Our New Place

It is a little after 4 pm on Monday and I just got home from my first day of reporting for work! This week is slightly leisurely, only reporting by 10 am until mid-afternoon and having the afternoons free and usually some sort of dinner or evening gathering is planned.

Last night, we went to Mad Murphy's Irish Pub for the school-sponsored BBQ of shashlik (kebabs, usually lamb) and some other traditional Kazakh foods - potatoes and this coleslaw that tasted like kimchi. We were able to meet most of the teachers, so it is great to make some new friends. So, today when I arrived at the hotel for our welcome ceremony, there were some familiar faces.

After being officially welcomed by the British ambassador, we enjoyed a "business lunch," which is extremely popular here in Almaty. It was alright. Soup was offered, but I was sweating hot, so I passed on that. The main course was some spaghetti noodles with some sort of meat sauce that did not taste like spaghetti sauce. But, it was okay tasting. I might be having an apple here pretty soon, as I'm hungry! The apples are great here, since they supposedly originate from Kazakhstan. Little tidbit fact for you, there.

Anyway, after lunch, they bussed the teachers over to our apartments that we will be moving into on Friday. Stephen and I visited them when we first arrived here about a month ago, but they have come a long way, thank goodness! I am soooooooo excited to get moved in there and get everything out of our suitcases and boxes. The apartments are HUGE! 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, living room, kitchen....a little different from our teensy-weensy NYC apartment. I'm pretty sure we will lose each other!

I took a couple of pictures when I went, but was rushed, so didn't have time to take a picture of each room. Plus, we couldn't get the door unlocked to the living room, so I didn't see that! Apparently, they have been having troubles with theft already, so they're locking the living rooms, since the TV's are in there.

This is a picture of the kitchen, well, half of it. The other half is behind the camera, where the fridge is. It is long and narrow, so I'm pretty sure I'll be rearranging this somehow. Plus, there is supposed to be a dishwasher, but there isn't. We will be purchasing one, as I absolutely despise washing dishes.
This is one of the bedrooms. They are a good size and each has its own full bathroom attached. Notice the hideous curtains.
This is the Master bedroom, as it is the largest and has a balcony! I'm not loving the furniture, but you can't complain, when it's provided for you. It has a very Asian feel, which I just am not the biggest fan of. Notice the carpet ~ it is brand new and about 10 times better than what was in there in July. It was that indoor/outdoor carpet in varying colors throughout the place of blue, gray, and black. And the seams were exposed and looked horrible! I thought it was just laid down to cover the real flooring underneath. Then, it was explained to me that that was the permanent carpeting. A few days later, I learned that the woman who owns these places was appalled at them and demanded that better carpeting be laid, thank goodness.

There are some things that I hope to change, to make it our own. They have already hung up curtains, which is nice so that we aren't having to duck down to change when we first move in. However, they are U-G-L-Y. Remember the curtain in our current kitchen, with the fake sunflower? They're along that calibur.

So, I noticed when we were at the Mega Center (nice mall here) that the electronics store had sewing machines for around $40! I might be purchasing one of those and making some nice, normal curtains. Who would've ever known that my sewing skills would come to use in Kazakhstan, of all places?

But, I am very excited, in case you can't tell. I'm just rambling on and on about this place. Don't worry, I will post many more pictures, once we move in this weekend. I haven't heard yet what the internet situation will be at the houses, so I am unclear as to if we will have it when we get there. Based on how everything else seems to go in this country, I'm going to say no. However, we will get it set up as soon as we can.

Yeah!!!