Not certain, but I’m assuming this is taken from Malcom in the Middle. (It is definitely the actress who plays the mum character anyway)…
Oh yes, and pictures and videos of Ira & I snow mobiling to follow soon.
Mar 12 2007
Funny Clip Re. Women, Cars And Parking
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Feb 28 2007
Went To A Concert Saturday Night
Ira and I went with Walton and his wife to a concert on Saturday night. (See below for a scan of the ticket).
I’m glad we went, and most of it was quite good.
It started off with a group that use a violin, electric guitar and a kazakh instrument whose name escapes me right now. (Bit like a two-stringed guitar). They played music that matched the composition of the band – western classical intertwined with Kazakh melodies and riffs. Unfortunately, the fact they were miming to pre-recorded music was quite obvious, and the majority of the other bands/singers did the same.
Whilst this was going on, they had a ballet troop/troup(?)/troupe(?) performing in from of them (the Exclusive Ballet mentioned on the ticket I think.) Most of the performances went well, although a few looked relatively un-coordinated compared to the high standard of others.
Compared to my normal gigs/clubs in the UK, I felt relatively cultured, and enjoyed pretty much all of it, apart from some bloke in a suit crooning along; no facts to base my opinion on, but he looked and sounded like he was the son of someone important, who decided that a career in music was his calling. Who am I to argue? We also had a KVN like sketch or five, and I understood a couple of jokes, which is an improvement over when I last saw on one on TV.
Anyway, after the concert ended we all headed to a taxi, but got diverted by the prospect of a quick drink, which then turned into a meal at the local Tex/Argentinean/Italian restaurant.
When done, we all went home and I had a nice lie-in the next day. Sadly Ira (who had already worked Saturday at her office) then had to head back to work a while on Sunday. Who knows who reads this blog, so I shan’t complain about the amount of work/attendance her company require. Her boss is great, and who could ever fault Kazakhstan office work?
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Feb 23 2007
Last Night Out With Tom
We went out on Wednesday to an Uzbek restaurant, near KMG (where Ira works).
Unfortunately, Walton was ill, so couldn’t make it :<
Click the link below to see the pictures
Continue reading “Last Night Out With Tom”
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Feb 23 2007
Last Saturday Night With Tom
An evening with Tom, a sad moment, and yet a happy time.
For our last Saturday with him, we were honoured with (finally) being invited round to his flat for a meal.
You can read more about it here, but to keep you going, here are some pictures of the evening.
Continue reading “Last Saturday Night With Tom”
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Feb 07 2007
Looking For An Asthma Treatment?
OK, so I’ve added an article and the following text to my Asthma site ( www.learnaboutasthma.org ).
Asthma
Are you looking for the best Asthma Treatment? Tried all the recommended medications and lifestyle changes, but still find yourself wheezing? Discover how to start living your life again. You could be feeling healthier, enjoying yourself outside and not constantly worried about when the next attack will strike.
Interested? Read more about the Dramatic Asthma Relief Report…
The information contained within the report has been written to :
* Help people with Asthma enjoy a higher quality of life.
* Open up your life to new possibilities without the stress Asthma sufferers go through each day.
* All of this is done without the ‘usual’ pharmaceutical drugs, and will therefore save you a lot of money.
* Strengthen your respiratory system.
* Work for both children and adults.If you want to find out more, click here
If you’re still not sure, then maybe the fact that this report comes with an 8 week money-back guarantee will reassure you?
Stop your suffering now. Take a minute to change your life forever – click here
Also, for a limited time, there are 5 free additional reports included, on subjects such as Stress, Blood Pressure and Nutrition. More details can be found here
[UPDATE] I’ve just had the article accepted at EzineArticles, so I can now display the following little graphic
and
by the article itself
Jan 19 2007
The Most ‘Baptised’ Muslim in Kazakhstan!
Catchy post title I thought, as Irina explained what a gentleman had just (jokingly) proclaimed, just prior to jumping into water in a frozen river, wearing just his underwear.
It was a little after midnight, on the frozen river, here in Astana. We had walked down to see what was going on, as this is the day that the local (Orthodox?) church cuts a hole in the river’s ice, blesses the water, and some people go for a quick dip in the freezing water.
Tom has explained the process a lot better than I can, so for a little further background info, please head to his post HERE. Then come back and gawk at the photos.
(Tom himself is heading down to the river for a quick dip, in a few hours, but I’ll be in bed by then, and Ira will be at work, so we decided to take a peek ourselves at the river escapades. Hope Tom and (his librarian friend) Irina survive the cold and find something to drink to warm themselves up afterwards.)
If you want to see last night’s photos, please click the link below this line, or the title of this post. (I’ve taken it off the front page to try and save a bit of bandwidth on the server….
Continue reading “The Most ‘Baptised’ Muslim in Kazakhstan!”
Jan 01 2007
Flights And Visas
ChrisD managed to get a corking deal by visiting MajorTravel.co.uk
You’ll probably want to search for London Airports to TSE (Tsleningrad, old name of Akmola, which is the old name of Astana)
Their phone number is 020 7393 1070
You may well find better deals than through this company, but ChrisD’s total fare was below 300 pounds, which we’ve never managed to get before. (He is flying at a less popular time of the year though, don’t be surprised if your fare is 33% to 100% more, depending on how flexible you are about the month you go.)
The embassy don’t mention how long it will take to process a request for a visa, last time I did it, it took them two weeks. Might be best calling them to confirm the current estimated time frame.
