October Conference in Almaty

A week after we got back from our trip to Barcelona, we went to Almaty for the country conference for our church (LDS church- we're Mormons). Normally just about everywhere else in the world they have stake or district conferences but here we have neither stake nor district, so the leadership improvised and did a country conference instead. :) For the first time the members from the entire country of Kazakhstan got together. We had people from Astana, Almaty, Atarau, Aktau and even from Bishkek, Kyrgystan. Spencer and I were both translating there as well as giving talks. Our girls were doing two musical numbers for the talent show there, so we all had important parts in the conference and needed to be there however we had quite an adventure getting there.

Every single time we come to Kazakhstan from anywhere outside of the country, we need to register with the police department. We have at least 2 weeks to do it but we usually register as soon as we get in. It is a simple process: we just submit our passports and in about 5 business days we get them back with the registration. We submitted our passports after coming back from our trip to Spain forgetting that we'll need them in 5 days to travel to Almaty. We turned our passports in on Monday and were leaving on Friday night. Thankfully we got them back on Thursday.

We were taking an overnight business train. Normally it takes anywhere between 17 and 24 hours to get to Almaty from Astana if traveling by train. It just depends on how many stops that train makes in between. Flying our whole family plus my mom who was visiting us was out of the question: too expensive for a two-day trip. So we decided to take a business train that is more expensive than a regular train but a lot cheaper than a plane. It makes only a couple of stops on the way and so it only takes 12 hours over night. Very handy!

We ordered two taxis to the train station. It normally takes 15-20 minutes to get there, I planned an hour. Well, that night we had a snowstorm, and so the traffic was unusually slow. One taxi was late. When the first taxi showed up, my mom, the twins and I took it leaving Spencer and the older girls wait for the second taxi. Their taxi was 20 minutes late. Traffic was impossible. We were in a real pickle. Spencer had all of our tickets, and I had all of our passports. We told our driver the time our train was supposed to leave. He said he will try to get there on time through the back roads. But even if we got there just in time, we couldn't leave without the second half of our crew. The kids and I prayed so hard! We arrived at the train station with 10 minutes to spare and ran to the platform. The train was supposed to leave in 5 minutes. And there it was … our miracle: the business train that's never late didn't even get to the platform yet. It arrived 20 minutes late, and so Spencer and the girls were able to get there just in time. It was really a miracle! He also said that their driver drove like a maniac breaking all of the rules.

Our train ride was very unadventurous the rest of the way. We had nice 2-people compartments with bunk beds and personal sinks in each one of them. The girls love traveling by trains, and we've been on a lot of trains before, and this one was the nicest of them all.

On the train

Nika and Lina were in the compartment next to ours that was connected through this door.

Babushka and Sophie were roommates for the ride.

We booked three rooms at a hotel near the church building. The other expat families that came there for the conference were staying at the same hotel as well. So we got together with our friends, the Stices and the Hessenauers and went out to a little Korean restaurant for lunch. We had a great time visiting there. Then we broke up: some of us had to go to the leadership meeting, and some went up to the mountains with the youth.

Lunch at the Korean restaurant. It is fun visiting with friends!

Later that evening all members got together for a dinner and a talent show. The dinner was catered from somewhere. It was fine but a bit greasy for my taste. The talent show was great. There was poetry, dances, singing, guitar, dombra and piano playing. It was fun! Our girls performed two musical numbers on a guitar, one of which was a song by a very popular Russian rock star from the 80s who was killed in a car wreck in 1990. Apparently, he was very famous in Kazakhstan because a movie staring him was filmed right there in Almaty. So, needless to say that the girls got a standing ovation when they performed that song.

People arriving before the talent show

These girls from Almaty are performing Kazakh folk dance.

Our girls getting ready to sing a song by Viktor Tsoy.

It was a great day that was dampened a little by the fact that just about everybody got food poisoning from the dinner. At least we got our systems cleared! :)

Playing in the snow with Mimi and Taraz Stice on our way back to the hotel.

The next day was the actual conference. It was a wonderful conference, most talks were concentrated on building unity. And then it was time to say our goodbyes and go home. 

With the Andersons from Ephraim. Spencer went to school with their daughter.

