Semey

Trip Start Jun 10, 2006

Trip End Jun 14, 2007

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Flag of Kazakhstan Semey, Kazakhstan
Tuesday, October 10, 2006

I'm back from Semey in Sub-Siberian Eastern Kazakhstan after around three to four days away from Almaty. That's around 850 Km from Almaty. The weather was definitely colder there. We noticed it had snowed during our trip on the train and the temperature was down into the zero degree range celsius. We(Zhanara, Saule, Kuanysh, and their 5 year old daughter Medina) all went to deliver some art work to The Nievzorov Family Art Museum. Saule and I also did some public artwork. Saule had a great idea to paint in front of music and paint in front of a crowd attending a group exhibit on the flying Tartar Man. This was this dude who was this great local inventor who built a plane. He flew across the river Irtysh(The river Irtysh is the river that flows through Semey) landed, and picked flowers and came back. Many people found him to be quite inspirational. The curator, Tatiana Alexandrovna who by the way was fantastic, is in charge of this gallery and incredible collection of Russian and Kazakh art. This collection has to be one of the strongest collections in Kazakhstan. The works include a Rembrandt work, paintings also included in the gallery are: Soviet Dissident works, Soviet Social Realists, Baltic School artist(by far the strongest works) Kazakh folk art, Kazakh Modernists, Kazakh Post Modern, and contemporary work

backyards

. The gallery is also showing work on Russian Kitch ceramic wares. Tatiana invited many artists from around Kazakhstan to show works based on the Flying Tartar.

Afterwards, Tantiana Alexandrovna invited the artist(15 of us) and another 30 of the gallery employees, art sponsors, spouse's and friends to dinner in a restaurant a block away where we all feasted on Beef Stroganov and all sorts of Central Asian/Russian food. We danced and drank wine late into the night. I got a chance to meet and talk to many artists. Tatiana was quite nice. She seemed so happy and so far from being all about the business of running a large gallery.

We were put up in this old Soviet hotel called the Irtysh in a sweet complete with great looking wallpaper.

The town, Semey or Semipalatinsk is named after a fort that was built in 1718 around seven walls or in Russian, Semipalatinsk. The seven walls were an abandoned Buddhist Monastery!

Anyhow, we got a small chance to check out the town. Zhanara and I took a walk and saw some beautiful architecture. A lot of old Tartar merchant buildings. There are some beautiful Mosques and Churches. The Mosques are quite unique actually. They were all built out of wood and are quite ornate and built in a Russian colonial style. This town is the first town I've come to here in Kazakhstan that seems more European to me. Many of the houses are made out of wood and brick. The buildings are smaller in scale yet, some can be several stories high

blue house

. You can sense that there was an incredible amount of wealth here during the 19th century. Anyhow, the city was founded by the Kazakh Middle Horde(one of the last great nomadic empires) and it has a lot of strong intellectual background. Semey is the birthplace to an important Kazakh poet Abay Kunabaev. and This place was home to many people who lived at the fringe of Tsarist and Soviet society. A town that seemed so far out of St. Petersburg and Moscow's imagination, that it was often a place to send people into exile. It was a home to many artists, writers and musicians because of this. Even Fyodor Doestoevsky was sent here in 1857.

Semey hasn't quite experienced the same prosperity as other parts of Kazakhstan. It doesn't have the oil or the political strength of other parts of Kazakhstan. It was said that there is a rift between the politicians of Semey and Astana for being critical of President Nazarbayev. Some say they are being punished for this.

Semey seems to be sort of stopped in time. Many Soviet reminders are still here. Unlike Almaty or Taraz very rarely do you see Casino's on the ground floor of apartments. There isn't the same rampant remont(renovation) work on the fronts of apartments. To my great pleasure, there aren't as many automobiles here.

One of the things we did notice here, is how good the food is. You could get Brioche and more European food here than Almaty. The tea is strong and dark with milk that makes you forget that it's not coffee

bluegreen house

. For all my foodie friends, the sausage making skills are over the top. I saw all sorts of sausages that remind me of Charcuterie in France. On our way out of town Kuanysh even found small Kazy(horse sausages). around the size of Salami that you can find in Tuscany. Usually this Kazy is around the size of a large green Zucchini found in gardens in California. We kept on eating in the hotel restaurant because it was so good. The restaurant makes everything from scratch. The bread and pemeny (dumplings with meat), are made by hand. The service is good too.

I had a dream while being on the train leaving Semey that made me miss my home in California. It was the feeling of sleeping in my bedroom in Santa Cruz in my parents house in Bonny Doon. The window was open. The smell of the oak trees, the Redwoods and the sound of blue jays screeching in the forest were all there. I could feel the cool breeze of winds coming from the ocean. All was quiet, I then laid in my sleep with this warm feeling of being in Santa Cruz and being home. I was actually quite in bliss about the idea that I laid in bed and soon I would wake up to have breakfast with my parents. I think I could even smell the bacon and potatoes cooking in the kitchen. Then suddenly, the crunch and clang of the train began and I awoke. I suddenly realized I was far away from all of that. Disappointment and sadness gave way. But then, I was glad that no matter how far away I go, that my home could not be taken away

Brooklyn or Semey?

. That, deep inside me it remains stuck to my soul. I woke up and looked out the window and saw not the sea and the forest, but the steppe and the mountains.

Thanks for all the comments and e-mails I've been getting. Keep writing to me please!!!! Send me pictures too!! Let me know what you guys think. Tell me if you guys have any ideas. Let me know of anything if you hear about Central Asia. Send me links to sites and stuff like that. It's great that I'm not just writing to "cyberspace" but, I'm actually getting my experience across to my friends and family. I hope you guys are learning a little from it. I'm pretty sure most of you guys are in the west because little is known about Central Asia there. So, that's kind of why I've been writing a little more than I expected. For one thing that I learned about Central Asia and Central Asians is this, This place can be quite counter-intuitive. In all my travels I've never really been to someplace quite as foreign to me. Yet, Kazakhstan isn't entirely alien to me. There are many things that I find familiar as well.

Danielin.