Most Elephants Speak English

I think I may have a little language imperialist on my hands!

While Malcolm is happy to watch cartoons in Russian, he refuses to acknowledge Russian when it's actually spoken by humans. Especially me. He gets a very incredulous look on his face, slumps his shoulders and says, "Mom, don't say that!"

So I bought him some nice new picture books at a Russian-language book store to try to fun-up Russian. He was so excited and asked me to read him the book. So I did. Well, I started to, at least. He let me get about 3 words in before he would say, "no momma!" This happened several times, until finally he insisted, "this book is for children!"

Hmm. Well. Ok. So I said, "Malcolm, some children speak Russian." To which he replied. "NO! Children don't speak Russian!" But clearly the conversation made an impression on him because later that day he said, "Mom, most elephants speak English." "Really," I said. "What do elephants say?" "Pthhhhhh" (his elephant trumpet sound. I had no idea that was in English!

In M's defense, many kids his age around here don't talk much, so in reality none of the children he's met here speak Russian. They just don't talk at all! And about elephants speaking English.. well, I don't know about that. But in Russian, dogs say "gaf, gaf" and frogs say "kva, kva," so maybe the elephants he knows really do only speak in English.

Sunrises and Sunsets

Astana has very dramatic sunrises and sunsets. There seem to be multiple factors. First, the city is located in the middle of the Kazakh steppe and therefore very flat. So flat that I think I can see every street light as I look across the horizon. Second, there are very few obstructions like trees or or a neighbor's house. In addition, the dry air has a crispness in contrast to the haze of more humid regions. I've really enjoyed the vivid purples, pinks, and oranges.

In case you're missing Brian...

And if you aren't missing Brian... you will be by the time this post is done!

This morning:
B: Your hair is fuzzy in the back, it looks like bed head
C: I know. I like it. This is the first day my hair has looked good in ages
B: But really, it's fuzzy in the back, like bed head
C: I know. But I just hate my hair lately, it just looks so terrible!
B: Yes, your hair hasn't looked this bad in years
C: That actually doesn't help at all. If I use words like "hate" that means I need some support
B: Oh, I just thought you wanted me to validate your ideas. Maybe your hair will look better once it grows out

5 minutes later... as I'm walking out the door
B: Bye, have a good day, good luck with your hair

Now, don't you miss him! There's nobody like my Brian!

Clothing is Better with English Slogans!

If clothing has print it will likely be in English. Even if the shirt or hat is promoting Kazakhstan or a local organization. We also found this to be true in Russia in which their local teams were promoted on shirt with the Latin alphabet rather than their own Cyrillic. It might have something to do with English being the global language. This may be true is most countries, but I do not have first hand experience in most countries. Either way, the translation or the context can be amusing. I often see men wearing shirts and jackets with slogans or brand names like "master of sports" or "man of fashion." Yesterday, there was a 9 or 10 year-old boy with a baseball hat with "SEXY" written is large letters across the front.

Water Supply

Last week, there was a day in which the water pressure was too low to flush the toilet. Yesterday, it happened again. In addition, there was a period of no water. Twelve hours after getting water again, it is still brown. It is easy to complain about the water supply and assign blame. However, visiting other areas is about new experiences. Irregular utilities is probably more common than the relatively seamless utilities of the U.S. Over there, lawns are watered and toilets are flushed with some of the finest water known to man. Despite the irregular water supply in KZ, it is still likely better than most people's.

Blows over breastfeeding?

Yesterday we saw a fight on the bus. It was kind of strange and I'm not sure exactly what the fight was about (my Russian-lanugage eavesdropping needs some improvement). Anyways, there was a woman breastfeeding in a fairly unabashed fashion (there is discreet breastfeeding and then there is flashy breastfeeding, which I typically reserve for home and le leche league meetings). Then there were words exchanged between the mother and the woman who collects the bus fare. I was assuming they were discussing the appropriateness of public breastfeeding, but that may be in the eye of the beholder. I'm not sure what the laws are (if any) on the issue. Words apparently weren't enough, and the women started hitting each other. It was so crazy, and it happened right in front of us... literally 1 foot away from us. Malcolm was really kind of freaked out. Of course, we kind of were too.. but I was actually extremely interested in what was going on, so I was trying to gather all the info and observations I could. Then this man a few seats back said something like, "quit fighting in front of the foreigners!" and someone broke up the fight.

I'm not even going to offer any potential explanations for this set of events, especially since I didn't fully understand what was going on. The researcher in me wanted to sit everyone down for a full on interview after the fact so that I could really get to the bottom of things. The mother in me just wanted to make sure Malcolm understood it's not nice to hit people. In the end, I think stuff like this can happen anywhere, so it's not a particularly Kazakh phenomenon and I won't pass judgement (though there could be an interesting discussion about the variable effectiveness of nurse-ins versus just beating the crap out of people who tell you you can't nurse in xyz location, but I digress).

On a different note.. sorry for the lack of postings. Life here is kind of exhausting as we adjust. But we'll try to ramp it up!

Where Did He Go?

Don't step on man hole covers in Kazakhstan. It's not uncommon to find sewer lids that have shifted. I'm not sure if they are ill-fitting or the round metal cover is just too light (they appear to be no more than 1/2 inch thick). One of the teachers at the university warned us to be careful after he fell through a hole when the round sewer lid shifted beneath him. Luckily it only engulfed his leg and not the entire body. Before hearing this story, I was concerned that I was complaining too much about these man hole covers that shift beneath my feet.