Olympic torch relay in Almaty

Earlier today, Sarah and I were able to see the Olympic torch relay in Almaty. The Kazakh president was one of the torch carriers, but we were unable to see him as he was at the opposite end of the route from us. It was quite the experience to be at Old Square for the event, and there are many stories to tell--seemingly lax security, a mysterious relay route, not knowing what time the torch would appear. Those tales will have to wait for another day, though. In the meantime, here's a picture of the torch as it passed directly in front of me earlier today.

How I spend my spare time

I was going to sit down and write a post about the recent opening of the American Cultural Center in Almaty (located between the Chinese and Iranian Centers--someone has a sense of humor!), or write something about speaking at one of the local schools. But neither of those would give an accurate portrayal of how I spend time when not working on my research (Believe it or not, there is actually quite a bit of research that goes on. It just doesn't make for many (any?) interesting stories).

This weekend was the official taste test of Domino' D0nuts. Six different flavors of doughnuts, along with some pseudo-American instant coffee. Yum!!! The doughnuts were pretty disgusting, though, as was the coffee. But at least they are "made fresh twice daily"! Yes, when we're not eating chicken and drinking vodka in the mountains, this is how my friends and I spend our free time. How can we learn about the country and region if we don't try these things, after all??

I DID learn something in graduate school, after all!

During my first year of graduate school, I took a course on the geography of the former Soviet Union. The course was taught by my Master’s advisor, Leslie Dienes, who could tell you the precise percentage of ash in coal mined in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan (I know this because I asked him one day and he knew the answer immediately. Afterwards, I googled the answer only to find out that he was right—of course! Leslie has also printed the Internet twice, but that is another story. It is all part of his charm.) My friend Elizabeth and I soon found out that it was nearly impossible for a class to conclude without Les making two of his favorite statements. “The Uzbeks, they are the bullies of Central Asia!”, followed by “there is all sorts of chicanery there”.

Well, I am finding out that Leslie was right on both of these points. Not a big surprise, but I’m gaining firsthand knowledge. As US citizens, we need visas to enter Uzbekistan. For many countries, obtaining the visa is relatively simple. For Kyrgyzstan, you just go to the embassy with a passport photo and your passport, fill out a brief form, hand over around $40, and get a visa. For Uzbekistan, it is not so simple. We first had to contact a travel agency to get a letter of invitation (LOI). This letter cost nearly $40, but without it we could not get a visa. We sent scans of our passports, letters from the US embassy, and more details about our personal lives than is usual. Two weeks later, the LOI—officially registered with the Uzbek government—arrived via email. We printed out the document, and headed off to the Uzbek consulate in Almaty to get our visas.

We had to wait outside the consulate before being allowed into the building. Two (very nice) guards were controlling how many people were admitted at once. The process seemed to be pretty slow, but we were there early and had no problem getting into the building. Once inside, it was a different story. The man working at the counter was barking out orders—and promptly told us that we had to go make copies of our passports before we could get visas. “Why?” we asked. The answer—“Because”. So off we went to find a place to make copies. It took nearly 20 minutes, and there was quite a line when we got back. Fortunately, the very nice guards let us go right to the front of the line.

When we stepped back into the office, the man working at the counter turned to his co-worker and said (in Russian) that we were back after he had made us go make copies. Wasn’t that funny that the three Americans had to do that? At least this time our document were in the order that he wanted—and we were allowed to go sit and wait. A few minutes later, we were called back to the counter to pay. Amazingly, the price had gone from $100 per visa to $131 per visa. That seems to be the regular price here in Almaty, although according to the official regulations of the Uzbek government it is only $100. Hmmmmm….. Fortunately, I had brought extra dollars, just in case. While waiting for our change, I happened to glance over toward the back room of the office. Imagine my surprise when I saw the brand new, state of the art, Xerox machine! It must have been paid for with the extra fees added onto the visas, or something.

Yes, Leslie, the Uzbeks are bullies. And there is all sorts of chicanery. You taught me well!

