Duman Astana

... and drinking. Two hours later I find myself with three other naked men being steamed, beaten with twigs and jumping into the cold plunge pool in Sergei's back garden. It was, as they say, a memorable experience. Fortunately the bath had the effect of sobering me up somewhat. Enough to resist the invitation to go go-cart racing at 10pm. No, I couldn't walk home. It is too dangerous. We all piled into Sergei's enormous Chevvy pickup and Katya drove, almost as fast as Nikolai ...

... br>Not to worry. An expert is arriving at 10.00 to have a look and sure enough at 10.00 Nikolai arrives. He is dressed in a Harley Davidson jacket and baseball cap!!! More headscratching, more discussion. At one point Assel and I are on one side of the bike and on the other I count 10 assorted mechanics, service personnel, technical manager and Nikolai. Assel and I go with Nikolai to get the battery from his BMW, there's a relief. We hurtle ...

<br><br>It is a surprisingly bitterly cold and overcast day and I head off to the Russian consulate to try to get a visa. A group of us wait outside a very firmly locked gate and one by one a disembodied voice calls through an intercom. The next in line says something and is or is not admitted. Finally it comes to my turn so I say "veeza" hoping against hope that this will get me admittance. A stream of Russian follows. "I only speak ...

... choose Astana which is probably the most expensive city on my itinerary with the further prospect of having to wait two or three weeks for parts, if needed, to come from Germany!<br><br>The truck rattles on across the grasslands and wheatlands created, I read, by Kruschev's Virgin Lands scheme. At Kokschetau Serge tries the ring road. We do seem to be heading rather in a straight line as opposed to a circle and the road begins to deteriorate. Suddenly the ...

... we have been missing those, and then a 'Taci' to the new city. Wow!!!!<br>This is everything we have read about it. The photos' are no exaggeration either. Here must be some of the most spectacular buildings in the world. I paid KZT500 (NZD5) to go up a tower to see the view and considering this was only started in 1998, the progress is amazing. Still under construction is a huge tent-like structure courtesy of Sir Norman Foster which will ...

Als ich unserer Anwältin neulich sagte, dass ich ohne Gegenbeweis auch glauben würde, dass man im Handstand zur Arbeit laufen müsste, weil man sich sonst zur Zahlung einer Sondersteuer verpflichen würde, hat sie das für einen Scherz gehalten. Aber eigentlich meinte ich es ziemlich ernst. Jeder der deutsche Bürokratie und Steuergestzgebung kennt wird hier nochmal negativ überrascht. Muss man wirklich ausrechnen wie viel Benzin ...

... zu tun haben. Und weil weder in den Sätzen noch in den Wörter eine gewisse Regelmäßigkeit oder Logik zu finden war hat er sich nach der gleichen Unlogik die Grammatik dazu hergeleitet (hm, da habe ich wohl zu lange auf dem "je" geschlafen, naja, sagen wir einfach "medlenjeje", wenn wir das dann auch noch so richtig schön offbeat betonen hat Heiko in 1.150 Jahren Freude damit). Dann ging es mal wieder einen Tag nach Astana. Um dort zu einer normalen Bürozeit ...

... neweurasia.net. So look for me on their Kazakhstan blog. I'm writing about the arts here in Almaty and wherever I go in Kazakhstan. I have an exhibit coming up in August. I'll let you know more about this as it develops. This project should take up the whole summer. Danielin

... drawings, and laughter. They fretted over my being too skinny, and fed me chicken, bread, cheese, candy, horsemeat sausage (I know, but I tried it to be polite), washed down with liberal amounts of tea and beer. They worried I would be too cold in my little shoes, and tried to give me thick heavy socks for my journey. Not that I needed them for the train- it was at least 300 degrees in there and everyone had BO and sweat stains. Except me. I think you are aware that ...

... in attendance were: Ministry of Health, Department of Education, Science and International Collaboration, Ministry of Education, Local Akimat (city government), Health Lifestyle Department, Ministry of Sport and Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. Most of the people were from Astana but the Deputy to the Akim (city mayor) was there from Zhezkazgan. It was very personal for me as the Deputy is also my host Aunt. It was great to have her there to ...