Premier Alatau Hotel Almaty

... only use our office on the weekends, and because there would be too many people to fit in the office where we normally meet. Aigerim, who is also a KIMEP student, had tried to secure the conference hall for our use, but ran into lots of red tape. She had to fill out a form, procure several signatures from all over the school, and prove that the meeting was for KIMEP. When I went to the office to register for the room, however, I just had to ask if the ...

... they speak most readily. I expect to find the answer to be Russian. Nariman said that until recently, being able to speak Russian was a sign of being educated. Speaking only Kazakh was a sign of being a “sheep herder.” He says that times are changing. Now, speaking English is a sign of being educated.

Today, Sunday, Nariman invited me and several other international students to be filmed representing our home countries for an ...

... for us, that we had to come in person, and that there were many poor Afgans wanting visas to get home, so our tourist visas could certainly wait until the next day... In the end we were lucky, as we heard the horror stories of people waiting a full week to get in. Almaty itself is a nice city with green parks and cool monuments. We spent our free time picnicing in the parks (Almaty accommodation costs wiped out our restaurant budget), hanging out ...

... been quite a hassle here so far, that is nowhere near the case. Everyone I have interacted with thus far has been so friendly and helpful. And I’m learning about a new system, a new way of life. What can be more fun than that?

I’ve had a couple of highlights so far. The first was the Rotary meeting that I went to Thursday evening. The Almaty club is a small, newly born club that is full of such passion for service, for integration ...

... the river to the spring, which is the best tasting water iv ever had. They also told us about the bears, Lynx, and other wild animals around the area. Maybe good we didnt pick a remote spot to camp then!! The next day we went on to the Oshuuk pass, 3500metres high, 35c in the valley, 14c up there. Fotos later!

We paid a bribe to skip the border queue into kazkhastan and are now in almaty. This is probably the most polluted city I have ever visited. the kazakhs moved ...

... spot out of sight of the road which was just as well given Damien's frequent and often desperate need to relieve himself, if ya folla?!.



Oh, didn't get much sleep as the horses were loving our van and seemed to enjoying bashing into it and neighing wildly, Crazy Horses, whaaaa whaaaa!

... noch seinen "K2 Expedition 2007" Aufnäher auf der Jacke trägt. Nach 3 Studen Aufstieg treffen wir auf vielleicht 3.500 Metern einen Freund vom ihm, dieser erzählt mal eben von der Everest Expedition, von der er gerade zurück gekommen ist. "Und was macht ihr hier oben?" wird Aggey gefragt. "Ach nur ein bisschen spazieren gehen." Hm, das fühlt sich für meine Beine gerade ein bisschen anders an, aber egal ...

Regentage / Sonnentage diese Woche: 50% /50%. Ein ausgesprochen verregneter Frühling dieses Jahr, wie mir von allen Seiten versichert wird. Polizeikontrollen diese Woche: 2. Bei beiden mit mittlerweile gesteigerter Polizeikontrollenerfahrung, schlechter Laune und bösem Gesicht die Polizisten von meiner Unschuld überzeugen können. Hossa, geht doch! Treffen des Deutschen Wirtschaftsklubs: 3 Redner zur Bankenkrise. Ganz besonders gefallen hat mir ein Herr, dessen Vortrag so ziemlich nach ...

... ist das eigentlich wirklich? Einmal kurz bei tagesschau.de auf dem Weltnachrichtenatlas nachgesehen. Im letzten Monat kein Eintrag in Kasachstan. Weiterhin kein Eintrag in einem der anderen zentralasiatischen Länder. Die geographisch nächsten Nachrichten kommen aus Afghanistan, Tibet, Russland, allesamt durchaus afrikatauglich. Speaking of corruption, heute hatte ich einen Termin mit unserem Wirtschaftprüfer. Nebenbei bemerkt einer der kompetentesten Leute, die ...

Aus guter, alter sowjetischer Tradition wird am 23. Februar der Tag der Sowjetarmee gefeiert. Nicht, dass das noch ein Feiertag wäre, aber wenn man einen Grund finden möchte um mittags zusammen zu sitzen, Kuchen zu essen und sich Gedichte vorzulesen, dann ist jeder Anlass recht. Lustig Gedichte sind natürlich um so lustiger je mehr man davon versteht. Ergo beschränkte sich mein Vergnügen darauf mich vom Lachen der anderen mitreißen zu lassen. Hossa, aber was soll ...