My Dad's visit: A walk with the rocks

This past Thanksgiving I was an exceptional thankful because I had my dad here visiting me for five days. Recently, I've wrote about time flying and it definitely did when he was here. Our five days together in Kazakhstan were filled with a busy schedule of people to visit and places to see. Here's a quick recap:

Most of the first day was spent at home so my dad could get over his jet lag. After resting up, showering and giving me a suitcase full of stuff from America we head off to get some food and internet at Address Cafe. In the evening, we went to gosti (be guests) at my host family's house. As usual my host mom had a table spread with a variety foods for us so my dad became familiar with the words I know too well, "eat, eat!". It's not a request it's a command. I’m glad my dad got to meet my host family and vice versa. My dad thanked my host mom for taking such good care of me while I was so far away from home. My host mom replied that I am like a daughter to her. Awww!

The next day my host sister, Ira joined me and my dad on a trip out of town to Turkestan, where the main attraction is Yasaui Mausoleum. This UNESCO world heritage site and pilgrimage site is the final resting place of Yasaui, a holy man in the 12th century. Check out the link to my pictures at the bottom of this blog because it's a really beautiful place. The mausoleum is partially covered with pretty blue tiles but construction was never finished. The front of the building is not decorated with the same tiles and the original scaffolding poles still stick out of the main arch. People in Kazakhstan say that three trips to the mausoleum are like one trip to Mecca. I don't think the rest of the Muslim world has even heard of this idea. It being my second time here I wanted to check out something new so I pulled out my handy dandy Lonely Planet book. About an hour away from Turkestan is Sauran, or the ruins of Sauran. It was once a Silk Road city that was inhabited until the 18th century. There really isn't much there but the remains of they city walls but the cool thing is that there is no one else there. You can walk along the ancient walls without being yelled at by a guard and imagine and old fortified city. We also found pieces of old glazed pottery.

After the full day trip away from Shymkent, I decided to make plans closer to home. My roommate Dina, Ira, my dad and I went to Sayram, a village about half an hour from Shymkent that used to be a Silk Road city. We went straight to a local school and met kids there who were eager to show us around their town. We started off in the backyard of the school to see a tower called Kydyra Minaret. The funny thing is I have been to Sayram for sight seeing before, this past summer actually when a German tourist was visiting Shymkent, and I visited this tower which we had to search for. I had no idea it was just behind the school. The students also took us to see a few mausoleums and then the Friday Mosque, where girls were actually allowed in as long as they weren’t on their periods. I could tell that this was news to the girls because most of them seemed as if they had never been in the mosque. Most still didn’t want to go. We capped off our visit with a trip to the local museum which showcased Kazakhstani history as well as Sayram’s. Our guide was very eager to explain everything to us and one of the students did an excellent job translating so my dad and I could keep up with him.

On the way home we stopped at one of my best discoveries of the year. In fact it deserves its own paragraph! When riding the train from Shymkent to Almaty in the spring I spotted a bright green sign in Cyrillic that says Shymkent. However, from the train I could not figure out where it was. The street signs were too small and infrequent to read. This sign consumed me. I wanted to see it in real life. I wanted to take a picture with it, a full out photo shoot. I asked around but no one in Shymkent seemed to know where it actually is, if they had even heard of it at all. Major disappointment. Then during the summer when I went to Sayram with the German tourist, I saw it on our way back to Shymkent. I saw the sign! Since we had our own taxi on this most recent visit to Sayram and I was with some lovely company we stopped to take pictures with the coveted sign!

Wednesday was spent showing my dad some of my favorite and most frequented places in Shymkent: Kritirinik Bazaar, English club at my school and Movie club. Recently, I learned from my Russian tutor that Kritirinik means covered bazaar. This bazaar was the first and only covered marketplace for some time. But, now there are many covered bazaars and Kritirinik is half uncovered. Still the name sticks. The reason I loved this bazaar is because that uncovered half is a flea market. People sell there knick-knacks, junk, things that looks like they fell off the side of a truck, etc. It is a great place to find Soviet souvenirs. Awesome finds in past visits include bills, coins, envelopes, stamps and medals from the Soviet era. We browsed for awhile but ended up just getting some fresh produce. After a rushed lunch I showed my dad my school. He met with the director of my organization and watched my English club. My students were really interested to talk to him and ask many questions. Maybe passing out Reeses Peanut Butter Cups helped. In the evening we stopped by at Movie club which I’ve been helping run for the past year. My dad was pretty beat though, and not really interested in watching Sherlock Holmes so we took advantage of the good weather and walked home.

