Building Up, Taking Down
Early Saturday morning. The green dragon’s bright green eyes glare through the thin curtains of my living room bathing everything in an eerie emerald. He lurks now furtively behind the first floor of the building going up next door. Before I left, the dragon blazed his wicked green eyes into my house with such force it was difficult to sleep. He didn’t want me to sleep, he kept watch over his growing building and wanted to keep an eye on me as well.
Amazingly, through the cold of December and January in my absence, the building next door has come quite a long way. The entire first floor is done and the workers are busy setting forth on floor two. I have no idea what this building will be, but brick by brick they build. I’m sure by spring it will be mostly complete. I’ve watched this building grow since I’ve been here, from the crazy digging, foundation building and burying, to a brick outline to today’s progress. Amazing in this kooky place where a school opening was dragged out and bogged down by bureaucracy, a building can go up so fast.
I watch the workers everyday put up the structure brick by brick, toiling away in the snow, the cold, the wind. No matter the weather, they are out there working. Dressed warmly in thick dublyonki, padded coats, boots and watch caps, the workers go about their business dismissing the cold as if it were a bothersome mosquito on a balmy simmer evening. They live in big metal containers, the kinds used for shipping, insulated inside, cots strewn about laden with heavy blankets where they crash after a long day of work. Outside the containers, there is a giant kazan, a wok basically where they prepare plov, rice pilaf and other such meals for communal eating. I see them prepare their meals in the kazan on an open fire, one guy in charge of the preparing the meal and washing up, the mother of the crew. Everyone has their roles; the same two guys mix the cement on the open ground, constantly stirring to keep it from freezing or hardening up, some are responsible for carrying bricks, others for laying those bricks. Like ants in a colony they move about all day, taking a break for lunch, disappearing at nightfall to a much deserved rest in their containers. I don’t know their names or see their faces but I notice the differences in their hats or pants or some other colour-related detail in their dress or a movement in their walk.
Yesterday I received an official letter from Wonderland that the School of World Languages will not be happening. I knew this almost from day one in Astana, a gut feeling call it, but now it was real. Part of me is sad at this defeat and part of me is relieved that it is finally official and I’m not left hanging in eternal doubt. I feel a little down that I wasn’t able to do the job I was hired to do, sort of a personal unfulfillment, but I have done a lot here that makes up for all of it. In the next two months however, I will leave my mark on Astana through lectures and workshops. Officialdom here may not remember who I am, but I’ll make sure the English teachers and students of Astana will.
Time at home made me realize where I should be. The glamorous life of an expat is fun but right now I think I need to focus on my t-shirt business if it’s to go anywhere. Need to stay closer to home and get my roots a little deeper. Maybe even find a husband who will make me stay in one place (Hello, anyone out there??). Can’t have it all, need to make a choice, don’t I? Well I choose TCat Designs now. It was my dream and I must see it through to the end vision of where I have a multi-million dollar company with a huge office space in Brooklyn overlooking the harbour and I can bike to work. So in the meantime, I’ll put on a good show, then pack up and say goodbye to Kazakhstan. Between now and then though, let’s have some fun!!!
Amazingly, through the cold of December and January in my absence, the building next door has come quite a long way. The entire first floor is done and the workers are busy setting forth on floor two. I have no idea what this building will be, but brick by brick they build. I’m sure by spring it will be mostly complete. I’ve watched this building grow since I’ve been here, from the crazy digging, foundation building and burying, to a brick outline to today’s progress. Amazing in this kooky place where a school opening was dragged out and bogged down by bureaucracy, a building can go up so fast.
I watch the workers everyday put up the structure brick by brick, toiling away in the snow, the cold, the wind. No matter the weather, they are out there working. Dressed warmly in thick dublyonki, padded coats, boots and watch caps, the workers go about their business dismissing the cold as if it were a bothersome mosquito on a balmy simmer evening. They live in big metal containers, the kinds used for shipping, insulated inside, cots strewn about laden with heavy blankets where they crash after a long day of work. Outside the containers, there is a giant kazan, a wok basically where they prepare plov, rice pilaf and other such meals for communal eating. I see them prepare their meals in the kazan on an open fire, one guy in charge of the preparing the meal and washing up, the mother of the crew. Everyone has their roles; the same two guys mix the cement on the open ground, constantly stirring to keep it from freezing or hardening up, some are responsible for carrying bricks, others for laying those bricks. Like ants in a colony they move about all day, taking a break for lunch, disappearing at nightfall to a much deserved rest in their containers. I don’t know their names or see their faces but I notice the differences in their hats or pants or some other colour-related detail in their dress or a movement in their walk.
Yesterday I received an official letter from Wonderland that the School of World Languages will not be happening. I knew this almost from day one in Astana, a gut feeling call it, but now it was real. Part of me is sad at this defeat and part of me is relieved that it is finally official and I’m not left hanging in eternal doubt. I feel a little down that I wasn’t able to do the job I was hired to do, sort of a personal unfulfillment, but I have done a lot here that makes up for all of it. In the next two months however, I will leave my mark on Astana through lectures and workshops. Officialdom here may not remember who I am, but I’ll make sure the English teachers and students of Astana will.
Time at home made me realize where I should be. The glamorous life of an expat is fun but right now I think I need to focus on my t-shirt business if it’s to go anywhere. Need to stay closer to home and get my roots a little deeper. Maybe even find a husband who will make me stay in one place (Hello, anyone out there??). Can’t have it all, need to make a choice, don’t I? Well I choose TCat Designs now. It was my dream and I must see it through to the end vision of where I have a multi-million dollar company with a huge office space in Brooklyn overlooking the harbour and I can bike to work. So in the meantime, I’ll put on a good show, then pack up and say goodbye to Kazakhstan. Between now and then though, let’s have some fun!!!
posted by Tom T at 10:21 PM
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