Photographic proof of the strangeness that is Kazakhstan...

Sarah and I went to lunch today at a very nice Turkish restaurant we had just learned about. The food was fantastic--I will be dreaming of the warm yoghurt soup and roasted lamb tonight--and the restaurant itself was by far one of the nicest that I have seen here in the city. Admittedly, my standards are pretty low these days, but this restaurant is on par with a nice restaurant back in the US. With one exception. I will leave you with this image, and just note that the restaurant does have separate bathrooms for men and women. And, no, this picture is NOT of the men's room.

There are no boring days here.

Picture from Medeu

I meant to post this picture with the last message, but hit the publish button too soon. So, for your amusement, here is a picture from Medeu last Friday. As my friend Hilary pointed out, the big sparkly blue earrings are also further proof of cultural assimilation. At least you can't see the jeans under my coat.....

Universities and Yurts

It has been a while since I’ve sat down to write. The last weeks have been rather busy, not to mention stressful, and by the time evening arrives I have not felt like sitting in front of the computer for any purpose other than checking email.

The main drama this past month has revolved around Ablai Khan University. At one time, this university was one of the top language centers in the Soviet Union. Today…well, the situation is far different. The rector, a very imposing woman, has caused the vast majority of professors to leave the university in search of better situations. The jobs of the remaining professors can be jeopardized if they do not pass all of their fee-paying students. After all, they are paying for their classes and should expect a decent grade! The university is also falling apart structurally. Holes in the floor are covered with metal sheeting that is nailed down, the heat often does not work, blackboards that are so old that they cannot be written upon anymore—even if you could find chalk. Those working at the university (with the exception of the rector) know that the once-high standards have all but disappeared, and they need assistance from universities and experts outside of Kazakhstan if they want to improve their programs.

Unfortunately, while outside assistance is desperately needed, university staff members do not know how to get the aid that they desire. Fulbright fellows doing research in Almaty are one way to bring foreign scholars into the university. The difficulty is ensuring that the university understands that while we are often willing to help, we also have research demands that must first be met. I was left with no option but to end any affiliation with Ablai Khan after repeated conflict over the nature of my role as a volunteer at the university. The breaking point came after several weeks of pressure to work full-time for the university, when they expected me to write a paper on ‘distance learning’ (on-line education) for a conference; another faculty member would translate this paper into Russian and be my co-author. Of course, the conference was in English so this translation would not be necessary. I was also expected to report my progress/display my research on several occasions before the conference. After declining to attend one such meeting (at which time my ‘co-author’ began using some extremely derogatory language in Russian, thinking I could not understand what she said. Of course I understood what she said! Those were some of the first words I learned over here!), it was clear that the situation would not improve and would only get worse instead. So, I ended my affiliation with the university.

I have to admit, I am rather sad to have ended the university affiliation. Most people at Ablai Khan were extremely kind to me, and did their best to welcome me into their university. I will definitely miss the students from my American Studies class, too. They were delightful to work with, and always made me smile. I will miss them, but have sent an email message to the students letting them know that, while I will not be returning, I hope that they will keep in touch.

Of course, not everything in Almaty has been stressful this past month. I have a new second home here in the city, at the 4-A coffee shop. They have REAL brownies. And cheesecake. And GOOD coffee. Sheer bliss. Strangely enough, the owner is from Massachusetts. Make that Dracut, Massachusetts. Yes, the same town where my mother grew up. He even went to high school with some Mattes (Mom’s maiden name was Matte), and lived on the same street (but the other end) as Uncle Bob. Now he and his wife run a wonderful coffee shop that I can walk to in less than ten minutes. Yes, it is a small world!

