Monday 18 October 2010
Sunday 17 October 2010
Saturday 16 October 2010
6 Weeks in Kaz - Random Observations
It's been six weeks since I've driven a car. That hasn't happened since I was age 15 .... 36 years ago. While I do like to plan my day, I do miss the spontanity of going out on the moment. If we could drive here, we'd do a lot more exploring via the car. A foreigner who owns a car has yellow license plates vs a national who has white. It is therefore easy to spot expats. We've heard first hand stories of expats being pulled over multiple times. The police officer wants a "facilitated traffic payment", otherwise known as a bribe. One individual who has been pulled over 20 times finally got tired of the facilitated payment and now says, "either give me a ticket or let me move on." Since giving a ticket results in no facilitated payment to fatten his wallet, this individual is asked to move on.
How do you spell frustration? NO INTERNET!!!! Our internet connection has been up and down like an elevator during Christmas time. It was down 12 hours on Wednesday, a few hours on Thursday, and 12+ hours Fri/Saturday AND STILL COUNTING. It came up for a few minutes ... saw the Rangers leading the Yankees 5-2 in the 8th inning ... the game should be over, yet my INTERNET IS DOWN. Somebody push the button for up. We rely on the internet for information, entertainment, phone, and email. It's no fun to be "blind". Update ... internet finally up at 13:35.
Yesterday (Oct 15), we traded our oven/stove (imported from Italy - Whirlpool) for a dryer. This house did not come with a dryer, but was negotiated as part of the lease. The first dryer that showed up last week was a laugh. It came in a box the size of 6 scott towel rolls! Never did open, but from the picture it appeared to be a heater unit that blows hot air into a bag. New one on me. I sent it back the next morning. Yesterday, the real mccoy arrived. Oven Story - the oven's temperature mechanism doesn't work properly. Sometimes she cooks with almost on heat - according to the dial. Sometimes the stuff just burns ... like bread she put in the oven at supposed 100 F and burned up in 5 minutes. yesterday, they came and took the oven/stove to fix it at the shop. It will be back, supposedly, in 4 days. Of course, we fly back to the states the next day.
Amaty is the least windy city I've ever lived.
Almaty airport is visual flight rules only. What this means is that they can't use instruments to land. In the winter when the smog is here, at times the planes have to go to Astana (1 hr flite time) to sit it out. Bummer ....Don't see many bikers nor joggers ... Sidewalks here are very nice - 8 to 10 ft wide. At lunch, I jog along a creek/bayou. This is the mechanism to control the flow of water down from the mountains. It's a nice area to walk, jog, ride bikes. Come to think of it, haven't seen ANY skateboarders. Almaty flows uphill from north to south - a constant gain in elevation. This makes jogging tough going uphill, not to mention an altitude starting at 3000 ft.
Homes here have individual ac units for rooms. There is the indoor unit tied to an outdoor unit. Nothing hangs out the window. There is no "central aircon". Heating is all done by radiators. Our floors are even heated - good thing as there is not one stitch of carpet. The tile floor on the first floor was imported from Italy.
I vote that KZ has the sweetest carrots .....
Left turns are difficult here as there are no left turn lanes. You simply get in the inside lane to turn left, or worse U turn. Kind of funny to watch buses and stretch limos do a U'ee, but this practice is very dangerous ...
White dashes in roads are guidelines. If the dashes create two lanes, but three cars can fit, then three it is. Reach out and touch someone ....
Weather here, so far, is great. Lots of sun. I've seen more sun in one month than I saw in an entire year in Aberdeen. The mountains are fun to stare at when the air is clear early in the morning ...
Went to the Green Bazar to buy veggies for the first time ... kinda fun, lots of choice, and not as expensive as the Ramstore. Meat section ... I don't recognize the cuts, but then I don't each cow tongue either (plenty to choose from) ...
Ramstore has the greatest Turkish baklava!
Local Marriage Traditions .... the bride/groom get married accompanied by some friends and family. The happy couple and young friends then go to several parks in the city taking pictures and videos. The happy couple is in a stretch white limo with lots of friends in rented white cars. Often, they will create a "white block" across all lanes of traffic so that traffic moves at glacial speed. Then, in evening, there is a big party at a restaurant. Did I mention a honeymoon? Nope, not their tradition .....
