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Day 14 Day 14 (Saturday May 10, 2003) – The Ballet troupe versus Lilo &
Stitch
The traffic is
sparse today and Roza enjoys this, as she can finally reach 5th gear in the
Kazmobile. On this weekend, this Victory Day
Holiday weekend, most cars’ owners are rejoicing in a lazy Saturday morning and are
still sleeping, as we take our normal route to the orphanage. Through the back alleys to the main road we pass
many apartment buildings whose outside desolation betray the inner beauty of carefully
decorated apartments. Onto the main road and
Roza points out to our left a ceramic factory where she let’s loose a laugh and says
“Yay! More shopping!” She can be truly evil at times. It is an infectious laugh, one that would blossom a
grin even from old Mister Scrooge. Her smile
could light a room and is a wondrous thing to see yet she rarely allows it to be captured
on film. Too bad for you. Excluding the lack of traffic, this is a morning
just like any other in Almaty for us, except today I will take you along with us.
As we thunder down Kabanbay Batyr Street we pass the pale
turquoise St Nicholas Cathedral with its gold onion-like domes on our right. Built in 1909, it was later used as a stable for
Bolshevik cavalry before reopening about 1980. Immediately
before we make our right on Furmanov Street we reach the
neo-classic Opera and Ballet Theatre. This is
where Leilani, Pam and Roza will be spending their evening being entertained by a Kazak
ballet. The offer was made for me to attend as
well, but for those that know me at all, this was an offer I could only refuse. I’d rather have all my fingernails removed to
the knuckles using rusty, dull clippers, my fingers then dipped in a lemon juice-iodine
blend while being forced to partake in under-cooked chicken.
And some say I’m not a cultured fellow.
I say poo-poo and please pass the Grey Poupon.
A few blocks after our turn onto Furmanov, we zoom pass the German embassy
on our right. The corner is quiet there this
morning only because it is a holiday and the embassy is closed. Normally there is a line around the corner of
Kazaks waiting to enter the embassy. No one
can explain why, but Germany appears to be the
most popular destination for Kazak travelers. Ya
got me.
Roza reaches light
speed as we bounce around in our seats due to the cavernous trenches and potholes riddling
the streets of Almaty. When I gaze to my right
I can see that the Respublika Alangy
Square
is still closed off due to the holiday. This
is where we strolled yesterday, to perhaps partake in the Victory Day Parade, but
unfortunately we arrived too early. The focal
point of this square is the attractive and grand Monument to Independence, erected in 1996. This column is surmounted with a replica of the
Golden man and flanked at its base by fountains and bas-relief walls. Across from the monument is a new age city
government building where the city mayor does his business.
With spring in the air, foliage is blooming throughout the city. As we pass the square, we are greeted with the Central State Museum on our left
immediately followed by the official Presidential Residence to our right. The residence is an ugly modern building where
guards are placed at the gates only when the President is visiting from the capitol
Astana. Note to President Nazarbaev, and no
offense intended sir, but spend a little less on this “summer cottage” and a
little more on your country’s infrastructure (and while you’re at it, how about
those potholes!).
We race past the
salvation for all American adoptive families, the Ramstor, to our left and soon make a
left onto Khadzhi Street as we narrowly
miss another car racing in the opposite direction. I
think Leilani’s nervous exhale of breath a tad ridiculous until I realize the death
grip I have on my seat. Roza, the fearless,
never bats an eye. Before we make the quick
right onto the tiny street that Baby House # 3 resides, we eye up the TV tower that
pinpoints the Green Peak. Up the tiny street about 100 yards and we stop in
front of the gated Orphanage. As we exit the
vehicle (counting fingers and toes) we can’t help the grins on our faces with the
anticipation of seeing the Royal Kazak Princess. Through
the gates and we pass by several of the caretakers out cleaning the playground area. We climb the flight of steps, greeted by the mural
of the bunnies on the first landing. Up to the
second floor, down the hallway to our right and through the second door as we enter into
our visitation area. My morning is complete as
I watch the ear-to-ear grin on both the faces of Leilani and Alia as they greet each other
with outstretched arms. The morning’s
visitation, as has become the norm, was a fun time had by all. Our new visitation buddies from PA (Scranton, I think), Frank and
Lisa with their daughter Lauren Aliya joined in on the fun.
The mighty Karsten’s charming smile was a hit for all. And my daughter, well, she just captivated me as
usual.
The lunch break
from noon to 2:30 was a joy for all
involved. The girls went off to lunch and
shopping after they dropped me off and left me at the Ramstor. I picked up some pictures that were developed,
bought pampers and a USA Today, ate a lunch of a salad made from cabbage, carrots and
sliver thin fried potatoes (was actually pretty good, then again what hasn’t been)
while watching the second Harry Potter movie in Russian and bought a Mother’s Day
gift for Leilani. After all of this I still
had time to play on the Internet for over an hour and a half. Actually not much playing, my connection at the
apartment is going kablooie and I can’t link to anything other than Instant
Messenger. After finishing up loading day 10,
I printed a couple emails needed for our trip to the US embassy next week. I couldn’t load day 11 because I couldn’t
figure out how to use the Russian version of WinZip, which is WinRaR. I paid my exorbitant fee of 700 Tenge (less than 5
bucks) and surprised an obvious American couple in the mall with my best Joey Tribiani
impression of “How YOU doin’?” Us
natives, we can tell them foreigners a mile away. I
capped off my lone wolf adventure with a quick trip to the florist and purchased a single
rose for the mothers Pam, Roza and Galina and a small bouquet for Leilani. Building up some brownie points so I might be able
to get out of shopping another day.
