It’s amazing how you view a city through rose-coloured glasses when you’re about to leave. On the way home from the pub tonight, each turn of the taxi became a special moment: going into Al Farabi from Furmanov was particularly poignant as it always has heralded that we’re nearly home. It was our last Wednesday… Continue reading →
I love birthdays. More to the point, I love my birthday. Imagine my delight, then, when I discovered that Kazakhs love to celebrate. Imagine my double delight when I realised that all these celebrations involve food! I think there’s something special about a place that has a proper sense of occasion – and Miras school certainly does… Continue reading →
Oh, I need more than vodka or Valium today to cope with this nightmare called moving. I need at least both and a shed load of patience and energy, both of which are severely lacking at the moment. Every day it’s something new that has to be sorted out. The packers are coming on Wednesday… Continue reading →
I remember well our first couple of days in Almaty and in particular our shock at the extensive vodka aisle in the supermarket. We had just spent two years in Qatar in which there is only one shop in the entire country that sells alcohol, and in which there was only ever a maximum of… Continue reading →
There are myriad options for shopping in Almaty. The city is full of ritzy, glitzy malls, the latest of which is Esentai, an ugly glass building, which is only attractive at night with its changing coloured light scheme. This is an obscene homage to consumerism full of over-priced and over-rated designer goods. The name Saks… Continue reading →
When you move to a new country, particularly one with a different language, you prepare yourself for things being done in a different way to that to which you are accustomed. As I’ve said elsewhere, this is partly why we choose to live in another country (although the reasons are many – and sometimes I… Continue reading →
One of the things we have had to get used to here in Almaty is a different level of noise pollution. This may seem strange coming from someone born and brought up in London: you might think I’d be used to noise, but it’s a very different noise here. The English are generally pretty good… Continue reading →
So here I am at the end of our four years in Kazakhstan and that seems a good time for some reflection. It’s definitely time to go but I don’t want to do so with a sense of running away in horror or with any residual negative feelings, either about school or about Almaty itself,… Continue reading →
