Dec 16 2006

Finished Packing!

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Friends,Kazakhstan,PersonalChrisM @ 2:28 pm

We’ve been getting ready for our return to the UK, and we’re pretty much done now…

A huge thank you to our family and friends in Britain, who have kept me sane whilst I’m out here, and also to the family and new friends we have made out here in Kazakhstan.

We took Karra (our kitten) over to the in-laws, so she can stay with her mum and sister while we are away. Karra behaved a lot better in her carry bag this time, with only a few mystified miaows in the taxi 🙂

In 30 hours time Ira and I should have arrived in Cheltenham, where I’m staying with Dad & Nick for the first week, and then onto Swansea (well Clydach to be precise) on the Saturday/Sunday (23rd/24th December) with Nick & Ira to see Mum.

Really looking forward to catching up with family and friends; most of our evenings are planned out already in Cheltenham, so hoping we can just kick back and relax during our time in Clydach.

Irina has been allowed some unpaid leave from work, but only received the permission quite recently, by which time, the flights I’m booked on were full, so she is returning to Kz one day earlier, and going via Moscow, whereas I’ll be dropping into Istanbul on the way there and back.

By the time New Year hits us, Nick, Dad, me & Irina should all be in Astana and I’m hoping they’ll enjoy seeing Astana (it will be Nick’s first winter over here, and Dad’s first time ever.)

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Dec 07 2006

10 Days Until Flying Back To The UK

Category: Friends,PersonalChrisM @ 7:28 am

And I’ve been very bad at posting recently. Apologies to anyone still reading this 😉
Irina has just returned from Moscow, Karra is fine and still biting us randomly.
Mum had her birthday on the 5th, but her presents and card didn’t arrive until yesterday, and one still hasn’t made it 🙁
I hope to see Tom and Walton before I leave for my Christmas break, and Tom#2 (‘pilot Tom’) has been in contact to confirm he is fine, but wasn’t able to meet up with us recently due to his work commitments.
It is quite late now, so heading to bed.
Oh and Dad & Nick have received their visas, so it looks like everything is good to go for their visit over here for New Year 🙂
Hope all who read this do so in good health…

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Nov 29 2006

Had A Good Meal

Tom #2 (the pilot) didn’t turn up, hope his flight to Astana was ok…
Anyway we (Myself, Tom & Walton (and Ira when she had finished at Work)) went to Cafe Shymkent, and had a nice meal and a couple of drinks. Talked about all sorts, and I managed to stay sober enough to remember everything this time. Having spent the night working on getting links to my Ad Sense websites up, I’m about to head to bed.
Looked out the window, and it appears to have been snowing a fair bit over night…
If you compare these two photos to the ones here, you can see the lanes are now covered over again completely.
Doesn’t seem to slow down some drivers though…

IMG_1818 (Small).JPG IMG_1820(Small).JPG

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Nov 25 2006

Ira has a New Winter Outfit

Category: Personal,PicturesChrisM @ 5:22 pm

I had a lie in this morning, as I was up quite late again working last night (well this morning)
Irina took the opportunity to blitz the clothes shops with her mum.
Anyway, here are a couple of snapshots…

Shot #2 of Ira's new hat coat and boots Shot #3 of Ira's new hat coat and boots Ira's New Boots, Coat & Hat

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Nov 25 2006

Good Summary of the Conspiracy Theories

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,PersonalChrisM @ 5:32 am

I got a bit bored doing my work tonight, so I ended up randomly following links until I came upon…
http://icssa.org/9-11%20Questions.htm
Whilst most of the questions have been asked before, it was interesting to see them all in one place, without too much paranoid delusional stuff inserted.
I don’t happen to think all the questions are related as closely as some would hope, but most are at least thought provoking, and will hopefully spark some interest for you to continue your research sometime…

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Nov 17 2006

Happy Birthday Dad (And Babushka)

Category: Personal,PicturesChrisM @ 9:11 pm

Today (17th November) is my Dad’s birthday.
Hope he is having a good one. I know he had a good time in Paris with Jan.
It also happens to be Ira’s Gandma’s (or Babushka) birthday.

Happy Birthday Dad & Grandma

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Nov 17 2006

This Post Isn’t Useful

Category: Kazakhstan,PersonalChrisM @ 12:19 am

for the vast majority of my occasional readers.
It is mainly here so I don’t need to go digging the paperwork out each time I need to check flight info.
These are the flight times for when I return to the UK – sadly without Ira (her work won’t give her any time off until she has been there 6-12 months 🙁 )

Airline : Turkish Airlines

Date of flight to UK : 17 December

Leave Astana 03:30 – Flight 1355
Arrive Istanbul 05:40
Leave Istanbul 08:30 – Flight 1979
Arrive Heathrow 10:30

Date of flight returning to KZ : 30 December
Leave Heathrow 07:55 – Flight 1982
Arrive Istanbul 13:40
Leave Istanbul 16:35 – Flight 1354
Arrive Astana 01:45 (31st December)

Airport Codes
Astana – TSE
Istanbul – IST
Heathrow – LHR

Times that show ??:?? need to be updated – the ticket only mentions departure times, not arrival…
Nick (my brother) and Dad will be coming with me on the return journey, and staying in KZ until 9th January 🙂 :> :] :}

[edit] All times updated

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Nov 12 2006

Had Some Friends Over Last Night

Category: Friends,Kazakhstan,Personal,PicturesChrisM @ 1:50 pm

Irina cooked a really nice roast, our friends bought some vodka, and we consumed it all.
Actually I think there is some cake left in the fridge, will go and check just as soon as my stomach returns to normal.
Full respect to Tom, who had to go to work first thing this morning, I woke up early, stood up too quickly and went back to bed again soon after ;>
Anyway click the thumbnails below to see slightly larger versions…

IMG_1772 (Small).JPGIMG_1771 (Small).JPGIMG_1769 (Small).JPGIMG_1768 (Small).JPGIMG_1777 (Small).JPG

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Oct 31 2006

November Astana Weather Report

Category: Kazakhstan,WeatherChrisM @ 3:53 pm

This is completely unofficial, I must stress (my wife heard from a friend, who heard from a friend, who heard from a meteorologist that…), but rumour has it that due to an approaching low pressure anomaly in Astana, we might see temperatures dip to minus 30 Celsius this November. For American readers, I believe that is minus 22 Fahrenheit!

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Oct 30 2006

Drive In Theatre Details Confirmed

Category: Kazakhstan,Personal,PicturesChrisM @ 9:44 pm

They have started showing films. Currently displaying Pirates of the Caribbean. Not sure if it is #1 or #2.
Also confirmed they are using 107.8MHz FM as the audio carrier for the film. Could be ± 0.2 MHz, the radio we tuned in on isn’t brilliant.
Photo itself isn’t brilliant, late at night, with no tripod
Drive In Theatre Now Working
Below we have a zoomed in section showing the film itself
Close Up Of Cinema Screen

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