The afternoon
session was brimming with excitement, although my buddy Karsten didn’t show up until
about quarter
til four. Our little angel Alia Bella turned into a big bad
bully when she went straight after Lauren Aliya. Seems
as though our lil darling got a little jealous over the fashionable fur hat that the
lovely Lauren had on. I had to grab our feisty
one before the stare-down went any further. Even
though Karsten didn’t greet us until so late, we had a good time playing hide and
seek.
The evening was
capped with the ladies hitting the Kazak ballet. Roza
came to pick them up promptly at six with a copy of Lilo and Stitch for me to watch. She said she could still get me into the ballet or
I could watch the DVD. I happily took the
disc. I moseyed on over to the City Center for a dinner for one
and enjoyed the view while eating at the open buffet and enjoying a bottle of Alma-Ata. The open mall is a little different than what you’re
used to seeing in the US. They have a King Burger with the same logo as
Burger King yet no whoppers to be found. Yet,
you can dine on a mutton kebob, whole roasted chicken or a big pizza instead. I was also expecting to see some delectable morsels
at Thom’s Pastry, but alas all they sell is flowers and plants (???). Luckily I chose the buffet.
Truth be told, I
had a trump card when it came to entertainment for myself this evening. The ballet troupe and Lilo & Stitch be damned,
the DVD of your friendly neighborhood web-slinger was my choice for the evening (brought
along with my computer). An evening with
Spidey’s alter ego Peter Parker, MJ and Aunt May was an evening of joy. I have to get my action adventure fill, since I’m
jealous that some of you out there have already seen X-Men 2. The ladies came back at the end of their fun-filled
evening obviously satisfied with their choice of venue.
They were so happy with the evening and so chatty about it, I finally
convinced the Queen of Samoa to become a guest writer and give you an idea of their
evening. So here goes from Leilani.
Guest
Writer…Leilani Yannone
The
ballet was truly wonderful. It was an evening of Kazakh celebration. The theatre was
70-years old and newly refurbished. Everything was very ornate with lots of gold, marble
and chandeliers. It was so beautifully done. The best seats available are $15. They were
sold out so we opted for the $10 seats, which were great.
A
famous young Kazak ballerina (sorry can’t remember her name) just happened to be in
town and everybody who was anybody was at the theatre this evening (including us). We kept
seeing these beautiful Kazakh faces dance across the stage and we couldn’t help but
wonder if this is what our children will look like one day. The famous Kazakh ballerina
was so beautiful and graceful. You could tell she was very proud to be dancing in her
homeland. The show was about 3-hours long. The first half was pieces of different ballets
and the last half was all one scene (a little odd but very beautiful). Our beautiful
ballerina plunged to her death at the end with an odd character that we guess was her
lover standing over her looking very distraught. Nobody claps randomly everybody claps in
unison and in beat with each other so you have to pay attention and clap to the beat of
everyone else.
The
finale was truly something to see. There was a grand flower celebration with our ballerina
receiving mounds of flowers center stage. People lined up and down both sides of the
theatre to give this young lady flowers. By the time the ceremony was over she had baskets
and bouquets of flowers lined up across the stage. She had a mound in front of her so
high; she had to walk around it to give her final bows. It was a real treat to be involved
in such a big night for the Kazakh people. So, if you every happen to be in Kazakhstan, check
out the ballet.
OK, then. Sorry we got so long winded on this one but I hope
you all enjoyed our day as much as we did.
By the way, I’ve
FINALLY completed the Snow Angels
page, so go check out our inspirations for this special journey.
Click on the Thumnails to Enlarge the Picture
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| Oooookay....whose the wiseguy who glued my hands
together....c'mon fess up. |
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| I have formulated a plot to overthrow the Yannone family.
And this hat is just the start of my plan..... |
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| hmmmmm....I have a ball and a laminate desk....I think I
have the tools to stop that diabolical plan of Alia's to overthrow the Yannone family with
that stupid hat. |
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| Alrighty then! I think they're on to me, so I'll just mug
for the camera in my silly Amish hat. |
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| aaahhhh.....what's a little ear biting between
friends? |
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| The beautiful Lauren Aliya hanging out with her mom. And
looking quite fetching in her Fur hat (faux fur, I'm sure - for all you PETA people out
there). |
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| These things sure look tasty, but I just can't quite seem
to.... |
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| "Alright, I'm confused! So are you people saying you
like this hat or what?!" |
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| (1) Leilani enjoying reading excerpts from the guestbook.
(2) Alia enjoying munching on the excerpts from the guestbook. (3) "mmmmm. That's
some tasty paper." |
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| A hug for Mommy on Mother's Day Eve. |
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| "Uh, Mom! What in the HECK is going on with your
toes!!" |
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| A smile to end the day. Paka, paka day 14! |
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