Late November in Almaty
Trip Start
Jun 10, 2006
1
18
32
Trip End
Jun 14, 2007
Loading Map
Almaty,
Kazakhstan
Saturday, November 25, 2006
I'm listening to a little Leonard Cohen's "Last Years Man" I'm going to share the lyrics to those of you who are not enlightened. For those of you who are, sit tight.
The skylight is like skin for a drum I'll never mend, and all the rain falls down amen, On the works of last years man. I met a lady she was playing with her soldiers in the dark all one by one she had to tell them that her name was Joan of Arc. I was in that army. Yes I stayed there a little while I want to thank you, Joan of Arc for treating me so well. And though I wear a uniform, I was not born to fight, All these wounded boys you lie beside goodnight my friends goodnight.
I came upon a wedding that old families had contrived bethlehem the bridegroom, babylon the bride. Great babylon was naked oh she stood there trembling for me. and bethlehem inflamed us both like a shy one at some orgy. And when we fell together, all our flesh was like a veil, that I had to draw a sigh to see the serpent eat its tail. Some women wait for Jesus and some women wait for Cane, so I hang upon my alter and I hoist my ax again. and I take the one who finds me back to where it all began. When Jesus was the honeymoon and cane was just the man. And we read from pleasant bibles that are bound in blood and skin. But the wilderness is gathering all of it's children back again.
The rain falls down on last years man, an hour has gone by, and he has not moved his hand. But, everything will happen if he only gives the word.
a tribute to Mary Ward & others killed by cars
The lovers will rise up, and the mountains will touch the ground! Ugh. I just had to share this to show how pretty these lyrics are. The lyrics have a sting to them that makes you feel like you lose a little innocence when you let them sink in a little. With songs like this it makes me feel like I'm in New York at dawn midwinter and I'm the only one awake to see how pretty the snow is on the ground. When the street lights cast the shadows of the trees and buildings and send them in all sorts of crazy directions. It's finally started to snow here. After a long and wonderful temperate fall we got snow. Last week I was walking around Almaty in just a long sleeve shirt. It was reaching in the mid 70 F. degree range during the day. Zhanara and I left town for Taraz to visit Zhanara's family for a few days. We took the overnight train. When we got into town the weather was starting to dip down into the freezing temperature range. I was a little worried that I didn't bring enough warm clothing with us. Zhanara assured me that we'd be all right.
When we got to Zhanara's house everyone was surprised we had arrived so early. They (Zhanara's mom, step dad, and brother) all thought that we were going to get there the following day. I think it was a pleasant surprise for them, but it was still morning and I think everyone wasn't sure if it was true that we had arrived. Zhanara's mother actually would rather have us there all the time. She quickly sat us down for breakfast and tea. We sat and talked to her for hours.
another view
We sat in her kitchen and caught up with life in Taraz and watched the light rise and become day. By midday, we went down to the bazaar and purchased more vegetables and a lamb leg to make for Mahan's(Zhanara's step dad) birthday.
It was Zhanara's step fathers birthday the following day so, we had to make a bunch of food for the family. A feast is only what Mahan deserves for his birthday. To get all the best food we go down to the bazaar after we make a list and check our recipes for what we need there. We try to be as efficient as possible, so Zhanara and I have developed little systems to ease our way through the bazaar.
Well every time we get to Taraz I have to get some Shashlyk. Shashlyk for those of you who don't know is Kebab or skewers of meat that are cooked over a fire. We go down to the bazaar where there is a little restaurant we know of that is in one of these little old shipping containers that's converted into a place to eat. The place has a little door and a bunch of plastic chairs and tables with one waitress. The Shashlyk is ordered outside and then you order anything else on the menu inside from the waitress. I usually order three of these skewers which by the way is probably too much for me, but It's one of the few times I take things to culinary extremes here. I really like this marinated meat on a skewer. They also bring you this hardy bread and some raw onions and you just feast away on this. I also ordered a little Ghan Fan or Rice and vegetables to take this meal over the top.
Kok-Tobe
Zhanara ordered the noodles and we shared a pot of black tea together and then and only then, do I get to soak in the fact that I'm so far away from home, sitting in this metal container with one window and one door that faces a muddy path. The Muslim "call to prayer" is heard out over a loudspeaker and that seals the deal and I remark to myself on how far from home I am. After we pay for our meal we step out and pay for the shashlyk and thank the guy for making such tasty lamb skewers and then walk over to Zhanara's mothers Container. The shipping container is an interesting concept for a space of retail. This is probably the most synonymous object in a Central Asian Bazaar. They are everywhere. They are probably the most practical thing to use for the type of location that they are in. These shipping containers are ideal because they are water tight and also easy to keep secure. They can be transported easily, and they are easy to create a fairly organized space in a bazaar by placing them next to each other with the metal doors swung open toward an alley to greet customers who are eager to buy things thus creating an instant commercial quarter made of metal containers that establishes a maze of container corridors.
