Pictures of Kazakhstan

The other day I was sitting on a minibus on my way to school. There was a perforated metal partition separating the driver from the rest of the bus. As I sat there I noticed that if I looked past the driver and out the window, the circles often framed perfect little vignettes of the city as we drove by: a woman crossing the street, people walking down the sidewalk, all the cars on Bukhar Zhirau (the main street in town), a bus driver reflected in his side-view mirror, a family at a bus stop, the father smoking a cigarette... I wish I could have caught them on an actual camera, but it just wouldn't have looked the same.

Since I can't share those little pictures with you, I thought I'd try to paint some word pictures of life here, gathered over the last few weeks. So here you go- snapshots of Kazakhstan:

• Meeting friends just to go for a walk. Why do we hardly ever do this in the states anymore?


• We're ordering a combo at a fast food restaurant, and they won't allow us to choose which fountain drink we want, despite the fact that all three options cost exactly the same price. When we ask for a 7-UP, they simply point at the picture of the combo. See? It comes with Pepsi.


• Cramming four people, plus purses, school bags, and at least one computer bag into the backseat of a taxi. It was cozy.


• A big pickup truck parked in our courtyard one day and opened up the back to reveal hundreds of sacks of potatoes. He produced a scale and lockbox out of the back seat and then proceeded to sit on the tailgate calling out to passersby. I did not stop to buy some at the time, and have regretted that decision ever since. It has now become a goal of mine to buy potatoes from the back of a truck before the year is out.


• Some students were giving us a ride home after classes one evening and the guy was carrying a bag of trash for me (I was just carrying it until I could find a trash can). As we got into the car I noticed that he didn't have it, and figured he'd found a place to throw it away. Then I looked out the window as we drove away and yep- there was my trash bag sitting on the curb, all by itself.


• Walking a friend home after dark one evening. Our arms are linked as we navigate around mud and various puddles, and she's telling us about an old Kazakh superstition that if you give a baby a terrible name, it is more likely to survive. That's why some Kazakh names apparently don't stand translation!


• Buying milk in a bag. I don't know why, but it just cracks me up every time.


• We got locked inside our classroom in my first class one day. That's right. Locked inside. Someone from the school must have come by and thought the room was empty. We had to pound on the door and call out for someone to go get the key and let us out! :)


• On our way home one night, the marshrutka (mini-bus) stopped about 4 stops early and kicked everyone off. Apparently he just decided that he was done for the night!


• It's a beautiful day and the courtyard is full of people (50 or more): old men and women sitting on benches talking, mothers with strollers, little kids on the playground or chasing each other around cars with imaginary guns, boys playing soccer, clumps of teenagers talking or playing cards, people on their way to or from school, work, the bus stop, or the store, people hanging out their laundry to dry or beating their rugs... I love this kind of community!

So there you have it. Mental snapshots of my life here in the past month.

Oh, Kazakhstan... Sometimes you confuse me, often you make me chuckle, but mostly you just make me smile!