At Queens Birthday Party in Astana. Ira’s mum baby sitting. Fish’n’chips, beer and voluntary dancing. Videos will be Qiked later. Happiness
Jun 10 2010
Blade Runner On Thin Ice
Irina sent me a link last week that I forgot to publish. I’ve found an accompanying video, so I suggest you watch that first…
Now, the exact details vary on the internet, depending which source you check, but whether he was on his way from or to an ice rink, driving with ice skates on has to be seen as particularly dumb. Some people said he was driving home because he realised he needed normal shoes to drive (how did he get to the rink?), others say he was trying to save time by not having to change when he got to the ice rink. In any case, driving and drinking alcohol (different countries have different laws/social norms I realise) to the point where you think that ice skates are safer than bare foot driving has to be a big no-no.
Jun 09 2010
Swansea Beach
On the same day (22nd of February) as Anna having a little drink, we headed down to Swansea beach again. It was good for Anna (and us (Ira, Seb and me)) to grab some fresh sea air, and Gwen seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be allowed off the leash and have a run around. Other dog owners often come to the beach with the same idea in mind (dogs are only restricted to being on a leash in Summer months, when more tourists visit), which means that Gwen can socialize freely. This often means run towards another dog, then running away as soon as they show some interest.
Anyway, other than Anna taking some temporary interest in an old soup can in the sand, there isn’t a lot going on in these videos, but it is interesting for us to see how Anna’s walking has changed these last few months, if nothing else…
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Jun 06 2010
Anna’s Playhouse
A quick compilation of clips shots today in Chubary. Featuring Anna, Assel, Walton, Irina and Ira’s Mum.
Guest starring Anna’s new play area and house in the garden…
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Jun 03 2010
Guinness And The Beach
Another shot (still picture rather than video this time, especially for anyone with difficulties watching YouTube videos due to work based filters etc.) of Anna getting a taste for Guinness, and also of Anna and Irina on the beach. For anyone who hasn’t read this blog before, I have to separate the photos and videos of Anna into separate posts, as when they are automatically imported into Anna’s site, any posts from this site that are in multiple categories get duplicated. I also tend to mention the date the photos or videos were taken (22nd of February in this case), as at some point I hope to amend the dates posts are shown as published on her site, so they reflect the original day the images were taken.
Anyway, enough long winded explanations, onto the pictures…
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- Down In One?
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- Irina And Anna Wrapped Up Well On Swansea Beach
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- Anna Looking Back At Land
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May 21 2010
Anna has her very own chair! I…
Anna has her very own chair! Ira picked one up after her first aid course today. Anna seems to like it so far… http://twitpic.com/1pp8s6
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May 15 2010
Beer, Brilliant Buddy Bears And Babies
DanC is back in town for a few days, so we are hoping to meet up on Saturday and see how his family is doing. The other Dan (DanD) will be joining us after his daughters finish their afternoon nap, by which time I hope to have had a few relaxing beers (one advantage of not driving over here), some barbecued beef, and then we’ll all move on to Bayterek to have a look at some brilliant buddy bears. Hopefully the walk will be healthy, as beer and shashlik aren’t known for their fat/calorie free content 🙂 Why all the letter B’s in this post? No idea TBH, but the buddy bears started this whole alliteration theme…
In case I forget to blog on them, or we end up not going there for some reason, here is a quick summary –
The Buddy bears have arrived in Astana! There are 125 brightly painted bears standing in between Baiterek and Keyruen shopping centre. They stand at over 2 meters high painted by famous artists from all over the world, each one representing a country. They are an event of the ‘Germany in Kazakhstan’ programme and will be displayed until July.
(suggested meeting date and time information cut from original e-mail, my thanks to the Astana International Women’s Club for sending Irina this information)
Take a look at the website http://www.buddy-baer.com/united-buddy-bears/world-tour/astana-2010.html for more info and some great pictures.
May 07 2010
Compilation Of Videos From B-Day Party
As all the videos were taking up the whole front page on this blog, and contained a few dud, four second long accidental recordings, I decided to compile them into a couple of posts instead.
It was a family friend’s birthday party at the Attila restaurant in Astana, and there was food, drink, dancers, music and an MC, as usual.
Oh, the titling of Qik videos (on the site) is totally screwed up again, most of the videos have the title from the previous clip, and virtually all of them lost these (wrong) titles when tweeted. Combine that with the jerky 320×240 video, and you can see why I’m still looking for an alternative Windows Mobile based live video streaming app…
Shots from outside the Attila (as in Attila The Hun) restaurant, here in Astana…
Irina’s Dad toasting the Yuri Constantinovich – the birthday boy 🙂
People dancing
Golka! (People chant this at weddings to encourage the bride and groom to kiss, a little bit like when the priest/vicar says “the groom may now kiss the bride” during a wedding ceremony). This was a reference to when Yuri and his wife got married many years ago.
Here we had an example of Korean dancing from some local enthusiasts (Yuri has Korean heritage, Kazakhstan has a wide mix of nationalities making up it’s population)
His Mum toasts Yuri
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May 07 2010
Arse. Still no power. Ira read…
Arse. Still no power. Ira reading #UKGE results over mobile phone. Fire engines/men parade? again in Astana park – http://twitpic.com/1loyms
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Apr 26 2010
Anna’s Birthday Presents
I won’t be posting any photos today, as the hard drive is back at home, and we’re still with Irina’s parents. Both Anna and Irina has picked up some sort of lurgy, and so rather than transport Anna home whilst not 100% (and risk up chuck on the car seats), we are staying a little while longer than usual. So if you have sent me a skype message/left a voicemail on the landline, either call me on the mobile if it is urgent, or wait until we get back home.
Anyway, back to this post… The videos were shot on the 21st of February, meaning we’re still on Anna’s first birthday. This set of videos were shot when Anna was opening her presents. This was her first time ripping the paper herself, and it took a while to get through them all. There are a lot more videos of that morning, but I’ve just tried to pick the ones that stood out for one reason or another…
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