Zhanara's mother owns two of these containers. These containers can be quite expensive. They are actually prime real estate here because everyone goes to the bazaar to shop. These things can go for several thousand U.S. dollars but that's actually quite good because there is very little overhead and little upkeep to get yourself started in the bazaar here.
lonely pedestrian
Often though there is competition for space so it's best to find the prime locations in the bazaar here in Taraz. You can wind up finding yourself along with your container in an area of the bazaar that nobody goes to. In turn, you can have a nice container with goods everyone wants but nobody knows you're way out behind a corridor of containers that is out of the way. So, It's good to be smart about where you have one of these shipping containers. Generally, the businesses in the bazaar keep like items in the same area. Meaning, you can find clothes in the clothes part of the bazaar, food in the green bazaar, and tools in the automotive bazaar and so forth. Zhanara's mother told us this was a very strict practice, but she's noticed that it isn't quite as strict as it was before. Recently I saw somebody selling boots and shoes in the middle of the green(vegetable) bazaar. Anyhow, Zhanara's mother sells woman's clothing. Her space folds out to show all the different clothes she has for sale. The clothes are on mannequins and there are many clothes hanging from above. It's quite interesting to see how these spaces work for retail really. Almost all of these containers are hooked up to electricity. When they are closed they make for storage space and then when they open they move everything out and make it more like a store showroom. You often walk into the container and look at things for sale and very often there is nice track lighting and air conditioning in them. There can also often be music playing and an area to try on clothing.
view from our apartment
Outside the products spill onto the middle of the corridor you walk through to look into each of the shipping containers. Above you there are usually tarps that shield you from the blazing summer heat and any other weather really. Ok, so after buying food for dinner we went back to Zhanara's parents house and relaxed the rest of the day. I finished reading Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami for the second time. I've started reading Charles Dickens A Tale Of Two Cities. Going from Murakami to Dickens has taken a change of literary gears for me. It took me a little while to get over all the strange nightmares I get out of reading Murakami's books to reading about British and French people riding around on horses and drinking wine off of cobble stoned streets.
It was so nice to just stop and do nothing in Taraz for the rest of the day. I sat in the bedroom under some blankets in bed. I read in the low late fall light. I actually stared at the room and soaked in the feeling I got over the light and the quietness of being away from all the traffic and sounds of Almaty. It reminded me of a recurring dream that I have about being in this house. The house is big, actually a large mansion and I'm sitting with a family. The family isn't mine, and the house is certainly not mine, but I feel like I'm visiting this house We are all sitting in the living room of this large 3 story house the shape of a U. We are all sitting in the living room next to a large roaring fire. There is all of this large heavy leather and wood furniture. Imagine the living room is located in middle of this U shaped house facing inward between the two upward branches of this U shape. It is pleasant yet quiet and I feel safe. But there is something in this dream that calls out to me to leave the living room and walk to the other parts of the house. So, I get up and walk out past all the people sitting and enjoying the fire. I open the door and the sounds of the living room and the people are still to be heard just past the swinging doors that lead into a sort of transitional room full of clocks on the wall. This room is lined with all sorts of heavy wood work. There are no lights on in the room. There doesn't need to be, the late afternoon light is still bright enough to see yet there isn't really enough light to cast any significant shadows. The light is cool and the room feels significantly cooler but I still feel warm from standing next to the fireplace. I walk past this room into another room that has a large dark wooden dining table. The kind of table with shiny dark varnish. I can smell the oil or maybe the wax that is used to keep this table looking the way it does. Again I note to myself as I pass this room how as I leave from room to room how I am further from the noise, warmth,and comfort of the living room. I pass through the hallways and up the stairs and now I am in a hallway that is long and dim that reaches towards one of the upward branches of this U shaped old house. I can only feel the cold, and the light is decreasing faster. It is that time of day in the winter when you know there is only enough light left for another hour at least. I proceed to the top of this U shaped house and go to the very room that faces the other side of this place. I walk into this room and the light is a little brighter here because there are more windows that face out. I see that there is a bed and the room is decorated quite plainly. There are transparent lace white drapes over the windows. I walk around the bed that faces the wall next to me where I've opened the door. Sometimes in this recurring dream there is another room just beyond this room. Once I
get around this bed, I open a door and there is another room. This room is even colder than the one I've just come from. Anyhow, I walk past the bed and there are no sounds here whatsoever. I can no longer feel the warmth of the fire in the living room and I can for sure no longer hear anyone. It's a lonely room really, a place where it's so quiet you can hear the soft white noise of silence. Anyhow, I walk past the bed and open the drapes to the window that faces this other wing of this mansion that is parallel to this room and wing that I'm in. I look into the same floor that I'm on, the top floor and see a little girl staring at me. A little blond haired girl who stairs back at me expressionless. She looks out of the window as if she was waiting for me to see her there. Yikes, is that scary or what? So, before I get too far off of track, I sat in the bedroom at Zhanara's house and felt this same kind of cold loneliness. It's not that bad though, It's kind of nice to feel this way really. I think this feeling and this dream is the feeling of fall. Perhaps, I get this dream with the feeling that only comes at the colder times of the year. I actually enjoyed sitting in this room reading. That same day it began to snow. by morning the snow covered everything in the back garden white.