This Sunday, we went searching for the "holy grail". You know, those plastic plate like things that go under round plastic planters. We went to 4 retailers and none of them had them, sooooo, we ventured to the northern part of town known for it's small vendors ... about 1.5 miles worth!!! No joke. It is a famous area as you can supposedly find anything. We found what we were looking for after walking through a maze of vendors for 30 minutes ...
Our home group Bible study on Friday nites is like a taste of heaven as we have Kazaks, Americans, Brits, and Germans. Quite interesting when we pray ....
Our shipment is supposed to arrive today/tomorrow, then customs and finally our house - yipee!
The locals bundle up here quite a bit. It can be 60 F/15 C and they will have big coats and hats ...
There are a LOT of parks here. Many have fountains and lots of trees. We should do more of this in the US ....
How do you spell frustration? NO INTERNET!!!! Our internet connection has been up and down like an elevator during Christmas time. It was down 12 hours on Wednesday, a few hours on Thursday, and 12+ hours Fri/Saturday AND STILL COUNTING. It came up for a few minutes ... saw the Rangers leading the Yankees 5-2 in the 8th inning ... the game should be over, yet my INTERNET IS DOWN. Somebody push the button for up. We rely on the internet for information, entertainment, phone, and email. It's no fun to be "blind". Update ... internet finally up at 13:35.
Yesterday (Oct 15), we traded our oven/stove (imported from Italy - Whirlpool) for a dryer. This house did not come with a dryer, but was negotiated as part of the lease. The first dryer that showed up last week was a laugh. It came in a box the size of 6 scott towel rolls! Never did open, but from the picture it appeared to be a heater unit that blows hot air into a bag. New one on me. I sent it back the next morning. Yesterday, the real mccoy arrived. Oven Story - the oven's temperature mechanism doesn't work properly. Sometimes she cooks with almost on heat - according to the dial. Sometimes the stuff just burns ... like bread she put in the oven at supposed 100 F and burned up in 5 minutes. yesterday, they came and took the oven/stove to fix it at the shop. It will be back, supposedly, in 4 days. Of course, we fly back to the states the next day.
Amaty is the least windy city I've ever lived.
Almaty airport is visual flight rules only. What this means is that they can't use instruments to land. In the winter when the smog is here, at times the planes have to go to Astana (1 hr flite time) to sit it out. Bummer ....Don't see many bikers nor joggers ... Sidewalks here are very nice - 8 to 10 ft wide. At lunch, I jog along a creek/bayou. This is the mechanism to control the flow of water down from the mountains. It's a nice area to walk, jog, ride bikes. Come to think of it, haven't seen ANY skateboarders. Almaty flows uphill from north to south - a constant gain in elevation. This makes jogging tough going uphill, not to mention an altitude starting at 3000 ft.
Homes here have individual ac units for rooms. There is the indoor unit tied to an outdoor unit. Nothing hangs out the window. There is no "central aircon". Heating is all done by radiators. Our floors are even heated - good thing as there is not one stitch of carpet. The tile floor on the first floor was imported from Italy.
I vote that KZ has the sweetest carrots .....
Left turns are difficult here as there are no left turn lanes. You simply get in the inside lane to turn left, or worse U turn. Kind of funny to watch buses and stretch limos do a U'ee, but this practice is very dangerous ...
White dashes in roads are guidelines. If the dashes create two lanes, but three cars can fit, then three it is. Reach out and touch someone ....
Weather here, so far, is great. Lots of sun. I've seen more sun in one month than I saw in an entire year in Aberdeen. The mountains are fun to stare at when the air is clear early in the morning ...
Went to the Green Bazar to buy veggies for the first time ... kinda fun, lots of choice, and not as expensive as the Ramstore. Meat section ... I don't recognize the cuts, but then I don't each cow tongue either (plenty to choose from) ...
Ramstore has the greatest Turkish baklava!
Local Marriage Traditions .... the bride/groom get married accompanied by some friends and family. The happy couple and young friends then go to several parks in the city taking pictures and videos. The happy couple is in a stretch white limo with lots of friends in rented white cars. Often, they will create a "white block" across all lanes of traffic so that traffic moves at glacial speed. Then, in evening, there is a big party at a restaurant. Did I mention a honeymoon? Nope, not their tradition .....
