So, these photos of Anna were taken on the 25th of December… Something about that date rings a bell…
Oh well, sure it’ll come back to me. Walton had seen in the transition of 24th/25th with us, and wasn’t driving home straight away for once, meaning we could all have a few drinks together properly, for the first time in ages.
This was obviously Anna’s first Christmas, and although it isn’t really noticed/celebrated by locals over here, we had a great day, though it was sad Assel had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – we’re hoping we’ll manage to meet up with them once they return from their trip to America, before we head over to Britain.
Later on in the day we went to another friend who was hosting a proper Christmas Day dinner, but these photos are just from the morning, where we ate, drank a little and Anna opened her presents…
A Present For Anna
Jigsaw? Yeah, sure… nice. Can I eat this card though?
Its Christmas! (Screamed à la Noddy)
Walton At Breakfast Time
10:20am And STILL Sober!
Anna Was Allowed More Than Crumbs For Her 1st Xmas Breakfast, We Promise!
Incredible special effects are used in this video from Lucky (this clip is from his original channel, though you should also check out his newer The District of Lucky). Either that, or the man can truly jump across a wide river in a single bound.
Don’t believe me? Watch the video below…
Like the smoking hookahs video, this is shot in the mountains that surround Almaty (the old capital of Kazakhstan), and he even manages to quote the temperature in Celsius, rather than the American (and confusing unless you’re British and a bit older than me) standard of Fahrenheit. The audio could have done with a little treatment (inaudible speech is covered with some subtitles), as the jump from the river noise prior to the jump and little after is jarring. Some might even infer that some jiggery pokery occurred, but I’m certain he’d not try and mislead us?
This time no slabs of beer cooling in a stream, nor barbecues, were involved, but it still interesting to see what the countryside looks like around that area – I’ve never made it outside of the city when we’ve been there in the past.
OK, as promised, I’m going to try and catch up with posting some of the Lucky videos before he leaves.
This one is on an American ex-pat tastes in Almaty – from beer to instant coffee, and vitamins to the gym. No vodka or brandy mentioned though? I’ve not been to a gym or done any serious circuit/endurance training in a long time (wow, 1/2 a life time TBH!), and my appetite for good food and long movies has meant that my days of a 28″ waist line are well and truly gone…
Yes, Lucky is leaving Kazakhstan, returning to America (along with his wife), and you can see his farewell video below…
We’re still hoping they’ll be able to make it to Astana before they go, as it would be great to actually meet in real life and down a few drinks with the guy.
Hmm, I should probably get around to publishing the drafted posts that feature some of his older videos, and in case I haven’t already mentioned it, he also has another channel setup, The District of Lucky, so if you already found his Lucky21842 channel, and liked it, consider subscribing to the new one as well. Unless you’re easily offended, as I hear the topics/language may be a little more relaxed than the Kazakh-themed Lucky channel. In which case you should subscribe anyway, as it does no harm to a YouTuber’s ego to have a large following (and Lucky is a nice guy), just don’t watch any of the videos. Or turn the volume down first. Or maybe just ask a less easily insulted person to watch it first and report back whether it is safe or not 🙂
OK, I’ve now watched the video (slow internet, so you’re best waiting for it to play through once with muted volume, and then re-playing, when on Kazakh internet connections). Few thoughts I had whilst watching it…
Hat/gloves? Dude, no idea what the temperature was in Almaty when you recorded it, but I went out with no scarf the other day and got frostbite. My wife would have beat you black and blue for such silly behaviour 🙂
We had similar reasons for originally moving to Kazakhstan – we both wanted to find out a little bit, first hand, what life was like for our partners. Obviously a lot of things have changed since they were little, but it is still good to get a handle on the basics.
VERY good advice for ex-pats in Kazakhstan ref. getting to know local people if you want to enjoy your time here. Meeting a Kazakh/Russian on the street does not always leave a happy feeling in your mind, but the majority are SO much warmer and friendlier when you properly meet them in a social setting. Even if you can’t get even a basic grasp of the language, it is worth spending some time with locals, not just fellow ex-pats.