The last full day was as busy if not busier than the previous days. The day before at my organization, one of our trainers, Adil, was there and he offered to take me and my dad to some place in the mountains. Sure, why not we replied, but we only have tomorrow left. In the morning we went back to my school so my dad could meet and speak to two of the English classes. I was really surprised that the first class didn’t really have many questions to ask. Usually kids here are so curious when they meet a foreigner. The second class was a year older and they were a different story. I was really impressed by some of the questions. I wish I had taken notes.

After touring the school, we loaded up in Adil's jeep and went off towards Kazygurt Mountains. Once we got there a guide showed us some interesting rock formations. In most places people probably wouldn't care about rocks in the middle of nowhere, but Kazakhstan is mostly steppe (dry flat land) so these rock formations are not only a big deal but mystical. Two of the big formations (Adam and Eve rocks) have a crevice in between them. If you pass through it you will be cleansed of your sins. I am now very pure! Another big rock was called "Dastarkhan". Dastarkhan is the feast spread on a long low table or just simply on a table cloth. One rock that had a very fitting name was the Elephant Rock.

Once we got back to Shymkent one of my co-workers at the school took my dad and I to a very nice Kazakh restaurant to try fermented horse's milk (Kumys) and fermented camel's milk (Shubat). I don't want to ruin it for you so I really recommend you try it yourself! After downing as much fermented milk as is humanly possible we head to El Doro Pizzeria. My dad took all the Shymkent volunteers out for Thanksgiving dinner. Yum!

The next day we just got up, got ready and head off to the airport, but the funny thing about Kazakhstan is that it has a special way of welcoming you and it doesn’t let you leave. When my dad thought he was leaving Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan said no wait there’s more. We get to the airport an hour before his flight and no one is in line to check in. Strange. A short while later there is an announcement over the intercom. If it was in English the speaker system is so bad that I thought it was a foreign language. The flight would be delayed until 11 am because the plane hadn’t come in from Almaty. Okay not too long of a wait. Ten rolls around and all of a sudden another announcement stating the flight has been pushed back to 2 pm because the plane still hasn’t arrived. No big deal, it’s not like it’s the day before the Shymkent volunteers are hosting 20 people for a Thanksgiving dinner. At some point two representatives from Air Astana come around giving passengers a 500 tenge ($3.33) voucher to eat at the café in the airport. I didn’t even know the tiny airport had a dining establishment. The voucher somehow reaffirms that you’re in for the long haul. Some more time passes and finally my dad tells me I should get going because I had mentioned I had thanksgiving dinner grocery shopping to help out with. I kept insisting I stay because there was nothing to do in this airport. NOTHING! No arguing with my dad though, eventually I left after we hadn’t heard any flight changes in awhile. I head off to help with grocery shopping an emotional mess. It was really sad to leave my dad, but so nice to have someone from back home here visiting...me…in Kazakhstan. I get on with my day and get an unexpected call at 6 or 7 pm from my dad. His flight still hadn’t left! On top of that Air Astana wanted to put him on a bus to Almaty and have him find his own way to the airport. So many things are ridiculous about that suggestion! He hasn’t eaten dinner, he doesn’t speak Russian, the roads are so scary!!! Long story short he made it to Almaty fine but still couldn’t get a flight to India, where he was going to visit family. I think he ended up leaving over 36 hours after his original flight. What a mess! In the end though my dad said it was an interesting experience. I think that’s crazy. Is that interesting like actually interesting or ohhhh that’s ….mmm…interesting as in I can’t find words that describe how absurd the situation was. When he got to India my cousin sent me a picture of my dad from his Blackberry with a caption that read, “India accepts refugee from Kazakhstan”. Thanks for the laugh. And dad, thanks for visiting.

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving! Happy holidays, folks!

If you want to see pictures of his visit or of my second year here in Kazakhstan check out this Picasa Album!

The 2nd Year in Kaz