As I sit here writing, it occurs to me that I have definitely become accustomed to living in Kazakhstan. There are not many things that surprise me anymore, although I am finding that some of the things my friends and I now do surprise those back at home. A few months back, I wrote about buying a pair of jeans at the bazaar. Those first jeans were Levi’s—a quality American brand, even if purchased at the bazaar. Well, I bought another pair of jeans this week—also at the bazaar. Except these are much more Kazakh in style—with decorative beading and designs on the pockets. Of course, they are the equivalent of a US-size 8, which is considered a “large size” over here, so there is not as much of a selection. I thought they looked pretty nice, as did my friends in Almaty. If anything, they are rather subdued—too bad I don’t have a bedazzler!! The reaction of friends back home? “You’re actually going to wear those??”.

I have also begun to think of fur as a necessity, not a luxury. Temperatures have not risen above freezing since Christmas, and my fur hat is currently one of the most essential items in my wardrobe. I often find myself wishing that I had brought the fur coat that was belonged to my grandmother with me. Fur is for everyday use over here, and when the high temperature is 10F, you begin to have thoughts like “if I were to buy a fur coat over here, it would really look GREAT when I’m heading across campus next winter”.

Becoming acclimated is not just restricted to clothing. On the bus to China, my friends and I discovered a new and fascinating element of Kazakh culture. At 10am, someone took a bottle of vodka out and started passing it around. Once enough vodka had been consumed, another person took a whole roasted chicken out of a bag and everyone had a snack. This procedure was repeated at regular intervals throughout the bus ride. Was this just an isolated phenomenon? Clearly it was not, as we have seen other people do the same thing at other times. There was only one thing to do, then. We took a chicken and a bottle of vodka up to Medeu on Friday to experience part of Kazakh culture. My recommendation? Spend more than $3 on a bottle of vodka! Of course, we bought the “Manly Strength” vodka simply because of its name (and the fact that the bottle says “We wish that kings and wise men could talk about the properties of our vodka, but they can’t. Let your wife be the judge of its properties”). At least the chicken was good! After spending the afternoon in the mountains, we ended the day with another popular local activity and went to the banya.

It is going to be hard to top the experience of eating chicken up on the mountain, but we’re going to try. Just about everything shuts down during the month of August, and it won’t be possible to get much research done during that time. My friend Sarah and I have a plan, though. We’re working on the logistics of living with a nomadic family for the month of August. Yes, that would mean living in a yurt. And probably doing many other rather crazy things that we would normally never be able to experience (plus, it would provide some fascinating insights for the dissertation, and help with Kazakh language skills). Planning is still in the early stages, so we’ll see what happens. At least we will never be able to say that life is dull in Kazakhstan!

Friday Night in Kazakhstan

Well, it is nearly 11pm here in Kazakhstan—by now I would normally be in bed trying to get some sleep before the usual 3am alarm of car horns outside. Tonight is something of an exception, though. My neighbors downstairs have just begun working on ‘ремонт’ (re’mont)—or renovations. Over here, you don’t hire a construction company to take care of renovations—you do them yourself, along with any friends you can convince to help out. Of course, that means that re’mont is done after work, on weekends, and late at night. It will probably be another late night here in Almaty—a good opportunity to sit down and catch up on some writing about events here in the city, rather than the adventures in China. Re’mont is just a fact of life over here—not worth getting upset over—you just have to accept that it will occur at inconvenient times and move on with things.

It is hard to believe that I am already in my sixth month of living in Kazakhstan. In some ways, it feels as if I have just arrived—but in other ways, it seems as if I have been here an eternity. Things that would have seemed so unusual just a few months ago now just seem to be part of everyday life. At a club last weekend, a friend and I met someone here on business for three weeks. Our new acquaintance kept looking around and pointing out things that he thought were incredibly strange. But…to Amelia and me, everything just seemed normal. We didn’t know what he was talking about. Yes, we have definitely settled into life in Almaty.

The adaptation is readily apparent in how we dress. January has been pretty cold—if temperatures are above 10F, it is a warm day. Fur has become a necessity of life over here—I bought a fur hat that I wear just about everyday, and REALLY wish that I had brought the fur coat that belonged to Memere (my grandmother). I could wear it just about everyday over here—because when temperatures are this cold, everyone wears fur just about all of the time.