Wow, the whole front page is, until this post, made up of recent tweets. Sorry about the lack of real content. I’ve got a few more Anna videos to post, and a few photos to sort as well. So what has happened since the last real post? Aunty Sveta and her family returned to their home town (most of them went on the train, but my the Best Man from my wedding has bought a lorry, and happened to be in Astana for a delivery. He obviously couldn’t leave it here, so drove it back. At least we know what we can get him for his next birthday, some (semi-(if you’re an American reader)) truck accessories seem quite apt, I especially like the idea of a 12V pizza oven! I’m guessing that this (and the coffee maker) are supposed to be used when not actually driving? Anyway, all seemed well with them, and it was good to see them once more this year.
As mentioned in a previous tweet, we had some friends over for a meal last night, and we managed to save some of the death by chocolate cake for Ira’s parents to try today. They both seemed to like it 🙂
So Lucky is planning to give a live webcast later on today, at around 6pm (our time – should be midday in Britain, 8am on the East Coast in American, and 9pm in Japan?)
Anyway, here is the man himself explaining a little more in a YouTube vid he uploaded on the subject.
I’m going to be teaching an English lesson around that time, but hopefully there’ll be some sort of archive so I can play it back, even if real time interaction is out the window…
So, head over there if you want to ask an American living in Almaty, Kazakhstan what life is like (though he probably answered a lot of your questions in his other YouTube videos, so go and watch a few first 🙂 ).
Beer in the river, kebab (kebob if you’re American?) on the fire, friends all around. Another trip into Almaty’s surrounding natural beauty. If only he’d be in Astana, he could have done so in the desert instead. lmao.
Seriously, we do have some pretty lakes and stuff around Astana, it isn’t all steppe.
OK, so this one is out of order compared to the other Lucky21842 videos I’ve been catching up on, but I wanted to embed it now in case I forgot and closed the tabs down in Firefox on Monday when we return home. So, if you haven’t already seen them, there are a lot of YouTube videos that feature elite vehicles and excessive car accessories, parading up and down (and occasionally crashing) Almaty (& a couple of Astana) streets. The video below is a sort of antidote to such clips.
If you click the video, you’ll be taken to the proper page for it, where you can check out his other videos and see the comments left by other YouTube videos. I can understand where 777kuku777 (and indeed Jason/Lucky himself) is coming from when 777kuku777 says
Wahaha, you are so right about the Almaty cars, personally I don’t see the point of those videos. If it’s your car, then do whatever you want with it, make a video for you tube and what-not, otherwise, waste of time. P.S. Dude you being a gangsta is priceless though! Oh and next time for your version of almaty cars use some local songs would be even? funnier:)
However, if I was aware of the sort of media attention that Kazakhstan attracted in some of the tabloids abroad, and I felt proud of Almaty/Astana/Kazakhstan as well, I would want to make sure that people understood that cars were not pulled by donkeys, and that in all likelihood, there were more über-expensive dream machines parading around Almaty (at least) than in the European/American city of your average YouTube viewer…
Yes, I could have just left this as a comment on the video, BUT… 1) I’m currently signed into GMail. Which is tied into my old banned YouTube account. I’d have had to sign out, delete all Google related cookies, sign into YouTube, leave a comment, then re-sign into Gmail (I haven’t yet set up a separate FireFox profile on Ira’s Mum’s PC). Unless you have a banned YouTube account, you have no excuse – go check all the videos out, leave comments, and if you like Lucky’s output as much as me (you there, stop sniggering at the back), consider subscribing …. oh and 2) I ramble too much. Youtube comments are restricted to around 1000/1500 characters? I normally exceed that length. It is a miracle of modern science/txt speak & deliberate lazy spelling that I ever manage to convey anything in a single tweet!
