I made it to Almaty, Kazakhstan by 3am. Before they even open the doors on the plane you can smell Almaty. The air quality is not what one might call fantastic. After talking to people here, I learned that it is because the heat for buildings is provided by these big coal-driven factories, so in the winter the air quality gets bad. The interesting thing is that there is a set date when the factories turn off (March 15th or so) so if it is cold after that then you get cold. Sound familiar, Maryville College?
Getting out of the airport reminded me of Guatemala...and the Philippines...and Armenia. You cross through the "nothing to declare" doors and you are pretty much out on the street with taxi drivers climbing over themselves to try and encourage you to go with them. (meanwhile there is an orderly marked taxis system right past them. But fortunately, I just had to look for a sign from the driver there to pick me up. A long silent trip to the hotel was just what I needed.
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| This is a Russian Orthodox Church (Zenkov Cathedral) in the middle of Panfilov park in downtown Almaty. Inside was filled with gold and patron saints, and people lighting candles. Did you know that in Russian Orthodox churches there aren't any pews? Yet the ceremonies are long like Catholic Mass. |
I have only really done a quick walking tour of the downtown area, but it is based on a grid system and North is uphill (toward the mountains) and South is downhill. The Soviet architecture is prevalent in Almaty, with only a few newer buildings. A lot of the signs are in both Kazakh (state language) and Russian (official language) which doesn't help me since I can't read Russian. Well, I can go letter by letter, but it still doesn't mean much to me. The street names are named after Russians or Kazakhs. In fact, many that were Russian names are being changed now. It makes it confusing for visitors who knew the old names to get around though. Fortunately, my hotel is on Gogol St. so that makes it easier for me to remember.
Speaking of Russian. I am suffering from my inability to understand Russian. I am finding I can survive quite well on silence and the word "spasiba" (thank you) though. Whoever told me that most people would speak English lied. The schools are now requiring 3 languages (Kazakh, Russian and English) but that means that the future generations will speak English, not all of them now.
I got the 24 applications of the students I will be interviewing in Almaty today. Should be interesting reading tonight. I am looking forward to hearing about their goals for studying in the USA next year!
Now I'm off to find some Kazakh food. I'm only a little afraid since the menu in my room listed dishes including horse meat and tongue....