need within this one site. The guide itself does need a little updating though, as I noticed the section on coffeeshops still refers to alcohol being available, which is no longer the case – coffeeshop laws bought in mean that business owners had to decide whether to serve weed OR alcohol. That said, those that now only serve alcohol will not mind if you bring your own smoking supplies, so no real harm done there. If a Dutch break is not your cup of tea, (or coffee 🙂 ),then perhaps the site’s section on Hotels in Barcelona would be of more interest?
Should you have any questions regarding the process, there is a freephone number listed on the site for both American and British visitors.

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Sep 13 2007

Met With Dan

Category: Eating Out,Friends,Kazakhstan — ChrisM @ 7:53 am

Earlier this year, someone contacted me, having read 2006’s posts on the fun and frollocks involved when we sorted out my resident’s permit. Although he (Dan) had been visiting Kazakhstan (Shymkent specifically) since the early 90s, he was actually moving over here with Kazakh wife (sound familiar 🙂 ), and wanted to check if there were anything matters he should get sorted before leaving Britain. Anyway, skip forward a few months, and I heard back from him, that all was well, he had a job, and his wife seemed happy. Earlier this month, he discovered he would be driving his sister-in-law’s car to Astana, as she had moved, and wanted the freedom that a motor vehicle afforded her. We decided to use this opportunity to actually meet in the real world.
After a minutes thinking, Ira and I decided to take him to an Argentinian / Mexican / American / Italian restaurant that we had previously visited with Walton and his lovely wife. When I phoned Dan, we discovered that his journey over had been mostly uneventful, especially the sections of mile after mile of featureless steppe. Having arrived a little later than intended, he had spent the evening and early night at one restaurant, and then they had moved onto a 24hr place (actually Cafe Shymkent, weird coincidence!) and stayed there eating and drinking until 7am!
However, when we met Dan, it turned out that the restaurant he had started the previous night’s celebrations in was the same one we were heading to! It can’t have been a bad steak the night before, as he and his sister-in-law were both happy to return there. I took a long my camera to try and create another visual record of the courses we ordered, but as this was the first time Dan and I had met, I forgot all about it until the end. Anyway, Ira and I can not have made too bad an impression of your average Cheltonian and Astanite, as he repeated his offer of entertaining us should we manage to make it down to Shymkent 🙂

I couldn’t decide which of Dan’s photos to use – the smiling one with a blurry hand in concealing his face, or the clearer, less joyful expression, so have both 🙂
Dan Astana Kazakhstan 10 September 2007 Dan Again Astana Kazakhstan 10 September 2007

Now we have his wife’s sister (I forgot to write down her name, I’m sure he’ll remind me soon enough ;)), Ira and a plate of free water melon the restaurant supplied 🙂
Dan Sister In Law Astana Kazakhstan 10 September 2007 Ira Astana Kazakhstan 10 September 2007 Water Melon Arbus Kazakhstan 10 September 2007

After that we went for a drive around an area of Astana that his wife’s sister had not yet familiarised herself with yet. We both look forward to meeting up with Dan et al in the future.

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Sep 13 2007

No Sleep – Average Faces And Gigantic Firewalls

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,In The Media,Internet Connections — ChrisM @ 7:13 am

OK it is 6.55am over here, and I am still up, hoping to catch another WorldWide Wednesday opportunity over at PayPerPost, as I managed to last week (see the Argus post). If it does not appear soon, I shall give up and grab some sleep. The official release time for these opps is Wednesday midday until Thursday midday, EST. Here in Astana, Kazakhstan, we are 10 hours ahead of that time (no daylight saving time adjustments over here), so if I’m lucky, I may not miss the releases whilst asleep.
In the mean time, here are a couple of articles I found interesting…

