During the fall semester I had a student approach me after class. She asked if it would be okay if she took my picture so that she could paint me as Buzz LightYear for her art club project. I didn't know anything about the art club, but she was a good student so I said sure. I was not sure if the whole thing was a practical joke, or what, but I didn't think too much of it. She brought her camera to office hours, took some pictures of me from various angles, and that was that. I also made her promise to show me when she was finished.
In January, another student of mine from a different class that I taught in the fall asked me if she could come and take a few more pictures of me. I asked her why. She said that she had traded with the other student and was going to do the Buzz LightYear picture of me instead. I agreed, she came and took my picture, and the transaction was completed.
On Tuesday I received an email from the ArtStudio club at the school to attend the unveiling of the portraits in the main atrium of the university. I invited Yulia to come over on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. for the grand unveiling.
Unveiling ceremony
The secret revealed!
Standing with the opening ceremony crowd.
What a pleasant and awesome surprise. The painting that was done is very good. I don't know if I look like Buzz LightYear, but that Buzz Lightyear that she did of me definitely looks like me. In the painting I have the beard that I grew over the winter. The depiction of me is very realistic and looks good. She captured a certain twinkle in my eye that makes the face really look alive. The only thing that I could (but won't) complain about is the fact that my eyes are blue in the picture.
Buzz LightYear!
A closer look.
Missing my beard!
An isolated view.
The close up!
There were about seven other paintings of various figures in the university: the president and vice president, the dean of the engineering school, a chemistry professor, etc. We think mine is the best. We were offered the opportunity to purchase the painting to help the art club fund itself for supplies next year. We are going to buy the picture to hang and keep.
The most fun thing that has come from this experience has been the reactions from students. "Professor Willardson, have you seen the painting of you as Buzz LightYear?" "It looks just like you!" I have had a few students email me pictures of the painting since it is on display all this week in the atrium. I asked, Ainur, my student to pose with me next to the picture and to sign it since we are going to buy it.
Ainur, a very talented artist and an economics student!
This will definitely be a memento to cherish our time here in Kazakhstan.
In Kazakhstan, just as in Russia, the biggest holiday of the year is the New Year. I'll do a different post about all the things people do here to get ready for the New Year but today I wanted to tell about Novogodny Utrennik (New Year's Celebration for the kids) they do around here. This is something I did as a kid growing up in Russia, so I was excited for our girls to have a similar experience.
At the end of December each of our girls’ classes went to a
New Year’s Show. Parents buy a ticket which cost about $10-25 and which gets you in to participate in a show and at the end you get a present from Ded
Moroz (Grandfather Frost). Kids can come dressed as different fairy tale characters,
they sing songs, dance, and play games. Each show is different but they follow
the same scenario. Usually some bad characters would try to stop Ded Moroz and
his granddaughter Snegurocka (Snow Maiden) from delivering the presents to the
kids by kidnapping them or stealing the presents. And then some good heroes try to save the day with the kids’ help.It is a lot of fun for the kids!
Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) and his granddaughter Snegurochka (Snow Maiden)
Often these shows are
done at the school but our kids’ school director (principal) decided that each
class should go to performances that were taking place at different
entertainment centers around the town. Sophia and Lexa’s 1st grade class
and Polina’s 3rd grade class decided to go to a New Year’s
Celebration Show to the Children’s Palace on December 20th and
Veronika’s 4th grade class decided to go to a big entertainment
center with an indoor aquarium called “Duman” on December 24th. Besides
that Nazarbayev University had a show as well, so our girls had a lot of fun. First Lina and the twins went to their show.
Alexandra (dressed up as Night Fairy), Polina (dressed up as Snegurocka or Snow Maiden), and Sophia (dressed up as a gypsy girl) are ready for their show to start.
All the kids dressed in costumes at the Children's Palace. You can see the parents watching from the balcony.
Sophia and Alexandra's classmates and their parents.
After that show was over we went home to have a quick snack and go to Nazarbayev University to see their show that they were doing for the kids of all of the professors and administrative staff. Most of the foreign professors flew home to their various destinations that same morning, so there was just a handful of expat families and a lot of local families.
Our girls running to the place where they had the show at NU
The show began with the appearance of some Disney characters. The kids and their parents made a big circle for them.
Some interesting selection of characters.
Then the villains showed up who tried to ruin New Year for the kids
But no matter how hard the villains tried to stop Ded Moroz and Snegurochka, they still made it to the kids and the fun had begun.
Ded Moroz and Snegurochka started their show
Sophia and Lexa
The kids solved riddles, sang songs and danced.
Kids dancing
With Ded Moroz
The last of the shows was Veronika's a few days later. Their teacher let them out of school a few hours early, so the kids could get ready. My mom made it here from Krasnoyarsk, Russia the day before. She brought with her Veronika's costume which she sewed herself. Our other girls' costumes we bought at the bazaar at the beginning of December.
Veronika dressed up as Snegurochka (Snow Maiden)
The kids were first greeted by a magical talking stump.
Then they had a visit by this cool looking Dinosaur.
Then Ded Moroz came with his Granddaughter Snegurochka
When I was a kid they would arrive on a horse sleigh. Nowadays I guess they use trains!
