Outings, Architecture and Barbarella

They’ve found me!!! My mother was right, people would read my blog and find me. Well, yes but the guys in question aren’t the extremists mama feared but just bloggers like moi living here in the Paris of the Steppe. Wow, I never thought that there’d be people here who would read my blog. But yes there are and they leave comments too (unlike many of you slackers). Both are working here, married local girls and seem to be loving the place. We met up at Café Shimkent for some shashlyk (kebab) and vodka Saturday night. Had a great time yakking away late into the night. I love Café Shimkent, one of my new favorite places to go. It’s a big restaurant with smoking and non smoking areas behind the chic City Market. What do I love about it? It’s reasonbly priced, the food is good and regular people can go there with their friends or family and have a decent meal. It isn’t one of the myriad of fancy assed places here in town where you pay an arm and a leg for a thumb-sized piece of salmon. This is what I love, real places with real people not the hoity toity world where everyone thinks that paying 9,000 tenge ($70) for fish is a good thing.
Astana is an expensive city, why? I guess because they have to bring everything here so it goes through more hands ergo more expensive–I guess. I’m very against the theory that as a foreigner I need the most exclusive, expensive things, that my world needs to be plush. Hell no, give me the cheap places where the normal people are and the 1 br apartments where the toilet seat isn’t attached to the toilet (I’m working on that one). That’s not to say I’m cheap, I just have a sense of how much I will pay for things. The mentality among many here is that the more you pay for something, the better it is–bullshit I say.

Yesterday I took a ride to the Left Bank, the new center that’s being developed, to check out the sports complex, Kaspii. I’ve decided I need to swim and exercise everyday while I’m here and why not get a membership to a gym. Fabulous pool and equipment. They even have yoga, pilates, aerobics. Hey $600 for 6 months is worth it I think (better deal than that salmon for sure). Oksana gave me a tour and told me of my membership options. I was sold and am going back today to sign up (prices go up 1 November–gotta work fast).

Afterwards I walked back along the embankment, admiring all the new architecture. Yesterday was the first day here that I began to appreciate the various styles of architecture here. It’s interesting to see first hand how a city is planned and developed. I look for the reasons why and how things are built. A lot of it is still a mystery to me but some things I get. The embankment for that matter–beautiful apartment buildings not too hideously high, a pleasant walkway where people can enjoy a stroll with the family. Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny fall day so everyone was out enjoying time outside before the harsh winter approaches. The embankmet is very St. Petersburg–the colours of the buildings, the look of the walkway and even a bronze horseman ala Peter the Great on the Neva. It has been said that Nazarbayev (the president) sees himself like Peter the Great, building a new city in an inhospitable place. There is a vision and it is rising fast on the flat dreary landscape of northern Kazakhstan. I’m not too keen on all the big block apartment buildings that are being thrown up by the Turks and the Koreans. Many lack imagination and innovation and don’t take in mind the surrounding area. They just serve a purpose–house people and not think about how people will use the building, how much sunlight will they get, where will they socialize with their neighbors, how far is the nearest store, etc. Maybe it’s in the plans but for many of these high rises, I just don’t see it. Overall though, I’m impressed with the developing going on here. Slowly, Astana is becoming a city with a new personality.
Speaking of beauty, may I talk about women. Not being in this part of the world on a long term basis for awhile, one forgets about how goddamned glamorous the women are here. Look out Project Runway, these women are fierce in their dress. I forgot how well put together women in the Former Soviet Union are. Hair well coiffed, tasteful make up, beautiful clothes–they take the time needed to look fabulous when they step out of their homes. They put frumpy American women to shame. I’ve notice Barbarella has influenced this year’s fall fashions and many of these hot mamas are working the knee high white boots, teetering around town on 3-4 inch heels. Last week at the movies I saw one woman who looked like Barbarella herself. High white boots, tight jeans, a long well curled ponytail ala 1960's hanging down her back. If it was NYC, I’d peg her as a drag queen but here just one hot mama. And she was just at the movies. I’m sure it took her more time to put together that outfit than the length of the movie.
The men, on the other hand, leave much to be desired. While there are some nice looking, well put together guys, most men opt for the drab greys, blacks and browns that are the uniform here (and most everywhere in the world I suppose). While there are shops carrying men’s clothes with colour, many of the items are out of everyone’s reach. I was oohing over a vivd blue and green cashmere sweater in City Market until I converted the tenge amount and found out it was like $800. No wonder they all wear drab. Looks wise, there are some good looking guys but the smoking and spitting ala Neanderthal period leaves a lot to be desired. Guess I won’t be doing much dating here! Poor girls, what they have to put up with here–cavemen in drab.
I’m trying to get a absentee ballot here via Pete my neighbor so I can vote those nasty Republicans out of Congress. It’ll be tight and I don’t think I can get a ballot her before then. I may have to do an emergency write-in ballot at the US Embassy here but in any case–I am voting!!!
I made a new babushka friend yesterday afternoon, Evdokima Ivanovna. She’s my 92 yr old neighbor from downstairs who was sitting most of the afternoon on the bench outside our podyezd. We struck up a conversation as I was coming home. She moved here recently from Kursk to live with her daughter. I guess she fell recently and hurt herself pretty bad, bad enough for her daughter to move her to Astana all the way from Kursk. She needs a cane to get around but hey I told her, if you can make it up and down 3 flights of stairs at your age–more power to you. She told a little bit about the war in Kursk (A big battle site in WW2), her life on a Kolkhoz (collective farm) losing her husband in the war, etc. Not a very happy life it seems, but I told her that there were many happy moments I’m sure. Would love to get her story on film. Hmm where to find a video camera...