Although I will not need to get a new passport for another 6 years (and therefore, unless a new law is passed, not have to have biometric information added to it with a RID chip (thats a whole other ‘Aware Or Conspiracy Nut‘ post for another day…) facial recognition is already in use at the passport control areas I usually use when flying home. Because of this, I need to remove my glasses (and also not smile, I recently discovered) to ensure that the cameras in the official’s booths can easily measure the distance between my eyes, nose, mouth size etc. and compare it to the passport photo. Although this software aids the fight against the use of false ID, it is not perfect. This BBC article explains how a researcher has discovered that by averaging different photos of a human face into one composite, both computers and humans make less mistakes comparing real life faces to the photo. This should eventually lead to a higher accuracy rate…
Lastly, we have another article, this time on how the Chinese Great Firewall is not so great when under strain. The article goes into some detail about how the Chinese authorities actually manage the flow of information on subjects they would rather their citizens did not have unfettered access to. However, I would really like to hear from anyone who has some first hand knowledge in this area (are you reading this Gavin?), as I was previously under the impression that the so called Great Firewall of China was infact NOT centrally administered or even based, and that the blocking of sites and information was the responsibility of the different ISPs that serve different areas of China. From previous blog posts I have read elsewhere, a resident of one area in China may find they are able to access sites that someone thousands of kilometres away can not. Anyone able to enlighten me?

[sidenote]
I have just noticed this blog is #1 on Google for the term Aware Conspiracy Nut 🙂

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Sep 13 2007

Lights

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 6:10 am

Well it is now 8 days until I start my trip to Amsterdam and Britain. Before then, I want to try and make sure the flat is in a reasonable condition, as Irina will be working hard all day, and not have her house husband to help out. One thing that will probably not be sorted in time is the home lighting issues we have. We need a lamp in the bathroom to be fitted, the light in the hallway blew up months ago (actually burning out the contacts), the main living room light gave up a while ago, and some 15 months later, we still do not have the EL wire-like lighting we were supposed to have installed.

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Sep 13 2007

Hamster Night Time Crash

Category: In The Media — ChrisM @ 6:07 am

As you may already know, I’m a big fan of the BBC TV Motoring show Top Gear (see here for a few previous posts). Although BBC World does eventually broadcast a cut down version of the show via our satellite receiver, it does not feature the (mainly British) guests, and often cuts other funny sections. Luckily most of the shows are downloadable from the net, and so before we had ADSL, ChrisD would normally grab them for me.
Anyway, Richard Hammond (subject of a few posts last year when he had a 300mph+ crash in a jet ‘car’) has had another accident, though nothing like as serious this time. The show was recording the three presenters taking part in an endurance race over at Silverstone, when the car (which Richard was driving at the time) was crashed into by another vehicle. By the sound of the BBC news article, some media outlets are overplaying the seriousness of the crash, as the presenter seems fine, and even the car itself was repairable quite quickly.

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Sep 13 2007

Ildar’s Birthday Celebration

Category: Friends,Kazakhstan,Pictures — ChrisM @ 5:18 am

Last Sunday we went over to Balzhan’s, to celebrate Ildar’s birthday, along with Dr Natalya, Sasha and Sveta. We bought him a board game that appeared to have a lot of instructions, as it had several different boards and rules as you progressed through the game. It will hopefully provide an alternative when his Gameboy’s batteries run out 🙂
Anyway, the adults had a nice meal, with a little vodka for some, and wine for others. I think. I remember having some nice vodka at least. Sasha is still on the offensive in terms of getting me to go fishing, though he didn’t seem to believe I really didn’t eat any fish. Combine that with my hatred of mushrooms and nuts, and I do occasionally get strange looks from fellow diners. I just hope my enthusiasm and capacity for vodka goes some way to balance it out 🙂

We have in the photos below Balzhan, Dr Natalya, her husband Sasha with Ildar and Sveta, and finally Ira.

Balzhan Astana Kazakhstan 9th September 2007 Dr Natalya Astana Kazakhstan 9th September 2007 Ildar Sveta Sasha Astana Kazakhstan 9th September 2007 Ira Astana Kazakhstan 9th September 2007

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Sep 08 2007

First 07 Kitten Video, Alex And A Garden

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Friends,Kazakhstan,Personal,Videos — ChrisM @ 1:52 am

Other than Ildar’s first day at school, this blog is now up to date with the videos I have shot over the last few months, at least after this post. I’m saving Ildar’s collection until I know whether or not we are meeting him again tomorrow.
Anyway, first we have Tima, the single kitten that Dasha had this year, (the brother of Karra and Muska), shot last week. As he does not live with us, I doubt he will have as many photos and videos of him on this blog, but as a few people asked what he looked like, here you go…

This is the last Alex video, taken when she visited us here in Kazakhstan. Not sure what to title this, other than possibly “Alex No YouTube”? Any other (polite suggestions)? For any fans of hers, we will hopefully have some more during our Amsterdam trip, which should also include ChrisD as well.

