Three weeks in Almaty and I’m more or less into the pattern of life again. I ride the bus, go to work, go home, cook dinner, maybe see friends, etc. It’s not a bad gig. I’ve been getting back in hobbies as well – tooting around on the bone, cooking, enjoying the beautiful nature surrounding Almaty. I’m even going to get a bike at some point, maybe getting in with the rafting crew here.
Having been in Almaty for three solid weeks, you start to get a different picture of what Kazakhstan is and what it could be. Pavlodar was such an old-fashioned city: the mentality of people there is still fairly Soviet, the way they act, the way they dress – it’s all very predictable. Don’t get me wrong, I love Pavlodar, I love the people there and the frankness of the people, but Almaty is so modern. People wear anything and everything here, they’re involved in all kinds of sports and activities that, should you engage in such activities in a different city of Kazakhstan, people would think you were either 1) crazy; 2) foreign; 3) both. Usually it’s the third option.
And I’m happy I came back to experience a different side of Kazakhstan. As volunteers, we often got a bit depressed about our situation, our sites, complaining that it got boring, that it was slow-paced. I wanted to see that Kazakhstan could be more than that. I wanted to have an overwhelmingly positive idea of this place. It’s nice to be surrounded by a metropolitan crowd who’s focus on life isn’t just making money, but enjoying all that life has to offer as well. There’s just something romantic about getting lost in a big city, or, like today, just sitting in a coffee shop watching the snow fall outside.
I’m heading to Shymkent today to celebrate Nauryz with my close friend Zach and to see some of the other volunteers. I haven’t seen him in a while and it’ll be good to spend some time down there having fun “southern style.”
The A13 Group - www.a13.kz
Our office - small, modern, and comfy.
"Happiness isn't in money" - Something to keep mind of as I start making more of it.
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