We were taking the same business train overnight back to Astana. On our way to the train station we stopped to eat at KFC (we didn't want to risk eating anywhere unknown after the previous night's adventures). Our train ride back home was uneventful which is the way we like it! It is always nice to get home!

Bus tickets

I meant to write a post about funny and odd things we encounter while living here in Kazakhstan for quite some time and I am not ready to do it just yet (still gathering some photo evidence :)) but I wanted to write about one funny experience that we had when we were in Almaty.

While living in Kazakhstan, we use public transportation a lot. We do not have a car here because if you are a foreigner it is a pain in some rear parts of your body to own a car - unless you are here as a diplomat. We have a lot of friends who diplomats, and for them to get from a point A to a point B on busy Astana roads full of crazy drivers that think that they are driving race cars is pure bliss. Police would never dare to stop them. For me though, I prefer public transportation, particularly buses. The bus system is pretty good here and usually very reliable. The way it works in Astana is that you get on a bus and pay your ride fare to a conductor who gives you a ticket. Adult tickets costs 90 tenge which is about 30 cents, and a kids ticket costs 40 tenge which is about 13 cents, and you can ride that bus anywhere in the city. You can also show the conductor a bus pass which are sold at the train station and which will allow you to ride buses limitless for a whole month. That is what I and the kids use because we are on the buses A LOT! An adult bus pass costs $24 and kids' pass costs $5. It is a pretty nice deal!

So, when we went to Almaty, we thought the  system would be about the same since we are in the same country. Not at all! There inside of the buses they have a ticket machine which you feed your cash and it will give you a ticket. The problem is that you have to feed it the exact amount of change otherwise you just lose your money, and it will NOT give you a ticket! So, what do you do, if you do not have the exact amount of change? You pay directly to the driver and get your ticket from him. I have to mention that every so often the buses are checked by a "controller" who checks the tickets of all of the passengers. Well, we walked a lot in Almaty but a few times we rode a bus, and twice (different buses, different routs) our drivers instead of giving us tickets, just ripped and gave us 6 pieces of  paper, bigger ones for Spencer and I and smaller ones for the girls. When it happened the first time, I just ignored it but the second time it made me laugh. I was just glad that the "controllers" weren't checking the buses while we were there - otherwise it would have been hard to explain to them.

Our bus tickets in Almaty!

Our trip to Almaty

Back in August we took a trip down to Almaty. Almaty used to be the capital of Kazakhstan until it was moved to Astana a couple of decades ago. It is also located in the mountain region of Kazakhstan, in the south and thus has a completely different look than the Steppe around Astana. We haven't really been anywhere in Kazakhstan besides Astana and Korgalzhyn, and Spencer went to Karaganda once so we decided to take a quick trip down to Almaty with the girls before school started.

Of course one of the highlights of the trip for the girls was the fact that we took the train there and back. They have been on a train in Russia 3 years ago and loved it so much that they have been talking about it ever since. We took the fast “Spanish” train that goes there over night and takes about 12 hours instead of 18-21 hours on a regular train. The girls loved the bunk beds!

Nika and Lina loving their train bunk beds

Lexa is reading on top of her bunk

The areas we went through for a long time stayed pretty much the same as we see here around Astana (steppe and more steppe) but when we got closer to Almaty, things started to change. There were these areas that were so white that I thought they were covered in snow. Nope. It was salt! Then it was hills instead of flat steppe that we are used to seeing here. And then the beautiful Tian Shan mountains.

The picture isn't great but you can see those white spots which is salt.

We arrived early on a Friday morning and set off to find some place to eat. We bought a map and went on our adventure (that's how we roll wherever we go!). We saw on the map a mall called Mega and since we have Mega here in Astana, we knew it would have a food court and so we headed there. We also had a few hours to kill until we could check in into our hotel. We walked around the mall, and bought a few things for the kids and then surprised them with the tickets to the Minion movie which they really wanted to see and which was playing for the last time in the theaters that weekend. It happened to be a 3D movie. Spencer and I decided that we do not like 3D but the girls had fun.

A monument by the train station

Waiting for the Mega Mall to open

This cute camel is made entirely out of Lego bricks! 

Trying on the big shoes.