I hope I didn't really drag this tangent on too long. I just wanted everyone in on a little of my feelings here as the seasons change from fall to winter.
I did get to have Thanksgiving dinner though. Zhanara and I were invited to dinner over to the house of our new friends Kirsten and Brad. They asked us to bring something to the feast and expect around 8 people. When we got there there were three other Americans; a couple Mark and Lauren, who are from the midwest working here in Almaty and have been out of the country for several years, and soon on their way to live in Georgia and Armenia. Erin another American from Oregon and a Kazakh/Kyrgyz couple named Timur and karina. Anyhow, Their house is quite nice. It is American in scale with a big dining area/living area. We all had a wonderful dinner and Brad shared some wonderful wines. We opened some Valpolicella and some Borgogne. I brought some Rose wine and everyone made great food. For around 6 hours we were all transported somewhere in the middle of America for dinner.
During these past few days between the trip to Taraz to eat Shashlyk, making a dinner for Mahan and having Thanksgiving dinner, I've been working on my painting. I've been working on two large paintings for the next Soros Center for Contemporary Arts show. I'm doing some work that is sort of a homage to my times as a graffiti artist. Since there is very little graffiti art here I thought it would be interesting to them to show art work based on graffiti technique. I built 2 large frames. Around four foot by 5 and half feet long. This process took me around 3 days to build. We had to go down to the Bazaar and buy a bunch of wood and then carry it a block to the bus stop. Then we took the bus, barely avoiding the beginning of the commuter crowds. We hauled up my stuff to the apartment and then I sawed and hammered away and built a giant crooked frame based on my poor carpentry skills. I stretched the canvases, then treated the canvases and primed them.
The two canvases are a large diptych piece. They are based on the Scientist Mary Ward who died in 1869. She was the first documented victim of an automobile accident. She also has another story before her famous death. Mary Ward was a scientist and illustrator. She was born in Ballylin, Ireland in 1827. She took an early interest in science and as early as 3 years old she was collecting insects. Like most women during her time her education was limited to her home. She however, was related to a family of scientists and took a keen interest in telescopy and microscopy. William Parsons of Parsontown fame who built a telescope with a 6 foot lens was a cousin of Mary's whom she often visited. Mary drew the telescope during its construction and the drawings were recently used to help restore it. Mary's real passion was drawing from microscopes. She often drew what she saw and worked with the Physicist David Brewster who subsequently published many of her drawings in his articles and his books. Mary read anything she could get her hands on and eventually exceeded many experts on microscopy. Her cousin William Parsons became president of the Royal Society and she access to many of the biggest scientist of her time. During this time. woman weren't accepted in universities, she wrote to many scientist to get access to scientific articles and publications that She wanted. She became one of the 3 only women of her time to be allowed on the mail list of the Royal Astronomical Society. The other two on the list were the famous scientist Mary Sommerville and Queen Victoria! She later published books on Astronomy and illustrations from microscopes.
I found out about Mary when I decided I'd try and work on a theme based on a critical approach toward automobiles.
I wanted to convey the feeling of traffic and the menace of automobiles within the urban fabric of our cities around the world. Almaty is going through an automobile boom and I think it would be good now to start thinking of alternative ways for transportation. Anyhow, I painted her last name the whole length of the two canvases and I painted her portrait in the first letter. I also did images of automobiles in traffic and pedestrians walking on the streets.
I'll let you guys all know later on how the pieces went up. I install them at the beginning of next month.
I also was suppose to do some work on a recycling installation with a group of university students here. It was going to be in a festival. But the structure was damaged on the way here during a the snow storm that happened on the day I was supposed to work on it. Actually the structure was a small house that would be used to throw away recyclables. The house on it's journey to the university was a victim of a car accident. Ironically I was supposed to paint the name of an automobile accident victim on the side of it and then the students were going to paint images in the letters. It would have come out great! Anyhow the house never came but I got to show some paintings in the exhibit hall. I also got to watch my friend Saule do some public painting on a large canvas. She had drummers playing next to her and she used the music for her inspiration for her work. It was quite nice and interactive. There were live bands and some of them were quite good.
Ok, if anyone has any questions about Borat and Kazakhstan and anything else that's interesting, please write to me. I would love to know what everyone is doing with their busy lives. Keep me in touch. I'm 'hecka' far from home and I miss the Bay. Let me in on your lives. I'm glad you guys did your duty and voted out that war congress. It's the responsible thing for everyone. The work isn't done yet, Remember, the Democrats are just the opposite side of the same coin(the money party). So keep up the good work out there. At least these new politicians seem to be antiwar. What was the quote, citizens shouldn't fear their government, government should fear its citizens. Yea, I like that one.
I'll end this blog with a quote from Chuck D. "Fight The Power". I really liked it when Rosie Perez danced in boxing shorts and boxing gloves at the beginning of Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" to that song. Man, that's so 90's.
Danielin