And the last two videos in this post are from the same day Alex visited my in-laws, here we have Irina taking viewers on a trip round the garden. Over here, especially in Kazakh (as opposed to Russian) families, gardens (if present) tend to be primarily for growing produce, rather than the British standard of lots of grass and some flowers. Anyway, take a peek, and let me know if you have any questions about the plants you see… I know nothing, but will gladly pass your requests on to Ira or her Mum, who can both tell the difference between weeds and flowers, and thereby best me with their expertise by a long way 🙂

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Sep 07 2007

Walton At Chelsea

Category: Eating Out,Friends,Pictures — ChrisM @ 11:03 pm

Last night we went to the ‘English Pub’ Chelsea, to celebrate Walton’s birthday last Sunday. It was relatively quiet, and not much had really changed in there. The prices are definitely set at foreigners and ex-pats prices, but they do good (cheese) burgers, the service is friendly, and the birthday boy wanted a nice burger, so we were happy to be there.

Breadcrumbed Hot Cheese Chelsea English Pub Astana Kazakhstan
The starter of bread-crumbed fried cheese was good, though once again all the food arrived at the same time, so it was soon ignored due to the arrival of the…

Garlic Bread Chelsea English Pub Astana Kazakhstan
The garlic bread was tasty enough, once the tomatoes were removed 🙂

Cheeseburger Chelsea English Pub Astana Kazakhstan
Although not in any way a traditional Russian or Kazakh meal, cheeseburger with chips is occasionally nice to bring back the tastes of home 🙂

Iras Starter Chelsea English Pub Astana Kazakhstan
Ira thought she was ordering a starter with this meat, though it looked more like a generously sized main course dish really…
Her actual main course of ‘Chipped fish’ turned out not to be a translation error (we assumed it would be like the traditional English fare of Fish & Chips), and Irina’s “starter” turned out to be more of a main course sized affair, but I think she liked it. As Walton had work the next day, he stuck to beer, as did Ira, but as my boss is a little more understanding, I had a little vodka.
Beer Chelsea English Pub Astana Kazakhstan Walton Chelsea English Pub Astana Kazakhstan

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Sep 07 2007

Forgot About These Ones

Category: Friends,Kazakhstan,Videos — ChrisM @ 3:49 am

I had a nagging feeling I had forgotten some of the videos I uploaded to YouTube a while back. I eventually got around to opening all the posts within the Video category on this blog, then checked which videos from my YouTube channel had been posted. So we have a batch of four here, taken from when AlexC was still here in Kazakhstan, and we had all gone round to Ira’s parents for a nice relaxing evening, some food, and a little drink. I am still impressed that Alex was able to hold her own reasonably well when it came to downing vodka, considering she hadn’t had a drink in some five years!

Here we have Babushka (Ira’s grandma), her Dad, Mum, Alex, Myself, some Wild Strawberries (really little fruit that make great jam), and of course Irina filming. In fact I think she handled all the camera work for these 4 shots…

Ira’s Dad is a little old school in some respects, and so was not happy with the prospect of her chopping some wood up for the samovar§. This despite the fact that if I had done it, we would have ended up with wood splinters, sticks that were too wide to fit in the tube, blood, tears, sweat, and possibly a three-fingered Chris. Compare this to the nature loving, camping, tree-surgery-considering Alex, who knows how to handle sharp tools, and you can see why I giggled (oooops, sorry make that let out a manly guffaw…. hmmm why does that sound so unbelievable?) at the idea that I was a better choice to chop wood. Ira’s Dad did it himself in the end.

The big barbecue thing is, well a barbecue, made by the guys ar Ira’s Dad’s work. He complained that most barbecues are made for shorter people, so they made one with extra long legs 🙂 It looks like I had been demoted that day from my normal duties of burning things. hmmmm, fire, flames, burn, petrol……. sorry, where was I? Seriously, I normally manage to burn the wood well enough, as it is not too difficult task to ensure that wood is burnt well to provide the charcoal needed to cook the sashliq (skewered kebabs) later on.

Finally we have almost everyone at the table before dinner, with Babushka chilling in the reclining garden chair. Alex tries out a little Russian, and Ira tells a blatent lie – the cake can’t be have more than my 43rd!

§ – A tea urn with a difference – the heat is provided by burning wood within the tube that runs through the middle of the area that the water is boiled in. You can now buy electric versions, but there is no fun in that, IMHO.

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