Weekend Events

We had a great visit (other than changing a really smelly diaper and Kurt getting seriously puked on - stinky)with little man on Saturday and we took the adorable picture that's posted from Saturday. The activities for the afternoon started with Karina's family picking us up to go horseback riding. Apparently on the outskirts of Astana there is an equestrian school of sorts with a restaurant attached. Somehow we were allowed to hop on a couple of horses and trot around the ring. The riding was followed by lunch inside and of course vodka. Once outside Zaure proceeded to start a snowball fight and we all ended up drenched. Then it was off to see the new administration buildings that have been built on the left bank of the river. The new buildings house all the ministry departments and the 'Kazakh White House'. The president doesn't live there but all of his governing occurs there. We drove in an area that we weren't supposed to be in and Serik sweet talked the police into letting us take pictures. Then we were taken to the pride of Astana - otherwise referred to as the 'ball' by us. It's a large glass/plastic sphere with steel beams that has views of Astana and is the pride of the city. In the ball they have a small model of what the city will look like when all the construction is finished: basically a compilation of the mall in D.C. , Red Square in Moscow and a few other cities thrown in for good measure.

The above pic is in the ball and is a blessing from all religions - there is also a imprint of the president's hand that you place yours in for luck. To the right is in front of the presidential admin bldg. Below: At Serik and Zaure's

All of this night time sightseeing was followed by dinner at Serik and Zaure's flat. More horse but this time accompanied by tongue and liver - full on experience here folks! Baha played his guitar after dinner and we sang English and Russian songs (well we only sang the English) and did some Russian gypsy dance. We walked home from their flat which is less than a 1/2 mile from us. The brisk air was good for refreshing us and aiding in the digesting of dinner.

Sunday - the crew (Serik, Baha and Zaure) picked us up to go to dinner at Uncle Shamrat's house. Uncle Shamrat has what they call a private home in Astana - which is a big deal. He was some sort of mayor or town/county leader in the old Russian regime. We literally ate from 12:30 to 6:30 - no exaggeration. First it was 'salads' - these are any conglomeration of veggies mixed with mayo and no leafy veggies to be found. Then it was the hot meal - basically horse meat stewed and served with dumplings and onions.

Then it was on to soup - made of the broth of the horse and dumpling dish mixed with kefir - this is the KZ national soup. We took a break to have a snowball fight and then came back in and ate more - really. Some sort of game hen (grouse/quail) that is very small along with french fries, peas and tomatoes. Also on the table were pieces of fried fish, sweet rolls stuffed with meat, sweet rolls filled with jam, nuts, dried fruit, oranges, apples....and on and on. Our plates kept getting filled with bits of this and bits of that. Then it was tea accompanied by ice cream. We'd finish and more tea would be poured, peeled oranges put on our plate. Toast after toast was given and we were presented with a small model of the Astana ball (which Uncle Shamrat's company had built - the ball that is) a limited edition piece and a Kaz scarf. We were touched by their kindness and the hospitality they showed. We plan to host a dinner for them all next Sat or Sun at Scott and Linda's apartment (bigger table) - don't know how we will be able to compare but we will try to repay their kindness. All for now. Thanks for all the love and support you all have been sending our way!