This Sunday, we went searching for the "holy grail". You know, those plastic plate like things that go under round plastic planters. We went to 4 retailers and none of them had them, sooooo, we ventured to the northern part of town known for it's small vendors ... about 1.5 miles worth!!! No joke. It is a famous area as you can supposedly find anything. We found what we were looking for after walking through a maze of vendors for 30 minutes ...
Our home group Bible study on Friday nites is like a taste of heaven as we have Kazaks, Americans, Brits, and Germans. Quite interesting when we pray ....
Our shipment is supposed to arrive today/tomorrow, then customs and finally our house - yipee!
The locals bundle up here quite a bit. It can be 60 F/15 C and they will have big coats and hats ...
There are a LOT of parks here. Many have fountains and lots of trees. We should do more of this in the US ....
Texas Business Model Works as Compared to CA, NY etc
for more, read HERE.... "Texas already looms large in its own imagination. Its elevated self-image didn’t need this: More than half of the net new jobs in the U.S. during the past 12 months were created in the Lone Star State ...... "
Democrats Not Running on Obama's "Accomplishments"
From Dick Morris's article, "Running from Bama"
"The single most amazing thing in this year’s campaigns is that no one is defending President Obama’s legislative accomplishments. Obama’s impact has been revolutionary: radically changing our health-care system, betting our national solvency on “stimulus,” erasing the line between the public and private sectors. Yet there is an almost total lack of support for his program on the stump." Read more HERE
So if all these accomplishments are soooo good, are these the platform of their campaigns?
"The single most amazing thing in this year’s campaigns is that no one is defending President Obama’s legislative accomplishments. Obama’s impact has been revolutionary: radically changing our health-care system, betting our national solvency on “stimulus,” erasing the line between the public and private sectors. Yet there is an almost total lack of support for his program on the stump." Read more HERE
So if all these accomplishments are soooo good, are these the platform of their campaigns?
Friday 15 October 2010
Oct 15
By law, the coal-fired power plants crank up today. Bummer, now we will see the mountains, maybe, through a layer of pollution.
Thursday 14 October 2010
Shovel Ready?
To be or not to be .... Shovel ready or not shovel ready .... NOT READY so we were sold a bill of goods, just like Obamacare ....
So Much Worse than Carter
Some brilliant observations in THIS ARTICLE as to the slight of hand by Obama ...
"After wasted, failed stimulus packages 1, 2, 3, and more, federal deficits over the first two years of Obamanomics now total a record smashing $2.7 trillion. As the Wall Street Journal explained yesterday:
Obama continues to blame Bush for the current economic woes .....
"No president of the United States can create either a budget deficit or a budget surplus. All spending bills originate in the House of Representatives, and all taxes are voted into law by Congress. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress before Barack Obama became President. The deficit he inherited was created by the Congressional Democrats, including Sen. Barack Obama, who did absolutely nothing to oppose the runaway spending. He was one of the biggest spenders."
"After wasted, failed stimulus packages 1, 2, 3, and more, federal deficits over the first two years of Obamanomics now total a record smashing $2.7 trillion. As the Wall Street Journal explained yesterday:
That's…more than the entire amount during the Reagan Administration when deficits were supposed to be ruinous. Now liberal economists tell us that deficits are the key to restoring prosperity. But all we have to show for spending nearly 25% of GDP for two years running is a growth rate of 1.7% and 9.6% unemployment.Indeed, under CBO projections, the national debt will have doubled by 2012 in just 4 years to $11.6 trillion, and quadrupled by 2020 to $20.3 trillion. As Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation has observed, Obama's budgets will run up more debt over eight years than all other Presidents in American history -- from George Washington to George Bush -- combined."
Obama continues to blame Bush for the current economic woes .....
"No president of the United States can create either a budget deficit or a budget surplus. All spending bills originate in the House of Representatives, and all taxes are voted into law by Congress. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress before Barack Obama became President. The deficit he inherited was created by the Congressional Democrats, including Sen. Barack Obama, who did absolutely nothing to oppose the runaway spending. He was one of the biggest spenders."
Tuesday 12 October 2010
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