Again, they played games and sang songs with the kids. Then the kids could go up and recite a poem about New Years for which they would get a little present.
Then they said some magical words and lit up the big Christmas Tree (here it is called New Year's Tree) and danced some more around it.
Here is Veronika with her friend and classmate Kate after the show with their presents.
Our kids had a lot of fun at these shows, and I am glad they experienced a little piece of my childhood.
Our kids at the NU New Year Tree Program on 20 December.
Happy New Year from Kazakhstan! Tomorrow marks the five-month mark since we arrived in Astana. With the new year, it is a good time to recap some of the things we’ve learned and to make some goals for our next year of adventures in Kazakhstan.
One of the big reasons why this job was appealing to us - besides the opportunity at the university itself - was the opportunity for our children to be immersed in the Russian language and to experience a new culture. We sent them to a local school in order to get them involved. The progress report for this is positive. They are all doing well in school - finishing the 2nd quarter right before our New Year holiday began at the beginning of this week. Nika has made the most progress - she earned all As in the 2nd quarter and is really doing well with school. Polina is working hard and is doing well. Her teacher grades her the same as the other kids, so she is really having to work to earn her grades, especially in Kazakh and Russian. The twins are also doing well.
We are really enjoying life here in Astana in general. Life is busy - as busy as it has ever been for us - but we seem to be doing really well as a family. The kids are happy, we are happy, and the dog is pretty happy. She would love to have a yard to run around in freely, but we walk her three times a day and she likes to look out the window on the balcony.
One thing that we haven’t done much of yet is to get out of Astana and to see the rest of the country. I was able to spend a few days in Karaganda, a city a few hundred kilometers south of Astana in November. I went on a recruiting trip to speak to high school students about the university and the school of humanities and social sciences where I work.
We would like to go and see some of the sites in the summer after the kids are out of school and before we head to America for our visit there.
Odds and Ends
We have had the national dish of Kazakhstan - beshbarmak - which is boiled horse meat over noodles. We were invited to the house of one of the main administrators here at the university last weekend. His daughter is good friends with the twins - they are in the same class at school - and we have gotten to be friends with the family. We had eaten a version of this at our Thanksgiving feast with our church congregation, but not the whole thing. The meat was really delicious and the overall meal - with the noodles, onions, meat, and homemade sausage (also horse) together was really awesome.
We’ll have some posts up in the next few days about the New Year’s celebrations that the kids had at school and at the university. We also had a nice adventure at the Ballet last Saturday when we went to a production of the Nutcracker.
It has been cold - Yulia made a post about that a few weeks ago. I got a great picture of her on the way to church a few weeks ago - the frost turned her hair gray!
Yulia's frosted tips!
Yulia’s mom is here visiting us for the holidays. That is another blessing of living here in Kazakhstan.
We are looking forward to a wonderful and adventurous year in Central Asia.
NU Campus from bus stop across the street. Winter in Astana.
Back at the beginning of November all of the professors with
kids received an email from the director of the NU Choir asking if their kids would
like to participate in the Choir’s Christmas program on December 5th.
Three of our four girls were very eager to do it and they talked their
unwilling sister into joining them. There were total of 12 kids who ended up
singing in the program, our family represented 33% of them! They were given 2
songs to learn in the upcoming weeks: “Frosty, the Snowman” and “Rudolf, the
Red Nosed Reindeer”. Together as a group they only had 2 short practices, one
of which was just right before the concert. I wasn’t sure how it would all turn
out but it turned out AWESOME!
The concert was on Friday night. Our Polina had school that
night but thanks to a blizzard it was canceled, so we didn’t have to get her
out of school early. We had our friends, the Craigs, over for dinner that
night (2 of their kids were also singing in the program) and when the time came, we dressed the kids in their pretty clothes and marched through the blizzard to
the NU building where the program was taking place.
The kids were given red Santa hats, ran through the songs a couple of times, and sat down in the first 2 rows that were designated for
them. There were just a few people there in the audience with 15 minutes left
before the concert. I was wondering if anybody is going to make it there with
the blizzard going outside. But … they did! The room filled up completely with
people standing in the back!
Kids are waiting for the concert to start
The room starts to fill up
NU Student Choir with their director Jason Lewis (in the Ded Moroz -Grandfather Frost- costume)
The Choir opened the concert with “Silent Night” that they
sang in German, English, and Russian, and it was just beautiful. The true
spirit of Christmas was so strong there! Then after another song the time was
given to the children. They did an awesome job and got the biggest applause!
The cutest bunch ever!
Then it was back to the student choir. They sang a lot of famous
Christmas and New Years pieces, and they did a wonderful job! I was really
impressed with them! Their director was Jason Lewis, who was a professional
musician and a husband of one of our NU professors. When the students found out
that he knows a thing or two about music, the begged him to organize a choir.
They’ve had the choir for a couple of years now and they have a lot to be proud
of!
NU Student Choir
Feliz Navidad
We had a wonderful time at the concert and we’re so proud of
our kids stepping up and becoming part of the community! It was a nice way to
get into a Christmas spirit!
Merry Christmas to all of you and a Happy New Year!