In the movie theater ready to see the Minion Movie

We walked to the train station where we stored our luggage and then took a taxi to our hotel that was located right across from another train station (yep, there are two of them in Almaty). Our Kuze hotel was very small and from outside didn't look that appealing at all but our two rooms that we booked were very spacious and nice. They also cooked simple fresh breakfast for us every morning and brought it right into our rooms. The staff was very nice too. That night we went to eat at the cafe right across from our hotel and then we took the kids to some playground we found near by.

Dinner at the cafe across from our hotel

Lexa really liked her cake that she decided to get completely covered in it!

Nika is trying to do some pull-ups at the playground

This is the outside of our hotel. It takes half of the bottom floor of an apartment building.

The next day we wanted to visit Koktobe which is a mountain and the highest point of Almaty and the famous outdoor speed skating rink Medeo where a lot of records were sat and which is located right in the mountains outside of Almaty. But the forecast for most of the day was rain, and so we decided to just visit Koktobe. We took a public bus to the bottom of the mountain and then hiked all the way up. They had a little zoo there, an entertainment park, the full size statue of all four Beetles (the only one in the world) and a beautiful view of Almaty and the mountains around.

The view of the city half way up to the Koktobe hill. At the bottom you can see the lift cars that are going to replace the old ones. The lift was under renovation when we were there but we heard the views from it are gorgeous.

The kids liked their 3D glasses so much that they were wearing them as their sun glasses for at least a month after our trip to Almaty.

Here are the original lift cars

The girls wanted to climb this climbing wall but it was so outrageously expensive.

We thought this was really funny. It shows what your minimum height has to be in order to participate in the climbing activities (140 cm), and then the arrow down points to lower heights and the words "Eat carrots!"

So instead of climbing we let the kids do the obstacle course.

Lina getting ready to jump over a hole in the rope bridge.

A view of the city from the top of Koktobe. The mountains unfortunately were barely visible because of the air pollution.

Enjoying the view from the viewing area.

This reminds me of Siberia, the area I am from.

It is rare when we get a picture of just a two of us. Usually we have some cute chipmunks around.

The life size statue of all 4 Beetles.

Nika is making friends with a goat at the little zoo.

They were herding turkeys from one fenced area to another. The girls thought it was cool.

Spencer and the crew with the TV tower in the back

We then hiked down and went to eat at another mall and then decided to walk all the way down to Panfilov park which is supposed to be a quiet and beautiful place. Well, it started to rain. We did make it to the Panfilov park but didn't stay there long since the rain started to come down really hard by then. That night we ate at another mall's food court not too far from our hotel.

Hiking down from Koktobe

On the streets of Almaty

Walking in the rain

We found this house with a picture of Lenin on the door. There was no more info offered, so we do not know if he stayed there once or what.

A nice little cathedral at the Panfilov park. It was raining really hard by then so we didn't stay long.

The next day was Sunday and our last day in Almaty. That evening we were going back home. We decided to go to church in the morning. On our way there the girls got super excited – after it rained all day and all night, a zillion of snails came out everywhere on the sidewalks. They right away sat on a snail rescue mission and spent the next 30 minutes saving snails. We think that it doesn’t matter what exotic places we take our kids to all they are interested in is rocks, stick, bugs and so forth!

Sunday was beautiful, and the air was so clear after the rain. You can kind of see the mountains in the top left cornet. Those are Tian Shan mountains.

A view of Koktobe hill where we went the day before.

Catching snails. They were the easiest catch ever!

Lina was so excited about the snails (she is our animal lover) that her glasses fell off!

Hey, little buddy!

On a mission to remove snails off the sidewalks where they can get smashed onto the lawns

Sisters!

Kids being kids - playing tag.

We saw our good friends, missionaries, that served in Astana before. Since we were traveling that day we weren't dressed in our church clothes but it was fine.

Some fountains at the park on our way to Mega Mall to eat.

The day before some of them were whining about a little drizzling of the rain. And here they are getting wet at the fountain and loving it. I don't understand them sometimes but I surely love them!

These type of flower beds are everywhere.

These are irrigation canals that go right through the city.

On the train again!

Overall it was a nice little trip and we were happy to learn more things about Almaty. We noticed that a lot more people smoke in Almaty than in Astana especially women. We saw a lot more Russians there - a lot more. It has beautiful nature all around but the air is a lot more polluted. It is an old city, very green with mature trees (something we rarely see in Astana), and the people are very nice.