9/28/04

Hover Toilet!

Hey ya’ll – Greetings from Almaty,
We are sitting here enjoying an Alma-Ata (Almaty) pilsner 11.5 alc. By vol. and relaxing from a long day. We decided to get ourselves in motion this week and try and take in a few sites. We headed out at 2pm for a walk in the 28 Heroes Park. It was very interesting and a beautiful day for it. Emil escorted us as we would not have been able to read the signs.

Upon arriving we saw the old Soviet Union officers club and lodging now converted into a bank and offices. There were several monuments and points of interest. The first monument we saw was a memorial for the soldiers who died in Afghanistan, its was not the largest memorial, but it was nicely done. Next we moved onto the eternal flame in the memory of lost soldiers. To the right and left of the flame were marble boxes with the name of each major city in the former Soviet Union. The boxes contain soil from the cities where greatest war heroes lived. Behind the eternal flame there is a long approach to the largest monument in the park, it was constructed to Celebrate the Russian victory of stopping the Germans before invading Moscow. There are many soldiers on the statue, the first chest and arms protruding the rest following behind them in a “hold back” position. Behind all of the soldiers there was a mock wall from the city limits of Moscow.

After viewing these monuments we walked past the individual monuments for each soldier who received the highest ranking medal for their service – the gold star. In all, there were 28. Hence the name, 28 Heroes Park. Each of these monuments was lined with a pine tree and many other full grown trees making the walk shady and serene. This park was very neat an clean with woman gardening and tending to the roses, there were also many workers raking and cleaning up branches. It was scenic and the fresh air was just what we needed to cure our cabin fever.

We made a pit stop for bottles and relaxed for a little while, Emil was kind enough to take some pictures for us. We will post them tonight. After everyone was full we headed to the Russian Orthodox church. It had formerly been constructed only with wooden pegs and no nails, but has since been repaired using modern construction. After the church we walked around the park a little and saw some amusements similar to those in Gorky Park, home made wheels of chance with prizes on the ground strewn upon a blanket, a handful of motorized riding toys for toddlers which could be rented – including a Harley bike and a Jeep. There were a few concession stands too, we didn’t check them out too closely as Jeff was heading toward the “toilet”. For a mere 20 tenge (good deal for 20 minutes) he was allowed admittance. With “charmin to go” in hand he made his way into the purple lavorotary. This experience he tells us is for younger guys with stronger legs, Emil agrees, but says they are better than nothing. Hover-toilettes, for the bathroom of the future. No bowl, less mess.

After the park we headed for the Tsum (zoom) store. I have heard so much about this store and was considering it to be one of the shopping highlights of the trip. It is a three story flea market style market in a building and the outside has a courtyard setting with a bistro and artwork from local artists displayed on the walkways for sale. Since the kids were tired and Jeff relieved, they decided to stay in the car while we checked out the goods. Emil knew just where to go and showed me a few stands with some of the items I knew I wanted to get. I will make the purchases when I return for a leisurely shopping excursion with my mother – its hard to shop knowing that Jeff and the kids were waiting in the car. Have no fear, I did make a few small purchases before leaving….it would be unnatural to not do that.

Finally, we headed to the Ram store to pick up MORE formula and MORE wipes, they seem to correlate in usage and demand. Jeff picked up a roasted chicken for dinner and we enjoyed that with leftover spaghetti.

We finally put the kids down after giving them another bottle and freshening their drawers, they were not all that happy about going as the full day had them over tired and short on naps. Tomorrow we will definitely lay low. One of us will go with Emil to pick up the cake and goodies needed for after court on Friday. Other than this we have to hunker down and work on Jeff’s speech. I have every confidence that he will do a fantastic job, we also feel very positive about the outcome. It’s one of those things though, we would just like to have it behind us. There will be a lot of celebrating in Kazakhstan when our two little ones become BELLI’s on Friday!!

We love you and miss you all. We are thinking of you and appreciate all of the notes and prayers coming our way. We will be home soon!!

Love and kisses,
Colene

Random thoughts -
I have learned the lesson about the drop cloth over McCale when changing him.
Jeff can’t wear his shorts more than a couple hours before they become soaked in formula – one way or another.
All the woman in Kaz are a size 1 and stunning
Knee socks are coming back in?
Police in Kaz sometimes drink on their shifts
Beer can be purchased on corner newspaper stands – no open container laws, drink anywhere
No seatbelt laws in Kaz
No carseats for children
Police can pull you over by standing on the side of the road and waving an orange baton…You can choose to stop or not.
Traffic tickets cost about 7 dollars, but a couple hundred tenge may avoid the whole situation.
A bottle of vodka can cost as little as .75 cents or as much as $$$$.
It’s common to see people drinking vodka everywhere.
Bring an old Icard with you if you want to buy another – very hard to use sign language for that item.
Country code to dial US 8-10-1 (area code) number-numb
Icard instructions for computer use are on the tiny tiny paper that comes with it, don’t look at the back of the card.
No yellow on the street lights, the green flashes when it’s about to turn red – again your option to stop or not is available.
Glad we brought microwave popcorn
McCale attracts grown women in the store
Colene can’t speak Kaz
Babies drink a lot of formula – a can every other day…per child.
Kirk and Tory, special thanks to you for covering while Jeff is gone.