Kazakhstan - Entry #7

April 14, 1999

Greetings from Almaty, or the older name of this town, Alma-Ata, which Lydia learned means "grandfather of apples", referring to the fruit famous here. Both girls, but especially Lydia, are picking up the Russian language with a speed that leaves me amazed. She is always teaching me or trying to teach me parts of it. I have been amazed while listening to the radio to realize that I am picking up phrases of it already. I am the only family member not taking actual classes each day in Russian. Ted leaves early each day to take an hour and a half of Russian at work before he starts his regular day and the girls have a class each day at school.

From the day I have arrived, I have heard about the "green market", a place where one can buy anything and everything, but also a wild place where pickpockets thrive and the crowds are severe. Most people told me that it was important to learn how to shop there, but one man, upon meeting me the first week, turned to Ted, and said, "whatever you do, don't take her to the green market!", the implication being that I would certainly not stay on in this strange place if that should happen. I have maintained that I wanted to see it, but not with the children with us, and not on a weekend, when the crowds were greatest.

Finally, Ted and I had a few hours while the girls were attending birthday parties and we went to the green market. First we weaved through individual kiosks on the sidewalks, each specializing in one type of food or product, such as bread or eggs, or socks or office supplies. Finally we entered a warehouse where there were literally hundreds of merchants lined up behind long tables with produce stacked in great pyramids. You bring your own bags, but if you start to touch a piece of food, the merchant takes the bag from you and loads it for you. From the smaller roadside sellers, I have become accustomed to picking out and up the items I wanted, while the seller held open the bag. All types of food sold at one place go together in the bag and get weighed together. Besides fruits, vegetables, nuts, and dried fruits, there were small mountains of prepared foods, such as salads, noodles, any food solid enough to stand in a pile. For the people purchasing this food, the merchant would put a bag on her or his hand and grab handfuls of the food and put it in the customer's bag.

Towards the back of the warehouse, was the meat. Large slabs of meat hung from meat hooks on the ceiling and merchants sliced off what cuts you wanted. We weren't buying meat, but it certainly looked fresher than any I have seen in the meat stands in the grocery stores I shop in here. I can see why people choose to buy their meat here, but it will take some getting used to. Everywhere, people are carrying cuts of meat in plastic bags, the kind our groceries are bagged in over in the United States.

We went downstairs into a more crowded section where Ted was looking for hardware. We needed screws, wire, hooks. Merchants had almost everything organized into small spaces the size of a small closet. Besides things arranged on tables, more things hung everywhere so you actually had to duck continuously as you made your way down the aisles. If you stopped or slowed down as you looked, you were pushed aside by the crowd behind you, who of course, knew exactly where they were headed. This part of the market reminded me of a very crowded flea market. Ted found what he needed. We returned to the big food room in the warehouse and bought tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, and a bunch of fresh dill. Someday, I'll return to buy some meat.

Monday of this week, Ted came home to inform us of a local sign of spring that we were unable to partake in. It seems that each spring, with no advance warning, the city decides to flush out and clean its water systems with freezing mountain snowmelt water. Most of the city residents are hooked into a central water system that is heated. This hot water heats their houses (with no thermostats) through radiators and provides all the hot water they need through the hot water faucets. No one has a separate water heater. We are in one of the few and new neighborhoods where we are not on the system. We have city water, but it goes through our individual hot water heater. For the rest of the city, one morning each spring, they wake up to absolutely no hot water, no heat. For some this lasts one day, for some up to four days. Monday was the first day and understandably, created a mass sense of shock for a few hours. Ted, of course, wanted to empty out our hot water heater to share in the group experience, wanting the girls to have the memories that others have of Almaty. We voted to just try to imagine it.

We packed up and shipped what we would use here about a month before we left West Virginia. It usually takes about two months for this stuff to cross the ocean and the continent. We hoped to see it at the end of March. The embassy has loaned us some things to use until our dishes, towels, etc., arrive. Finally, we put a trace on our shipment and found out this morning that it arrived at the port in Helsinki, Finland, three weeks ago, and is making its way by truck here. Everyone admits that there is no rational explanation why it went so far out of its way. We also have books, videos, warm weather clothes, etc. that we are looking forward to. We will probably have to wait at least three more weeks.

All is well here. Ted put new photos on the web site. Greetings, to all our friends. For those of you who know how to work a fax machine, but not email, or if you have a something you wish to fax to us, we have set up a US Fax number. It is (707) 220-0892. The machine will take your fax and email it to us where we will print it out. No excuses now for not writing, just take out your pen or pencil and fax us a note.

Brecken