Anyway, try to leave AT LEAST 2 or 3 weeks spare between expected visa in your hands and flying – if they need clarification, it might require resubmitting a new form, or even popping to the Embassy in London. (Had to do that before, not difficult to find it and they spoke English). Shouldn’t need to go there, but just in case, thought it was worth mentioning. There is a tube station with 5/10 mins walk of the office.
Don’t forget you’ll need your passport in your hands before you can send off form with it!
Documents required for Visa:
Letter of introduction explaining the purpose of the visit. See below for a rough draft. The missing info is indicated in red. Feel free to re-phrase it, if you wish.
Application forms, fully completed and signed by the applicant. The form (as of 19/07/2006) is attached. See some of the answers for the form are below
Valid passport with one full blank page to affix the visa (please note that the passport must be valid for at least six months after visa’s expiration date)
One passport sized photograph (We normally wrote the name on the back and stapled it to the form)
Self addressed and prepaid envelope, special delivery or registered post only.
VISA FEES (to be paid by cheques or postal orders made out to “Kazakhstan Embassy”, maybe put your passport number on the back of the cheque) – PRIVATE VISA SINGLE ENTRY up to three months visa – 33GBP
Send the above documents to:
CONSULAR SECTION OF KAZAKHSTAN EMBASSY
33 THURLOE SQUARE
LONDON, SW7 2SD
If you need to contact Embassy:
TEL: 020-7581-4646
OPENING HOURS: 9:00 – 12:00
(MONDAY TO FRIDAY, EXCEPT WEDNESDAYS, WEEKENDS AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS)
Their web site address (well the section you need) is www.kazakhstanembassy.org.uk/cgi-bin/index/92
Answers to some of the questions in the application form (download from the link above):
It would be simple to print out the form and fill it in by hand, as to do it on a computer is a pain; it’s definitely not been designed for filling in electronically.
In case form isn’t too clear, the info you need to put in that you don’t already know is:
17. Purpose of travel: Private
18. Inviting organization (address, tel.): N/A
or person, arranging your visit to Kazakhstan (full name, address, tel.): e-mail us for this info – not going to publish on web :>
19. Places of destination in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Astana
20. The first place of entry into the Republic of Kazakhstan: Astana
21. Temporary address in Kazakhstan: See #18
22. Who is paying for your cost of travelling and for your costs of living during your stay in Kazakhstan?: myself
Re. Expiry date on visa – put a longer date in for the end of the visa, just in case any emergencies arise, its best to have a few days comfort-zone left after you should have officially left the country.
(MAKE SURE THE END DATE IS STILL WITHIN ONE MONTH OF ARRIVAL, OTHERWISE YOU WILL NEED A DIFFERENT, MORE EXPENSIVE VISA)
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Jan 01 2007
Money – How Much?
OK, a couple of people have already e-mailed and asked “so how much money should I bring?”
Well, I’m not sure on an exact total, but if I give you an idea of how much stuff costs here, you’ll be better informed to guess a holiday total I suppose…
20 fags (Parliament) – 80pence
20 fags (Marlboro) – 40 pence
20 fags (Russian smokable stuff) – 20-35 pence
Bottle of coke in a shop – 50 pence
Bottle of vodka in a shop – 90 pence to 5 pounds, depending on brand (drinkable – nice), can pay more, but what’s the point?
Bottle of beer in a shop – 40 pence to 90 pence (Russian to European brands)
In a restaurant/cafe, fags, coke and beer maybe double the price, or there abouts, vodka costs maybe two pounds for 200ml
PC Games/Applications/MP3 collections – 2 pounds to 5 pounds, depending on amount of discs in box, and how obvious the copy is
Music CDs – between 40-80% of UK price
Taxi ride (real taxi) – 2 to 3 pounds for a 10/15 minute ride
Taxi ride (flagging a random car off the street) – haggle price, normally little cheaper than real taxi
Meal in a cafe (salad (ha ha ha), meat dish, chips, coke, vodka) – Between 4 and 12 pounds per person, depending on type of place you go to
Meal in a restaurant (same stuff as above) – Between 6 and 20 pounds tops, per person
Obviously, if you want to get drunk, rather than merely relaxed, add more money for the extra vodka/soft drink/beer
Entrance fee to a club – 5 to 7 pounds – basically, the more ‘exclusive’ an activity or brand is, the higher the price soars, prices for drinks in clubs a little higher than elsewhere.
Next door to China, so disposable electronic trinkets, that might last 5 years, or 5 days, are to be found in plenty of shops.
If you want any ‘Kazakh’ souvenirs – cultural stuff, definitely bring along a little bit extra cash.
Re. Money – bring at least 100 euros or a little more in dollars, the rest is up to you – there are ATMs over here (don’t forget to budget for banks comission/charges for this service), and there is ONE place that we know of that will exchange English pounds for Kazakh Tenge, but Irina says you shouldn’t rely on it still working/taking UK currency by the time you come over. Your choice basically.
Re. CDs/DVDs vs. portable hard drive. I’ve read around, and people have less difficulty taking hard drives out of the country than lots of discs, apparently. Couldn’t find any info on importing. Personally, I’ve never had a problem in either direction. There is apparently a rule, on your way out of the country,that if Customs discover discs in your luggage, they must have been previously inspected and sealed by a dept. elsewhere in Astana. You’ll need to do this four or five days before the flight.
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Dec 30 2006
Back In Astana Again
As you may have noticed, I’ve not yet posted anything about our trip to the UK, and now we’re already back in Astana. Hope to post more details over next week or so. Summary of our return journey is that Nick, Dad & I went via Istanbul, Almaty, Astana, and Ira went Moscow, Astana.
In case I miss posting tomorrow, Happy New Year to everyone.
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