Strangely enough, although it is so cold outside, my apartment is lacking in cold water. There is an abundance of hot water, though. Make that scalding hot water! The lack of cold water is even more of a problem than not having hot water. At least it is possible to boil water—but it takes much longer to cool water down. I have taken to putting a bucket of water on the balcony at night, so that I can add a huge ice cube to a bathtub of scalding water in order to be able to wash my hair in the morning. Today was the 10th day without cold water—we now have a trickle of cold water, but the water pressure on the 4th floor is nearly non-existent.

Not having cold water makes it difficult to do laundry in my agitator. I have to drain the agitator several times to wash one load of laundry—usually, I have to reach into the machine to remove an article of clothing from the drain. It is rather difficult when the water is scalding hot, though. If we still have cold water in the morning, I anticipate a rather long day of laundry.

At least there has been sufficient heat in my apartment during this cold weather. In fact, my apartment is too warm—by my standards, at least. I have to leave my balcony door open a few inches at night—or it is too hot for me to sleep. But…I keep being told that I am not taking proper care of myself. Among the “facts” I have been told—sitting on a seat without putting a scarf down first is bad for your liver; sitting in a draft will freeze your ovaries (but men also aren’t supposed to sit in drafts, so I don’t know what the problem is); drinking cold milk is bad for your lungs. My incredibly warm German wool coat is also considered to be insufficient—I really should buy a new, warmer coat (my coat is incredibly warm, even though it looks lightweight). I love learning all of these “facts”! All you can do is to appear to pay attention and say ‘thank you’ for the information. People are just genuinely concerned—they are brought up to believe that cold weather is bad for your health. Considering the lack of control over heat in just about every building, it really isn’t surprising—once you have spent time in a building where there is no heat, it becomes incredibly difficult to get warm (as is the case at the university—where there has been no heat in the office all winter).

I am still doing some teaching at Ablai Khan University. However, I have finished teaching geopolitics and am focusing on American Studies. Fulbright likes us to be involved in the community and do some volunteer work—for me, this is teaching. The university wanted to hire me officially once the language grant ended at the end of December. However, to do so would require officially translated copies of my diplomas, passport, curriculum vitae or resume, and a few dozen other things. Just so I could be paid $200 to teach for 4 months. I convinced the department that I would stay for the semester and teach 2 sections of the class (essentially giving the same lecture twice, to classes that meet consecutively) on a volunteer basis. Of course, they responded by giving me a list of documents that they needed—for me to volunteer! The list was identical to the first one they gave me (which would have been problematic, anyway—since my diplomas are somewhere in a box in Kansas. University transcripts aren’t sufficient). We eventually agreed that I would host an “English club” once a week. No paperwork, and the flexibility to leave to do my own research (the reason I am in Kazakhstan!). It is incredibly difficult at times—the universities need so much help, and I have to balance their needs/requests against Russian lessons, my own research, and having time for myself.

I have recently been introduced to a new coffeeshop here in Almaty—which makes the ‘time for myself’ aspect MUCH easier. The cafe is owned by an American who is married to a Kazakh woman—and they sell REAL brownies!!! And chocolate pie, real muffins, lemon meringue pie, and GOOD coffee. All at affordable prices—and the shop is less than ½ mile from my apartment. It is my new favorite place. I have been meeting one of my friends there for coffee just about every day—I can’t believe that I didn’t know about it before now! For those of you back in Lawrence—it is incredibly similar to Prima Tazza. I love experiencing Kazakh culture—but there is absolutely nothing like a good coffee shop!

Well, there has been silence from my neighbors for the last 30 minutes or so—I’m hoping that they are done with re’mont for the night. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day—and I’m supposed to meet some friends at a club in the evening—so I’m going to try to head off to bed now. It is only midnight, though—so who knows what will happen for the rest of the night!